Jesse Lackey wrote:

> barebonespcb.com is great when soldermask / silkscreen is NOT needed. 
> The main appeal is the 1-day turnaround.  I have had occasional 
> problems with boards (say 2 times out of 20) - a via hole or two not 
> being drilled, and once a trace was simply in a different place than 
> in the design.  That said, I use them all the time and am happy with 
> the results.
>
> When I need soldermask & silk, I use pcbfabexpress.  5 day turn, $13 
> each / min qty 5 boards.  About the only downside is a 25 drills per 
> sq inch (on average) maximum, so a dense thruhole design they may not 
> do without another $50 premium.  However their boards have been 100% 
> flawless and 100% on time.  I've used them probably 20 times at this 
> point.
>
I agree about PCBFabexpress. They are an interesting company; they do NO 
work themselves, they simply subcontract to other shops who have excess 
capacity but who do NOT want to be known as a low-priced (proto) shop. 
That's why their specs are a little bit odd. I had one problem where 
they were unable to fab a board because they couldn't read the Gerber 
somehow; the same Gerber at another shop was read immediately.

--Bob.


> I recommend both.
> J
>
>
> Christian A. Weagle wrote:
>
>>> I've been looking for a PCB fab to make cheap PCBs in small quantities
>>> (1-3) for prototyping (I'm in the US). For 2-layer boards I'd want
>>
>>
>> with
>>
>>> soldermask/silkscreen, and I also work on 4-layer boards as part of a
>>> research project at school.
>>
>>
>>
>> I have use both barebonespcb.com (a division of 4PCB.com, AKA Advanced
>> Circuits) and AP Circuits (Alberta Printed C.).  Both of these companies
>> are serious vendors, who offer a range of capabilities starting with the
>> minimum thing that could be called a PCB and working up to 16-layer RF
>> monstrosities with blind and buried microvias, ceramic stiffeners,
>> teflon, etc. etc.
>>


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