Anyone used Iteadstudio for PCBs?

[Nick]

http://imall.iteadstudio.com/open-pcb/pcb-prototyping.html (note that their prices are for 10 boards)

I was considering using them but was wondering if anyone here had any experiences to share, or another alternative that's better?

Thanks

Nick

[Spencer W]

I used them before, not bad boards. I switched to hackvana.com as he is cheaper.

Sent from my iPhone

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[Nigel Walker]

I've used them a few times. I think their prices are very good which has really transformed my attitude to getting prototypes made. The only problem is there might be postal delays due to Hong Kong customs. I cuurently have a set of board which they shipped last week, I can let you know when they arrive as an up to the minute report.

 

Nigel.

 

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[Matthew Smith]

Quoth Nick at 2013-12-10 00:46 ...

I use http://oshpark.com US fab, very high quality, Pb-free, product,
free international shipping. (Plus a really cool purple soldermask.)

One of the biggest pluses for me is that I can upload an Eagle .brd
file, without all the mucking around exporting and zipping up Gerbers,
like you have to do with some providers (like Seeed Studio.)

Double-sided boards come out at 5 USD per square inch, and, for that,
you get three copies.

If you want to do your soldering in a toaster oven (reflow,) there's a
similar service (different people, I think,) for stencils:
http://oshstencil.com


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[Steven Donaldson]

Matt,

What do the stencils from oshstencil.com actually look like?  Are they just the sheet of Polyimide that you lay on the board, smear, and lift or is there some sort of jig it goes into?

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[Matthew Smith]

Quoth Steven Donaldson at 2013-12-10 07:28 ...
> Matt,
>
> What do the stencils from oshstencil.com <http://oshstencil.com>

> actually look like? Are they just the sheet of Polyimide that you lay
> on the board, smear, and lift or is there some sort of jig it goes into?

I have yet to order from them, but it is just a polyimide sheet. They
sell a little jig for 5 USD - just two L-shaped pieces of some material,
to help hold the stencil flat. (See pricing page for picture.)

[Jan Rychter]

I use them regularly and so far I'm very happy with the results.

Note that you should not expect miracles: those are boards produced in China at rock-bottom prices, so mistakes will sometimes be made. One of my orders got lost once and I had to ask for it to be produced and sent again. But considering my 15+ orders so far, I think this is a very good result.

As far as quality is concerned, I had no issues. The boards were always perfect. Also, they officially send you 10 boards, but I noticed that I actually often get 11 or 12.

They also recently lowered prices for the larger sizes 5x10cm and 10x10cm.

One thing that many people miss is that milling is included in the price. I often have fancy board outlines, rounded corners, or mounting screw cutouts (these take up less space than mounting holes). They are always perfect. I was actually worried recently, because I had a 20mm x 20mm board with milled cutouts on all four sides, but it was manufactured perfectly.

The biggest problem with their business is the incredibly slow Hong Kong Mail, and even more disastrous China Post. In my case (shipping to Poland), it takes 2+ weeks for the package to make it out of Hong Kong, and then several days for it to arrive at my doorstep (it usually spends nly
1-2 days in Poland). Recently they shipped one package using China Post and that one took 5 weeks to get here. On the average, I've come to expect 3-4 weeks from clicking "order" to receiving the package from the mailman.

Gerbers are not a problem in my case, they provide a job file for EAGLE, and it takes all of 30 seconds to produce them, zip them up and send as an E-mail attachment.

All in all, a great deal.

--J.

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[Quixotic Nixotic]

Hi Nick,

You have actually seen some of their work, because several boards I have had made came from Seeedstudio and they use exactly the same fab house as iteadstudio. I think someone defected from Itead to form Seeed.

I am very happy with them and I remember you examining a bare board - that little VFD one - and you saying you were happy with the quality and positioning of silkscreen etc.

The little ball clock I gave you is another example. This PCB is 50mm.

I would also put a plug in for Hackvana, run by Mitch Davis. Mitch is an Australian who has gone to live in Shenzen with the express intent of serving the hobbyist market all round the world. He speaks Chinese and so can convey special requirements. He is thinking of going into the component procurement and kitting up side of things too, I believe. Mitch also runs a very similar PCB service to Itead and Seeed, but the shipping makes it just a tad more than Seeed and Itead at my last calculation. Mitch is responsive both with email and IRC. See http://www.hackvana.com/

John S

[Nick]

Hi John,

Thanks for that - I think I'll give the various options here a go - they're so cheap and the quality seems comparable - however, its not a good time of year to be ordering what with Christmas here than the Chinese New Year at the end of January.

That little ball clock is one of my favourites - its in the kitchen by the phones - causes lots of interest....

Too many ideas. Too little time!

Cheers

Nick 

 

[H. Carl Ott]

Itead and seedstudio are both pretty darn good. I've used them both a few times with no issues.  Quality is good, but not great. 

Don't push the design limits posted on their submission pages. They may say 6/6 rules, but you have a much better chance of getting problem free boards back if you don't go below 8/8 rules.

If I'm in a rush, or combining a few orders, I usually spring for the EMS shipping option. It's only works out to an extra 20 bucks or so, and you get your boards in a little over a week. (at least for me, here in the states).

Oshpark is great, but the economies don't work for some sizes and quantities of boards. Plus sometimes I need additional fabrication options. Oshpartk's one size fits all policy does not always match my needs.

-carl
--------------------------------------------------------
Henry Carl Ott   N2RVQ    hcar...@gmail.com

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[Nick]

Yep - I'm using QFN56 devices amongst others, so a laser-cut paste mask would be good too...

Nick 

[threeneurons]

Damn ! I gotta pay more attention to these new board houses ! Can the prices get any lower !? Just when you think, they're low, somebody new comes along, with even lower prices. Boy, I got a few projects, that I might send that way ! I always a little leery going to a new board house, but at these prices ...

[Nigel Walker]

Just got my Itead boards. That's about two and a half weeks from order to delivery to the UK.

 

Nigel.

 

[Nick]

On Monday, 16 December 2013 14:51:14 UTC, Nigel Walker wrote:

Just got my Itead boards. That's about two and a half weeks from order to delivery to the UK.

Quality? Photos? What's the solder mask/silk screen registration like? All holes in the middle of pads? etc...

Thanks

Nick

[Jan Rychter]

I can show you what some of my boards look like. The fragment shows a QFN-24 chip, and some 0603 caps, the traces are 10mil. Looks uglier than in reality because of reflections (that's not smeared silkscreen paint you see on the traces, just reflections).

I've never seen problems with drill alignment, but silkscreen can be a little off, note the difference between the pictures (another board from the same batch). Never found it to be a problem in practice. Overall, I'd say I got exactly what I expected. Don't expect miracles, but the quality is fairly good, and price/performance is excellent.

--J.