think this is the same the "How to Cover pad with solder mask" enquiry,

@kwilkin, "think this is the same the "How to Cover pad with solder mask" enquiry," Sort of. You _could_ achieve what you want by removing the solder mask aperture for the pad on the component side but in fact you cannot remove the solder mask aperture for a pad. The post you refer to: [https://easyeda.com/forum/topic/How-to-Cover-pad-with-solder-mask-846ed3c8aa034f0bb04b0fb7e37d606f](https://easyeda.com/forum/topic/How-to-Cover-pad-with-solder-mask-846ed3c8aa034f0bb04b0fb7e37d606f) which in turn refers to: [https://easyeda.com/forum/topic/Add-No-Solder-Mask-No-Paste-Mask-to-PAD-properties-0064b6e7b87c43aab911b81f9a0a2e57](https://easyeda.com/forum/topic/Add-No-Solder-Mask-No-Paste-Mask-to-PAD-properties-0064b6e7b87c43aab911b81f9a0a2e57) explains a way to replace a pad for which you cannot remove the aperture, with a solid region of copper for which no aperture is created. There are ways to do what you ask but in practice the real answer is simply to get more practice in soldering and to save up and buy a better soldering iron and tip(s). Accepting that this may not be practical in your case, here's a workaround. For each component you are going to use, clone its PCB Footprint and save it with a suitable name such as `DIP8_minimalpads` then re-dimension the through hole pads so that they have the smallest allowed copper annulus ( i.e. reduce the outer diameter of the copper ring around the plated-through hole). Then go round every pad and place a larger Bottom Layer (surface mount) pad over the centre of every pad. This gives a bigger annulus on what will be the solder side of your board. Set the Number attribute of the new pad to be the same as that of the pad over which you have placed it. Save the new footprint. Then for each symbol in the schematic replace the name in the **Package** attribute with the name of your new reduced pad version. Then when you do Convert to PCB... (or Update PCB... / Import Changes...) all the modified footprints will be pulled in to the PCB. You will find this helpful: [https://easyeda\.com/andyfierman/Welcome\_to\_EasyEDA\-31e1288f882e49e582699b8eb7fe9b1f](https://easyeda.com/andyfierman/Welcome_to_EasyEDA-31e1288f882e49e582699b8eb7fe9b1f)

Sorry to confuse: I was using an LCSC login when I replied above.

Thanks for your help, i'll take a look at this and work through it.

For detailed help on how to make PCB Footprints and Schematic Symbols, please see: [How to create findable Footprints and searchable Symbols](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZRkPPMID68mBz9j9RMIJARNSXK12PDULZXP7kiThvDg/edit?usp=drivesdk)