I should say first that they give up to $50 of credit for good reviews, so that should explain a large portion of the overwhelmingly positive feedback I've seen.
I recall reading the specs at some pcb fab and noted that they had separate data for white soldermask that was worse than the other colors.
Can it be that the white pigmented color is flowing and adhering differently during application than the others? But why?
You've chosen to use tented vias* here, which may be worth avoiding in future from this fab. Most PCBs you see in "real products" have non-tented vias, which is handy for debugging, and also avoids issues like these.
Actually, I just noticed that this is your first post here...
So the color of the mask definitely affects the end result.
You've chosen to use tented vias* here, which may be worth avoiding in future from this fab. Most PCBs you see in "real products" have non-tented vias, which is handy for debugging, and also avoids issues like these.
Having said that, the solder mask being inside larger non-tented though-holes is pretty poor.
* Vias covered up by solder mask.
I'd say it's possible to avoid many problems when doing a *proper* PCB.
1) VIAs on the PADs? Seriously? Blind VIAs would be OK, but definitely not through hole, since all the solder would go through the hole to the other side.
2) Why do you cover the VIAs anyway? Leave them open anywhere possible, so it's easy to debug the PCB by touching the VIA using scope probe.
3) It would be interesting to see the Paste Mask Gerber file.
Other than that:
the service is crappy. Not even the solder mask issue, but the drills are crappy. I see different hole sizes and it doesn't seem to be Gerber issue?
I decided to try out PCBWay
You've chosen to use tented vias* here, which may be worth avoiding in future from this fab. Most PCBs you see in "real products" have non-tented vias, which is handy for debugging, and also avoids issues like these.
Having said that, the solder mask being inside larger non-tented though-holes is pretty poor.
* Vias covered up by solder mask.
I would disgree, tented vias seem to be the norm these days.
To be fair, I'm sorry to say but your layout doesn't look very good.
Likely, it's possible to make reasonable-to-good boards with their process, making some allowance on design rules. This is standard; there is no absolutely consistent spec that all manufacturers will adhere to, and ultimately it is your responsibility as the designer to work with the capabilities of the board house you're ordering from.
The IPC has some standards, which most manufacturers adhere to. But ultimately, it's as with any other purchased part or contract: you tell them what you want, and you decide if what you received is satisfactory or not.
That said, obviously, the better producers will try to make things better than spec, not marginally at it. So we get the answer to the question we had already guessed: "do you get what you pay for?"
Economics aside... how's the soldermask strength? Is it weak and easy to chip away, or tough and strong? Do you have a micrometer capable of measuring the foil thickness? (Peel some off, somewhere.) What's the peel strength, good? After scraping off the soldermask and peeling up a corner, does the rest come up easily under the soldering iron, or is it fairly adherent while hot?
Tim
I decided to try out PCBWay (http://www.pcbway.com/) to make the boards for a school project. They are incredibly under-priced and seemed too good to be true. About $130 for five (minimum order) 120x75mm 4-layer boards with ENIG finish. I wanted to check out their quality before we decided to switch over for a slightly larger run (300+ boards) of a different project.
Why do you say they are underpriced? Looking at pcbshopper.com, that price doesn't seem that great. You could have gone with Elecrow or Seeed.
Why do you say they are underpriced? Looking at pcbshopper.com, that price doesn't seem that great. You could have gone with Elecrow or Seeed.
Their turn time is comparatively a bit better and they provide a lot of opportunity for store credit ($50 favorable review, $25 per referral, etc.)
That said, it was not the most educated decision on my part, as I had discovered pcbshopper the week after I placed my order. I was in a hurry. Many lessons learned.
How is the quality, in your experience, with Elecrow? Have you done any fine pitch and small vias?