Altium Plated Slots
Read about 'How to define milling slot in altium' on element14.com. Hi I need a little help about one thing that I have been thinking around for a while. I decided to precut the perimeter of my board by putting milled.
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This is best shown with a Drill Table and produced with an NC Drill File. (Check hole sizes with Panels/PCB/Hole Size Editor.) Number of different hole sizes. These should be in increments of 2 mils (0.05mm) for consistent, cost effective results. Definitions for Plated, Non-Plated, and depth (Blind, Buried, and back drilled. I am trying to put a curved slot in a PCB in Altium 18. This is to give a blanking panel on the PCB which we can 'pop-out'. As the hole we're trying to blank out is circular, I need this slot to be curved. It's easy to put a hole in a PCN, or a straight slot, or a board cut out using straight lines. Is a curved slot possible? Or a curved cut out? How to Make PCB Mounting Holes in Altium Designer 2018. Before Designing Are you grounding your board/chassis? Avoid short circuits or loops by making sure your board and chassis are at the same potential. Also, choose between a plated or non-plated hole. Are there any sensitive components near your mounting holes? Best Practices for Plated Slots We see a lot of different footprints and component types for PCB Assembly at Bittele Electronics. A majority of through-hole part footprints are designed with circular holes to accommodate circular or square leads.
We see a lot of different footprints and component types for PCB Assembly at Bittele Electronics. A majority of through-hole part footprints are designed with circular holes to accommodate circular or square leads. This configuration is ideal for most through-hole components, but many parts incorporate rectangular or “blade”-style leads, which do not fit well into circular or square holes; instead, it is best to use a plated slot footprint. To illustrate this point, the image below shows a common barrel power connector with four thin rectangular leads fit into two different footprint styles.The footprint on the left in this image clearly leaves much more empty space around the component leads, where the image on the right provides a snug fit. This makes the circular hole configuration much more prone to common PCB Assembly defects such as solder joint voiding, since more solder is required to fill the holes.
These concerns become more significant as the size of the pins increases, from both design and production perspectives, so large blade-style connectors should definitely use plated slots rather than circular holes. At Bittele, we can still work with circular holes for rectangular pins when the part is relatively small, such as the standard barrel power connector used in this example. That being said, the circular holes do also take up more space on the PCB itself, and using plated slots can often help in size-restricted designs.
For the design of non-circular holes, a few things must be considered, but the process is fairly straightforward overall. It should first be noted that slots can be defined as plated through holes (PTH) or non-plated through-holes (NPTH). PTH slots are most often used in component footprints, and most PCB layout CAD programs provide an option in their footprint editor to define a hole as circular or oval. This will be enough for Bittele’s PCB Fabrication team to recognize the hole and use the correct process, but for extra clarity, some clients also indicate slot holes on a fabrication layer of their Gerber files.
NPTH Slots can be designed in the same manner, and simply designated as NPTH / Mechanical in the CAD software, or they can be designed on the Board Outline Gerber layer. The following images show multiple options for both PTH and NPTH slots, first in a Gerber file view and then a 3D rendering of the resulting board.
If you have a question about hole shapes or sizes in your design, please feel free to Contact Us at any time and ask one of our PCB experts. With our flexible PCB Fabrication process at your disposal, never again will you need to fit a square peg in a round hole.
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Altium Plated Slots Machine
Plated and Non-Plated Slots and Cutouts
About this tutorial
This tutorial shows you the capabilities and what you need to do to achieve elongated holes, plated and non-plated slots and cutouts.
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- For Plated Slots a maximum length of 15.0mm (5/8 Inch) and tool diameter of 0.7mm (0.027in) to 2.5mm (0.098in)
- Non-Plated Slots have the same parameters as plated slots, except when they exceed the maximum length, then make sure they can be milled
- For Inner Millings, i.e. cutouts, use at least 1.8mm (0,07in) diameter and always confirm with our Board Viewer
Plated Slots
We support plated slots with a length of up to 15.0mm (5/8 Inch) and a width (or tool diameter) of 0.7mm (0.027in) to 2.8mm (0.11in).
Typical use case of plated slots.
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As we give a gurantee on our renderings you should always use the Board Viewer to check if plated slots are detected properly. Use the 'Highlight Drills' Button for this.
Enable drill highlight
This plated slot will be manufactured properly, shown by the orange color.
Eagle Users should always check if a slot was detected as plated or non-plated slot.
Non-Plated Slots
Non-Plated slots have the same minimum size as plated slots of 0.7mm (0.027in) and maximum length of 15.0mm (5/8 Inch). Please note, if the slot is longer it may be milled but in this case its diameter must be above 1.8mm (0,07in). Use the Board Viewer to check how your slot will be manufactured.
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'Milling Path' used to display milling of non-plated slot. In this case on a Raspberry Pi Hat.
Non-Plated slot highlighted in blue color.
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Same slot as shown above.
Cutouts
Cutouts will always be milled and may have any shape you like. A milling tool with 1.8mm (0,07in) will be used, because of this all cutouts need to have at least this size.
Cutout with milling path highlighted.