Hello again, I've spoke with several manufacturers about giving them a survey to fill out on guidelines of capabilities. All I have spoke with were not only interested but very supportive. The understanding is these would only be guideline that would neither control or rule manufacturers, but provide both the designer and the manufacturer of what is required. I have a list of 80 manufacturers, across the US (provided by Tom Hausherr of the windriver group) and intend on taking my time and collecting a good selection of values to present as an independent survey. At the survey's completion I will present this to the IPC local chapter...pending application. I believe if executed correctly, we as designers will have a hard rule to follow. This will entail either; support by IPC documentation so designers may specify a technology and the manufacturer will clearly know what is expected of them. or Designers may independently request their manufacturers follow these guidelines. It is understandable that some manufacturers will want to protect their leading edge type processes. This will allow that information to remain between them and the designer. It is also well known that there are 3 basic manufacturing processes. Image, etch, and drill (4 really, including ML lay-up) These are the basic process of the bare board only and don't include silk and mask. Each of these are independent technologies and will be kept and defined separately. The designer will then determine if they wish to design a straight line technology or a multiple-technology board. Most of you have been designing for some time and this does not appear a attractive aspect. Think of the newbies. This is the hardest aspect for a new designer. Finding out what you have to work with. Wish me luck, Chris Robertson [log in to unmask] www.robertsondne.com "The PCB Designer's Resource" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DesignerCouncil Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF DesignerCouncil. To set a vacation stop for delivery of DesignerCouncil send: SET DesignerCouncil NOMAIL Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------