[SOLVED] I am furious - Ordered PCBs are defected.

[Asim]

Yea, all good.
My only grind is the slow communication( 2 days for each reply)

That's why I suggested ordering elsewhere. Usually you'll get your problem fixed but will lose significant time in the process. Time zone difference with China does not help either.

I did order elsewhere to avoid any extra delay

Also, time difference between me and china is 4 hours only

[Asim]

@wraper - so you mentioned PCBWin earlier as the best you'd seen from China. Do you use them exclusively now or is there anyone else you'd recommend? I've had numerous boards from ITEAD over the last couple of years and always been happy with the quality, although I'm never running too close to their DRC limits.

I will update you with the quality after I receive my batch as I did order from them

[wraper]

@wraper - so you mentioned PCBWin earlier as the best you'd seen from China. Do you use them exclusively now or is there anyone else you'd recommend? I've had numerous boards from ITEAD over the last couple of years and always been happy with the quality, although I'm never running too close to their DRC limits.

I've made 2 quiet big orders with them. Have not ordered any PCBs since then yet. As I check all of the PCBs under microscope after reflow, can say no shit noticed whatsoever. If nitpicking, sometimes small misalignment with layers (noticeable on the vias on bottom side, always perfectly in the center on the top), but that was perfectly acceptable and far from breaking annular rings. Of course this does not guarantee future orders will be as good. But with other fabs there always were at least some small imperfections here an there. If ordering ENIG, there are layer of paper between the boards, HASL don't have.

[wraper]

ITEAD over the last couple of years and always been happy with the quality, although I'm never running too close to their DRC limits.

In the past I made a few orders from them for around ~$500 in total. Cannot say I was impressed with quality in any way but boards were functional and IIRC without showstopper flaws unlike Elecrow.

[Asim]

@wraper - so you mentioned PCBWin earlier as the best you'd seen from China. Do you use them exclusively now or is there anyone else you'd recommend? I've had numerous boards from ITEAD over the last couple of years and always been happy with the quality, although I'm never running too close to their DRC limits.

So, the new PCBs arrived in a week ( fastest order I got so far).
the quality is good & the customer service is also good.

Happy with the service   

[digsys]

I've used PCBWin a few times now. OK it's not the razor-sharp photo quality I get from local or big-name places, but so far, they've been pretty good.
I have 200+ pcbs to check tomorrow, so stay tuned :-)
ONE damn GRIPE though. I've always had a gerber v-grove layer, and a routing layer (usually the board edge layer. Their auto-checker rejects it.
Tried a few times, different ideas, no luck. Sent emails and test pcbs, and still they can't tell me WTF? One one design, they v-groved all the panel pcb outlines !!
Does anyone know how to present V-Grove info?

[wraper]

Does anyone know how to present V-Grove info?

I just put outline, slots and v-groove to mechanical layer with comments what is what.

[Siwastaja]

Does anyone know how to present V-Grove info?

There is no widely used standardized way. It is always specified by the fab. Normally, it's on the website. If such info doesn't exist, and the fab cannot provide it even when asked, the fab is only usable by random pure luck.

[digsys]

.. I just put outline, slots and v-groove to mechanical layer with comments what is what ...

Yup, did all that, and tried other ideas. The auto-checker rejects it ! Maybe Siwastaja is right - pot luck ! :-)