X-Authentication-Warning:	delorie.com: mail set sender to geda-user-bounces using -f
X-Recipient:	geda-user AT delorie DOT com
Message-ID:	<53C55F5E.2070807@sonic.net>
Date:	Tue, 15 Jul 2014 10:05:34 -0700
From:	Dave Curtis <davecurtis AT sonic DOT net>
User-Agent:	Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:16.0) Gecko/20121028 Thunderbird/16.0.2
MIME-Version:	1.0
To:	geda-user AT delorie DOT com
Subject:	Re: [geda-user] thermal flag in footprint?
References:	<53C5441E DOT 4090502 AT sonic DOT net> <201407151520 DOT s6FFKY9Q006882 AT envy DOT delorie DOT com> <53C5521F DOT 8090506 AT sonic DOT net> <201407151624 DOT s6FGOINF008965 AT envy DOT delorie DOT com>
In-Reply-To:	<201407151624.s6FGOINF008965@envy.delorie.com>
X-Sonic-ID:	C;JohoPEIM5BGKl2uUdPQXfw== M;uEWHPEIM5BGKl2uUdPQXfw==
X-Spam-Flag:	No
X-Sonic-Spam-Details:	0.0/5.0 by cerberusd
Reply-To:	geda-user AT delorie DOT com

On 07/15/2014 09:24 AM, DJ Delorie wrote:
> "Holes" aren't plated through so they're useless for electrical
> connectivity or heat sinks.
??  But if you put a hole through a board with polygon on both sides 
doesn't it plate? What keeps it from plating?

>
> You could also add a solder-side pad, so that the user only need
> thermal the one pad instead of all the pins.
This comes back to my clearance question. Assume a pad on the back. 
Clearance of zero is not wise according to your answer to an earlier 
question, and negative clearance is not a thing. So now with non-zero 
clearance, the pad clears the large polygon that the user draws over it. 
  Pads don't thermal, you have to draw tracks over the gap. The 
snap-to-pad-centers behavior is not helpful while doing that.

So given that with these parts you are often just going for a certain 
amount of area, however it fits, it seems like letting the user draw the 
back-side makes sense.  There isn't a lot of value in including it in 
the footprint.
>

- Raw text -