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Hi,

I’m new to PCB design and trying to get my head around specifying routing contours.

According to your technical information the exact outline of a routing contour is defined by the middle of the trace.

I understand how this works with closed paths (board outline) – As you can determine which side the tool should be on and hence position the tool on the correct (cut-away) side of the line.

But how does this work on open-ended paths (slots) - As you cannot determine which side the tool should be on?

Will the router take account of the aperture size and create a slot exactly as indicated in the Gerber file/layer?

Or will the router centre the tool over the path and cut a standard 1mm or 2mm slot (maybe specified using a different mechanical layer for each tool-size)?

In addition:

Should the board outline be added on all layers and if so, will this effect finished board (i.e. reproduced in copper, silkscreen, etc.)?

Any advice appreciated

Hi Simon,
If you have a cutout or slot then please draw it as you would a contour keeping in mind that we use the center of the trace to determine the width of the slot. We have a few methods of cutting slots depending on their dimensions.
It is better to supply a seperate contour layer but is you happen to supply the board with the contour on all layers this it is ok as we will remove it from the other layers.

Hope this answers your questions
Best Regards
Your Pcb-Pool Team

The attached file shows a 1mm x 3mm slot specified as a path (top) and a line (bottom).

To confirm:

1. Slots must be specified as a *closed-path* for the router to follow (as shown at the top of the attached file).

2. You can’t specify slots by drawing a *line* of the correct width and length (as shown at the bottom of the attached file).

PS: Option 2 would make slots a lot easier to draw!!!

Regards

Si

Hi Simon,
We can accept slots drawn using either of the 2 methods you have described.

Best Regards
Seamus