Hi Austin- Not that it helps, but it's a breeze in VeriBest. I don't know how you'd do it in Allegro, but I'm still in the steep-ish part of the learning curve with Cadence tools. Since the pads ARE the pins, I see no way other than by doing as you said - building custom padstacks with all the possible inner layer combinations, then manually editing each through hole. And having never tried that, I don't even have a guess what the planes and drc's would do. I'd be afraid of inner layer shorts I couldn't see. Maybe if you made pads the size of the drill (not the finished hole) instead of no pads, then suppressed them in gerber, you'd get the right effect with your planes and drc's. -Chris "Austin Franklin" <austin@xxxxxxxxxxxx> @ To: <icu-pcb-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> VALSMTP cc: Sent by: @VALSMTP Subject: [PCB_FORUM] Re: Removing unused pad rings on inner layers DURING design... 03/31/2005 01:03 PM Please respond to icu-pcb-forum Hi Oleg, > I think during design you do need pads on all layers in order to > have proper > DRC. There is no design requirement to have pads on all layers, only when they are connected to a trace on a particular layer (outer layers aside). With the pad ring removed, the clearance is not trace to pad, but trace to drill instead. This gives a lot more routing room between vias. As I mentioned, I do this very thing routinely, but with custom pad stacks. And, as you note, this is routinely done during fabrication as well, so why can't the tool do it during design (or can it, and that's my question)? Regards, Austin ----------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe/unsubscribe: Send a message to icu-pcb-forum-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with a subject of subscribe or unsubscribe To view the archives of this list please login at //www.freelists.org. Our list name is icu-pcb-forum or go to //www.freelists.org/archives/icu-pcb-forum/ Problems or Questions: Send an email to icu-pcb-forum-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Want to post a job listing ? DON'T DO IT HERE! Better yet, join our jobs listing forum. SUBSCRIBE: icu-jobs-forum-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxx POST: icu-jobs-forum@xxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------------------- "This e-mail message is intended only for the use of the intended recipient(s). The information contained therein may be confidential or privileged, and its disclosure or reproduction is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please return it immediately to its sender at the above address and destroy it." ----------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe/unsubscribe: Send a message to icu-pcb-forum-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with a subject of subscribe or unsubscribe To view the archives of this list please login at //www.freelists.org. Our list name is icu-pcb-forum or go to //www.freelists.org/archives/icu-pcb-forum/ Problems or Questions: Send an email to icu-pcb-forum-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Want to post a job listing ? DON'T DO IT HERE! Better yet, join our jobs listing forum. SUBSCRIBE: icu-jobs-forum-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxx POST: icu-jobs-forum@xxxxxxxxxx -----------------------------------------------------------