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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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18 years ago

PCB question

I am almost done with my PCB design, the "soldermask" pretty much doubles the price for the 2 prototype boards. How criticial is that for a first project? Can I solder it all together without the mas...
Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
18 years ago

That depends on the nature of the solder land patterens that you need to solder to.

The solder mask is used to control how far solder will reflow up the trace lengths.

If you are real good with a fine pointed soldering tool you should be OK.

(If you are really that concerned with costs, then make sure you stay in school so that some day you will make lots more money and not worry about those sort of things.:) )

Let us know how it turns out.