4 ms·

The only other criteria missed in the otherwise excellent article would be commentary on the design rules for those services... If they tell you not to do some

by VLM 4y ago

The only other criteria missed in the otherwise excellent article would be commentary on the design rules for those services... If they tell you not to do something and you ask them to do it anyway and the result is 'meh' its hard to say who is in the wrong. For example if they tell you they do 0.5mm vias and you ask for 0.4mm vias and they ship you 0.5mm vias... who's in the wrong?

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
ilyt 4y ago
At this price point, you. But it would be nice if we had some DRC rule format that the PCB vendors could just publish and all PCB programs use. Or step further and expand it to DRC + any other rules for generating gerbers and rest of the files so it would be just single operation to get the PCB program ready to generate what is needed
PragmaticPulp 4y ago
> For example if they tell you they do 0.5mm vias and you ask for 0.4mm vias and they ship you 0.5mm vias... who's in the wrong? If you’re ordering the $2 special from JLC and they deliver a board that meets their specifications, you can’t really complain. Now if this was a $500 board house making random changes without communication, I’d be upset. At ultra-low price points, you take what’s offered and don’t expect any hand holding along the way.
- unwind 4y ago
  If they publish design rules and you violate them, any changes to make the board comply are not random. Even without communication.
Brian_K_White 4y ago
There are more things missing. I just commented about the quality of the board outline. pcbway and jlc both way better than oshpark, no panelization rat bites, just magic perfect unbroken outline matching the drawing all the way around. It particularly matters to me because I have small boards where most of the outline is castellated edges that oshpark buggers up because they have to stick the panel tabs somewhere. But somehow it's no problem for jlc or pcbway. It's like they have some way of holding the pcb from the center, letting them cut the entire outline in one continuous cut.
bsder 4y ago
> For example if they tell you they do 0.5mm vias and you ask for 0.4mm vias and they ship you 0.5mm vias... who's in the wrong? You. Always. PCB programs ALL have design rule checkers. If you fail to use them, the result is all on you.

by VLM 4y ago

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

ilyt 4y ago

At this price point, you. But it would be nice if we had some DRC rule format that the PCB vendors could just publish and all PCB programs use. Or step further and expand it to DRC + any other rules for generating gerbers and rest of the files so it would be just single operation to get the PCB program ready to generate what is needed

PragmaticPulp 4y ago

> For example if they tell you they do 0.5mm vias and you ask for 0.4mm vias and they ship you 0.5mm vias... who's in the wrong? If you’re ordering the $2 special from JLC and they deliver a board that meets their specifications, you can’t really complain. Now if this was a $500 board house making random changes without communication, I’d be upset. At ultra-low price points, you take what’s offered and don’t expect any hand holding along the way.

unwind 4y ago
If they publish design rules and you violate them, any changes to make the board comply are not random. Even without communication.

Brian_K_White 4y ago

There are more things missing. I just commented about the quality of the board outline. pcbway and jlc both way better than oshpark, no panelization rat bites, just magic perfect unbroken outline matching the drawing all the way around. It particularly matters to me because I have small boards where most of the outline is castellated edges that oshpark buggers up because they have to stick the panel tabs somewhere. But somehow it's no problem for jlc or pcbway. It's like they have some way of holding the pcb from the center, letting them cut the entire outline in one continuous cut.

bsder 4y ago

> For example if they tell you they do 0.5mm vias and you ask for 0.4mm vias and they ship you 0.5mm vias... who's in the wrong? You. Always. PCB programs ALL have design rule checkers. If you fail to use them, the result is all on you.