I just tried a new PCB fab (pcbexpress.com) and they processed my boards a little differently than the shop I'd used before (pcbfabexpress.com). I apparently have some elements where the silkscreen overlaps pads (for SMT footprints). These are footprints of my own creation, so I guess I'm not supposed to do that. But the old fab house did not lay the silkscreen over the pads, so it wasn't a problem. The new place put the silk right on top, though. I think the boards will still work, but I'd like to fix the problem in the future.
Obviously, I can just fix my footprints. But -- shouldn't PCB take care of this for me? I mean, even if my footprints are correct, I can see putting some silkscreen text slightly overlapping a pad and not noticing. How much trouble would it be to get PCB to subtract pins/pads from the silkscreen layer? -- Randall
