Peter and other folks, This board sounds just like Ervin's. He first posted at #59 on the subject. Lot of this stuff going round these days. He posted something very important to us all to consider just as has Peter. Interesting! A question for all, based on the above, concerning a neat, according to me, article written on the subject of virtual plating. It appeared in last month's issue of Circuit Tree. It was in one of those special sections of the mag. Has anyone read the virtual plating article? If so, what do you think? It speaks to issues concerning the ability to "plate" a board with data contained in Gerber or ODB++, using a software package rendering images on screen. The images, essentially, represent areas on a boards surface where high or low plating thicknesses would be processed in the real tanks. It allows, again in my terms, a shop to make "masks" that are placed over the board's surface before being processed. The "masks" prevent over or under plating to ensure specified consistency in all holes and across surfaces. I would appreciate knowing if anyone has read this exciting prospect. Moreover, I sure would like to know if anyone has taken the step converting the virtual process into reality. Earl Moon --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------