Another question

[KCDesign]

I have an edge connector decal on my board and do not want the pads included in the paste mask. Can anyone give me direction on how not to include them? Someone suggested I go into the pad stack and change the paste mask layer to zero but that doesn't do anything.

Vic Lenoir

[randychase]

If you output paste artwork using padstacks with solderpaste built into them, then that method would work. All of our supplied pcbstandard's libraries include pads on the paste layers.

However, the easy way for you do what you want is in the CAM dialogue box, click on OPTIONS and then there is a field to suppress by reference designator.

[KCDesign]

I looked for that option in PADs but didn't see it. I am using PowerPCB 3.6 if that matters. I am just curious but where does Pads get the information for the pastemask?

Vic Lenoir

[Tom]

Vic,

PowerPCB gets it's Paste Mask from Layer_1 SMT pad oversizing. Any pad that has a drill value of Zero is considered a SMT land pattern. When you select File / CAM / Add / Paste Mask / Options / Suppress Ref Des / P1, it will not produce Paste Mask for your board Edge Connector P1. You must use this option to suppress the ref des of your Global Fiducials FD1, FD2, FD3 or FD*.

However the pcbstandards.com libraries have the Paste Mask built into very SMT part. If you use this library, you would not post process Layer_1 and oversize the pads, you would post process Layer_22 and Layer_23. Then you the CAD designer can control the post processing at the library level and have complete control over the creation of the Paste Mask. Let me know if you understand this.