Steve, As you have described it there should be no problem. Maybe the message is getting a little jumbled through the purchasing department, or the fab shops sales department. Another option for you is to supply a single image solder paste file and have the fab shop supply you with just the gerbers for the stepped paste file. John Parsons Circuit graphics Ltd. > Hi ya'll! > > Gotta' question, I've been getting boards panelized here that have been > single boards previously. My part is to specify what the maximum panel > size should be, and ask that .5" rails be put on two parallel sides of the > panel. The buyer then communicates this to our fab vendors and has them do > the panelization. I ask that buyer tell the fab vendor to email me the > panelized gerbers so I can get a stencil made for the panel. Sounds simple > enough huh? > > But I found that a few of our vendors have told the buyer that this is not > something they normally do...or the latest thing that I was told was that > they do the panelization manually? I don't understand... > > I'm not educated enough about this, but I thought that a single image > gerber is just stepped-and-repeated to give you the panel which is used to > photoplot the artwork that the fab vendor has to have to build the fab. > The file has to exist or the fab vendor wouldn't be able to make fab, > right? So why am I getting such resistance when I ask for the panelized > gerbers? > > What am I missing? > > I can still get a stencil made without the panelized gerbers, but I have > to wait until the paneled fab actually gets here so I can send it to my > stencil vendor with the single image gerber...my stencil vendor will take > care of the step-and-repeat, but it's kind of a hassle. It would be so > simple to do things by email... > > -Steve Gregory- > ############################################################## TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ############################################################## To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET ############################################################## Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information. If you need assistance - contact Gayatri Sardeshpande at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5365 ##############################################################