Hi Barbara,

In my own experience having the outline on all layers has never been an issue to fabricators and none have commented to me otherwise. This is likely because the fabricators have the means to remove the outlines in less time than a heartbeat if they so desire.

Many organizations still use paper plots for Design reviews, at least internally. In this case the outline on all layers is beneficial to the Design Engineers and others for the purpose of quickly aligning the layers, particularly when internal layers have the pads removed. My opinion is that this benefit outweighs the few seconds that it takes for the fabricator to remove the outline.

That being said it really comes down to how embedded you are in your current process and how difficult it might be to change. If you no longer use paper plots then it may be easy to change to a single outline. If paper plots are still in use you may want to experiment by presenting a set of plots with and without outlines to one of the Design Engineers for his opinion. Bottom line though is whether or not the outline is on a single layer, such as a drill pattern layer or all layers makes little difference to a fabricator (or should anyways). You may also want to check with the particular fabricator to ask how much time and effort (cost and schedule delay) it is for them to remove the extraneous outlines. But in a nutshell, unless it is a small matter to change your current process I would recommend continue doing what you are doing.

Regards,
Rick

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Barbara Burcham
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2012 10:55 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] Board Outline on gerber files...Yes/No

I have run up against the question of putting the board outline on each gerber file. One fabricator who needs it on at least on file.
What do fabricators need regarding this?
What about board outline on the stencil gerbers for the Stencil Makers?

Regards,
Barbara Burcham, CID
Sr. PCB Designer


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