In the footprint editor, I’d like to be able to see visually how big the paste is compared to the pad overall. Unfortunately, F.Cu is red, and F.Paste is a very slightly different shade of red. I changed the color of F.Cu and F.Paste to two radically different colors by middle-clicking on them in the sidebar. However, my SMT pads still show up as red.
How can I visualize what portion of the pad is paste?
Sprig, For most components with exposed pads, its wise to have a limited amount of paste to prevent solder being squeezed out and shorting on an adjacent pin.
In the OpenGL Canvas, clicking on the footprint highlights the colour difference, or in the component editor, clicking on the paste layer on the layer list increases the contrast of that layer.
Well, specifically I am looking at footprints with thermal pads, and I want to be able to see the subdivided paste. (Basically, the multiple pads are supposed to merge into a single pad on the copper layer, but remain separate on the paste layer.)
It won’t work. In the oven the paste will be spread throughout the single pad.
Instead, make some small pads with the same number connected by tracks or by a copper zone.