PCBway's Assembly service any good? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Jackster
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 11, 2017, 02:13:53 pm
content: I have about 100 boards need going through P&P.Thinking of using PCBway as I get the boards made there anyway.Anyone used their service?Not got a complex board.Pretty much a custom Arduino Nano board with a few extras. Got some fine pitch stuff in there though.ThanksJack,

author: zeqing
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 15, 2017, 08:52:09 am
content: do not familiar with PCBway, have some alike projects quoted, compared some of the PCBA vendors, seeed, the most famous but price much higher; itead, price OK but replied me 4 days later; makerfabs, good price in 5 hours, but the site seems new and simple, a bit of worry on safety.

author: anishkgt
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 15, 2017, 11:07:29 am
content: I had done my pcb through pcbway and they came out to be very good. Allpcb.com is a bit cheaper tho.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

author: marshallh
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 18, 2017, 07:43:46 pm
content: I've done a lot of PCBA thru them, with good success (but only 3 orders so far). Maybe part of the reason it worked so well was due to writing some chinese in the correspondence (??, etc). Each time I've received a baggie full of the remnant parts. When they had leftover PCBs they would continue to populate them with all the leftover parts. So I have a few boareds which are free & extra but only missing 1 FPGA.Now, as for parts sourcing, that is the only possible problem: I've specd a 2.5V LD1117 regulator, and they sourced one that looks like a fake - it works fine and since only a few mA are used, no problem. But it is totally different marking style from my legit LD1117-2.5 units.I have not had reason to question the legitimacy of any other parts they used - date codes on major parts like the FPGA range from very early (2009) to very recent (2017). They are obviously sourcing the parts from the magical Shenzhen supply chain - at least the ones that didn't have to be procured from Digikey.Pricewise they are very competitive. They are significantly cheaper than the same design produced by a more upmarket Chinese fab. I will echo some people's comments that PCBway boards in general, while produced by different equipment/fabs all the time, do not tolerate rework very well and exhibit slightly more weird failures under stress.Now, as always applies with Chinese in general - they never rip you off straightaway - it takes a while for the problems to start cropping up. So time will tell. I predict that in a year or so I will be looking for another fab again. Such is life.

author: ansonbao
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 21, 2017, 10:09:26 am
content: we do the pcb assembly service for thousands of clients each month. satisfaction rate is above 95%.But I know somewhere still not perfect. I ever said promise the quality in EEvblog means if the quality is not good,we will reproduce for you or refund.

author: ddavidebor
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2017, 11:30:28 pm
content: Quote from: Jackster on August 11, 2017, 02:13:53 pmWe only buy from them for the following reasons:* they've qualified tech that check the design before production* cheap shipping* they understand english* Daphne is my heroTricks for having a smooth life with them:* if in doubt, ask Daphne. Daphne knows.* Configure your rules according to their specifications* Annotations in the mechanical layer 1We used them for prototyping for two years, and now for production of some fairly expensive scientific instruments.

author: ansonbao
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2017, 06:08:58 am
content: QuoteI will tell to her and she must be very happy

author: Spikee
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 25, 2017, 09:44:47 am
content: I'm curious what they charge you for this.Please let me know.