Great PCB Service - Juvtmall.com

[JonSea]

I have used Juvtmall.com in the past for circuit boards. Great personal service and high quality boards.

I recently looked at their web page - they have a new service if you're ordering just one board design. You get "free urgent" and "free DHL" which gets you 10 double-sided boards of up to 100mm x 100mm for $25 delivered to the US. It's a very low hassle way to get standard green boards delivered to you quickly.

The cost is around what you'd pay for standard service from other Chinese fabs but this removes the question about how much shipping will be (I strongly recommend using DHL shipping when ordering boards so you'll remember what they are for by the time you receive them!) and makes the total order a known price going in.

If you are ordering more than one board, opt for their standard service and use DHL shipping. The second and even third boards don't add much to shipping.

I ordered a batch of boards last night but there was a little confusion with them receiving the Gerbers. I'll post when I receive the boards.

 

[JonSea]

I should note - my only affiliation with Juvtmall is that of a satisfied customer. I have received no compensation for this post - I only wanted to share a unique deal from a quality vendor.

 

[JonSea]

One option Juvtmall has in their regular service ($10 for ten boards up to 100mm × 100mm with shipping extra) is tented or open vias. I actually helped them with the terminology when I couldn't imagine what the option on the order form was all about

Open vias are the usual option - soldermask and silk screen run up to the annular ring of the via, leaving the solder-plated ring and hole visible. If the vias are tented, they are covered with soldermask amd silkscreen.

So what does this mean? Imagine the back side of an SMT board. Your silkscreen masterpiece covering the board is going to be pock-marked with vias with the more common open vias. On the otherhand, with tented vias, there won't be pock marks to mar your artwork.

Tented vias are not without controversy so do your research before selecting this option.

 

[JonSea]

As promised, Juvtmall has shipped my boards two days after receiving my order.

 

[Pommie]

Just checked various boards I have lying around. Ones I've had made have open vias but the Arduino etc. boards have covered vias. How does the PCB house differentiate between the two? Surely the software has to create the right gerber files.

Mike.

 

[JonSea]

No, apparently it is a matter of how the soldermask layer is processed. The order form asks if you want open or tented vias.

The photo shows what the option originally was. I didn't have a clue what this meant, but they quickly changed it when we figured out the terminology.

 

[Colin]

The Juvtmall.com website is not set-up to take orders from Australia.

 

[JonSea]

My other go-to guys are Elecrow and Smart-Prototyping. They offer similar services and pricing tp Juvtmall.

I have also used iTead and Seeed Studios with good results but I believe tbeir prices are a little higher.

 

[JonSea]

I sent in this order pn March 14th and it will be delivered today - 8 days after the order, which included rush board production.

From Elecrow, I typically get one week service for non-rush boards - sometimes even faster.

So why the difference? Juvtmall uses DHL Hong Kong delivery. Elecrow gives you the option of DHL Hong Kong or DHL Shenzhen for a couple bucks more. Getting the boards from Shenzhen to Hong Kong can be a several-day process. In this case, my boards were finished on Friday, but didn't show up in Hong Kong until Tuesday.

Elecrow also offers UPS shipping. I have never used UPS from overseas but I have heard stories of brokerage and customs fees being imposed. DHL has been reliable with no extra charges. I recommend them.


For those of us in the US, trump has announced a >$20 billion tariff on Chinese imports. This may have a serious impact on board prices!

 

[JonSea]

Boards arrived yesterday as expected. Very good quality and nice silkscreening. This board has slots and nonplated hole which were no problem.

And the board fits in the enclosure!