ruffrecords
Well-known member
For several years I have used a couple of PCB suppliers. Both are based in the UK but manufacture in China. The quality has always been first class. In the last couple of years I have tried going direct to overseas suppliers, particularly for prototype quantities, simply because they are very cheap. I have used Iteadstudio and Seeedstudio. All my boards are through hole - no SMT.
Many of my boards use 1mm pins. They have knurled sides which are a tight push fit into the specified sized holes. This has always worked as expected with my UK based Chinese suppliers. However, both Iteadstudio and Seedstudio boards using these pins appear to have oversized holes. The pins just drop in - they are no longer a push fit. This is easy to work round but a bit annoying. Makes me wonder whether they skimp on the through hole plating.
I also had a problem with some electrolytic capacitors - the leads of some seemed to big for the PCB hole. Never a problem with my regular supplies. Worked round this by making the footprint hole slightly larger but it makes me wonder if they run their drills for too long so they eventually make under size holes.
Both these issues I can live with for prototypes, but recently I was building a new prototype board from Seedstudio. I had to remove and replace a leaded capacitor. It came out with ease but when I went to replace it I noticed the pad on the component side had come away with the capacitor. I have never had this happen on a new board before. Makes me wonder, yet again, if they skimp on their through hole plating. There is no good work around for this type of limitation. I have contacted Seedstudio to complain about this.
So for a recent new design I searched for a UK prototype manufacturer and found one that was not too expensive. I had just one PCB made. As I was building/testing it I needed to change a couple of capacitors. I de-soldered them with the solder sucker and replaced them Unexpectedly, that part of the circuit stopped working. Sure enough another pad had come off and I had to add a wire to fix it. So it looks like the pad problem is not just a Chinese issue - is it just me being too ham fisted? I seem to remember from years ago modifying prototypes like mad but rarely if ever having tracks come adrift.
Am I expecting too much from today's PCBs?
Cheers
Ian
Many of my boards use 1mm pins. They have knurled sides which are a tight push fit into the specified sized holes. This has always worked as expected with my UK based Chinese suppliers. However, both Iteadstudio and Seedstudio boards using these pins appear to have oversized holes. The pins just drop in - they are no longer a push fit. This is easy to work round but a bit annoying. Makes me wonder whether they skimp on the through hole plating.
I also had a problem with some electrolytic capacitors - the leads of some seemed to big for the PCB hole. Never a problem with my regular supplies. Worked round this by making the footprint hole slightly larger but it makes me wonder if they run their drills for too long so they eventually make under size holes.
Both these issues I can live with for prototypes, but recently I was building a new prototype board from Seedstudio. I had to remove and replace a leaded capacitor. It came out with ease but when I went to replace it I noticed the pad on the component side had come away with the capacitor. I have never had this happen on a new board before. Makes me wonder, yet again, if they skimp on their through hole plating. There is no good work around for this type of limitation. I have contacted Seedstudio to complain about this.
So for a recent new design I searched for a UK prototype manufacturer and found one that was not too expensive. I had just one PCB made. As I was building/testing it I needed to change a couple of capacitors. I de-soldered them with the solder sucker and replaced them Unexpectedly, that part of the circuit stopped working. Sure enough another pad had come off and I had to add a wire to fix it. So it looks like the pad problem is not just a Chinese issue - is it just me being too ham fisted? I seem to remember from years ago modifying prototypes like mad but rarely if ever having tracks come adrift.
Am I expecting too much from today's PCBs?
Cheers
Ian