ELECROW rant, or how ridiculously they screwed up a panel + crappy solder resist

[wraper]

So now it's a big rant time  :

Rant No. 1, this one is just a facepalm. How big idiot one needs to be to do this kind of stuff  . Moreover they managed to screw up the delivery too without asking.
So they modified my panel in a way it no longer matches the stencil which was ordered in the very same order (as different item, though, as I needed to select a thickness I want).
So I designed a 150x200 mm panel with 20 PCBs in each and ordered 10 of them. This seemed to be optimal for my assembly flow, and I needed exactly 200 PCBs. Technology edges were only 5 mm wide to fit into 15x20cm size pricing because didn't want to pay significantly more for nothing. Didn't care if the panels will be flimsy as they will be hand assembled anyway (but with some tooling). So what they did:
They increased the width of the technology edges from 5.5 mm to 7.5 mm while at the the same time keeping the same same size of the panel. How did they manage to do this? Well, they squeezed the PCBs separated with the V-grooves a bit closer to each other. Individual PCB shapes are a bit damaged too, in many of them V-groove had cut into the copper because of the insufficient distance between them. Dickheads in one word. Did they even think why do I order a predefined panel, because I want to assemble it as a panel  . Ughh... So now I have 200 PCBs which are a real PITA to assemble. I could try to cut the stencil, to try to apply the solder paste to each row individually but not sure if it's worth the hassle. What the hell, if you don't like thin technology edge, just send a message about it.

Rant No. 2: They shipped with DHL (which I like to avoid like plague for international shipping) regardless of that Airmail was selected (price was close, though, because of the significant weight). Those PCBs were not urgent and I needed to wait some time until some parts will arrive anyway. This resulted in a 3 hour trip to the customs  . Probably this was done because they were delaying those PCBs even behind their Chinese holiday schedule. But what the hell, if you want to change something, please ask. Moreover the address was PO box to which DHL is not able to deliver anyway.

Rant No. 3: Their free color solder resist sucks. As for now have seen this issue on black and red. Seems that they are using crap film resist with inferior adhesion, so it is like bitten around the pads, check the last picture. So now I stick with green and blue which don't seem to have this issue.

[free_electron]

On the red board the soldermask is also misaligned...

[T3sl4co1l]

Tell them they didn't follow the drawing (you provided the drawing, right?) and expect either a full refund or a redo to spec.

Tim

[wraper]

Tell them they didn't follow the drawing (you provided the drawing, right?) and expect either a full refund or a redo to spec.

Tim

Will certainly do this. But why I need to go around in circles and lose my time in the first place  . That move was just beyond stupid IMO.

[zapta]

Tell them they didn't follow the drawing (you provided the drawing, right?) and expect either a full refund or a redo to spec.

The problem is often the time lost, a week or two.

I made ~10 orders from elecrow. One time they caught a problem in my PCB and contacted me. In other times they modified is slightly (e.g. changing a large solder paste hole to a grid) but it worked just fine. I always select the DHL shipping, it's the best I have used so far, 48h door to door, no extra fees and a very detailed tracking event list. They are my PCB vendor of choice for orders that are too expensive with OshPark.

[wraper]

I always select the DHL shipping, it's the best I have used so far, 48h door to door, no extra fees and a very detailed tracking event list.

Yeah, it is fast. Actually It arrived to Latvia the same day elecrow send an email about dispatching. The customs procedure is what kills it. There are two ways: I go to the customs and do the clearance myself and pay taxes with a credit card there, or either pay 25 Euro extra to DHL, make 2x of the paper work, then wait a few days more for clearance. If I would need them fast, most likely I would use EMS option.

[wraper]

Spend half an hour to make a set of really ergonomic solder paste printing jig and taping, then spend 10 secs per board to print them. Totally about an hour.

I'm now trying to do a jig to print 4x pcbs in row at a time. I don't want to break out the boards because it will be PITA to hand solder connectors and switches afterwards as they need to be precisely aligned. as elecrow sent 12 panels, I guess if discarding 40 of PCBs will get about 200 which don't have significantly damaged into the copper by misaligned V-groove. What a pain in the ass. Well, if tey'll send me replacement PCBs, probably, I could receive a one more order of these devices in 6-12 months tho they won't be needlessly collecting dust.

[miceuz]

I'm constantly ordering from Elecrow, one time they screwed up by not v-cutting individual boards in the pannel, replaced the order really fast. I'm doing 5mm tooling strip and that never got modified. One thing to note - I'm doing "Small batch" orders (50 boards), I think "Prototyping" orders are handled in a bit relaxed "how ya doing" way, I'm not even sure if they support v-cut by default in Prototyping orders - it's random, one time you get the boards v-cut, another - not.

[wraper]

I'm constantly ordering from Elecrow, one time they screwed up by not v-cutting individual boards in the pannel, replaced the order really fast. I'm doing 5mm tooling strip and that never got modified. One thing to note - I'm doing "Small batch" orders (50 boards), I think "Prototyping" orders are handled in a bit relaxed "how ya doing" way, I'm not even sure if they support v-cut by default in Prototyping orders - it's random, one time you get the boards v-cut, another - not.

Of course they support V-cut (panelising is paid option). Moreover, regarding the price, I could order 50 pcs 10x10 cm panels with 4 PCBs in each for approximately the same price, this was solely for assembling convenience.

[wraper]

Grrrrrr... Seems that issues didn't end with that only. Now found 2 very nice "repairs". WTF they just couldn't mark them as bad. First one was noticed when few parts were already put on it. it had has very high probability to short out while reflowing. That would cause a short on USB power.

[wraper]

Update:
So in the beginning Elecrow offered to make a new stencil to match the panel or refund stencil cost. Said that distance between the boards was too large for V-cut. Which of course is a complete BS, as the distance was 0.8mm, exactly as recommended on their own website. They reduced it to what seems to be 0, therefore V-cut was made in PCB area. After explaining that it is a BS, and panel was made according to their own guidelines, they will make new PCBs after all.

There are two methods that I can supply to solve this problem.
First, How about we fabricate the stencil and ship it to you again?
Second, we refund the stencil fees to you again and you can order it again with your next order.
We will send the PCB engineer changed gerber file to you for next batch PCB/stencil fabrication.
Which method do you like us to deal with it?

I arranged the PCB into fabrication again yesterday.
It should be shipped to you in the next 2 days.
Really sorry for causing inconvenience to you.
If there is any questions or needed, please feel free to contact us.