First PCB - HASL smeared on one board - design error or manufacturing defect?

[JLCPCB Official]

Hello!  I've just received the first PCB I designed myself, from JLCPCB.  Nothing fancy, just the defaults - 1.6mm thick, 2 layer, green, HASL, etc. All through hole and kept simple (no tight traces or anything)



They look great, and I've certainly made mental notes of some things I'll change for my next design (maybe larger pads for easier soldering), but one of the boards has a defect; the HASL is smeared about 2mm to the right down the right hand side.



Of course I don't expect 100% success for $2 + shipping, and I factored that in when selecting quantity.  But when I've seen other people get bad boards there's usually a big cross on it.  Does this mean that it might actually be a design error on my part?  I had a look for examples of HASL being smeared online but couldn't find anything.

Thank you.

Hello everyone,
JLCPCB will sincerely accept any quality complaint. As we know no factory can achieve perfect production, we never deny it as well.  For the quality problem please contact lilyyang@jlcpcb.com for a solution or claim.

JLCPCB's manufacturing process has passed the following certifications.


We have adopted strict quality control and management to reduce the possibility of errors, including Raw Materials Guarantee, Advanced equipment, Multiple Testing Before Shipping (≥2 layers will always be 100% tested with a flying probe), Strict Management. JLC’s quality complaint rate orders around 0.23%.It is not a marketing strategy but an explanation for our manufacturing results.

We want to find a solution that is satisfactory to both parties, so we adopt a compensation system for losses caused by quality problems. Quality is the life of a product, and it is also the primary production standard for JLCPCB because this is an important factor that can maintain JLCPCB competitiveness. Thank you for your valuable comments, we will listen carefully.

[tszaboo]

Hello everyone,
JLCPCB will sincerely accept any quality complaint. As we know no factory can achieve perfect production, we never deny it as well.  For the quality problem please contact lilyyang@jlcpcb.com for a solution or claim.

JLCPCB's manufacturing process has passed the following certifications.


We have adopted strict quality control and management to reduce the possibility of errors, including Raw Materials Guarantee, Advanced equipment, Multiple Testing Before Shipping (≥2 layers will always be 100% tested with a flying probe), Strict Management. JLC’s quality complaint rate orders around 0.23%.It is not a marketing strategy but an explanation for our manufacturing results.

We want to find a solution that is satisfactory to both parties, so we adopt a compensation system for losses caused by quality problems. Quality is the life of a product, and it is also the primary production standard for JLCPCB because this is an important factor that can maintain JLCPCB competitiveness. Thank you for your valuable comments, we will listen carefully.

May we ask, what quality standards you follow?
On the quality page on your website, there is a list of tests, and certification, but nothing concrete.
Just doing a test means nothing. What are the pass/fail criteria for the tests? Do you follow any standards for that?

[Mecanix]

Do you follow any standards for that?

Damn imagine if those insanely freak and costly international associations qc standards would be implemented... they are this world's pcb printer meaning we'd have our pcbs shipped 145+ days after ordering :/ As long as the test probe touch a few and finds both end signals I'm cool with that for that price.

In fact, I would appreciate if everybody could select "Not Test" on that Flying Probe Test option, just so I can get my PCB shipped 24hrs after ordering instead of 48. Thank you! 

[TomS_]

is it possible they do the flying probes test before the HASL finish?

On my most recent order I can see tiny pin pricks on the SMD component pads, so I think it happens after HASL.

[tszaboo]

Do you follow any standards for that?

Damn imagine if those insanely freak and costly international associations qc standards would be implemented... they are this world's pcb printer meaning we'd have our pcbs shipped 145+ days after ordering :/ As long as the test probe touch a few and finds both end signals I'm cool with that for that price.

In fact, I would appreciate if everybody could select "Not Test" on that Flying Probe Test option, just so I can get my PCB shipped 24hrs after ordering instead of 48. Thank you! 

There are companies in europe that do the testing, and they offer 2 days service. 3 days for having your boards.
And no, you wouldn't be cool, if an internal layer would be broken on a board which was very expensive to make.

[JLCPCB Official]

Hello everyone,
JLCPCB will sincerely accept any quality complaint. As we know no factory can achieve perfect production, we never deny it as well.  For the quality problem please contact lilyyang@jlcpcb.com for a solution or claim.

JLCPCB's manufacturing process has passed the following certifications.


We have adopted strict quality control and management to reduce the possibility of errors, including Raw Materials Guarantee, Advanced equipment, Multiple Testing Before Shipping (≥2 layers will always be 100% tested with a flying probe), Strict Management. JLC’s quality complaint rate orders around 0.23%.It is not a marketing strategy but an explanation for our manufacturing results.

We want to find a solution that is satisfactory to both parties, so we adopt a compensation system for losses caused by quality problems. Quality is the life of a product, and it is also the primary production standard for JLCPCB because this is an important factor that can maintain JLCPCB competitiveness. Thank you for your valuable comments, we will listen carefully.

May we ask, what quality standards you follow?
On the quality page on your website, there is a list of tests, and certification, but nothing concrete.
Just doing a test means nothing. What are the pass/fail criteria for the tests? Do you follow any standards for that?

We follow IPC-A-600J industry standard in all our PCB manufacturing stages which covers the Automated Optical Inspection machines based on full board inspection with a defined magnification for the used camera-based machines, following some customer requirements the defined magnification changes to increase the inspection precision. The spots and traces connection are fully tested by the flying probes machines to match the requirements of the IPC-A-600J standard which is followed by us.

[tszaboo]

Hello everyone,
JLCPCB will sincerely accept any quality complaint. As we know no factory can achieve perfect production, we never deny it as well.  For the quality problem please contact lilyyang@jlcpcb.com for a solution or claim.

JLCPCB's manufacturing process has passed the following certifications.


We have adopted strict quality control and management to reduce the possibility of errors, including Raw Materials Guarantee, Advanced equipment, Multiple Testing Before Shipping (≥2 layers will always be 100% tested with a flying probe), Strict Management. JLC’s quality complaint rate orders around 0.23%.It is not a marketing strategy but an explanation for our manufacturing results.

We want to find a solution that is satisfactory to both parties, so we adopt a compensation system for losses caused by quality problems. Quality is the life of a product, and it is also the primary production standard for JLCPCB because this is an important factor that can maintain JLCPCB competitiveness. Thank you for your valuable comments, we will listen carefully.

May we ask, what quality standards you follow?
On the quality page on your website, there is a list of tests, and certification, but nothing concrete.
Just doing a test means nothing. What are the pass/fail criteria for the tests? Do you follow any standards for that?

We follow IPC-A-600J industry standard in all our PCB manufacturing stages which covers the Automated Optical Inspection machines based on full board inspection with a defined magnification for the used camera-based machines, following some customer requirements the defined magnification changes to increase the inspection precision. The spots and traces connection are fully tested by the flying probes machines to match the requirements of the IPC-A-600J standard which is followed by us.

Thank you for the reply.
It's good to see that you follow the latest and most widely accepted standard.
Do you use class 2 or class 3 for determining, if something is a failure?

[JLCPCB Official]

Hello everyone,
JLCPCB will sincerely accept any quality complaint. As we know no factory can achieve perfect production, we never deny it as well.  For the quality problem please contact lilyyang@jlcpcb.com for a solution or claim.

JLCPCB's manufacturing process has passed the following certifications.


We have adopted strict quality control and management to reduce the possibility of errors, including Raw Materials Guarantee, Advanced equipment, Multiple Testing Before Shipping (≥2 layers will always be 100% tested with a flying probe), Strict Management. JLC’s quality complaint rate orders around 0.23%.It is not a marketing strategy but an explanation for our manufacturing results.

We want to find a solution that is satisfactory to both parties, so we adopt a compensation system for losses caused by quality problems. Quality is the life of a product, and it is also the primary production standard for JLCPCB because this is an important factor that can maintain JLCPCB competitiveness. Thank you for your valuable comments, we will listen carefully.

May we ask, what quality standards you follow?
On the quality page on your website, there is a list of tests, and certification, but nothing concrete.
Just doing a test means nothing. What are the pass/fail criteria for the tests? Do you follow any standards for that?

We follow IPC-A-600J industry standard in all our PCB manufacturing stages which covers the Automated Optical Inspection machines based on full board inspection with a defined magnification for the used camera-based machines, following some customer requirements the defined magnification changes to increase the inspection precision. The spots and traces connection are fully tested by the flying probes machines to match the requirements of the IPC-A-600J standard which is followed by us.

Thank you for the reply.
It's good to see that you follow the latest and most widely accepted standard.
Do you use class 2 or class 3 for determining, if something is a failure?

We use Class 2.Only by doing a good job in the quality inspection can customers trust us for large and small batch production. Thank you for your question and trust, so that we have the opportunity to discuss.

[MIS42N]

I got my first boards back from JLCPCB yesterday and they are just what I asked for. Unfortunately, they weren't what I thought I asked for. What fun it is is to be a newby all over again.

I downloaded KiCad 30th January so it's been an intense learning curve, never used a PCB designer or made a board before. Just creating a board for a circuit I'd already prototyped. I only wanted one side with through hole components so designed the bottom layer thinking I was looking at the bottom layer from the bottom. Well - no. I am looking at the bottom layer from the top. Live and learn.

Fortunately, KiCad had the footprints right and the only stuff up was a connector with the pins around the wrong way. Fortunately there's no orientation on the connector so the plug goes in the wrong way and it works. Well, one end works and I'll make the other end tomorrow.

It is a "GPS module extender" - a GPS module generates 9600 baud NMEA messages and 1ppS. It plugs into a board with a dual differential line driver that sends the data to an RJ45 socket then via CAT something (5?) cable to the receiver with another RJ45 socket and a dual line receiver then to the target board. The GPS module and driver are powered through otherwise unused pairs in the cable. The prototype worked well but hand wiring the RJ45 sockets was excruciating. The PCB makes it so simple. Looking forward to the next challenge.