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Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2012 02:38:15 -0700 (PDT)
From: David Griffith <dave AT 661 DOT org>
To: geda-user AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: [geda-user] soldermask and edge connectors
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On Mon, 19 Mar 2012, Dave McGuire wrote:

> On 03/19/2012 04:52 AM, David Griffith wrote:
>> On Mon, 19 Mar 2012, Dave McGuire wrote:
>> 
>>> On 03/19/2012 04:30 AM, David Griffith wrote:
>>>>>>>> I'm trying to make an edge connector footprint. First, I want to
>>>>>>>> make sure that the soldermask is clear of the fingers except at the
>>>>>>>> root where traces connect.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Do the connector footprint with two pads per finger. Reduce mask size
>>>>>>> of one pad to zero vie the command line interface.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I tried this and the result was soldermask going everywhere but the
>>>>>> finger. I want the entire area where the fingers are clear of
>>>>>> soldermask. I can do that by increasing the mask clearance, but I get
>>>>>> scalloped edges.
>>>> 
>>>> I think I garbled myself with this one. When I converted the buffer to
>>>> an element, I then changed the pins from round to square. This cured the
>>>> problem of scalloped edged of soldermask. I still have a problem with
>>>> the need to cover part of the fingers with soldermask. There's also an
>>>> issue with soldermask. Two fingers are longer than the rest, extending
>>>> to the very edge of board whereas the other fingers are set back
>>>> slightly. How can I make sure the empty area between the fingers and the
>>>> edge is kept clear of soldermask?
>>> 
>>> This is just an off-the-wall idea, but would it make sense to use an
>>> unused layer, place a polygon on it, tell pcb to clear the soldermask
>>> around that polygon, and then just don't use that layer for anything
>>> else? Make it a sort of "soldermask keep-away layer". Then just don't
>>> send that gerber file to fab.
>> 
>> That looks like the ticket... Now how do I toggle soldermask clearing
>> for a layer? The layer area of preferences doesn't seem to have anything
>> applicable.
>
>  I'm not sure off the top of my head...perhaps flags on the object itself? 
> I'm about to crash for the night; I recommend looking in the File Formats 
> section of the PCB docs and see what flags and other values a polygon object 
> has.

I can't seem to find such a flag.  I did find quite a bit of chatter from 
some years ago about "clearing polygons in soldermask".  Does anyone know 
what happened with that?

-- 
David Griffith
dave AT 661 DOT org