Update: my latest design despite being told was "ok" by my sales rep has had an issue when plugged into their manufacturing tool.
She promptly came back to me with some attachments saying "this doesn't look normal".
Err, no it doesn't!!!
Strange thing is that the application's gerber view and the really nice online gerber viewer had no issues and showed the boards perfectly.
So on the positive side, it looks like there is a visual check of the design once plugged into the machines at their end and anything that looks wrong is flagged.
She promptly came back to me with some attachments saying "this doesn't look normal".
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Err, no it doesn't!!!
Strange thing is that the application's gerber view and the really nice online gerber viewer had no issues and showed the boards perfectly.
So on the positive side, it looks like there is a visual check of the design once plugged into the machines at their end and anything that looks wrong is flagged.
I have the same sort of problem when I convert Corel Draw .cdr files to Autocad .drw files. With mine it has to do with how the software defines a radius. It happens the same way. Everything looks good until the file gets converted for the laser cutter. Possibly the same sort of thing is happening here.Update: my latest design despite being told was "ok" by my sales rep has had an issue when plugged into their manufacturing tool.
She promptly came back to me with some attachments saying "this doesn't look normal".
Err, no it doesn't!!!
Strange thing is that the application's gerber view and the really nice online gerber viewer had no issues and showed the boards perfectly.
So on the positive side, it looks like there is a visual check of the design once plugged into the machines at their end and anything that looks wrong is flagged.
I think it happened as a result of "moving" the edges of the pour in Zenit software. I played around, tweaking the existing one and then submitting that. Maybe the files contained some informatio that upset their systems. I redrew it cleanly from scratch, resubmitted, and they've confirmed it's fine.
Hmm nasty surprise this morning: invoice from DHL for the first batch of boards I've ordered.
They have this completely wrong and have calculated the value to be more in GBP than I paid in USD! I'm really annoyed by this because I provided all my details to PCBway to then provided all that information to DHL so my gripe is with DHL and not with PCBway.
For those who have ordered boards, have you received any invoices from DHL as a result, whether US, UK or elsewhere?
They have this completely wrong and have calculated the value to be more in GBP than I paid in USD! I'm really annoyed by this because I provided all my details to PCBway to then provided all that information to DHL so my gripe is with DHL and not with PCBway.
For those who have ordered boards, have you received any invoices from DHL as a result, whether US, UK or elsewhere?
I always get an automated phone call and a text from DHL the day I have a delivery coming telling me I have fees owing. The product value is never accurate. Sometimes shipping is included in the product value so I am paying duties on shipping as well. They don't miss a chance to squeeze a couple extra dollars out of you.
I'm happy with "a couple of dollars".
But I paid a total of $58: 30 for boards, 25 for shipping, 3 for paypal.
Bill is for roughly $36: $20 for tax, $15 admin charge.
But I paid a total of $58: 30 for boards, 25 for shipping, 3 for paypal.
Bill is for roughly $36: $20 for tax, $15 admin charge.
I'm not sure how it works there but here you should be paying tax and duties on the $30 for the boards and tax only on the shipping and brokerage fee. $15 is their normal brokerage fee. That order would normally cost me around $30. Tax is 13% here. Duties seem to be some random number usually. That depends on what they decided to class the product as.
The $25 shipping fee is my only beef with PCBWay. That's the price for overnight shipping from everyone else. This is what they charge for 3 day shipping.
I have also okay experience with pcbway, my production Price was doubled AS the homepage qoute displayed. I payed 100$ for 10 boards including 25$ shipping and 50$ for Danish import duties.
All in all great service and good quality and cheap prices.
All in all great service and good quality and cheap prices.
I'm curious what kind of board specs evoke a $75 fee for 10 boards. The largest boards I've ordered so far were still all 2 layer. The longest was about 200MM x 45MM and it cost me about $45 for 20 boards, and another 100mm x 64mm cost me about $35, also for 20.
But yes, the shipping from China is annoying. The way to beat it seems to be to place as many orders at once as you can. Last time, the shipping difference between 1 order and 6 orders was only a couple of dollars (USD), which makes it much more palatable.
Grouping orders is always a good idea. All the brokerage fees and shipping remain close to the same price to Canada. It drops the finished price per board substantially.
I ordered pcb's for Kypton C and slewmaster 2P boards,measurements 70•100 and 77•160mm size. yes i received separate invoice from DHL to pay 50$ For Danish taxes🙂
I never received any invoice from DHL. The only payment I made for the entire order, (including shipping, taxes, currency fees, etc) was the online credit card payment I made to PCBWay when I first placed the order.
(More comments about shipping at Post #100: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/parts/263300-pcbway-ordering-experiences-10.html#post4190263 .)
Dale
Thanks all for you replies.
I guess it depends where you're based. European people seem to get invoices from DHL, US don't.
I guess it depends where you're based. European people seem to get invoices from DHL, US don't.
Well I must say I'm very impressed... at least visually, and in terms of delivery time. Electrically remains to be seen, but a close up with my jewelers loupe gives me little doubt. Certainly despite my concern over the language barrier with my rep, I'm pretty sure now sure their engineering department can read English and follow instructions very well! My control panel and a few other "mechanical" boards were a very pleasant surprise too, as I was sure of several potential misinterpretations. Nothing quite like a late day delivery that ends up being the highlight of my engineering day. There are some minor issues I can deal with, but I can honestly say that not one of them were PCBway's fault.
One of the boards I ordered has a couple of problems, and so I've asked them to re- do them. It will be interesting to see how cooperative they are, etc., and I'll let everyone know. One of the issues is that some very small holes were not drilled all the way through. These were non plated holes, more a convenience for visual alignment then a necessity, but it still should be corrected. The other problem is that even though all of my plated holes used for components are both plated and coated with HASL, none of the vias are (see image below.) Ignore my note about the vias being not plated... they all conduct fine from side to side, but the HASL coating is definitely missing.
One distressing thing, based on this I think I would now hesitate to send them a 4 layer board and if I did, certainly no buried vias!. How would I ever inspect? But my question for all of you is this: Do you think its OK for me to use a few of these boards, or will I be asking for trouble. I guess I'm concerned that without the HASL layer, the plated through vias might lose some longevity?
One distressing thing, based on this I think I would now hesitate to send them a 4 layer board and if I did, certainly no buried vias!. How would I ever inspect? But my question for all of you is this: Do you think its OK for me to use a few of these boards, or will I be asking for trouble. I guess I'm concerned that without the HASL layer, the plated through vias might lose some longevity?
One of the boards I ordered has a couple of problems, and so I've asked them to re- do them. It will be interesting to see how cooperative they are, etc., and I'll let everyone know. One of the issues is that some very small holes were not drilled all the way through. These were non plated holes, more a convenience for visual alignment then a necessity, but it still should be corrected. The other problem is that even though all of my plated holes used for components are both plated and coated with HASL, none of the vias are (see image below.) Ignore my note about the vias being not plated... they all conduct fine from side to side, but the HASL coating is definitely missing.
One distressing thing, based on this I think I would now hesitate to send them a 4 layer board and if I did, certainly no buried vias!. How would I ever inspect? But my question for all of you is this: Do you think its OK for me to use a few of these boards, or will I be asking for trouble. I guess I'm concerned that without the HASL layer, the plated through vias might lose some longevity?
I don't think vias are normally tinned. I usually have mine covered with soldermask. They are actually good about redoing boards if there's an error but they will try to add the replacements to another order to save them the shipping. They and likely almost all of China are shut down for Spring Festival until next week.
What are you using the vias for? Cable connections? test points? My worry would be without the plating to "sandwich" any solder, there's a chance they could loosen over time, particularly if the board / wire is subject to vibrations.
My second gen board arrived last week and I'm happy with the results as my design now works 🙂 But I did have one connector come out when I pulled on the cable a bit too hard. I pushed it back in and haven't had another look at it - my guess is it's a weak solder joint, but a bit worrying if the PTH doesn't have that much resistance to physical pressures...
edit: silly question but could your software have produced non-plated vias? Do the gerber files have plates around the vias?
My second gen board arrived last week and I'm happy with the results as my design now works 🙂 But I did have one connector come out when I pulled on the cable a bit too hard. I pushed it back in and haven't had another look at it - my guess is it's a weak solder joint, but a bit worrying if the PTH doesn't have that much resistance to physical pressures...
edit: silly question but could your software have produced non-plated vias? Do the gerber files have plates around the vias?
I was just comparing these to other boards they made for me that came in the same shipment, and the others are all tinned. Like I say, I wouldn't care, but shouldn't the bare copper plate-through have the added protection of being sealed off in some way? And certainly the added layer would decrease any resistance through the VIAs, right? maybe I'm overthinking this.
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