Really Cheap PCB fabs & Chinese fab PCB comparator.

[johm]

Found this while searching for PCB fabs/assembly/stencil/aluminum... It smells a bit BS ... No proper reviews and prices are really Dirt Cheap. Don't know about the quality. Any opinions or past experience?


www.allpcb.com --> PCB fab comparator.
www.allpcb.com/pcb_manufacturer/JDB_Tech.html one of the cheapest, not bad looking boards.

What do you think?

[rea5245]

I can't speak to the integrity of AllPCB's comparison, but I will say that my PCB price-comparison site, PCBShopper.com, is not owned by any PCB manufacturer, does not play favorites between manufacturers, is in no way pay-to-play (i.e. the companies in the price comparison did not pay to be there), and strives to include the best-known companies in Asia, North America, and Europe.

- Bob Alexander

[george graves]

I can't speak to the integrity of AllPCB's comparison, but I will say that my PCB price-comparison site, PCBShopper.com, is not owned by any PCB manufacturer

Very helpful tool - thank you!

[richardlawson1489]

Don't have any personal experience with allpcb. Check with pcbway, technotronix, pcb123.

[twiddle]

I had positive experiences with ALLPCB with the two orders I placed with them.
Quality was good and the price competitive, quick turnaround on a customer support rep liaising between me and the factory to clear up any issues regarding gerbers etc. Factory screwed up and made 4x my order volume on one of the orders, sent me the extras at no extra cost.

6/6mil spacing, ENIG, 2 layer board from WMD Circuits


6/6mil spacing, HASL, 2 layer, from HQPCB
(sorry, away from home at the moment so no bare board/not half-assembled shot of this design currently)

I use a combination of ALLPCB and PCBShopper to compare prices for my designs with a fair bit of success.

[wraper]

www.allpcb.com/pcb_manufacturer/JDB_Tech.html one of the cheapest, not bad looking boards.

Dunno about allpcb but JDBpcb is real, it also hides behind pcbgogo, pcbway and 3pcb names.
Also seems that spammer from allpcb might be present in this tread.

[Kean]

I have same feeling like you at first. And I tried ALLPCB for my 2 layers boards.
Excellent customer support from them. Cheap and good quality.
Maybe you can have a try.

Tomas, I don't think you're unbiased.  Three of your 5 posts on EEVblog have recommended AllPCB 

[Kean]

Allpcb was mentioned in another thread, and a 4 week turnaround to Australia.  That sounds pretty rubbish to me, but it depends what he paid for.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/manufacture/can-anyone-recommend-a-cheap-easy-to-deal-with-pcb-manufacturer/msg1114572/#msg1114572

[technotronix]

Check with Allpcb, pcbshoppers. Also why don't you go with US PCB comparator?

[Simon]

Those prices seem quite cheap. They are about half the price of PCB cart. Do I really dare to risk an order of 2 designs at 50 boards each?

[rea5245]

Those prices seem quite cheap. They are about half the price of PCB cart. Do I really dare to risk an order of 2 designs at 50 boards each?

I did a search on the PCB price-comparison site, PCBShopper.com, for prices on 3 boards, 2 layers, 2"x3". Prices ranged from about $9 to $165. PCBCART came in at $28.

So yeah, there's a wide range of prices. I've ordered from several of the cheap manufacturers and have always gotten satisfactory results. But all my boards are just two layers with low-frequency electronics; they're not very demanding.

If you're worried about trusting a company with two orders of 50 boards, do a small initial run to check their quality.

Disclosure: I run PCBShopper.

- Bob Alexander

[Simon]

I don't even see PCB cart in the list of my quote. Do they trade as something else as well ? I think the actual company is called "general circuits". I'm really on the fence now as I can get a significant price reduction on some of those suppliers.

[rea5245]

I don't even see PCB cart in the list of my quote.

You mean on PCBShopper? They appear there as PCBCART. You can sort the list alphabetically by clicking on the "Company" column header - that might make it easier to spot them.

If they're still not appearing, it's possible that you specified something for your board that PCBCART doesn't provide. What are the board spec's you entered?

- Bob Alexander

[Simon]

Hi Bob

95x85 1oz blue screen I have the same quoted by them, your site does not have an option for board thickness, this makes a big difference in pricing as once you go below 0.8mm price go up.

[rea5245]

Looks like I had a bug with PCBCART and non-green soldermasks. Try it again.

- Bob

[Simon]

yep works. Any reason why when I put in for 55 it gives me 75 ? I know PCB cart will do 55.

[rea5245]

It was giving you the prototype price, and PCBCART does prototypes in specific quantities like 50 and 75. Try it one more time: it should now check both Prototype and Standard pricing and give you the cheaper one.

Every now and then, a manufacturer changes their web site and PCBShopper no longer gets prices correctly from that vendor. I often don't discover it until a user draws my attention to it. Thank you for prompting me to examine the PCBCART code.

- Bob

[Simon]

ok so it works for PCB Cart, what about the others ? one even only offers for 100, many have defaulted to 75, I know one only does in set multiples but is that the same all round ?

[rea5245]

Many manufacturers limit you to specific quantities on their web site order forms instead of letting you enter an arbitrary number.

- Bob

[Simon]

you generally get what you pay for. I normally use PCB cartt and they are good, I used another that was 2/3 the price and while the boards were usable they were certainly not of the standard PCB cart delivers.