It is good design practice to allow a minimum of .010" from any plated feature (pad or trace) to the board edge. Bringing copper right to the board edge makes for possible rough edges where the metal has been cut into by the fabricator's router bit. Since the overall dimension of the pcb has a tolerance, the .010" is recommended. I, too, have seen designs where a plated hole has been "cut in half" at the board edge. I have also seen the plating yanked out of the hole wall when the router bit cuts through these holes. Even non-plated holes that come closer than .010" from the board edge can fracture the material when the router bit comes close to these holes. Tom Coyle Field Services Engineer HADCO Corporation [log in to unmask]