PCB Manufacture

I often read in the NG's about the dissappointments some have in using off-shore PCB manufacturers. Well, heres some good news!! - and this is NOT spam.

For the past few months I have been using PCB Cart (

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) - I came across their name through another posting on a NG.

Recently I placed and received an order for 200 pieces and had requested WHITE solder mask. The boards arrived GREEN.

So I thought "Here goes, just another 'don't care' "outfit. So I emailed them about the problem. Within an hour or two I received a relpy email wherein they acknowledged their mistake and took responsibility, indicating they would make good the order at their cost.

Five days later, I received via DHL the 200 WHITE boards - SURPRISE, SURPRISE!

So, full marks to PCB Cart and their service. The quality of their work equals their service, and pricing is fair.

Hopefully this post will benefit others looking an opinion when looking for for a quality reliable honest PCB manufacturer.

Regards.

Reply to
Farticus
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Thanks,

I just run quick quote by them. For prootype (2 layers), they are more expensive than Futurlec, but may be good to use for small production runs and 4 layers PCBs.

Rudolf

Reply to
Rudolf

How big were these boards and roughly what was the cost? How many layers etc?

I've never had any problems with PCB manufacturers, ever. The only slight problem I had was when then got a few decimal points wrong about the accuracy you could go to when you had tracks passing via's that resulted in a few shorts.

Reply to
MisterE

using

Pardon me if I have got this wrong, but SOLDER MASK is the layer which protects the outside copper layer/s and prevents solder going where it shouldn't. If you asked for a WHITE SOLDER MASK they probably thought "what kind of a gook request is this? If we make the SOLDER MASK white, what colour are we going to print the component overlay?"

In my experience SOLDER MASK default is usually GREEN and component overlay text is WHITE. (unless otherwise specified).

Reply to
Ross Herbert

Which is exactly what he did apparently. (specify otherwise that is)

MrT.

Reply to
Mr.T

Well, not exactly, he didn't. In order for your supposition to be accurate the OP should tell us what colour he specified for the component overlay text. If he simply told the PCB manf he wanted white solder mask and didn't specify the overlay color then what are they going to do? put white text on white solder mask? I don't think so....

Reply to
Ross Herbert

Re-read the word "apparently".

Since the job was re-done at the manufacturers cost including express shipping, I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. Not that I really care anyway.

MrT.

Reply to
Mr.T

There was/is no text. The boards need to be white as they are used in a lighting application etc. etc. etc. as specified by my customer. At the PCB Cart Website you have the option to choose the colour of soldermask - I chose, as explained, white. The boards measure 100 x 20 (mm) and the total delivered cost was +/- US$170.00 Take a look at their site and run a dummy quote to find out all the options.

Cheers.

Reply to
Farticus

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Thanks for the clarification - strange that there was no component overlay for such a quantity though. Some customers make decisions on perceptions of cost saving which are completely incorrect. Having to continually refer to printed sheets for component placing during stuffing wastes more time and money than the cost of having an overlay in my opinion. It also helps later on for repairs and maintenance.

My concern was because I had seen a similar situation where the ordering officer in my section provided conflicting specifications with an overseas manf and due to the difficulty in both language and the means for immediate contact (there was mo email then), the manf just made a "guess" which meant the order was wrong and had to be done again - with some argument of course.

Reply to
Ross Herbert

In this case there are minimal components, plus it is a 'never' to be repaired item (throw away) plus and most importantly the slightest distraction from white, even text, impedes on the final required result of the performance of the PCB - too complex to explain here.

It is not a mandatory requirement that PCB's have a text overlay - that is a decision of the designer etc. etc. PCB's start from a 'raw' single sided board (no solder mask, overlay and so on) through to multilayer masked complete with overlays etc. It's all depends on what you want/require/need/cost etc. etc. etc. etc........

Reply to
Farticus

Now you've got my curiosity piqued...

What is the application and why "even text" degrades the function?

Why...?

--
John English
Reply to
John E.

I just got some PCBs in from our usual Taiwanese manaufacturer (speedy circuits) and the white overlay had a funny purple tinge to it. Looked really trippy against the gloss black solder mask. Speed live up to their name though, 7 different 4 to 10 layer board designs delivered on my desk in 4 days from Taiwan. Amazing.

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

Hi Dave, how are their prices?

Reply to
Geoff C

Cost per square inch/cm?

Reply to
dmm

I have only used them for high end short turn stuff, so don't have a figure for run-of-the-mill stuff yet. But a board I sent today is

300x200mm 8 layer, 5/4 clearance, immersion gold with all the trimmings, and it was US$400ea + US$600 setup for a 3 day turn. So not exactly hobbyist pricing. But they appear to work round the clock, even sending emails at 2am their time, and you really do get the boards in 3 days to your door from Taiwan.

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

PCBcart offer Green, Blue, Red, Black, Yellow and White solder mask as standard options in their on-line quote drop-down box. Along with White, Black, Yellow and Red silkscreen. So it wasn't a "gook request".

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

I've just ordered some boards from PCB Cart. I really like their online ordering system, works superbly and allows you to easily optimise your pricing based on QTY and all sorts of options. Gold finish was only a few cents more per board so I went with that. Easy payment by PalPal which I like, and file upload is simple at the end of the order. File is held online so you can simply reorder if needed.

Will report back on how it turns out, but I'm impressed so far.

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

I just got my first job back from PCBcart and I am impressed. Quality is very good (for the price), I got exactly what I asked for (with unusual options like 0.8mm material, gold plate, black solder mask, and slots), and got it the exact day they said I would get it. All boards are marked as being electrically tested as well.

Everything went smooth as silk - got my online quote, uploaded gerber files, got confirmation email with day it would be shipped, payed by PayPal, they shipped the day they said they would ship (and you can check progress online), and I got the package the day they said I would. I also got the tracking number and was able to track the package online to my doorstep.

The only thing I didn't like was that they added the "UL 94V-0 mark right on the top side overlay were I didn't want it.

I'll be using them again for sure.

Dave.

Reply to
David L. Jones

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