Electronics > Manufacturing & Assembly

PCB Manufacturer Recommendations

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KungFuJosh:
I'll start by apologizing, I know this topic is done to death. ;)


Anyway, I would like to hear about recommendations / experiences regarding PCB manufacturers. I've been getting quotes, and reading tons of posts on the subject, and it's all over the place.

My requirements are 3.2mm final thickness, ENIG , 2oz or higher Cu, good quality silkscreen, etc... The circuit is a guitar tube amplifier, 308mm x 96mm, normally built on 3.2mm FR4 with turrets. This PCB version isn't trying to stray toooo far from that.


Here's some of the manufacturers I'm curious about, though I'm happy to hear about others as well (notes are mostly based on reading posts on eevblog):

Bittele (7pcb.com) - (Canada based, boards made in China.) They seem nice in email, and their price is okay (not great) a little high.

WellPCB - Good pricing, but concerned about QC.

hitechpcb.com / hitechcircuits.com - Best prices for the highest specs so far, but I have no idea if they're any good.



PCBGOGO - maybe copyright issues? Are they good? ...Expensive, overly aggressive sales people. No thanks.

PCBcart.com

5PCB.com - overpriced, no reviews.

PCBWay - maybe not great pad adhesion? Solder mask alignment issues? I have mixed feelings from emailing with them. Their prices are not great for what people seem to say about them.

JLCPCB - only goes to 2mm thickness. 2mm is fine for small stuff, so I might try them with something different if people think they're good?

ALLPCB - bad silk resolution? Slow? Incorrect thicknesses? Solder mask edge issues?

Elecrow - not thick enough.

ITEAD - not thick enough.

OSHPark - they seem nice, but 1.6mm thickness is a big no for me.

U&I Quickturn - double the price of other equally spec'd quotes.


Thanks,
Josh

rea5245:
My site, PCBShopper.com, contains Amazon-like customer reviews of most of those manufacturers.

- Bob

KungFuJosh:

--- Quote from: rea5245 on December 05, 2020, 03:21:19 am ---My site, PCBShopper.com, contains Amazon-like customer reviews of most of those manufacturers.

- Bob

--- End quote ---


Thanks. I saw a reference to it in another post, but I couldn't find a link.

EDIT: Please update your tool for higher thickness. 3.2mm is what I'm looking for. I'm prooooobably not the only one? ;)

forrestc:
I've used various providers over the years.   It seemed like they all had various issues which eventually made me unhappy enough to switch...

A while back (like as in probably a couple years at this point), I found jlcpcb through the pcbshopper.com website.  (Thanks Bob aka rea5245).    They have proven to be consistent and good enough for my lowish-volume production that I don't plan on switching anywhere else unless I can find something not-in-china but is still somewhat reasonable in price and quality.

For the record, I'm still doing HASL, but will be trying their ENIG very soon.   I do have some products which are 2 mil copper that they have done well.

But as you said they only go up to 2mm.   I don't think I've ever ordered anything but 1.6.

exmadscientist:
U&I Quickturn, who we found through PCBShopper, can do that spec from their standard order form. They're not the cheapest, but they are well suited to quick-turn (how surprising!) medium-spec jobs, where by "medium-spec" I mean the jobs that JLCPCB won't touch, but you still don't have to have a back-and-forth with the fab house before they'll even agree to price it. And the quality is excellent.

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