In a message dated 01/19/2000 10:24:00 PM Central Standard Time, [log in to unmask]
writes:

<< Hi Steve,

 now that's intersting!

 Sure, the stencil opening must be smaller then the pads. But when you make
 them triangular isn't there too little paste on the pads? We work with
 0.15mm thick steel stencils and the amount of paste is already very low.

 What CAD program can generate such shape stencils automatically?

 regards

 Jens Behrens >>

Hi Jens!

If you're not currently getting solder beads, then you don't need to change
the shapes. I've found that a "home-plate" shape works good for me:

_______                   _______
|            \                /            |
|             \              /             |
|             /              \             |
|_______/                \ ______|

(Forgive my ascii cad) As far as what systems can do this, I'm sure all can.
I can use my Lavenir Veiwmate and  change any D-code to whatever shape I
want...(I can't save it though) You can see for yourself if you have Viewmate
(it's free for the downlaoding). Just pull in a gerber, and then go to Setup,
then current D-codes, pick one out, and a pop-up list will come up with a
variety of shapes to choose from. You can change squares to circles, to
diamonds, or to a custom d-code that you want to create and then it
automatically applies that shape to all of that d-code that's being used in
the gerber file.

-Steve Gregory-

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