Low Cost PCB fab experience - PCBs.io

[ChemE]

Not sure if you know about them but PCBs.io is a good deal less expensive.  My last 5 orders from them have all been quite fast as well.  Worth a look if you have not already!

[gregcope]

Great.  They do world wide shipping, which is good as I am uk based.  Plus the accept eagle brd files so i can avoid creating gerber files.

Thanks

[TomWS]

@ChemE, have you had any boards done at PCBs.io recently?  I have one that's been 'In Fabrication' state longer than expected (or wanted) and I've gotten no response from PCBs.io support.

I've had to go back to OSH Park on this one because I can't afford to wait any longer.   I agree their pricing is very good and, in the past, they've just been slightly longer TAT than OSH Park, but, to me, reliable timing beats price any day.

Tom

[Felix]

My last order also took really long 
Back to OSHPark

[TomWS]

...
Back to OSHPark

And they take Kicad files directly!  This was my first Kicad trial and, other than the supplier, it's gone well.

Tom

[ChemE]

Yes, my last set of boards took 3 weeks I think.  And that was last month so fairly recently.  Leo has mentioned that they are still growing that part of the business and sometimes panels fill up faster than at other times and that is why we see the lag.

[Felix]

That makes a lot of sense and is what I expected.
Most of my protos I want as fast as possible though so that is where speed really matters. OSHPark seems to expand their services portfolio and that's kinda nice, sometimes my orders automatically get upgraded to RUSH service which is awesome

[ChemE]

I'm finishing up building my reflow oven so pretty soon my consumption of PCBs is going to go up dramatically.  Not many projects allow me to spawn the unholy lovechild of Black & Decker and Aerogel! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Heavily insulated toaster oven


One continuous piece of 5mm pyrogel!

[TomWS]

@ChemE, that certainly is the most 'interesting' toaster/reflow oven I've seen!   One thing I should advise you, however, is that in my experience, the trickiest part of reflow soldering in a toaster oven is getting it to cool down fast enough after the last phase.  The last step requires opening the door and letting all the heat escape. 

Maybe yours will be faster since all the normal mass is covered with insulation.  It will be interesting to see your curves.

Tom

[TomWS]

@ChemE, have you had any boards done at PCBs.io recently?  I have one that's been 'In Fabrication' state longer than expected (or wanted) and I've gotten no response from PCBs.io support.

I've had to go back to OSH Park on this one because I can't afford to wait any longer.   I agree their pricing is very good and, in the past, they've just been slightly longer TAT than OSH Park, but, to me, reliable timing beats price any day.

Tom

UPDATE: Well, one week and a day later my OSH Park boards have shipped.  Haven't heard a peep from PCBs.io.  It's coming up on a month since sending the files in and status still shows 'In fabrication'. 

Tom

[LukaQ]

UPDATE: Well, one week and a day later my OSH Park boards have shipped.  Haven't heard a peep from PCBs.io.  It's coming up on a month since sending the files in and status still shows 'In fabrication'. 

Tom

It takes longer, that's why you pay less. Boards are not as high quality as from standard OCB houses . It's almost like you would order from China when it come to pcbs.io. time = money. Which one do you want to spend more? Also I think you always get package from pcbs.io, while from china package might get lost in transport, there is some small % of that

You can always get PCB's locally, but that means that price of a single board will be several times that, what you can get. And something more.. if you are from US, OSHpark is great alternative, for overseas, it's no different than being from China apart from knowing the quality

[TomWS]

It takes longer, that's why you pay less.

The quote from PCBs.io states: "Your order will ship in about 10-14 days. We will send you a shipment email when this occurs."  It's been almost a month.

If they can't deliver this quickly, they shouldn't claim that they can.  In the past they've been able to meet this delivery promise, from comments I've seen on the web, they've fallen off the cliff since December.

Tom

[LukaQ]

I got the same email, I'll let you know how long mine will take. The only thing keeping me from ordering from China is either you have to pay DHL or similar or price is not that small for what it is.
Paying for shipping more than item itself is not fun at all

[Felix]

The quote from PCBs.io states: "Your order will ship in about 10-14 days. We will send you a shipment email when this occurs."  It's been almost a month.

If they can't deliver this quickly, they shouldn't claim that they can.  In the past they've been able to meet this delivery promise, from comments I've seen on the web, they've fallen off the cliff since December.

IMHO that's unfortunate, competition is not a bad thing and should only promote better overall service from all proto PCB shops.

[TomWS]

Well, 39 days after ordering boards from PCBs.io (https://lowpowerlab.com/forum/general-topics/low-cost-pcb-fab-experience/msg22428/#msg22428), they have arrived.   So, you probably will get your boards eventually, but, given recent experience, you definitely can not count on the stated delivery schedule of 10-14 days.

Further, at the risk of killing the Golden Goose, I do have to say they are still following the practice of sending 5 boards for every 4 that you order (at least that has been my experience in 5 different orders).  If they continue this practice and continue to provide free first class mail shipping (in the US), then they are the lowest cost domestic supplier I've found and beat China-Inc for small orders (small boards/quantity) unless you manage to get a free shipping 'coupon' from Seeeds (which has happened once for me).

So, if you don't care how long the boards take, PCBs.io does live up to the theme of this thread.

Tom