On Sun, Apr 02, 2006 at 09:03:28PM -0400, DJ Delorie wrote: > > > Why? > > It may keep a polygon island from getting disconnected or necking down > below DRC parameters. It may allow for an extra trace between pins. > If the pin is intersected by a 45 degree line, it prevents notches > from being cut out of the clearance: > > http://www.delorie.com/pcb/notches.html > > It does get ugly when you have a row of square SMD pads, though. You > end up with lots of little triangles cutting into an otherwise > straight clearance edge. I think, if we decided to use rounded-corner > clearances, we'd need to be intelligent about rows of pads with > overlapping clearances, and join them into a single rounded-corner > clearance that covered them all. That might speed up display and > reduce gerber file sizes, too, even if we implemented it for > square-corner clearances.
I wouldn't do this. It just takes off unnecessary copper. If you have something squeezing in from the other side you might be happy for the extra bit of copper. CL<
