We are a contract manufacturer and are currently having trouble with a 1
1/2" X 10" SMT board assy.  It was designed in a panel of 6, scored for
eventual break apart and the original scoring left .018" of material in the
groove.  When we started to break them apart we found we were cracking some
of the SMT caps.  We've since instructed the PCB mfgr to go to a more
standard .012" per one engineers recmmendation, but don't have samples yet
to try.  One of our process engineers attending Nepcon had several engineers
tell him that SMT boards shouldn't be scored at all.

We are trying to determine the best course of action to recommend to our
customer.  The customers design engineer felt we shouldn't have had a
problem with the original .018" groove so we may have to put together a very
god case for changing to routing or anyuthing else.

Anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks in advance for your consideration.

Leo Reynolds