Hello,
The printer is fine for a couple PCBs with normal pitch, fine pitch (below .5mm) is a no go. The fact that you cannot fine tune the alignment makes it hard to use for bigger batches or fine pitch.
Plus you pretty much have to buy your PCBs through EC, you can mimic their system but it is by far not the most efficient.
The oven is not that bad (mine is one of the first revisions), but with time I think the convection is not working anymore (difference in temperature across the board), the internal temp sensor stopped working a few months after I bought the oven, and I think the temperatures are a bit off (I need to increase the temperatures compared to what the manufacturer advise to get a clean solder joint).
About customer service, we had a couple bad PCBs, that were sent along with the good ones (like order 10 PCBs, got 9 ok and 1 faulty), these were NOT marked by any means, so we thought everything was ok and assembled them, then spent quite some time analysing what was wrong. When we discovered one PCB was really bad, we called them and they answer was that we didn't check that we didn't want bad PCBs in panels (so that if they have a panel with good PCBs and a few bad PCBs they send it anyway so you can use the good ones). EXCEPT ... the bad one was not marked, so we couldn't eliminate it from assembly, plus the total PCB count was not ok then (ordered 10 PCBs, got 9 OK, why should I pay for bad PCBs
).
My guess is that they don't do the electrical testing as they advertise, so the bad PCB went through unchecked and they refuse to admit it and take their responsibilities.
So before if you work with them, do NOT trust every PCB or unmarked PCBs are ok ...
I get far better service (so fat) and lower prices with ellipse-tronic, plus it's not pooling, so if you need an option, you don't pay it for the entire production panel (EC is not that bad if your PCBs has absolutely no option, check an option and the price increase 10x ...).
At the end of the day, would I recommend buying their stuff ?
- Oven I don't know, it is not bad for the price, but maybe there are better options
- Stencil printer nope, stick with stencil-fix, it's 15€ and does the same job, if you need something beefier, look for uniprint or equivalent
- PCBs, look around, there ARE better alternatives, local supplier can probably make better stuff, and you can find the same quality for cheaper in China (but I'd advise not to work directly with them, find a company in your country that work with them, like ellipse-tronic).
Thomas.
PS : where do you live ?