Has anyone actually received pcbs ordered from futurlec?

[austin]

I ordered mine 2 weeks ago.  They won't respond to email and don't have a phone number.  They haven't charged my creditcard either.  When I emailed the file in, they replied saying my design checked out (as far as dimensions, track/hole clearance  goes).  I guess it's time to redo the hole sizes for apcircuits.  Any other recommended pcb manufacturers?  Also, this is the futurlec in New York.

[Brian Marshall]

dont they say they take 3 weeks to deliver??? that's what i remember... could be wrong.... I was going to place an order witth them next month.

[austin]

They never gave me an expected delivery/ship/completion date.   It does say 1 week for manufacture on their website, which I did not see until now.  I guess they might just be swamped.

[Hal]

i think some people here have had sucess with pcbexpress.

IIRC, its $51 for 3 2-sided boards....

[ErikMiller]

I ordered a run of them and they are great.

My second order from them is supposedly due to ship tomorrow. It will be here when it gets here.

Futurlec are good on price, but every once in a while they ship very slowly. Also not so great on communication.

Your order will get to you eventually, but I can't treat them as a time-critical vendor as I do Mouser.

Their prices on PCB's are so much better than anyone else's that for me, they have no competition outside my own etch tank.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Looking at the comments on Google Groups over the last 4 years, it seems that results vary. I assume that Futurelec are subcontracting the PCB work out. One good thing, for anyone in Australia, is that they accept Protel. Which Olimex (a very cheap PCB company in Bulgaria) doesn't.

[LinuxMan]

Hehe, gotta love that Olimex.

Anyhow a firm in my country does PCBs with same features as Olimex but at
half the price (about 10$ 160x100). The only catch is you have to buy more
than one (can't remember how much though). They do take Protel. If it
weren't for them I think I'dd order from Bolgaria too...

Cheers
LM

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Anyhow a firm in my country does PCBs with same features as Olimex but at half the price (about 10$ 160x100). The only catch is you have to buy more than one (can't remember how much though). They do take Protel. LM

Let me know if you find out! I was asking a Slovenian girl what the economy was like & strangely she didn't mention PCBs..

[puretube]

hey LinuxMan: I`d be interested in details (name/link/address)
of that Slovenian company, too!

And, btw: does Olimex accept (hand-) drawings or printouts for PCBs?

thank you, Ton.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

And, btw: does Olimex accept (hand-) drawings or printouts for PCBs?.

Pretty sure not. They WILL do layout from scratch, though (don't know rates). Think they will take Eagle (have to check that).

[LinuxMan]

Hey.

The site is: http://www.hobotnica.si/

Beware because the site's not in English though and I don't know if they
even speak English or not. If you'dd like I can ask about the pricing. Send
me a PM with dimensions and minimum quantity and I could call them and
see what they have to say.

Cheers
LM

[LinuxMan]

Oh yeah, just a thought...

Maybe we could do a joint purchase of some PCBs that are popular.
Everyone orders 2 or so pieces and gets their circuits at a very very low
price... Anyone interested?

Cheers
LM

[bluesdevil]

I would be interested depending on what circuits are decided on and final total cost with shipping would be to me (U.S.).  Thanks for offering to organize something!!

[LinuxMan]

Hey.

Yah, no problem really. The final price is not yet known but a while back
ago the price was about 5$ for 10cm2. For that money you get top notch
single sided, solder masked, silk screened circuits.

Shipping abroad in my country is something along these lines:
<20g= 1$
20 g to 100 g= 1.6$
100 g to 250 g= 3.5$
250 g to 500 g= 6.2$
500 g to 1.000 g= 10.5$
1.000 g to 2.000 g= 17$
10g= 0.35 ounces.

The mail is not registred or insured so there's no way of shippment
tracking. In other words in case of loss there's nothing I can do...  The
same system is used for the shippment of Aron's switches.

All we would have to do is agree on what circuits to order and draw them
in a program (Protel etc.). Next there's money transfer to my account (I
accept www.moneybookers.com ). After a certain date the orders are
closed that's when I place an order with a manufacturer. Then there's the
manufacture waiting period, than a shipping waiting period. All in all
there's about a month of waiting (2 weeks manufacture + 2 weeks
shipping) for everything.

Beware that all of the above is only an estimate. Prices and waiting times
may vary slightly.

Cheers
LM

[austin]

Just an update on my boards from futurlec... Finally got them after almost four weeks and there are a couple issues:  The biggest problem is that they swapped the top and bottom layers.  Fortunately, the board is still useable.  Also, the silkscreen (printed on the top of the board, which is the bottom layer in my design) is terrible.  The holes are through-plated.  I will probably order from them again, but I'll leave off the silkscreen.

[Gladmarr]

Ok, I know this is a long dead topic, but when I saw all this the first time, I ordered some boards from Futurlec, and I just got them yesterday.  They are exactly what I ordered, and they look great.  I'm going to order some more boards really soon here for some microphones I'm modifying.  I think the boards came out to $9 a piece for a 1.5"x3.5" board, double sided, no soldermask or silkscreen.  If you send them your layout in separate layers, just make sure to label them as top, bottom, and so on....

:wink:

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Gladmarr, how long did it take, and what format did you send to them (? files, artwork or what?) thanks.

[Gladmarr]

I ordered them on December 10th.  I sent them gerber files.  I just had to look through their drill size chart and modify some parts to use bigger through holes to match to their drill sizes on hand.

[downweverything]

I havent ordered PCBs from futurelec but I did order some other stuff and my account was charged for 3 times the amount in multiple charges (not the same amount) (i didnt accidentally order multiple times).  I have complained and I have only gotten one response and it still hasnt been corrected nor have I recieved my stuff...  needless to say, I wouldn't advise anyone to buy anything from futurelec.

[Hal]

i got my stuff as expected, fast delivary, great products.  AFAIK, they only charged me once, but its my dad's credit card.  No PCB's, though.