[sdiy] PCB Panel Recommendations

[Mike Bryant]

That was what I saw with matte black several years ago.   But I never see it with red.  And all blank PCBs always come separated by thin paper then shrink wrapped so no movement in transit.
The milling does vary whether it's laser cut or rotary milled.  Never worked out how to force one or the other - pot luck I'm afraid.
Anything they've messed up they've always refunded me without question.  And it sounds like your orders are as big as mine.  Who is your customer services rep ?

-----Original Message-----
From: Synth-diy [mailto:synth-diy-bounces at synth-diy.org] On Behalf Of Chris McDowell via Synth-diy
Sent: 05 August 2022 11:20
To: Mike Beauchamp
Cc: Synth-diy at synth-diy.org
Subject: Re: [sdiy] PCB Panel Recommendations

Thanks for the thoughts so far.

Mike, JLC ends up with different "shades" of black between batches, interesting raised tool looking patterns (consistent across a batch but not part of gerbers), "stains" (best way I can put it), scratches, burry holes (like a rushed or sloppy mill job) and inconsistent hole sizes. 

most of these things really are to be expected I guess, as they have stated tolerances for milling accuracy and do not guarantee exact uniformity of solder mask color. perhaps I'm being a little too picky and should be willing to order and throw out more. I don't think my issues are due to my designs / process as I got that part all worked out a while ago. 
I was doing some videos recently and the consistency / overall tastiness of instruo vs my modules (super synthesis) really stood out, though that could be at least partially due to the fancy camera and big azz monitor! nothing like looking -really close- to trip one out on details. 

JLC is generally very awesome, but in my experience they don't handle quality issues well. for example I got a batch of stuff assembled there recently, and about half of it came back with big scratches through the solder mask and across pads, clearly from how through-hole connectors were tightly packed against neighboring boards. they may cave still, but so far have been like "maybe you could use a solder mask pen?" or "would you accept $10 coupon?" (>$300 order) instead of just refunding / replacing the damaged units like PCBCart or others would. Another time, a dual op amp package was backwards on every unit. They said "well you can just turn them around, right? no biggie?" :P 

Besides these goofs they're awesome. 

Cheers,
Chris M

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 4, 2022, at 11:00 PM, Mike Beauchamp <list at mikebeauchamp.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Chris,
> I'm curious about what qualities issues you've noticed with JLC? I'm currently considering them for an upcoming job and haven't had issues with them so far (but never used them for aesthetically important stuff)
> 
> I noticed they have a new feature for a "high quality" silkscreen layer, which could be helpful for front-panel PCB uses.
> 
> I haven't seen Instruo's stuff in person yet (maybe someone will have some at Knobcon?), but is that not just a matte black resist with gold enig finish?
> 
> It might be more about your PCB software and the resolution available when converting graphics directly to copper layer etching?
> 
> Also Pete Hartman made a really good point that Instruo would definitely be discarding flawed boards during an inspection if there's some sort of inconsistencies that come up occasionally.
> 
> 
> Mike
> 
>> On 8/4/22 16:58, Chris McDowell via Synth-diy wrote:
>> Howdy list,
>> I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions or insights for where to get quality PCB panels for eurorack modules. I've used itead studio and PCBWay in the past, JLCPCB most recently, but they all have had some quality issues and inconsistency. I look at Instruo, for example, and am jealous of tasty and consistent they look :) though maybe I'm just imagining that they're better!
>> Any recommendations out there? This would be for black / matte black, exposed ENIG finish for graphics.
>> Cheers,
>> Chris M.
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