Hi David, Our CAM operators (bare board fab) tell me that same size, or consistent oversize (i.e. 3 mil ring) work equally well. Consistency is the only important factor. This allows us to globally manipulate the soldermask pad sizes as needed. When clearances vary within one artwork, adjusting soldermask pad sizes takes much longer. Note: I assume that mask pad size would equal "hole size" only on unsupported (no pad) holes. Note: don't forget to add a fab. dwg. note allowing the board shop to adjust mask pad sizes as needed. Regards, Mark -----Original Message----- From: David Hoover [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2003 11:18 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] Soldermask Clearance Question I am in the middle of a discussion/debate with assemblers on one side and designers on the other. The question is: What would your shop prefer to receive from the designer for soldermask features? either A) 1:1? (Soldermask clearance same as the holesize, padsize, surfacemount, or clearanced feature size) or B) Soldermask Clearance set at some value over the pad/feature/SMT size? (Like 3 mils per side) Thanks for any and all responses, David Hoover --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e 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 or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 -----------------------------------------------------