We recently completed a single sided FR-4 design with a large area that we
"poured" copper into.  Two of our three high volume board shops said no
problem when they reviewd this design. However our third house said that it
there is a possibility of a problem because we use a screenable solder mask
and they have a worry about possible flaking of the mask on the large copper
area.  They recommended two ideads:

        1.  Hatch the copper pour instead of leaving it solid.
        
Our answer to this? (Ameritech Commercial guy) ....MMMMM.......NO.  We need
it there for RF and ESD reasons I can't discuss.

        2.  Hatch the solder mask every 1/8 of an inch.

Again our answer to this is .....MMMMMM.......No.  This would gobble solder
out of our wave machines for no good reason.

So we said how about LPI and they said sure for a significant price
increase.  Out of the three board houses this is the one who always gives us
the best product at the cheapest price with the least amount of rejects.

SO WHAT DO WE DO NOW ?  We want to continue to use the solid copper pour
feature on future products.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

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