Review: PCB Service von PCBWay.com - nerdiy.de - DIY, Elektronik, 3D Druck und mehr...

It's been a while since PCBWay asked me to test their PCB manufacturing service. This was a perfect opportunity to have the circuit board manufactured for the “mobileSupply” project.

“mobileSupply” is supposed to be a kind of power bank for the bike. The special feature is that this power bank can also be charged using the bike's AC generator. This power bank can also charge a device and be charged itself at the same time. Actually a simple ability, but not every power bank supports it.

In addition, the powerbank should also be easily removable and rechargeable at a power outlet. So you can also charge it before the (vllt. longer bike ride).

But now to the actual topic of this review: The PCB service of PCBway.com.

Order process

The ordering process is very simple. In principle, all you have to do is select the “PCB Prototype” category on the homepage of PCBWay.com and after clicking on “Quote Now” you will be redirected to the page where you can configure all possible parameters for your PCBWay order.

The first question you need to ask yourself is: What do you want to have made?

Manufacturing options

During the ordering process, all sorts of settings await you. For example, you can set the board material, the thickness of the board material or the copper layer. Also various different colors for the solder resist can be configured.

View configuration options during the ordering process.

For example, it is also possible to select flexible PCBs. This opens up some new possibilities 🙂

The manufactured board

The finished boards (in total there were five pieces) arrived well packed. In the following a small unboxing video about it.

Unboxing of the manufactured boards

Here you can see a comparison of the original view before production and the delivered boards.

The board with a few of the components to be soldered.

The external dimensions of the supplied boards have been milled to 0.1mm accuracy.

Soldering the first components with solder paste also worked without any problems.

...apart from the fact that I clearly used too much soldering paste here and there 😀.

Conclusion

First of all, I have to admit that such reviews always seem a bit biased. After all, I also received the boards provided for this purpose free of charge as samples.

However, that wouldn't stop me from writing something negative here either if there had been.

So far I have to say that I am completely satisfied with the boards and the associated service. The ordering process was problem-free, the many options seem a bit overwhelming at first glance but are ultimately well explained. Delivery (with DHL) was quick. I also liked the “information policy” because with every new step (e.g. payment received, production completed, shipping, etc.) you were informed by email. Questions could also be answered easily by email.

Overall I can PCBWay.com so recommend 🙂

BTW: If you use this link you will receive a voucher worth 5 US dollars by registering: https://www.pcbway.com/setinvite.aspx?inviteid=380807