Surprised no one has mentioned the plating of surface features at the same time as plating copper in?the holes (plating shut).? There will be some pad around the lip of the hole, and this will plate very thick - what is the diameter of the via holes?.? Say they are 10 mils, to plate them shut, you will have about 5 mil high surface features at the surface pads.? That is assuming a good copper bath that plates 1:1 in the hole and on the surface.? Then, your fab shop will have to sand down the surface to remove most of the 5 mil high "rims" around the holes.? And, you say components are above the vias - you want very planar circuit traces under those, not 5 mil "lumps".? You are approaching the technology of "wrap" plating, which not all shops can do routinely.? Denny Fritz MacDermid, Inc. -----Original Message----- From: Dave Connitt <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:35 am Subject: Re: [TN] Problems with plating vias closed Hi Pete, This is a research/development project. The vias are currently tented, plus some are under a couple of 100 pin QFP's. I would have to move the vias out from under the FPGA's or risk solder balls once I untented them. Since this is a development project, I doubt they will spin the board again unless there is some other issue. We rarely wave solder boards anymore as there are very few thru hole parts on them anymore. The wave was a great way to fill vias with solder. Ah, the good old days.. Dave Connitt CID+ Printed Circuit Designer KDI Precision Products, Inc. A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of: L3 Communications 3975 McMann Road Cincinnati, Ohio 45245 Ph. 513- 943-2010 Fax 513-943-2288 -----Original Message----- From: Pete Houwen [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2008 9:36 AM To: [log in to unmask]; Connitt, Dave @ KDI Subject: Re: Problems with plating vias closed Is this just a matter of closing the holes? Rather than having your PCB supplier try to plate the holes full, can you let them (partially) fill during soldering? --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0 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 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0 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 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------