Yes and No. Yes I designed the board and No the Vias are not free pads.
There is no holes in the solder paste layers on the origional protel drawing, only on the gerber import. The gerber import is just photoplot commands, therefore if there is a shape there then there will be a hole. J. -----Original Message----- From: Brad Velander [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 18 February 2002 19:31 To: 'Protel EDA Forum' Subject: Re: [PEDA] URGENT HELP REQUIRED: Paste Mask Jason, did you actually design this board? Because I have a feeling that what you're describing means that your vias are actually free pads. Is that a possibility? Normally vias don't show on a solderpaste layer. Other possiblity is that you have loaded a padmaster back in as a pastemask. I have assumed that in your original message you were trying to say "...tented vias have solder paste on them from the paste mask layer." Sincerely, Brad Velander. Lead PCB Designer Norsat International Inc. Microwave Products Tel (604) 292-9089 (direct line) Fax (604) 292-9010 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.norsat.com See us at Booth 323 at Satellite 2002 in Washington, DC March 6-8. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 10:58 AM To: Protel EDA Forum Subject: Re: [PEDA] URGENT HELP REQUIRED: Paste Mask In a message dated 2/18/2002 1:42:56 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > As normal we load the gerbers back into protel to check they look right, > I've noticed that > the tented vias have solder on them on the paste mask. Why, and how do I > get rid of it? > > I've never noticed this before but can't say it hasn't happened. > > We're just about to spin the boards and want to know if this will affect > the > mask manufacture. > If so, I'd consider that a bug in Protel. But you may have been covered (so to speak) by the board house in the past. The board houses I've dealt with routinely mask the silkscreen with the soldermask layer, so you don't get ink on the exposed pads. The assembly house may well do the same thing between the soldermask and the paste mask, to avoid getting past on top of the soldermask. If so, that would explain why you haven't seen a problem in the past. Steve Hendrix * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
