gEDA-user: PCB paste layer, revisited.

[DJ Delorie]

> Please explain this ps-bloat setting, sounds useful.

ps-bloat offsets all edges by a given amount (100 = 0.001") to
compensate for offsets made by the process (printing, etching).  In
your case, if you needed the laser to run 5 mil inside the pads, you'd
set the ps-bloat to -500.  Of course, it only affects postscript
output.

Maybe you could write a laser-paste exporter?  Then, you could ask the
user for the offset they need, and output whatever language you need
to run the laser directly.

> OK, I will look that up, it sounds related.  But there is a reason I 
> thought that paste should be detached from pads, and that is that for 
> some cases you may not have 1:1 correspondence between pad and paste 
> shapes.

That's why multi-pins have paste and mask specified separately from
copper, for each layer.

> I'm advocating for a true paste layer. What's an anti-paste layer?
> Do I want one of those, too?

anti-paste removes paste.  Thus, you could use anti-paste to cut up a
big thermal pad, or not put paste on unpopulated parts.