Tom:
               We work to a stated minimum character height of .040"
          and thickness of .008".  We also perform an "autoclip" of
          the nomenclature, which obliterates any silkscreen
          characters that fall within .008" of a solderable feature,
          due to silkscreen tolerancing.  Yes, "R"s sometimes end up
          looking like "P"s, and "B"s like "3"s.  This is why I have
          been encouraging my customers for years to eliminate
          silkscreen if possible.  An added benefit to eliminating
          legends is a cost savings of about $1/panel per side (divide
          by # up per panel for piece price savings).  I realize that
          eliminating silkscreens requires a culture change, to say
          the least, but most designs of late do not afford the real
          estate necessary to screen these alpha-numerics onto circuit
          boards with any degree of legibility.  Many folks are
          designing a different shaped pad for pin 1 (a square) in the
          etch pattern for component orientation.
          Tom Coyle
          Field Services Engineer
          HADCO Corporation

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