Poor quality PCB service

[deltaydeltax]

I just got handed a stack of PCBs to check solder on by one of the engineers I'm contracting for. I have to look over the solder because a lot of the chips are soldered on crooked and have pins floating. These are boards sent out be Freescale Semiconductor so I wasn't too surprised as their boards are usually not the best out there. As I'm thinking to myself, "DAMN! These assembly techs were blind!" I noticed a small logo on the board for a place called "Fast PCB". A quick google for this Fast PCB company lead to their website and I was able to verify them as their logo matched. So, if you want to avoid some serious assembly pain, avoid these guys at all costs for assembly jobs:

ÉϺ£¼Î½Ýͨµç·¿Æ¼¼ÓÐÏÞ¹«Ë¾

Their fab jobs don't look too bad, but the assembly...not so good...

 

[applegd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by deltaydeltax /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just got handed a stack of PCBs to check solder on by one of the engineers I'm contracting for. I have to look over the solder because a lot of the chips are soldered on crooked and have pins floating. These are boards sent out be Freescale Semiconductor so I wasn't too surprised as their boards are usually not the best out there. As I'm thinking to myself, "DAMN! These assembly techs were blind!" I noticed a small logo on the board for a place called "Fast PCB". A quick google for this Fast PCB company lead to their website and I was able to verify them as their logo matched. So, if you want to avoid some serious assembly pain, avoid these guys at all costs for assembly jobs: ÉϺ£¼Î½Ýͨµç·¿Æ¼¼ÓÐÏÞ¹«Ë¾ Their fab jobs don't look too bad, but the assembly...not so good...

If it is the case that Cheap price = Reasonable low quality, it is not a surprise.

 

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[AudioCats]

so who is to be avoided, FreeScale Semiconductor or Fast-PCB?

fast pcb seems to be a company making the PCB's, they may not be the one soldering on the chips. Are the PCB's themselve bad?

 

[deltaydeltax]

I have found problems with chips made by Freescale at three different companies I've done work for. Every other chip on the board has gone on nice and easy, but the Freescale QFNs and larger BGAs make for more trouble than other manufacturers chips. Freescale also refused to release a datasheet to me for a board I was trying to repair. So, I had to bother my client for the datasheet and lost a good two days of troubleshooting. I'll be happy if I never have to see another Freescale chip every again.

Fast PCB handled both the fab and assembly. At first, the board fab looked fine on all boards. Once I got them all under the microscope, I started seeing some problems not common when dealing with quality board houses. The substrate material had been ground out in one, and recovered with solder resist. I think this was to break an internal short on one board.

In any case, I'll be avoiding Fast PCB entirely. Freescale is harder to avoid since they are used in so many places.

 

[bodine1231]

If it is the case that Cheap price = Reasonable low quality, it is not a surprise.

This

 

[deltaydeltax]

It might be cheaper if we pooled our layouts and bought one panel together. The board houses hate doing it, but it does save some money. AND, everyone gets to avoid FastPCB 'quality' places.

 

[Juaquin]

You could just use BatchPCB - they take small orders, panel them together, and submit them to one of the big (quality) houses. Sure, it takes a couple weeks to get them, but who's in a hurry?

 

[cobaltmute]

BatchPCB uses GoldPhoenix last I checked. I've done two runs with GoldPhoenix with no issues. I've heard of a few issues with BatchPCB and their panellization.

 

[Juaquin]

They've moved to a new form (where you no longer have to submit you own design as a panel, if you want multiples) but I haven't yet ordered a board with them. I plan on doing so very soon so I'll let you guys know. BatchPCB/GoldPheonix are known for good boards so I'm looking forward to it.

 

[cobaltmute]

The issue is with BatchPCB is that they still need to take your board and put it on a panel. Nemo De Monet had problems with his USB power board iirc in that they forget to put in the ground plane.

 

[deltaydeltax]

All boards get panelized. A standard panel is 18" x 24" and usually has many different jobs on it. A sheet is where the panels are cut from and is some equal number of panels. The board house takes some perimeter of the panel to use for tooling holes and blah, blah, blah...they all get panelized and we're all happy when our boards arrive cut from the panel...I hope...

 

[peranders]

PCBCART, Prototype to Production PCB supplier from China
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www.corepcb.com

All make very nice pcb's and they are also very friendly and helpful.