Hi Chris,<br><br>Many thanks for the review, much appreciated.<br>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 :-)<br><br>Richard<br><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 9:50 PM, Chris Hellyar <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:chris@trash.co.nz">chris@trash.co.nz</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
Last reply to myself on this one. :-).<br>
<br>
The small 'test' boards turned up today at home from the pcbzone folks:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://logicalit.biz/forumimages/101124-panel.jpg" target="_blank">http://logicalit.biz/forumimages/101124-panel.jpg</a><br>
<br>
They would have been here yesterday if I was in the city, but I put my<br>
RD address on there for delivery. Will use my work address in CHCH next<br>
time around.<br>
<br>
The boards were sent by NZ couriers, in a panel per the image, wrapped<br>
in tissue, in a bubble-bag and then inside the courier bag. Full marks<br>
for shipping.<br>
<br>
The boards are nicely made, routing and drilling is clean, etching is<br>
sharp and mask is good quality. The screening is sharp and doesn't<br>
easily scratch off like some of the really cheap boards I had done in<br>
Asia when I was manufacturing. (And from my previous NZ based pcb<br>
supplier, one of the reasons for trying a new one.)<br>
<br>
Interestingly there's five sizes of hole, and the website says to keep<br>
it to three, that's my bad for not noticing when I was proofing the<br>
board on screen. On the plus side, nice to see they didn't delay the<br>
boards and come back to me requesting I change them.<br>
<br>
And speaking of holes, they're all plated through which is interesting.<br>
I assume because they stuck my boards on the end of a panel with some<br>
double sided ones as the whole top surface has been etched away. (See<br>
first photo, silver edging is the top later copper) Up side, they're<br>
plated through, down side, desoldering on prototypes more likely and<br>
desoldering pth holes is sometimes a pain.<br>
<br>
I also didn't notice on screen that my solder mask margin was a bit<br>
large, although not a big deal as I don't have any tracks going through<br>
the 805 SMD stuff on the copper side.<br>
<br>
On the soldermask the registration is out a little, in the order<br>
of .25mm maybe? Not a show stopper on this board, and I'm going to<br>
assume that part of the issue was my huge mask margin as one corner of<br>
the square pads lines up perfectly with the mask. Smaller margin next<br>
time around me thinks.. :-)<br>
<br>
Hi-res of both sides of the boards for those interested:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://logicalit.biz/forumimages/101124-copper.jpg" target="_blank">http://logicalit.biz/forumimages/101124-copper.jpg</a><br>
<a href="http://logicalit.biz/forumimages/101124-comp.jpg" target="_blank">http://logicalit.biz/forumimages/101124-comp.jpg</a><br>
<br>
The transaction side of the process was pretty smooth. I used paypal,<br>
the site worked, and the email sent back as confirmation had enough<br>
detail to be useful.<br>
<br>
The only thing missing was the magical words GST receipt/invoice. The<br>
confirmation email has the GST number, but is missing the bits that make<br>
the accountant happy.<br>
<br>
The website doesn't give you order/board history, or a re-order feature<br>
which would be handy, but otherwise it's functional and to the point.<br>
Upload the files, pay your money, and go. Says it all really. :-)<br>
<br>
One thing I felt that was missing that would have been nice is an email<br>
once the boards had been panelled up to let me know they were going to<br>
manufacture, although 4 working days is not a long time there is always<br>
a little bit of 'fear of the unknown' when sending digital files off for<br>
manufacture and a bit of reassurance that they at least pass the eyeball<br>
test would be nice.<br>
<br>
Once again, for someone reading this long after the fact their customer<br>
service before the order was also good as I made an inquiry about<br>
comparability with kicad plot files, and they happily took a test file<br>
and sent me back a PDF proof.<br>
<br>
Now, to go dust off the toaster oven, errr, reflow soldering system, and<br>
assemble one of these wee beasties and see if I laid it out<br>
correctly! :-). (And to see how many of those sodding smd resistors I<br>
drop on the carpet the workshop while hand-placing them!)<br>
<br>
So there you go. Boards are good, service was good, price was fair for<br>
low volume / prototype work and my only real gripe would be no<br>
communication after the upload & sale confirmation to let me know I<br>
didn't send them useless files.<br>
<br>
I'm happy enough to be now intending to send them some larger / more<br>
complex boards in a few weeks.. Thanks for the pointer Mikael.<br>
<br>
Cheers, Chris H.<br>
<br>
On Tue, 2010-11-16 at 08:36 +1300, Chris Hellyar wrote:<br>
> Replying to myself, because that way I can pretend to have<br>
> friends.. :-)<br>
><br>
> I just uploaded a small (40x33mm) board to pcbzone about 10 mins ago.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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