My preference is for a thermal relief. What a designer can allow is determined by the the desing and componenets slected. It should be a rare product requirement that one not be allowed. Via's and plated through holes without components. SMT assemblies without through hole componets only have solder in a hole if it is required for some specifc purpose. The same condition is found in wave soldered assemblies run on selective solder pallets and selective soldered assemblies. Leads can be soldered in holes attached to power and ground planes without thermal reliefs at the exspense of having a reduced list of soldering process options. The cost of making a solder joint goes up either in the use of more expensive equipment, increased process development time or increased cycle time, change in materials or all the above. The ability to rework or replace a component goes down as well. What the product is used for and its cost determines how eleborate the process is. No thermal relief translates into more heat required to perform the operation. This may resulting in scraping what would otherwise be reworkable and useable. --------------------------------------------------- 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 -----------------------------------------------------