On 08/16/2019 08:59 AM, systems_glitch via cctalk wrote:
Paul,
I've got a board house I usually use, but if I can find a shop in the USA
that will do hard gold plating and provide a comparable cost-per-board, I'd
certainly switch!
There are few board houses in the US anymore, and they are
usually doing aerospace or government work, and are quite
expensive. Most of the supposedly US-based outfits now do
almost all their fabrication in China.
I use E-teknet, based in AZ, but their fabs are in China.
They do VERY good work. In the distant past I did a lot of
boards with US makers, but had a constant problem that they
would charge me for electrical test, and then just cheat and
NOT actually test the boards, just do a visual inspection.
So, I ended up with 4-layer boards with shorts on the inner
layers! And, only found those after stuffing the boards. A
MAJOR pain, and I would blacklist those companies.
Well, E-teknet has never done that to me. (The flying probe
tester leaves TINY dots on the pads, so you can tell whether
a board has been tested or not.)
Jon
