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How to make a through hole pad other than circular shape in Eagle?

I need an elongated circle / elliptical sort of pad. This is the best I could achieve:

Oval pad

This is what I did:

1) Made polygons on Pad layer, tStop layer and bStop layer.

2) Made a cutout polygon on Dimensions layer.

However I was unable to connect a pin to this while making the device. So, I added 4 pads so that their drill overlapped exactly with the area I wanted to be removed from my elongated pad. (I needed 1 pin to be connected to this but I added 4 pads so that their drills will ensure that whole central area gets removed even in case fab house doesn't make the cutout on dimension layer.)

I'm still not sure this will work though. Is there any better way to make a pad with elongated / square / random shaped drill?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Some designers and/or fabricators do much like your example and drill multiple adjacent holes. This can be an advantage if there is no other milling work as the CNC drill can make the slot if the sides do not need to be flat/smooth. \$\endgroup\$
    – KalleMP
    Nov 12, 2018 at 17:29

1 Answer 1

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Place the pad. Right click on it and open its properties. In the drop down menu for "shape", select "long".

enter image description here

Now you have a long pad.

enter image description here

If you also need the hole in the pad to be non-circular then you have to either make a cutout or a mill callout.

Cutout

Use the "cut out" layer to draw the shape you need. With the board shop I work with, at least, the minimum width of the cut-out is 100 mils.

The easiest way to do this is to draw a 100 mil wide line where you want your cut-out. You can either select the "cut out" layer before drawing the line or move it to that layer after it's drawn. It'll look something like this:

example cutout

A full tutorial (where this image is from) is available at OSH Park, who will also make the boards for you rather inexpensively.

If this won't work for you, contact the board house you plan to use and ask them how they want such a feature specified. For instance, if you need the cutout to be less than 100 mils wide, or you need it to be plated, ask your board house.

Mill Callout

As described on the linked guide. A mill call out is a box drawn around a drill hole on the "mill" layer. Again, you'll need to check with the boardhouse on what exactly they'll do with the callouts you've made, there is a chance they'll simply ignore them.

enter image description here

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Does that mean, I simply make an elongated pad and elongate the circular drill just by drawing a cutout on the pad itself? \$\endgroup\$ Nov 24, 2015 at 20:09
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Whiskeyjack Yes, make sure there is a drill hit inside the mill callout. \$\endgroup\$
    – Samuel
    Nov 24, 2015 at 20:11

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