[chbot] pcbzone.net boards (The review...)

[Richard Jones]

Hi Chris,

Many thanks for the review, much appreciated.
I'm not making any PCBs at the moment, but when I do I'll be going straight
to the Chch Robotics archives for the low down :-)

Richard

On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 9:50 PM, Chris Hellyar <chris at trash.co.nz> wrote:

> Last reply to myself on this one. :-).
>
> The small 'test' boards turned up today at home from the pcbzone folks:
>
> http://logicalit.biz/forumimages/101124-panel.jpg
>
> They would have been here yesterday if I was in the city, but I put my
> RD address on there for delivery.  Will use my work address in CHCH next
> time around.
>
> The boards were sent by NZ couriers, in a panel per the image, wrapped
> in tissue, in a bubble-bag and then inside the courier bag. Full marks
> for shipping.
>
> The boards are nicely made,  routing and drilling is clean, etching is
> sharp and mask is good quality.  The screening is sharp and doesn't
> easily scratch off like some of the really cheap boards I had done in
> Asia when I was manufacturing.  (And from my previous NZ based pcb
> supplier, one of the reasons for trying a new one.)
>
> Interestingly there's five sizes of hole, and the website says to keep
> it to three, that's my bad for not noticing when I was proofing the
> board on screen.  On the plus side, nice to see they didn't delay the
> boards and come back to me requesting I change them.
>
> And speaking of holes, they're all plated through which is interesting.
> I assume because they stuck my boards on the end of a panel with some
> double sided ones as the whole top surface has been etched away.  (See
> first photo, silver edging is the top later copper)  Up side, they're
> plated through, down side, desoldering on prototypes more likely and
> desoldering pth holes is sometimes a pain.
>
> I also didn't notice on screen that my solder mask margin was a bit
> large, although not a big deal as I don't have any tracks going through
> the 805 SMD stuff on the copper side.
>
> On the soldermask the registration is out a little, in the order
> of .25mm maybe?  Not a show stopper on this board, and I'm going to
> assume that part of the issue was my huge mask margin as one corner of
> the square pads lines up perfectly with the mask.  Smaller margin next
> time around me thinks.. :-)
>
> Hi-res of both sides of the boards for those interested:
>
> http://logicalit.biz/forumimages/101124-copper.jpg
> http://logicalit.biz/forumimages/101124-comp.jpg
>
> The transaction side of the process was pretty smooth. I used paypal,
> the site worked, and the email sent back as confirmation had enough
> detail to be useful.
>
> The only thing missing was the magical words GST receipt/invoice.  The
> confirmation email has the GST number, but is missing the bits that make
> the accountant happy.
>
> The website doesn't give you order/board history, or a re-order feature
> which would be handy, but otherwise it's functional and to the point.
> Upload the files, pay your money, and go.  Says it all really. :-)
>
> One thing I felt that was missing that would have been nice is an email
> once the boards had been panelled up to let me know they were going to
> manufacture, although 4 working days is not a long time there is always
> a little bit of 'fear of the unknown' when sending digital files off for
> manufacture and a bit of reassurance that they at least pass the eyeball
> test would be nice.
>
> Once again, for someone reading this long after the fact their customer
> service before the order was also good as I made an inquiry about
> comparability with kicad plot files, and they happily took a test file
> and sent me back a PDF proof.
>
> Now, to go dust off the toaster oven, errr, reflow soldering system, and
> assemble one of these wee beasties and see if I laid it out
> correctly! :-).  (And to see how many of those sodding smd resistors I
> drop on the carpet the workshop while hand-placing them!)
>
> So there you go.  Boards are good, service was good, price was fair for
> low volume / prototype work and my only real gripe would be no
> communication after the upload & sale confirmation to let me know I
> didn't send them useless files.
>
> I'm happy enough to be now intending to send them some larger / more
> complex boards in a few weeks..  Thanks for the pointer Mikael.
>
> Cheers, Chris H.
>
> On Tue, 2010-11-16 at 08:36 +1300, Chris Hellyar wrote:
> > Replying to myself, because that way I can pretend to have
> > friends..  :-)
> >
> > I just uploaded a small (40x33mm) board to pcbzone about 10 mins ago.
>
>
>
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