Standardized drill size and minimum trace width

Hi,

I’m writing this to ask you some question about PCB kicad and footprint.
I’m working on my board which contain an STM32F407VG “LQFP100”, Ethernet PHY “LAN8720 /” and micro-SDcard…., I will order my board from oshpark and this is my first professional board (I made before many homemade PCBs) and I have some questions:

1/ I’m creating the through holes footprint for the crystal with HC49/US Package. In the datasheet I found that the Component foot is about 0.43(±0.125) in mm.
So when I create the footprint I put the exact same size for drill or there are a standardized size drill, and if 0.43mm drill size exist did you recommend me to put the same size or increase it a little bit to be sure that the component foot will fit in the hole.

2/ I have a question about via, the VIA in the PCB will be interconnected automatically and no need to put solder between them like I made in my homemade PCBs.
And the default via in kicad “Via 35.mils” generate automatically a VIA without hole, is that normal??

3/ in the Design rule of the manufacture Oshpark they can make a 6 mil minimum trace width, so I’m thinking making all my circuit with 6 mil except the power supply circuit 5V/3V/GND. Is that correct??? I’m worrying if that width can’t handle enough current. How can I make sure??

  1. Always use bigger holes! I found a HC49 footprint with 0.8mm holes (sounds sensible).
  2. The via holes are not shown during layout. They should be visible in 3D mode + gerber files.
  3. Use whatever trace width you need, but not smaller than 6mil.

thx madworm,

1/ yeah me too i found it in the kicad library with 0.8mm.

i made also the ethernet connector footprint for the J00-0045NL http://datasheet.octopart.com/J00-0065NL-Pulse-datasheet-8636335.pdf
in the datasheet page 2 they drawn the footprint and holes sizes. should i also use a bigger hole or just let them as in the datasheet.

2/ now i just tried the default via and no holes as usual, but i went to the Design Rules Editor menu / Global Design Rules and i add the diameter and drill size for Via 1, and now when i choose it from the menu and place it the hole appears.

3/ yes i think i’ll use 6mil for all tracks except the Power supply. after searching in the web i found that the 6mil can carry about 0.5 / 0.4 amps which is above of my current limit

It might be a good idea to go slightly higher than manufacturers minimum for trace width( If your design allows that, of course). I haven’t tried myself but I have see people having problems with small tracks.