gEDA-user: A doubt about umplatted holes.

[Xtian Xultz <xultz@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello folks! A good week to everybody!

Friday I was talking talking with my pcb fab about unplatted holes. 
The way PCB does about platted and unplatted holes makes me think that the way 
fabs do is to drill the platted holes, plate the board and the holes, print 
the sides, etch, and then drill the unplated holes, am I right?
My vendor dont do so. 
They have only two CNCs to drill boards, and drilling is the most time 
consuming in the fab process. And a CNC is too expensive. So, making two 
drill process (for plated and unplated holes) is a great problem.
But, he does unplated in this way: if you put a via, with a circle in both 
sides (like a normal via), the plating stays in the board even next the etch 
process, but, if the via does not have the circles, i.e. they are only a 
drill, the plating are etched! I dont know why, but it works! So, what I do 
here is just a copy and paste from the drill coordinates from the unplated 
drill file to the plated drill file.

My question is, are there more fabs that works so? Would it be a good way to 
have an option to where the unplated drill go (what file)? Or am I the only 
one that do this in this kind of way?

With best regards to everybody

Xultz
Curitiba - Brazil