Metal Core PCBs from ZHEJIANG ZAPON Electronic

[HackedFridgeMagnet]

I have been working hard on my Domestic LED Lighting Project and as part of that I needed to get LEDs cheaply.
With the intention on one day it becoming a business.
I have been playing around with Cree Xpgs for a while but they are quite expensive.
Recently CREE released the XTE with similar specs and at less than half the price, and so my project has become viable.
MCPCBs when priced were either too expensive or the incorrect format and as well as that they are hard to mount.

So I decided to roll my own.
So I wheeled out KICAD, turned off DRC as I didn't need a schematic and laid out 110 LED footprints, with accompanying pads, holes and polarity silkscreens.

Next I sent it out to tender about 4 houses responded and it came down to PCBCart which was the safer option as I know many others use this house or the ZHEJIANG ZAPON ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY CO.,LTD.
http://www.zppcb.com


It was close but the Zhejiang guys won because they had the best price all up including tooling and they had by far the best price per board if I ever go into production.
US $7.50 per board. Which gives me 110 led bases.

Panel Size:267.97mm*174.24mm
1Layer pcb,
aluminium pcb,1.6MM,2.00z 
hal lead  free, white soldermask+black silkcreen

obviously it cost a lot more
$30 dollars for the TT
$50 dollars for shipment
$100 dollars tooling.

[HackedFridgeMagnet]

Ok so after a lot of back and forth with Niki the lady in charge about capabilities, vscoring depths, financials, couriers la la la. The boards went into production.
About one month later a package came back and with it 660 mcpcbs.
Well the first thing I did was put 250volts across the dialectric ( using a mega ) and then 500volts. All good.
When I got home I got the Sunbeam reflow oven out, aka the electric fry pan, and commenced soldering a few strips.
No hitches here either all leds mounted and no signs of problems.
As I write all my XTEs are glowing away happily at 50 - 55 degrees.
Needless to say I was very happy with the whole process and outcome.

What I wanted to say was I recommend ZHEJIANG ZAPON Electronic company unreservedly, and I can say I enjoyed doing business with them.

[HackedFridgeMagnet]

Here are some pictures of the finished boards.
There was only one small problem and that was the solder mask covered a bit more than it should have in a few places.
I soldered the leds on to these ones and there were no problems.

Bear in mind these were my first ever MCPCBs and my second ever PCBs that I had manufactured.
Ignore the text on the silkscreen, it was hard to sort out because I didn't do a schematic, so I just didn't bother.

[HackedFridgeMagnet]

Here are their capabilities.