Please excuse my ignorance. Can someone tell me
what a framed solder mask stencil is?? My suspicion is that it is
a stencil that fits into some kind of contact frame like screen
printing but I have not found an explanation that makes sense to
me.? If I am correct then where does one find these contact frames
and what are they called?
I asked because I was looking to order some smt boards from one of
the Chinese board houses and for $7 I can get a frameless stencil
but for $9.20 or so I can get one for a frame.? To me it would be
ideal to have a frame since registration would be easier.
Also I have not figured out why all the board houses send a 380mm
x 280mm even if the board it is for is small like 32mm x 22mm and
that confuses me. Why isn't the stencil a few mm larger than the
pc board but not gargantuan like it is?
Again what are the solder mask stencil frames called and where can
I get one?? What is a stencil for frames compared to frameless??
Why are the board house stencils so huge compared to the actual
size of the pc board the stencil is for?