*(&^@#!! &*^!!! Futurlec!!! @U*(@!#*(#&#&(@(

[ExpAnonColin]

I placed an order from Futurlec on the 28th of last month.  Payed $70.  $15 for shipping.  It hasn't even been shipped yet.  I NEEDED Those parts to fill an order for a retailer overseas, and now Futurlec is holding me up.

I emailed them to ask about some PCB manufacturing.  They never emailed back.

Last time I ordered from them they charged me about $10 too much for shipping on a small order (shipping was $13 if I recall, actually postage was $3).  Now I've already waited 11 days for a 2-3 day shipping quote, and it's not even shipped.

Please, does anyone know where I can get nice 50c pots like the ones on futurlec, and a nice cheap PCB manufacturing company that will actually MAKE PCBs and mail them?  I have gerber, gif, pdf...

Thus starts Colin Raffel's official boycott of Futurlec, inc...

-Colin

[Dan N]

I see similar pots at some of the surplus sites. What values?

The guy who made the Letter Opener 440 clone had his boards made by a HC forumite named guitar_dave <d.dolson@sbcglobal.net> They looked like nice pcb's.

[Karmasound]

Futurlec sucks period



I ordered from them back a few months ago. Well I started to get pissed at about the 6 week interval. So I email and emailed and finally got a reply.

They said they wer waiting to get a cap shippment in. I only ordered one of these things. So they held up my entire order for over a month for one cap.

Why they couln't have contacted me and told me that I don't know, poor customer service.


I just cancelled my entire order and order some where else.


They had even charged my card before they even filled the order.



Never again

[ExpAnonColin]

Did guitardave actually MAKE them or did he just design them?  I know he does design, but....

Values=1k, 5k, 10k, 25k, 50k, basically the whole range of normal values.

Thanks man.

-Colin

[Dragonfly]

i dont know about the pots, but Express PCB does great work...about a 10 day turnaround time on pcb's, unless of course you pay for a rush job....

andy

[ninoman123]

Have you used Express PCB's service before Dragonfly? I was thinking about trying them out. I've had a few family members and friends ask for some Fuzz Face clones. It seems costly, from what I've seen around 50 bucks for 3 boards....I'd prolly do better ordering them from GGG or somewhere.

[Dan N]

I just assumed Dave made them. Could easily be wrong.

I'll keep my eyes open for split shaft pots. goldmine-elec.com has a couple values...

[Dragonfly]

Have you used Express PCB's service before Dragonfly? I was thinking about trying them out. I've had a few family members and friends ask for some Fuzz Face clones. It seems costly, from what I've seen around 50 bucks for 3 boards....I'd prolly do better ordering them from GGG or somewhere.

actually, it isnt costly at all...the $50 (or so)  for 3 boards is for their miniboard service...i can fit 3 FF pcb's on EACH miniboard, so thats 9 FF pcb's for $50-someodd bucks....not bad at all !

if youre doing larger production runs, because of a "50 piece" discount, its often CHEAPER to do 50 boards than it is to do 30...so check the "50" quantities price to be sure...

their boards are absolutely wonderful......especially the production ones with solder mask, silkscreen, etc.....

andy

[ninoman123]

Yeah, good idea. I didnt think about fitting a few circuits onto one board.

[mrsage]

I asked Dave about making me some boards, and he said he only does design.

autopilot makes boards for reasonable prices. They're probably not quite the same quality as the Futurlec ones, but they're definitely functional.

[travissk]

I placed an order from futurlec on the 27th and it hasn't shipped. Just a few grab bags and a bunch of pots.

[Dragonfly]

actually, it isnt costly at all...the $50 (or so)  for 3 boards is for their miniboard service...i can fit 3 FF pcb's on EACH miniboard, so thats 9 FF pcb's for $50-someodd bucks....not bad at all !

I take it back...for the heck of it i just did a silicon FF layout...i was able to get SIX pcb's from EACH miniboard...so 18 silicon FF boards would cost $59 ...thats just over $3 each !!!

andy

[nightingale]

i guess i know what to expect now,
i just did my 1st order from them last week,
thanks for the heads up,

[Peter Snowberg]

I've used ExpressPCB many times in the past five years. Both their prototype and their production run boards have been fantastic. 0% defect rate.

Board cost is mostly about setup costs.

If you make one board or you make 1000.... you still need the same films and drill setup.

Some places make boards cheap, but they may not be recycling the copper in their etchant or disposing of their chemicals properly and I've used a couple of vendors that gave me back boards with super-micro-hairline shorts between adjacent tracks.  :cry: Of course they offer to pin test for an addional fee. :?

Cheap boards are NOT always cheap.

[ErikMiller]

Ah, Futurlec.

I've had them ship promptly, then I've had them take weeks, with no good explanation.

You can't depend on them if you're in a hurry.

However, their prices make up for it. I just don't order anything that I will need sooner than 3 weeks.

I need someone who will charge me appropriately for single-sided boards with no solder mask, and I haven't found another supplier who can touch their prices for that. Most places charge you the same as they would for double-sided with plated-through holes, and I don't need or want that.

[travissk]

Colin (and others with outstanding orders)

I emailed them and had a reply fairly quickly (and this at 4AM in California - guess they're responding from Australia). They said that only my Linear IC value pack is currently on hold and they're checking with the manufacturer for future availability.

I'm not sure who manufactures a grab bag of ICs, but the good news is that for anyone who currently has orders for pots out, they seem to be in stock. I ordered about $35 worth of all sorts of values, FYI.

[H.Manback]

Colin (and others with outstanding orders)

I emailed them and had a reply fairly quickly (and this at 4AM in California - guess they're responding from Australia). They said that only my Linear IC value pack is currently on hold and they're checking with the manufacturer for future availability.

I'm not sure who manufactures a grab bag of ICs, but the good news is that for anyone who currently has orders for pots out, they seem to be in stock. I ordered about $35 worth of all sorts of values, FYI.

Wow, that is almost EXACTLY my situation. It's a small world :lol:

I got my order, and found out that the ICs were missing... I emailed them, and got a response a couple of days later stating the Linear IC pack was out of stock (Linear is the manufacturer I believe). They presented me with the choice between getting my money back for the ICs or waiting for the ICs to be back in stock and have them sent to me. I'm not in a hurry, so I chose the latter. No reply on that though... I guess they'll send it.

[ExpAnonColin]

I asked Dave about making me some boards, and he said he only does design.

autopilot makes boards for reasonable prices. They're probably not quite the same quality as the Futurlec ones, but they're definitely functional.

He's the guy who's done them for me in the past.  Great guy, but I like solder mask (I'm rhyming).  Once he forgot to drill a hole.

-Colin

[ExpAnonColin]

i dont know about the pots, but Express PCB does great work...about a 10 day turnaround time on pcb's, unless of course you pay for a rush job....

andy

Too much $$$... and I'm a Osmond guy myself.

[ExpAnonColin]

Have you used Express PCB's service before Dragonfly? I was thinking about trying them out. I've had a few family members and friends ask for some Fuzz Face clones. It seems costly, from what I've seen around 50 bucks for 3 boards....I'd prolly do better ordering them from GGG or somewhere.

actually, it isnt costly at all...the $50 (or so)  for 3 boards is for their miniboard service...i can fit 3 FF pcb's on EACH miniboard, so thats 9 FF pcb's for $50-someodd bucks....not bad at all !

if youre doing larger production runs, because of a "50 piece" discount, its often CHEAPER to do 50 boards than it is to do 30...so check the "50" quantities price to be sure...

their boards are absolutely wonderful......especially the production ones with solder mask, silkscreen, etc.....

andy

The ironic thing is that that same thing at Futurlec would be 15c a board, albeit with setup costs.