Are there Standard Drill Sizes for PCBs?

[TheRuler8510]

Are there standard drill sizes that should be used for PCBs, or is any size OK?

I'm using OSHPark, but what about other board houses too?  I am not clear on how it works. Suppose I put in some oddbball size--will it be rounded off to some standard size?

I don't see any references to this issue.

Thanks,

[ampdoctor]

I've never used OSHPark so this is more of a general answer. Anyway, back in the day when dinosaurs roamed the earth mfg's had standard cnc drill racks. Any deviations from the standard was an up charge. The racks were fairly broad and allowed for just about every standard part, so if you came up with an oddball size chances are you screwed something up.

These days it doesn't seem to be the case any longer. Every house I've dealt with over the past few years just asked me to provide the finished hole size and they'd make the adjustments as part of the setup. If you don't see any references to how they want to handle things, it would be prudent to shoot them an email and find out what they want. better to be safe than sorry.

[zapta]

I've never used OSHPark so this is more of a general answer. Anyway, back in the day when dinosaurs roamed the earth mfg's had standard cnc drill racks. Any deviations from the standard was an up charge. The racks were fairly broad and allowed for just about every standard part, so if you came up with an oddball size chances are you screwed something up.

These days it doesn't seem to be the case any longer. Every house I've dealt with over the past few years just asked me to provide the finished hole size and they'd make the adjustments as part of the setup. If you don't see any references to how they want to handle things, it would be prudent to shoot them an email and find out what they want. better to be safe than sorry.

OSHPark panels include a mishmash of boards from many designers, mostly non professionals so my guess is that they approximate to a predefined set of standard hole sizes.

[avaldezc92]

Normally I use the size of the standard tools.

[Dago]

If I recall correctly the factory we tend to use the most has drills in 0.1mm increments. I think it was from 0.1 or 0.2mm up to something big (6 or 10mm or something).

[Mattylad]

A bit late but...

AFAIK Drill bits are now only available in 0.05mm increments.
Do not use imperial drill sizes, they will be converted to metric & the nearest.

As told to me by several PCB manufacturers front end guys.

I try to keep to 0.1mm increments and when I can use common sizes to reduce my drill count and the number of drill changes. Although as the drills are done by a machine it does not matter much as it only takes a few seconds to change but every second helps