Good to see! I've only had one occasion to need a 4 layer board for a mixed signal design, mainly because before PCBway they cost a fortune to prototype. Even with PCB way, the price jump tells me it is more difficult to manufacture. But having made some fixes to a previous prototype I recently had some 4 layer PCBs done with them to have on hand for my next build. I have not populated them yet, so I will be interested to hear what your verdict is electrically ,after you put some of them to use. Thanks for sharing this! i don't have anything awful like buried vias, but 4 layer bds still make me nervous.
Well we will see what happens
I went ahead with an order to pcbway, will see what happens. I ordered five of my PS regulator boards.
MI
I went ahead with an order to pcbway, will see what happens. I ordered five of my PS regulator boards.
MI
They're pretty quick. Ones the gerber files are approved and OK (I've had an issue with one set I sent them), things go pretty quickly.
It takes just over a week from sending the files to receiving via DHL, at least for me in the UK. Although I do get a tax import duty letter from DHL afterwards which has to be paid, but understand you lucky people in the US seem to escape from this...
It takes just over a week from sending the files to receiving via DHL, at least for me in the UK. Although I do get a tax import duty letter from DHL afterwards which has to be paid, but understand you lucky people in the US seem to escape from this...
They are actually working slowly. Your boards will be at your door 1 week from order date if you shipped with DHL.
I tried a couple Chinese PCB manufacturers the last 2 years, and my experience was never perfect. I have board sizes from 2 x 2 inches to 10 x 6. And they all have good offers for small boards, but the bigger ones make the difference. And I didn't find anybody cheaper than PCBway for those. My first experience with them was worst (see my older posting), but I never again had a problem. The quality is better than average, the silk screen is subtler than the one ITEAD does (my first choice for 2 years). I can't see a need to change the supplier. PCBway is fast (enough), boards are really cheap, also bigger ones. They deliver to Canada by DHL what is fast but expensive. I never had a communication issue. What they messed up with my first order they caught it up with all my last orders. I wonder why they have the same issue with DHL again and again (parcel is never scanned by DHL and will never arrive the recipient), and I think that's not a DHL issue but something went wrong with the shipping already in-house. But it happened only once and they produced my boards again after I complained and opened a PayPal dispute. So no worries for me.
PCBs in US, released by Customs, DHL says delivery on Tuesday, wow just wow. I ordered these Friday evening!
MI
MI
Can't tell for sure from your photos, but your board may have the same characteristic I observed on the boards I ordered back in January: The thru-holes are slightly off center on their associated pads. I don't have the equipment to measure the amount of eccentricity but it's probably within their advertised tolerance for hole locations.
Since these were hand-assembled prototype boards the hole locations aren't critical as long as they stay within the pad, but I can imagine a production engineer taking a look at those boards and suggesting that we be on the lookout for an alternate fabricator.
Dale
Strange, on checking their website, they don't specify accuracy / tolerances of hole placement. http://www.pcbway.com/capabilities.html
In my two sets of boards I received, they were pretty well centered, but I agree with MadInventor, the plated lips on the ends of the holes do stick out a bit and seem to go above the soldermask film.
In my two sets of boards I received, they were pretty well centered, but I agree with MadInventor, the plated lips on the ends of the holes do stick out a bit and seem to go above the soldermask film.
For a 1.6 mm, 2 oz pcb, it looks just fine. They will work great for my diy projects. The so-so slotted thrus I can fix with a file. The price is so much lower than any I have found. I have created version 2.0, will probably order some more, after I build/finish/test some.
MI
MI
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Never had any problems with PCBWAY, once they swapped the top silk to bottom silk, and that was a mistake from the gerber, and with that mistake, they sent me a new 20 PCBs free of charge.
I also ordered 4 layers PCBs, all works perfect, even the quality of the 4 Layers PCBs is much higher than the 2 Layers.
But Compared to the price and speed, this manufacturer is just perfect for my prototypes!
I also ordered 4 layers PCBs, all works perfect, even the quality of the 4 Layers PCBs is much higher than the 2 Layers.
But Compared to the price and speed, this manufacturer is just perfect for my prototypes!
My latest board just arrived. I cannot fault the speed. From placing the order last Thursday, going through approval, I paid for it on Friday. 4 days later, it's on my doorstep having travelled half way around the world!
Unfortunately, I made a mistake on one component and the drilled holes are a fraction too small. Safe option is to file down the component's legs, easy but riskier option is to enlarge the hole a tiny bit, but I don't know if this is likely to pull through the entire plating and effectively destroy the pads / tracks...
I've reworked a previous board a bit and it wasn't the best, but OK for maybe one or two component swaps, after that, the pads tend to come unstuck. I don't know how it's likely to react to a small drill...
But for the price, you really cannot complain. Half the cost is DHL shipping anyway!
Unfortunately, I made a mistake on one component and the drilled holes are a fraction too small. Safe option is to file down the component's legs, easy but riskier option is to enlarge the hole a tiny bit, but I don't know if this is likely to pull through the entire plating and effectively destroy the pads / tracks...
I've reworked a previous board a bit and it wasn't the best, but OK for maybe one or two component swaps, after that, the pads tend to come unstuck. I don't know how it's likely to react to a small drill...
But for the price, you really cannot complain. Half the cost is DHL shipping anyway!
Small update: I've enlarged the holes manually with a 1.5mm drill bit. This does mean that it's pretty much removed all the plating through the hole. However, the solder mask isn't the most resistive so with a sharp small point, I've been able to scratch and remove the mask around the holes, effectively enlarging the pads. The copper underneath seems robust and my scratching hasn't worn through it to the FR-4 board, so I'm happy with it until I do another batch of boards with the right hole / pad dimensions.
For a prototype job, it's actually quite handy 🙂
For a prototype job, it's actually quite handy 🙂
Unless someone can recommend a new PCB manufacturer, with higher quality at the same speed and same price & Quality, then I can switch to that one.
Else, I cannot see any other solutios for prototypes!
Else, I cannot see any other solutios for prototypes!
My second order of PCBs are being made right now, they were delayed because of my love/hate relationship with dip trace. Luckily I caught the problem before they started. I sent new files and paid $5 fee for them to remake their files, I could have lived with the old gerber file boards, but I have no problem paying the fee, for the board correction. The other pcb shops I priced wanted hundreds of dollars and 10 days.
MI
MI
I've got my 45th set of boards on order from them now. So far there's only been one error on their part, and it was just a set of through holes missing so it was easy to fix. I'm very happy with their service.
What kind of issues are you having with DipTrace? I had some problems when I started using it that I managed to figure out was caused by copy and pasting.
For one, they define hotspots for components with rectangles, when there are so many items within close proximity to each other you end up moving more or wrong components, which moved traces you may not of noticed. This would of been avoided, if they defined the hotspot as an outline of the component. I don't see options for layered components, like transistors on horizontal heat sinks, double mounting holes are flagged as an error. I do like dip trace a lot, but sometimes $%%@$.
MI
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