Kicad footprints and milled slot or feature layer

Design Tools and Resources
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When I search for milling, I get milling machines. When I search for router or routing I get something to do with traces.

I’m looking for Digikey’s convention for the Kicad board layer where milled or milled-out features for a footprint are drawn and then exported for pcb manufacture.

For example, digikey part number 1684-1001-ND has a smt carrier board with the component sticking thru the board 0.073" according to the datasheet. The datasheet shows the recommended footprint with a ‘routed-out’ feature that will allow this part of the component to stick thru the ‘mother board’ and allow it to be soldered down. This feature is missing in the current Digikey Kicad library and I’m attempting to add it. I’m assuming, without searching, that this issue has happened with other parts and I’d like to know if there is a convention as to which Kicad layer these milled-out features are drawn on. It makes sense that they should be part of the component footprint…Any info or experience would be helpful before I just ‘try something’ and work it out with the board house.

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\ 45x45 Kristof_2649 DigiKey Employee
November 19

1684-1001-ND

Internal routing depends heavily on preferences of the PCB manufacturer, who would often give instructions on which layer to use and how to communicate where the cuts are to be placed and this often comes down to looking through the PCB manufacturer’s FAQs and/or having a conversation with them directly on design for manufacture.

Try using internal edge cut layer to do this and labeled sections but you’d likely need to communicate that the internal routing is an area to cut out, labeling ‘cut out’ in another layer like F.Fab/B.Fab or the Silkscreen layer.

Sometimes the PCB manufacturer’s recommend using different layers. They’re panelizing boards and their request is to save their operators time setting up the job.

Here’s a KiCAD thread on the subject: https://forum.kicad.info/t/panelising-internal-edge-cuts/164