> Interesting manufacturer you've got there. No, Kicad does not have > the ability to shrink the solder past pads as it can increase pad > sizes on solder resist layer. I myself just finished a PCB where I
It was a new one to me. The reasoning is that it reduces the risk of solder shorting across adjacent pads of fine pitch components, a problem which cannot be solve by reducing the mask clearance because the mask can't be aligned accurately enough. This particular manufacturer finds that reducing the solder paste windows by 0.04mm helps to reduce the number of failures due to inter-pad shorts. Worth knowing, though from what you say it sounds like it's process-dependent to some (unknown to me) degree. With fine-pitch components only likely to become more common, IMHO adding solder paste shrink to the postprocess menu of kicad would be worthwhile, and axtz4 has demonstrated it shouldn't require much coding. Apparently the feature is common in high-end packages, and it's nice to see the kicad community kicking a bit of diamond-encrusted high-end ass :). > for each pad. Man, that was a lot of work, the connector has 60 pins. LOL. Poor you! Why do these manual edits always involve something with lots and lots of pins? > On the standard components, the manufacturer said it's ok to leave > it 1:1. Aparently, the needed shrinkage depends on pad size and how > the stencil is manufactures (etched, lasered, electro-polished) but > also on the thickness of the stencil. Maybe going to a thinner > stencil might be a solution for you, they are usually available down > to 100um/4mil. Thanks - I didn't know that. Regards, Robert.
