Re: gEDA-user: Interesting board defect

[Dave N6NZ <n6nz@xxxxxxxx>]

Kai-Martin Knaak wrote:
> On Sat, 14 Feb 2009 16:05:18 -0700, Eric Brombaugh wrote:
> 
>> http://members.cox.net/ebrombaugh1/synth/armfpga/gnd_shorts.jpg
>>
> 
> Solder mask is offset by a pretty large margin in this sample (~5 mil). 
> Is this typical for BatchPCB?

Well, I've had mixed luck with BatchPCB.  Layer registration is 
sometimes good and sometimes a little sloppy.  The picture doesn't 
surprise me, I've gotten boards like that. I have also had some boards 
come back with various mysterious shorts that were fabrication, not 
design issues.

So... it's hard to beat BatchPCB's price for one-offs, but I've decided 
to dial back a bit on how hard I push their technology.  I've never 
gotten a straight answer from them anyway on design rule questions.

The other two places that I use regularly are AP Circuits and 
PCBExpress.com (not to be confused with expresspcb.com) and the boards 
are always much prettier, much much faster, and also pricier.  But how 
many hours spent chasing fab flaws does it take to wipe out the savings? 
  And that after waiting 4 weeks instead of 4 days.

I would use BatchPCB again, but not with anything but fairly 
conservative design rules.  BatchPCB's fab is Gold Phoenix, I believe. 
If you look at what kind of yield guarantees you get from a Gold Phoenix 
quote, well.... I'm not impressed.

Too bad really, BatchPCB is a great idea -- and nearly always gives me a 
result I like -- just not quite always.  Too bad their fab partner can't 
be more consistent.

-dave

> 
> ---<(kaimartin)>---
> 
> 
> 
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