I'm maybe going to use JLCPCB to order a PCB (if I get it finished), but I'm wondering about the minimal distance between the edge and silk screen text.
If I look at the capabilities:
https://jlcpcb.com/capabilities/Capabilities
I find regarding silk screen text:
- Minimal height (32 mils)
- Minimal 'line' width (6 mils)
The only item that comes closest is 'edge rails' (3 mm), but I doubt that's related. 3mm seems big.
I'm intending so place small text and close to the border like below. I used several font types, but I am just playing around with it; I like to use the smallest possible.
Best Answer
It depends on the boardhouse, but likely they can go all the way to the edge since routing (the board cutting kind) is done after silkscreen.
I often have silkscreen marks that go past the edge of the board (in the gerbers at least) and the boardhouses I use have no problem with it. The silkscreen goes right to the edge.
That said, if you are doing text, be aware of the tolerance to positioning so you don't end up with partial letters cut off.
Here is a recent example:
This is from PCBWay, a very low-cost Chinese boardhouse. Notice how they stop the silkscreen about 0.1 mm from the edge. They did that themselves, my gerbers have those lines go outside the board-edge.