This idea wasn't directly brought up via the recent Twitter/HaD discussion (maybe it was and I missed it,) but I got to thinking of the potential feasibility of a snapaway(™? haha) footprint.
To elaborate: The snapaway flavor of the D-E footprint would live on a small dongle protruding from the side of the target. The protrusion is only connected via a very small bridge of FR4, just wide enough for the traces to head back to the PCB proper. When the target is no longer needed to be "debugged" (say, being put in an enclosure, test units being transformed for production, etc,) the D-E header can be snapped off, thanks to the drills on the small bridge (like fabs would typically use for depanelization.)
A crude non-artist's rendition:
Obviously this would add to overall board space, which could be a concern to cost per board (esp in those that bill by overall rectangle size,) but would offer a reasonable use case for projects that look to be able to go directly from a "debugable" to production design.
PTHs could also be placed on the traces headed out to the D-E, allowing those who seek a "pogo pin jiggable" design for production, allowing them the best of both worlds.
This idea wasn't directly brought up via the recent Twitter/HaD discussion (maybe it was and I missed it,) but I got to thinking of the potential feasibility of a snapaway(™? haha) footprint.
To elaborate: The snapaway flavor of the D-E footprint would live on a small dongle protruding from the side of the target. The protrusion is only connected via a very small bridge of FR4, just wide enough for the traces to head back to the PCB proper. When the target is no longer needed to be "debugged" (say, being put in an enclosure, test units being transformed for production, etc,) the D-E header can be snapped off, thanks to the drills on the small bridge (like fabs would typically use for depanelization.)
A crude non-artist's rendition:
Obviously this would add to overall board space, which could be a concern to cost per board (esp in those that bill by overall rectangle size,) but would offer a reasonable use case for projects that look to be able to go directly from a "debugable" to production design.
PTHs could also be placed on the traces headed out to the D-E, allowing those who seek a "pogo pin jiggable" design for production, allowing them the best of both worlds.