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I'm wondering if it's possible to score a PCB (such that I can easily break off the scored section) while still being able to have traces going across where the score would be. I have a rectangular board, and I'd like to have a little edge connector tab on the side of it for temporary use, with the ability to just snap it off at a certain point. Is this possible?

I'm picturing something like a v-score on one side, while the traces go along the other, but I have next to no experience with PCBs so this is all conjecture.

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Yes, this is possible.

It's commonly done to provide a temporary test fixture. In the attached example the traces are on internal layers connecting the temporary board connector used for testing. After testing the connector is removed and the traces are broken.

enter image description here

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Does this technique have a name? Will it be adequate for production boards too, or only testing? In my use case, I need several boards having (only) a number of sensors (phototransistors) ranging from 1 to 8, and using this technique will allow me a single design which I can then snap, rather than designing many. Do you know which PCB vendor(s) support it (if you are allowed to say)? \$\endgroup\$
    – Davide
    Jan 4 at 23:16
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Normally FR4 boards are V-grooved on both sides so your connections would be broken by the V-groove (well, unless you can get them close to the dead center of the board on an inner layer of a multilayer board).

http://www.ami.ac.uk/courses/topics/0254_padep/images/Purves10b.gif

You can use "mouse bites" with a single thin trace across each.

http://www.ami.ac.uk/courses/topics/0254_padep/images/314_ecc.gif

You can combine mouse bites (routed/drilled), V-groove and routing to get some smooth sides, some snap-off sides, and a few traces brought out.

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