I was going to comment that I make all pads as small as the design rules allow, unless they're used for structural support.
Then I read the rest of your email. I think there are two considerations: 1. How big is the tip of the average soldering iron? I think the annulus should be at least as big as the tip width, so that it's easy for the user to heat the annulus. 2. How structurally sound does the annulus need to be? A bigger annulus is harder to heat, but that also means it's harder to delaminate. New users may appreciate this if they need to fiddle with the joint more than average. _______________________________________________ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user