I'd be cautious about v-groove or "Pizza cutter" depanelizations if you've got any large-ish ceramic caps (> 0805) particularly if the components are near the shear points. Routing would be preferable. Also, I'd be cautions about the same parts near any high insertion/ withdraw force connectors, or sockets, for the same reason (flexure induced cracking of ceramic chip devices). Good luck! The one good thing is you've had the experience of thousands of component and manufacturing/assembly engineers before you, who have all wrestled with this at least once in their careers! :-) Let us know how it works out... John --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Technet 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 Technet To temporarily halt delivery of Technet send the following message: SET Technet 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------