Learning to Speak ‘Fab’

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

Over the years, I’ve seen many PCB designers make DFM mistakes. At DownStream, I work with design and fabrication, and sometimes it feels as if the two segments are speaking completely different languages. But once designers learn to speak “fab,” many of these DFM challenges disappear.

I taught a class at PCB East 2024, “The 21 Most Common Design Errors Caught by Fabrication (and How to Prevent Them),” with my co-presenter Mike Tucker of Millennium Circuits. At PCB West 2024, we presented an updated class, “10 (More) Common Errors in PCB Design and How to Catch Them.” Is this an evergreen topic?

Design007 Editor Andy Shaughnessy and columnist Kelly Dack attended our PCB West class, which was packed with designers and design engineers, and many of them had questions. When Andy asked me to contribute an article on the most common miscommunication errors made by PCB designers, I said, “Sign me up.”

You Know the Drill

Let’s start with the drill chart shown in Figure 1. It seems like a normal drill chart at first. But take another look. What is a “finished drill size” anyway? Do they mean hole size? What’s the difference?

To read this entire article, which appeared in the March 2025 issue of Design007 Magazine, click here.