In most cases the answer would be to remove them. It will only enhance the
probability of increasing your yields, as well as increasing the life of
your carbide drill bits. However your question pertained to thick PCB's and
there is the reality and theory of drill wonder. A spindle running anywhere
from 80k to, lets say 150k RPM's, going through all that resin and nothing
to hold the drill in place. That Cu land you just removed, would have be a
good stabilizer when your drill was passing through your 2.4mm, 1/8" or 1/4"
thick panel.  You have to ask yourself, do I want to save $ on drill bits or
improve the probability of true position of my hole location, so as not to
cause and open or short internally due to misregistration.

Regards,

Damon A. DeSilva
Engineering Manager
Lazer-Tech Ltd.
PH#(416)291-7727 EXT:271
FAX(416)291-0325
[log in to unmask]


-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Ofer Cohen
Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2004 6:48 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] Removal of non functional pads


Technetters,
Are there any guidelines regarding removal of non functional pads in thick
(>2.5 mm) PCBs? Are the guidelines documented somewhere?

Regards
Ofer Cohen
Manager
Quality Assurance, Reliability and Production Technologies

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