Technical Guidance: V-Cut Panelization Standards

For boards with regular shapes, V-cut panelization can be used. The processing method involves cutting V-shaped grooves of a certain depth into the cross-section of the panel, making it easier to split after component assembly. Due to the nature of V-cut, there may remain thread-like fibers after separation, which can be lightly scraped off. Due to the expansion and cracking of the material during separation, the outer dimensions of V-cut boards have a slightly larger tolerance (±0.4mm). PCBs connected using this method in panelization are referred to as "V-cut panelized boards" (currently, JLCPCB's standard SMT assembly supports V-cut panelization).

V-cut processing

Here are a few key points regarding our V-cut processing:

■ V-Cut Angle: 25 degrees.

■ V-Cut Panel Size: Length and width both need to be 70 mm or more.

■ V-Cut Connectivity: Rectangular boards can be connected on all four sides or on two opposite sides (the minimum width of the connecting edge should be 3 mm, and for board thicknesses of 0.8 mm and below, the minimum width of the connecting edge should be 5 mm).

■ V-Cut Direction: Can only be in a straight line (starting at one end and ending at the other, no skipping), and only double-sided V-cut, not single-sided V-cut.

■ V-Cut Routing Clearance: The copper layer, traces/solder pads, etc., need to be at least 0.4mm away from the V-cut centerline to avoid exposing copper or damaging traces during V-cut (in addition, try to keep mounting holes away from the V-cut line to prevent holes from breaking during separation).

In regular scenarios where V-cut is needed, there is no gap between the boards; for cases where V-cut is not used, the gap between two boards is 1.6 mm or 2 mm.

However, where V-cut edges coincide with routed slots, because the milling tool is circular and cannot reach inside adjacent boards, protruding acute angles can occur after separation. Customers can choose to manually remove these if necessary. If this is inconvenient, you can add a process edge of 3-5mm between boards to allow the milling tool to reach inside and remove the sharp angles.

Considering the requirements for SMT assembly, the appropriate panelization method should be chosen.

A) The distance from the fiducial to the board edge should be appropriate (JLCPCB's SMT requires a minimum of 3.85 mm from the center of the fiducial to the board edge) so that they are not blocked by SMT machine guide rails.

B) For components protruding from the board, empty slots (CNC) should be created on the process edge to facilitate SMT assembly.

C) For board areas that need to be milled out, please mark "CNC" on the same layer as the board outline.

D) For board areas that need to be V-cut, please mark "V-CUT" on the same layer as the board outline.

E) Board edges with arcs or protrusions should not be V-cut. Edges with recessions should avoid V-cut if possible and use milling instead to ensure there are no sharp angles in the recessed slots.

F) The minimum width for load-bearing connecting edges inside the board is 3mm.

Requirements

① For panel designs specified by the customer as text description or outline drawings without gerber files, we make our own adjustments for non-compliant positions (such as mouse bites, connection positions, clearances, etc.). Tooling holes and fiducials should be added by the customer. We do not add data that is not present on the drawings.

② For panel designs provided by the customer as gerber files, if they require tooling holes or fiducials, please add them yourself. Data not present on the drawings will not be added by us.

③ For customer-provided panel layout drawings where unit boards (or process edge) are not identical, our engineering team will by default adjust them to zero spacing panelization. For panels supplied as gerber files, we follow the file's specifications. Click here for more information.

A strong emphasis: To ensure that the PCBs match your stencil and fixture precisely, please download our engineering data from the system to create your stencil and fixture.

Example Panel Layouts

For more cases, please visit:  Panelization Issues with Irregular Shapes and Structures.