Mail Archives: geda-user/2024/02/03/11:32:05
Hello,
I recently got an urgent request from a PCB manufacturer to stop
defining 'oversize' solder mask in my gerber files -- i.e. they want the
solder mask opening to be exactly the same as the pad size, after which
they will create the optimal oversize for their production. This is a
bit of a pain, since I am used to define a small oversize (usually 0.1
mm) for the boards that I order and process myself. I can't seem to find
an easy way to change the mask size except Ctrl+K (with solder mask
selected) for each individual pad, which would be extremely laborious
and error-prone as well -- especially as I use millimeters as units,
while lots of solder mask sizes are still in mils.
Question: is it possible to set the solder mask gap to match pad sizes
for all elements in one go? When I look at the pad definition, I see
that the solder mask is defined in the same way as the thickness, so it
should not be set to zero (otherwise the pad would of course be
completely covered). I tried several pcb commands like MinClearGap, but
that doesn't look right (I can't even see what it does).
The only alternative I see is to create a script that seeks out lines
with pad elements, then takes the thickness, and copies that to the mask
parameter - but that is quite a bit of work, especially given that I'll
be migrating to pcb-rnd pretty soon.
Thanks already,
Richard
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