Itead, Members with Experience...

Funny, I just responded to Wendy's email about this and she advised that the board I ordered was in the mail already. I am assuming there are some bugs in the new site.

I read their instructions on PCB fab and I am concerned about having to put the order number on the silkscreen. Do you know of a method that I can use as I do not want the order number printed on my board?

PS: I edited my post above to reflect these changes.

Having just received my first order from Itead, I thought I'd detail my positive experience.

The NANO-sized two-sided board to surface mount MCP 2551 and 2515 CAN chips and ancillary components was designed and gerbers generated with DesignSpark. Gerber file name suffixes were changed to match what Itead wants. Traces are 10 mil signal and 15 mil power. Two boards (slightly different, one with ground plain copper fill, the other without) were panelized into each 5 X 5 space.

ordered Oct 18
Itead requested change in gerber Oct 19 (add outline rectangle around the paired boards)
revised files sent same day
fabbrication started Oct 20
shipped Oct 29
I failed to note when HKPost said it left Hong Kong, but
"arrived destination", i.e. in Italy, Nov 10
arrived my address Nov 13 (remarkable for Dogana Italiana - I've had as much as 15 day delays at this step)

I wasn't in a rush, so avoided expedited shipping - not only is the shipping cost higher, but one pays 21% value added tax here on that, but not on postage (and I've not had all that good service from DHL, FedEx and the like anyway).

The boards themselves seem first rate. They are not very complex, and the traces aren't tiny, but they are certainly not something I could do in my home shop. This is the first time I haven't etched my own boards, and I don't think that I will ever etch another!

BTW. On another thread there was a discussion of how to cut apart panelized boards using Dremel or hack saw. I have a simpler way that doesn't raise lots of fiberglass dust. I score both sides with a "plastic laminate scoring knife" and straight edge, snap them apart and clean the edges with a file. Short of having a proper shear, this seems about the simplest and cleanest way to go. An alternative might be an old-fashioned guillotine (sp?) paper cutter, but I haven't tried that and don't have one. The scoring laminate knife has a hard, maybe carbide, triangular insert that easily scores the board. I also have a thinner plastic (i.e. plexiglass) scoring knife, but it doesn't hold an edge when used on fiberglass whereas the one for Formica could probably cut 1000's of boards without wear.
Ciao,
Lenny

Thanks for sharing. I will give Itead a try with a PCB fab and see how it goes.

I've ordered a lot of boards from iTead, and the turnaround is typically a week. Shipping to me (Toronto) is about 2 weeks using the regular shipping option, or 3 days using DHL expedited.

The quality has always been pretty great, and their customer service is very nice. Also, sometimes you get extra of your own boards if someone else decided to open-source their project and your boards were grouped together. At least, that's what I think is the reason I sometimes get 11 or 12 boards instead of 10.

Another nice feature about iTead is the 100% testing option.

I have had good experiences with their service so far. Only one order was messed up - I got 20 of a single design instead of 10 each of two designs. When I pointed it out to them, they re-ran the original order of the missing PCBs and included it in my next PCB shipment for free.

I too worry about the iMall transition. Not sure why it was needed, what it fixed. I have an order in production now, let's see what happens.

As far as shipping goes, the reason to use DHL in the USA vs. the USPS is the turn time in the customs warehouse. I've waited 3+ weeks for parts to clear the US customs when shipping with the USPS. DHL seems to have a greater interest in getting the parts delivered - 3-4 days total time from shipment in CN. Thus, I consolidate multiple PCB orders into one shipment and pay for the extra $20 to get the parts via DHL.

Constantin:
I too worry about the iMall transition. Not sure why it was needed, what it fixed. I have an order in production now, let's see what happens.

They've been going through that "transition" since I started ordering PCBs from them many, many months ago and there's never been any issue on my end. I wouldn't worry.

I order from OSH Park and Itead on the same day within an hour of each other.

I received my Boards from OSH Park over a week ago and still waiting on Itead.

The last 2 batches of boards from OSH Park though have silkscreen missing. No idea why some of the screen is missing, no overlapping, or touching anywhere. I have emailed Laen a few days ago and haven't heard anything from him, so I will be using Itead from now on if the boards are correct.

imall has been working for me, with at least 3 orders completed recently.

codlink:
The last 2 batches of boards from OSH Park though have silkscreen missing. No idea why some of the screen is missing, no overlapping, or touching anywhere. I have emailed Laen a few days ago and haven't heard anything from him, so I will be using Itead from now on if the boards are correct.

I wonder, did you verify with one of the gerber viewers out there that your board is rendering correctly? For example, iTead only prints the tNames and bNames layer, whereas I like to print the values of the parts next to them... so I have to manually explode the parts, delete the identifier, and then re-do the value to be part of the tName layer. I find the online gerber viewer pretty good.

Yes, I have verified it with viewers. OSHPark has it's own viewer as well.

Really, the silk doesn't bother me as much as someone not returning emails. I am a firm believer of customer service. If they don't want to bother with helping someone, than I don't bother using their service.

All I asked Laen was why is only some of the silk wasn't printed. I am still new with PCB Fab and designing and figured it was something stupid that I did wrong or didn't do at all.

Before Eagle I used Fritzing, I never had any trouble with OSH Park's boards. Was making me wonder what I was doing differently.

But, like I said the silk that is missing is no big deal because they are for me to use anyway, so no one else will see them.

FWIW, I had a order with OSH Park turn out great, another order vanished. Since Laen never contacted me, I never got to pay and hence the board was never produced. When I brought it up at a later time, he apologized and told me that he'd come up with a better order documentation system that wasn't as prone to fail silently.

But, given the limitations of the fab that Laen uses, I prefer iTead - smaller vias, tighter allowances. Boards that can be made by iTead have to be redesigned for Dorkbot. The dark purple color is cool, the gold surface coating is a nice touch, but ultimately, most of us are primarily after getting their boards turned quickly and hence a consistent process is a big plus.

OSH Park has one of the best file uploader I have used. Very easy to upload and view the board, plus each layer individually.

I did contact him on twitter and he did respond, so hopefully we can solve this issue. I really like OSH Park's boards and quality. Plus it seems like he's getting boards processed quicker. Prolly cause he's got the customers to fill panels faster.

Came upon this thread while searching on more info about iTead.
I just placed order with them last week, but never got confirmation e-mail so I emailed them right away with gerber files. Sunny replied that he got them, so I thought everything is ok, until I just got Invoice e-mail from iTead. Their online system doesn't show that I placed any order, I hope it's just a glitch...
BTW, my experience with OSH Park was great, from submitting design to getting notifications when it was sent to the fab. Turnaround time varies, but quality of PCB was amazing. If they only can be as competitive with prices as iTead I would stick with them :slight_smile:

I just received another batch of screw sheild PCBs from Itead that I had ordered over the New Years break.
Received e-mail with order #, sent in my files.
Received e-mail indicating factory had accepted the Gerber files
Received e-mail with tracking #.

Boards look as nice as ever. Wendy/Sunny continue to receive my backing.

Im thinking of using Seeed next...

(still more non-sense from iTead)..

placed over Chinese New Year as well..

I tried to check out that itsopway.com ... but they dont seem very clear...

on prices... (I dont have a lot of experience in this either to be fair).. on what pcb's (type) I need to order.. do they do color?...etc

Only drawback on Seed is the color pcbs is $5 more than iTead.. :frowning:

Wendy, Sunny, John , Alex and a few others.. outside of the generic order/info emails.. have all gave myself the same run-around/non-sense.

I had the same problem with Itead not sending email updates. But, after about a week, I emailed them and a couple of days later they sent me the tracking number. Got the PCBs a week later. Itead has very good prices, but I still don't have the confidence in them to send all my PCBs to them. Still use OSH Park for the smaller boards.

Id liek to try that sitopway.com place...

heard good things.. and heard good prices.. just wish thir site was a bit more user friendly.. on how they want things done.. rules/requirements..etc

just like iTead (and Seed) does!!... (but not iTead) LOL :stuck_out_tongue:

Submitted my design with Seeed on 2/22. They marked it shipped on 2/28. Received in the mail 3/15.

Just received my iTead boards! Very happy how they came out, no problems soldering them!
Not worse than OSH Park actually. It took total of 12 business days from submitting to receiving (in US).
For some strange reason I didn't get any silkscreen on the back of the board. I had text there on bNames layer. Anyone knows what could be an issue? I generated Gerber files form Eagle 6.3

Did you make sure that your CAM file had that layer highlighted when you generated the Gerbers? I did that once..