Have you considered V-scoring the boards?  USing this method, the boards beark
apart cleanly.  The down side is that you can't have connections across the
score area.  Oh yeah, the scoring must extend all the way across the panel,
which can impose some limitations if you're panelizing different sized boards.

Jon




On Thu, 12 Apr 2007 17:48:14 -0500, PicDude wrote
> Hi all,
> 
> I'm trying to learn about panelizing -- general how-to's, rules, 
> tips, etc.  I am not looking for a tutorial on how to use Eagle to 
> duplicate the boards, etc, but really *what* I should do when panelizing.
> 
> Currently I am re-laying-out a panel of small boards (which was 
> panelized by a CEM originally), but I want to do this in advance now 
> and then send it out for quoting to different board houses.  I'm 
> looking for info on if/how any of these are possible, and anything 
> else I should know... - I want to add 2 pads to each *panel* (not 
> each individual board) for power connections so that I can test the 
> whole board at once.  The firmware on each board is already setup to 
> run a self-test on initial power-up. - Are there general guidelines 
> for how wide the breakaway points should be, and how far I should 
> space the holes so that they're well supported during assembly, but 
> breakaway easily? - Also, I want to move the breakaway holes so that 
> the "burrs" left over on each individual PCB after separating them 
> do not extend outside the perimeter of the individual PCB's. - I 
> also know I'll need fiducials, but is 2 enough? - Etc, etc, etc.
> 
> Links, pointers, info appreciated.
> 
> Cheers,
> -Neil.
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