Just had to comment on this one. I can remember making 12 layer boards in the mid 1980's and removing the unused pads to give a smoother hole and reduce smear, nail heading etc on pads which were connected.- It worked for us.. The thinking was that as the drill goes through a copper pad a lot of heat is generated if the pad is connected to a large copper area then some of the heat is dissipated but if the pad is unused then the heat has nowhere to go and builds up in the drill leading to poor hole quality. Anybody else ever remove unused pads for this reason? Geoff Layhe Private & Confidential: This e-mail message is confidential and is intended solely for the person or organisation to whom it is addressed. If the message is received by anyone other than the addressee please return the message to the sender by replying to it and then delete the message from your computer. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------