How to chamfer a PCB edge connector

Question

Hello,

I am wrestling with a problem creating a new library device. It is an edge connector, and the manufacturer recommends a 45 degree chamfer on the PCB edge see http://www.samtec.com/documents/webfiles/cpdf/MEC2-XX-XX-X-D-DV-X-FOOTPRINT.pdf

Presumably this is to help the PCB guide properly into the connector and I am not sure how to do this, I am a relative newbie to EAGLE but not CAD software. Creating new parts was no problem till I hit this.

Could someone share their secret?

thanks in advance

Former Member · Accepted Answer

Paul Anderson wrote: Hello, I am wrestling with a problem creating a new library device. It is an edge connector, and the manufacturer recommends a 45 degree chamfer on the PCB edge see http://www.samtec.com/documents/webfiles/cpdf/MEC2-XX-XX-X-D-DV-X- FOOTPRINT.pdf Presumably this is to help the PCB guide properly into the connector and I am not sure how to do this, I am a relative newbie to EAGLE but not CAD software. Creating new parts was no problem till I hit this. Could someone share their secret? thanks in advance No secret. Eagle isn't a mechanical design package. Anything that involves more than plunging a router or drill bit through a thickness of PCB material involves making fab notes on the fabrication print and communicating the necessary work to the board house. Even board thickness needs to be communicated in that fashion. For that connector, I'd lay out the package footprint as Samtec describes, and then make a note in the symbol description stating how far back the origin of the symbol should be from the edge of the board. When I placed that symbol I would then know how far back from the board edge to place it to account for the chamfer (Samtec has already done the math for you to provide the proper pad clearance). I would then make a copy of the chamfer drawing Samtec provides somewhere on the fabrication print, using lines, arcs, whatever, and referencing the appropriate edge of the PCB. I'd add a fab note to that effect as well. Finally, I would communicate with the board house that a chamfer was required when I submitted the board for production. At pretty much every board house I use a chamfer is a 'full-featured' custom PCB quote (along with the necessary gold plating, which is another fab note.)