First boards from ALLPCB.COM - Postive expereince.

[Erin.KOU]

Funny i've tryed to use PCBZone ( and i'm in NZ ) and its never really been an economic proposition.. One of the issues is lack of solder stencils.

Hmmm... they offer stencils these days, but it depends on what exactly you want.  I'm currently using OSHStencils Polyimide stencils where possible for prototypes, as I was building up a huge collection of stainless ones that were taking up space - especially the production or framed ones, which tend to be huge and/or bulky.

Funny to told Erin to back off on the emails..  Shes just super keen to help,  we all hate spam but just don't cut off your nose to spite your face.

I did say "for the moment".  I did tell Erin I wasn't impressed, and she did apologise and pointed to my involvement in this forum as why she reached out.  I will have to see how they continue, but I just won't do business with companies that are unethical (e.g. Fastech PCB mass spamming with fake senders), or continue bad/dishonest behaviour after it being pointed out.

Hi Kean, Good day, this is Erin,
Sorry for it.As you say thanks to the post recommendation ALLPCB,  then I do a following to contact u for further contact of simply introduce.
Sorry again that it have disturbed you. For the PCB fab, pls just take easy that you choose the fab you like. 

But you mentioned "unethical ", it is critical if for a recommendation.
There should be many customers who still want find a better supplier for their projects, which have a cost effective for their PCB, PCBA, SMT stencil, ...etc. pls understand it.

Best regards,

Erin

[JPortici]

I too made an order on all pcb / HQPCB

very nice results.
I wasn't sure wether to upload the board or not because it seems that they some kind of "lottery" and you enter by reviewing a board on "famous websites"
or something like that.. i didn't even want to give a second glance at the banner.

Anyway, positively impressed as i was able to get the boards on "sale".
Notice that they will put an indentification code (on this board, inside the TQFP. in another board, inside a potentiometer land pattern)

[Erin.KOU]

I too made an order on all pcb / HQPCB

very nice results.
I wasn't sure wether to upload the board or not because it seems that they some kind of "lottery" and you enter by reviewing a board on "famous websites"
or something like that.. i didn't even want to give a second glance at the banner.

Anyway, positively impressed as i was able to get the boards on "sale".
Notice that they will put an indentification code (on this board, inside the TQFP. in another board, inside a potentiometer land pattern)

Hi,

thanks for sharing your experience of ALLPCB, 
Have a good day !

Best regards,

Erin KOU
( Sales manager, ALLPCB)

[JPortici]

Huh, they are already upping their game with the enclosure and all

[hcglitte]

I am about to try them myself HQPCB via allpcb (always used pcbcart). I am still waiting for reply about stackups and Er.
It would have been so much easier if this had been part of the drop down options...

HC

[Spikee]

Attached is default HQPCB 4L stackup and JDBPCB default stackup.

When I get the material datasheet I will post it here.

Date of requesting this info is 11-APRIL-2017

[Spikee]

hqpcb fr4 datasheet also attached

[Erin.KOU]

Attached is default HQPCB 4L stackup and JDBPCB default stackup.

When I get the material datasheet I will post it here.

Date of requesting this info is 11-APRIL-2017

Thanks for shareing it here, 
Hope this can be helpful for the electronics engineerings who needed.

Best regards,

Erin KOU 
Sales manager, ALLPCB
Site: www.allpcb.com/G4

[mrpackethead]

Erin,

I had a great experience the first tme, but ordering from you is a nightmare.   The system provides a price but then it comes back with differnent costs.. When I ask why you were unable to tell me why.   This is most unsatisifactory.

This is why i've gone back to ordering boards from a company who doe'snt play games with me.

[zeqing]

HQ PCB is a famous PCB producer in shenzhen, actually there are some other famous producers, such as the JLC, but actually they are both "express PCB" vendor, mainly for prototyping and small batch,  and also they have different advantage, which needs much experence to select the right one for each projects.

[zygan]

I made my first order from allpcb and it turns out great, mainly due to the price and speed.
Sent them a second order but it turns out to be a poor experience. They shipped me my pcb with blur legends and argued that it can still be identified without owning up their mistake or offering an apology.
Will need to find new manufacturers that have consistent quality.

Image attached.

[mrpackethead]

Arguably it wont' impact on the function of the pcbs, but it its a bit substandard.   I'm on order 50 something and i've not had this problem.. ( i've had a coupel of other problems ).. Whos your sales rep at Allpcb?

[zygan]

It was Libby. The first time she was helpful but this time around it's disappointing.
If they can have inadequate ink for legends wouldn't that be true for copper layers too?

[mrpackethead]

The copper and silk layers are quite different..  the silk is more of a dotmatrix printer, were as the copper is a photographic process.

I

[pulsar123]

I stumbled across this thread while searching for reviews of AllPCB service. What really sets them apart (at least at the moment) is that apparently shipping is free (to Canada, likely to other places as well), even with DHL (up to ~ 1kg). I only need one 10x10cm 2-layers PCB, and with them the cost is 5$ all inclusive, for up to 10 boards. I thought this is too good to be true, and the company is fake, but this thread seems to suggest they are legit.

This is the email I got from AllPCB after registering:

 ===? Good NEWS !

Enjoy express service, but no express costs!!
Min $5 for Standard 1-2 layers board with 24-48H lead time

Min $41.86 for Standard  4 layers board with 48-72H lead time

[mrpackethead]

I thought this is too good to be true, and the company is fake, but this thread seems to suggest they are legit.

I've placed many orders ( 1 or 2 a week this year ) with them this year, and they are the real deal.    While we struggling to undersand how they are doing this for so low cost, they just get on and do it!

[M4trix]

Btw, why is Ms. Erin KOU banned ? For Pete's sake guys, we need more women on board ! Don't ban them !   

[mrpackethead]

Hopefully the mods just see it fit to give them a time out.   I talked to Erin, and explained to them, why what they did was really bad.  I also suggested that she stopped everyone else at her company from posting to the forums, and jsut have the one person. ( her )..  In there 'enthusiam' to make sales, they just did some dumb things.

I hope its not a permanant thing.

[phil from seattle]

I know that on another board an All PCB employee started a thread about AllPCB with out ID herself as such. Thread got deleted. Don't know if thread starter did.

AllPCB is aggressive in looking for people to promote them. To the point of offering reward credits for positive reviews, especially youtube testimonials. I've done a number of different boards through them and am quite happy with their quality at the price point however I don't shill for anyone. I don't know if "unethical" is the correct word for what they are doing but I find it a bit distasteful. It's also counter productive as the way to get good word of mouth is to consistently do a good job. But, when I see some one extolling them, I can't tell if it's honest or bought.

[harry4516]

you are right regarding the aggressive promotion, but to be honest, I don't care. Quality must be good, low price and fast delivery time.
I ordered a lot from EasyEDA since the price is really good. ALLPCB's prices are higher. But if I calculate PCB price + shipping costs then
ALLPCB is a little bit less compared with EasyEDA. But the big differrence is delivery time.
From EasyEDA it takes about 10 days from order to delivery. ALLPCB is much faster, the last board took only 5 days from online order until delivery to Germany.
I cannot see any difference in quality until now.

[phil from seattle]

Yes, but you are making my point - provide good quality at a decent price and you don't need to buy people's testimonials.

[Koen]

According to you, your background, your culture.

[mrpackethead]

In deed.

I recently got a plesant suprize when i went to order some new feeders for my PNP machine from my chinese supplier ( whos been relaible, well priced and all those good thigns )..  He said, that i had a $100 credit, because i had introduced someone to him.   Totally suprizing to me, and i said, theres no need,  I was just helping someone else out with a contact to solve their problem.    Likewise my freind would give me a good suggestion if he could.   But in Chinese business, there is an expectation that you should pay for these introductions, and its quite normal.

And thats when when get the clash of cultures that cause these kind of dramas.     Its best we take the time and a good pinch of understanding to work through this stuff.. ( on both sides )

[pulsar123]

Can anyone please give me a hand here? I've just designed my first digital PCB using KiCAD software. I sent the Gerber files to allPCB last week, and since then it's been a back and forth. It must be partly a language barrier, partly the 12 hour time difference between Canada and China, and (perhaps mainly) my inexperience, but it seems to be going nowhere.

First, allPCB told me one Gerber file was missing (bottom solder mask). I added the file and re-uploaded the zip archive. Since then they already twice told me about " the solder mask without pad at the bottom layer". They even provided a little image to show the problematic pads:

https://www.physics.mcmaster.ca/~syam/jpeg/Catch3DCF.jpg

I keep checking my Gerber files, and they all look okay to me. This is how my *B.Mask.gbs file looks like in GerberView:

https://www.physics.mcmaster.ca/~syam/jpeg/gerber_gbs.jpg

The pads with arrows in the allpcb's image look perfectly normal.

Am I doing something stupid here? Or perhaps allpcb overlooked something?

Here are the actual Gerber files:  https://www.physics.mcmaster.ca/~syam/Gerbers2.zip

Thanks!

[imidis]

I'm having a little trouble telling the distance, maybe not enough clearance for the solder mask?