Author Topic: Allpcb - global free shipping! (Read 41888 times)

soubitos · « **Reply #125 on:** January 23, 2018, 03:41:17 pm »

Quote from: asmi on January 23, 2018, 03:30:18 pm

I think you guys are expecting a bit too much from manufacturer who has to cut all corners it can in order to break even with such low prices. You get what you pay for. As long as they are functional, it should be good enough.

I ordered mine when they had the free shipping offer. For that price these boards are more than ok...
If their quality is this though because as you say, they have to cut corners then simply, there is no need to not order with someone else who actually offers better quality, does not cut corners and still is cheaper (much cheaper with their current prices)

Yes, i am becoming a jlcpcb funboy (they play nice and deliver good quality at good prices) and NO as is, i would not order from Allpcb so easy in the future unless for prices like those i ordered this time and only for something i would abuse and keep "in house" or hide deep in some case.... I have not soldered the pcbs yet but but i am curious how they "take" soldering and perhaps some abuse!

Another thing i noticed is the pcb material... looking at the sides of the pcbs, allpcb boards look "whiter" and as if the material is crossed inside in layers. Jlcpcb on the other hand appear darker, almost brownish in color and you barely can tell its layers in there, plus the edges are "smoother"

alexig · « **Reply #126 on:** January 25, 2018, 10:36:58 am »

I have been using Elecrow for the past 6 months but they removed their special pricing for 5x5cm boards so I started looking elsewhere and found Allpcb, decided to order 30 of 5x5cm boards as the price didn't go up by much and with the free DHL delivery I had to give it a go. Order placed on Saturday 3pm, shipped Monday 5pm and received today (Australia times).

I haven't assembled any boards as yet but here are some close ups compared to Elecrow. Don't know how long this free shipping will last but I will keep using them if these boards come out good once assembled, it's very nice to have boards arrive quick.

By the way once you get the order confirmation, they would appreciate it if you placed a review, part of their text says:

Quote

> famous electronic forums ( like eevblog.com; diyaudio.com,...etc )

Eevblog is famous

It looks like the solder mask between the micro USB pads didn't come out like they did in the Elecrow PCB. Also some of the pads are slightly cut off due to the holes I'm guessing.

Silkscreen looks better

Vias slightly off center

Same with pads

Also the pcb number on the board is visible, top left of board, where as Elecrow didn't have that

Yansi · « **Reply #127 on:** January 25, 2018, 10:46:07 am »

Yes, I have forgot to mention Allpcb adds a number on your board into the silkscreen. Some people may not like it, but really I don't care about this. For this price range, any kind of Chinese PCB prototype house does a very decent job.

mrpackethead · « **Reply #128 on:** January 25, 2018, 07:59:20 pm »

If you having tooling strips on yoru boards. ( I mostly do, as i'm running them through PNP machines) they do put their numbers on the tool strip, so its not really a big issue.

phil from seattle · « **Reply #129 on:** January 26, 2018, 12:13:32 am »

@alexig You will find Allpcb's silkscreen to be hit or miss. Sometimes it is like you got and sometimes it's more like the elecro example you showed. Pretty random. I also find their solder mask registration is off - not terribly so but clearly not centered. I'm about to try a QFN board with them, hoping for "good enough".

mrpackethead · « **Reply #130 on:** January 26, 2018, 07:41:22 am »

Just had a look at a selction of My ALLPCB made boards. 4 layer boards silk screen is always beter than the cheapy 2 layer. I beat its on a different. line.

alexig · « **Reply #131 on:** January 26, 2018, 12:58:50 pm »

Quote from: AndyC_772 on January 22, 2018, 10:33:46 pm

The only PCB damage has been a couple of tiny nicks in the solder mask, which is quite thin, but that's by no means unique to AllPCB.

I have to agree that the solder mask is thin, I was just touching up one of the micro USB connectors, put on flux, put on the iron, 2-3 seconds later I saw something odd happening, so I applied the iron again and I could see that the solder was starting to appear on the 16 mil trace. So just have to take extra care when working on these boards.

Checked on a PCB from a different fab, just checked on a 10 mil trace, solder iron directly to it and I kept adding solder to it, it took around 6-8 seconds.

Quote from: phil from seattle on January 26, 2018, 12:13:32 am

@alexig You will find Allpcb's silkscreen to be hit or miss. Sometimes it is like you got and sometimes it's more like the elecro example you showed. Pretty random. I also find their solder mask registration is off - not terribly so but clearly not centered. I'm about to try a QFN board with them, hoping for "good enough".

Ah ok, I'm not too worried about it, I can't really tell the difference just looking at it normally.

AndyC_772 · « **Reply #132 on:** January 26, 2018, 03:07:21 pm »

Safety standards define the required separation between circuits in terms of creepage and clearance, or distance through insulation. Solder mask is never "insulation" for that purpose; it's a convenience to ease assembly, never a safety feature.

asmi · « **Reply #133 on:** January 26, 2018, 06:25:37 pm »

Quote from: AndyC_772 on January 22, 2018, 10:33:46 pm

My first controlled impedance board is going through production right now. Wish me luck!

Where did you end up ordering, and how much did it cost you (if it's not a secret of course)?

fourtytwo42 · « **Reply #134 on:** January 26, 2018, 07:33:00 pm »

Thanks for the tip

Thats a lot cheaper than dangerious prototypes I usually use!

AndyC_772 · « **Reply #135 on:** January 26, 2018, 11:08:42 pm »

Quote from: asmi on January 26, 2018, 06:25:37 pm

Quote from: AndyC_772 on January 22, 2018, 10:33:46 pm
My first controlled impedance board is going through production right now. Wish me luck!
Where did you end up ordering, and how much did it cost you (if it's not a secret of course)?

From AllPCB. I figured that if their online quote system has a button for 50 Ohm controlled impedance, then I'd try it out.

Boards aren't here yet, they're taking much longer to fabricate. Watch this space.

alexig · « **Reply #136 on:** April 13, 2018, 12:35:30 am »

Not that really matters but just wondering, has anyone ever had their silkscreen text size changed by ALLPCB or any PCB house before?

I had a few bits of text around the board and it seems that only one was enlarged by ~0.1mm which meant one letter was cut off the board, comparing to the files I supplied the letters don't line up to where they should have. Strange part is, there was text next to it which was closer to both sides of the board that remained untouched, odd.

fourtytwo42 · « **Reply #137 on:** April 13, 2018, 06:37:32 pm »

I cant say I have but possibly you infringed some requirement of there's like linesize or board edge keepout ?

urosg · « **Reply #138 on:** April 16, 2018, 02:28:45 am »

I must say that I tried quite a few Chinese PCB Manufacturers and with time I guess they all got sloppier, for now I am sticking with AllPcb for my low-power, low-frequency boards.

Silkscreen placement is on spot / even placed a couple of test areas on the board to test this out (i.e. text on copper layer and the same text on overlay).
Solder mask has also great placement; a while ago I had a couple of boards manufactured locally and the solder mask was terrible - out of place, etched through, ...

For my boards that have more special requirements I have them produced by MultiCircuitBoards in Germany, price is reasonable, fab time also.

With AllPcb I have noticed that they raised their prices and extended their fab time, but for now the quality does not suffer so I am prepared to pay more and take the extended fab time into account.

Also their framed SMT stencils are great.

wasyoungonce · « **Reply #139 on:** April 16, 2018, 04:13:09 am »

Ordered PCBs from all PCB 12 Apr...received 16th Apr.

Nothing special just some PCBs knocked up to replace aging Royel Soldering station circuits, all analogue. Just under $27 Aust for QTY 10 (I received 12) PCBs, double sided, free shipping, order to in my hands 4 days! Wow! The PCBs are fine no issues all parts fit silkscreen and mask all fine.

I won't indulge in their "Social marketing campaign" but just to say "damn" that's cheap, quick and good.

Oh they are limited to 6mm hole maximum or extra costs. I needed a larger hole to fit a Pot so to keep costs low I just let them do a centring hole for me to finish off.

To top it off...my PC crashed last nite and it won't boot, appears to be a Mboard or CPU issue. It was old so preying my HDD is ok as my latest CAD files will be lost. Making new PC now...Grrrrr.

mrpackethead · « **Reply #140 on:** April 17, 2018, 12:03:06 am »

Dont make holes bigger than 6mm by making holes. Make circular cutouts by routing them. No additional charge.

Quote from: wasyoungonce on April 16, 2018, 04:13:09 am

Ordered PCBs from all PCB 12 Apr...received 16th Apr.

Nothing special just some PCBs knocked up to replace aging Royel Soldering station circuits, all analogue. Just under $27 Aust for QTY 10 (I received 12) PCBs, double sided, free shipping, order to in my hands 4 days! Wow! The PCBs are fine no issues all parts fit silkscreen and mask all fine.

I won't indulge in their "Social marketing campaign" but just to say "damn" that's cheap, quick and good.

Oh they are limited to 6mm hole maximum or extra costs. I needed a larger hole to fit a Pot so to keep costs low I just let them do a centring hole for me to finish off.

To top it off...my PC crashed last nite and it won't boot, appears to be a Mboard or CPU issue. It was old so preying my HDD is ok as my latest CAD files will be lost. Making new PC now...Grrrrr.

wasyoungonce · « **Reply #141 on:** April 17, 2018, 01:07:27 am »

Quote from: mrpackethead on April 17, 2018, 12:03:06 am

Dont make holes bigger than 6mm by making holes. Make circular cutouts by routing them. No additional charge.

I actually removed the pot tab "mill layer" .....I was unsure of their charges on Mill layer

mikeselectricstuff · « **Reply #142 on:** April 17, 2018, 08:48:34 am »

Just tried Allpcb on a new order as JLCPCB just totally screwed up by cancelling an order without telling me..
wo PCBs, with one slightly non-standard build (front panels with no copper) to see how they deal with it

mikeselectricstuff · « **Reply #143 on:** April 17, 2018, 09:31:58 am »

Initial communication not promising - sent gerber layers for just outline and soldermask, which they seem to be having trouble understanding

Just sent a photo of a mockup with marker-pen soldermask, let's see how that goes..

mrpackethead · « **Reply #144 on:** April 17, 2018, 07:34:11 pm »

Mike use the words.

"MAKE EXACTLY AS PER THE GERBER FILE. MAKE NO MODIFICATION. THIS IS NON-STANDARD PCB DESIGN"

hugeone · « **Reply #145 on:** April 17, 2018, 10:42:47 pm »

I have ordered many boards from them (50-60 designs) so far no problems.

8bitgasm · « **Reply #146 on:** April 30, 2018, 02:42:07 pm »

Anybody having trouble seeing the fabrication flow progress now on the website? Always worked in the past but now when I mouse over "Flow Progress" nothing appears.

TJ232 · « **Reply #147 on:** April 30, 2018, 03:08:58 pm »

Quote from: 8bitgasm on April 30, 2018, 02:42:07 pm

Anybody having trouble seeing the fabrication flow progress now on the website? Always worked in the past but now when I mouse over "Flow Progress" nothing appears.

29Apr-1May - Labor day holiday?

alexig · « **Reply #148 on:** July 03, 2018, 09:38:43 am »

Just to keep this thread updated, I was about to place an order and found their prices have gone up a little bit.
For a 20x20 board - 30 pcs, was $15, now $20 (+$5)
For a 50x50 board - 50 pcs, was $27, now $35 (+$8)

There was a way around this, if you have ordered before, you could re-order the same boards for the same price but it looks like that method has an error now.

luiHS · « **Reply #149 on:** July 03, 2018, 09:44:53 am »

I was ordering all my PCBs to ALLPCB for a long time, until I discovered JLCPCB, they are quite cheaper and equally fast and quality product.


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Author Topic: Allpcb - global free shipping! (Read 41888 times)

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