Postby kenyee » May 02 2013, 10:07 AM
[quote="vputz"]
Kenyee: Actually as it turns out the footprint I used didn't have solder mask, so I can't blame the PCB folks. But this was the footprint adapted from Adafruit's 32u4 breakout board, so I'm going to ask if they really don't have solder mask on their 32u4 chips.
[/quote]
? AFAIK, footprints don't include solder masks. They only define footprints, outlines, and keepout areas for routing.
Maybe the design rules you loaded for the board layout were a bit too safe?
In EagleCAD, there are also 44 pin TQFP ATMEGA32 parts in the Atmel cadsoft library and in the Sparkfun library. The Sparkfun library doesn't have keepout areas defined so if you really think the solder mask is in the footprint, you might want to try that.
I read up a bit more on usb connectors and apparently mini-usb has the least # of insertions before failure :|
Microusb has the most, but it's prone to ripping off the board :D
Still can't believe they designed the microusb footprint like that.
Did another dig for usable parts and found this one from FCI:
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/10103593-0001LF/609-4049-1-ND/2350356
http://portal.fciconnect.com/Comergent//fci/drawing/10103593.pdf
At least they added a shield notch so you can see the damned pins from above. I don't know what the manufacturers of these parts are thinking :roll:
There are also a few different through hole micro-usb parts, but they're all stand-up parts (90 degrees to board)....nothing parallel to the board. They'd be a lot easier to solder and work with obviously.