Solder Mask for 'Holes'

[jtilley]

Does Ultiboard place Solder Masks around 'Holes' (as placed by Place->Hole)? It would appear that it does not. Is there a way to change this without going back through a design and hand placing the top and bottom soldermask for each hole I have on a board?

Ultiboard Power Pro Edition, Version 10.0.343

Thanks,

James

[lacy]

I don't see a way of making the generic hole to do what you need. You can select holes from the database that automatically place a solder mask down when placed. This is the only thing I could come up with.

I hope this helps.

Have A Nice Day

[Tien_P]

Hi James,

In the Design toolbox on the left side of you screen click on the Layers tab, place a check mark in the Soldermask layer box.  The area that will be exposed (area where you are able to solder) should have an indicator, look at any pad and you will see it.  When you select Place>>Hole Ultiboard does not cover the hole with soldermask and if you want to expose it, double click on the Soldermask layer in the Design toolbox to make it the active layer and then select Place>> Hole>>Circle and draw a circle above your hole.

[lacy]

I don't mean to step on your explaination Tien, but I believe he was looking for something that would do it automatically and/or globally. I couldn't find a way of doing this other than the way you explained it with the default hole, but placing holes from the database automatically places the soldermask. That's about all I could come up with that would do things automatically instead of maunual placement of the masks.

As far as your procedure goes, couldn't you also select the Solder Mask Layer as the Active layer and then use the Place>Shape>Circle or would that cause problems later?

While I am here, I need to ask another question concerning this. How does one create a custom hole? Is it the same as creating a footprint?

 I have been using the ones from the database and they have been doing fine, but it useful to know this information just in case there may be a need of a custom hole at some point.

[Tien_P]

Sorry that I misunderstood the question.  When you place a hole while in the main work area you will have to manually place the Soldermask if you want it expose, a soldermask setting does not exist.  If you want the soldermask to be part of the hole, you have to create hole a save it to your user database and just like any footprint footprint.  It think there should be a solder mask check box when you select Place>>Hole while in the main work space and I will create a feature request for it.

[lacy]

Thanks Tien. As always you are Da Man. We greatly appreciate your insight and knowledge.

Have a Very Nice Day.