drill holes in library footprint pads should not be etched in copper layer

Hi Carolus,

In the print (not plot) dialog you can change size of the drill marks. I hope it helps.

Hello Maciej,

Thank you for you workaround. But I insist that etching of drill holes
is useless and if it is not designed in the library footprints you can
not forget to change it in the print dialog ;-).

Regards,

Harry

Op 10-01-19 om 08:59 schreef Maciej Suminski:
> Your question #677427 on KiCad changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/kicad/+question/677427
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Maciej Suminski proposed the following answer:
> Hi Carolus,
>
> In the print (not plot) dialog you can change size of the drill marks. I
> hope it helps.
>

Etching drill holes indeed is not necessary, but KiCad is developed mainly with PCB manufacture in mind. It is fine to add certain workarounds to help people etch boards, but it is a secondary goal.

Still, I do not fully understand your request. Are you suggesting that we should not define any drill holes in the library footprints? I do not know how else one can prevent holes from being plot.

Hi Maciej,

Idealy drill holes should be assigned to a separate drill layer. Without
that the program has to multi define the same hole locations for each
layer. But if KICAD does not assign drill holes to a separate layer and
binds the drill holes to one or more copper layers, one can etch very
little holes in both outer layers also when the real holes are drilled
with a larger diameter. In the drill file the real diameter must be
exactly specified, in inner layers a somewhat larger hole must be kept
to avoid false connections and in both outer copper layers very little
indicative holes can be etched. The drill which is used in fabrication
determines the final hole diameter.

In CNC drilling indicative etched holes does not contribute to a better
work flow. In hand drilling they do.

Now that large holes are etched away in the outer layers, drilling with
a smaller diameter creates a gap between the copper and te pin that must
be connected to the copper.

I was giving an example. The screw connectors create an etched spare in
B-Cu of 1.5 mm diameter whereas the desired drill diameter is 1 mm.

Regards,

Harry

Op 10-01-19 om 19:47 schreef Maciej Suminski:
> Your question #677427 on KiCad changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/kicad/+question/677427
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Maciej Suminski proposed the following answer:
> Etching drill holes indeed is not necessary, but KiCad is developed
> mainly with PCB manufacture in mind. It is fine to add certain
> workarounds to help people etch boards, but it is a secondary goal.
>
> Still, I do not fully understand your request. Are you suggesting that
> we should not define any drill holes in the library footprints? I do not
> know how else one can prevent holes from being plot.
>

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