FAQ on design and technical issues

Where can I find...

PCB design rules?
Here is the link

FR4 material property details?
Download this PDF

About the hole size. Would be submitted hole size be the final hole size ?

Yes, the submitted hole size is the final hole size within a tolerance of 1 mil. 

What are the available holes sizes?

12 mils to 150 mils - 1 mil increments
150 mils to 200 mils - 5 mil increments
above 200 mils - holes would be routed out

We only use drills in imperial units. Files submitted in metric units (mm)  would be converted to imperial units (mils) and rounded up to the next mil.

How do I specify internal cutouts/milling in my design?

All internal cutouts/slots/milling should be specified on the same layer is the board outline. The the minimum routable slot size is 32 mils. During order time, please state this requirement in the "Special Request" section so that our CAM engineers is aware of it. This is not something we encounter often - so there are chances we may overlook it. Make sure it's known to us.

Do you allow multiple design per setup?

No. Only 1 design per setup is allowed

FAQ on online order process

The rates on this website is quoted in which currency?

All rates on our website is quoted in US Dollars (USD). 

What is the daily cutoff time?

To make it for the day's order, the order must be placed by 1 pm local time . All orders placed after that time would be considered next day's order. 

What is the difference between Prototype and Production order?

Our prototype service works on pooling a few designs and fabricating it under 1 setup. This makes it cheaper per part number for small quantity runs. But the fabrication setup is fixed to a standard specification and not reusable.

Production service runs on setup unique to your part number and reusable over many runs. With production run, you can configure your PCB to be built with custom materials. Production Run setups will be kept for minimum of 12 months.

How is payment made ? What cards do you accept?

We accept Credit Card payments through Paypal. Kindly check their website for payment methods supported in your country.

FAQ for company Purchase Order process

My company can only place an  order with Purchase Order system and will be paying through bank transfer. Can you accept this type of order ?

Yes we can, but try to keep the order value above USD 500.00. We may, at our digression, bill you an additional USD 30.00 for bank charges/commission. The banking charges varies from country to country.

We would avoid dealing with bank transfer whenever possible (especially for small orders) due to all the additional administrative overhead involved and uncertainty in how much we really do receive after banks take their commissions and fees. For example, a USD 60.00 transfer to us, may end up being USD 15.00 by the time it reaches us.  So we would really want to avoid such a situation.

How do I get an official quote ? I need this for a purchase requisition process.

Our website has automated quotation for both PCB Prototype and PCB Production . Towards the end of the form, you have the option to place the order as quoted or request for official quotation.  Click on option, fill out the form, upload the file and we will send you a PDF quotation by e-mail within 1 working day.

Apart from online order can you deal with Purchase Orders?

Yes, our system is designed to also deal with company procurement process. You can start by placing a Quotation Request. Our system will e-mail you a printable PDF. Once the Purchase Order is ready, you can complete the order by filling out the Purchase Order # and billing details

Do you offer Credit Term?

In general, no. All orders should be paid in advanced. Regular customers that orders more than once a week or have monthly purchase volume exceeding USD 5,000 may apply for credit term for their purchasing convenience. 

With my company, obtaining a Purchase Order and payment  can take some time. Can you fabricate the boards in advance prior to receiving the payment ?

Yes, we can do that. Just let us know about this situation under the "special request" section of order form. We often get started on production upon placement of order.As long as the we know the order is firm and payment is on its way, we can get started on the job immediately.

More often than not, by the time the purchase requisition is processed, the boards will be ready to ship. Unlike other PCB companies, we place trust in our customers and will start work even before money is paid.

FAQ about PCB Specification

For the PCB Prototype service, can I specify different material or copper thickness ?

No, our setup Prototype Service is a shared setup service. All prototype service will be built to standard panel specification which is 0.062" FR4 1 oz or 2 oz, Green Soldermask & White silkscreen. If you need it built any other way, please use our Production Run service.

On PCB Production service, when I choosing different soldermask color or FR4 thickness adds to the cost. Why is this so?

Custom specification boards, require special processing consideration and we need to stop and reconfigure machines along the way to accept non-standard materials or soldermask color. So additional labor and inefficiency is involved. Custom specs PCB is costlier not because the material cost more, but because more labor is involved than standard specs PCB.

What is Custom Specification PCB ?

Any build specification that is not 0.062" FR4 1 oz copper, HASL finishing, White Silkscreen, Green Soldermask.

FAQ about shipping

How long does shipping take ?

It depends on the destination location. In most parts of the developed world, delivery by FedEx is normally 2 days (excluding weekends) . For example, if we ship out the PCB on our Monday, it will arrive to customer at destination Wednesday .

Shipment to some regions such as Middle East, South America and Africa may take up to 4-5 working days.  Please refer to our shipping chart for more accurate details on shipping transit time.

Is there any faster service available ? Overnight perhaps?

Shipments within Malaysia & Singapore is delivered overnight by default. For shipment to all other countries, the quickest available service is the standard 2 working day FedEx International Priority.

How much does a PCB normally weight ? How much can I ship in a 1 lbs (0.5kg) shipment ?

On the average, 100 sq inch of 0.062" FR4 PCB will weight  0.4 lbs to 0.55 lbs depending on configuration. Due to weight of packaging material (0.3 lbs) only 0.7 lbs of PCB can be included in the first lbs of shipment.

In some cases, such as tab-routed or v-scored panels - the panel support boards (to avoid breakage during shipping) may add to the shipping weight.  To help our customer save on shipping cost, we will always use the lightest and smallest packaging method. 

Your shipping rate is much lower than similar businesses in Asia and Europe. Why is it so?

We bill our customers, shipping rate at-cost. If FedEx bill us $10, we bill our customer $10. Most other PCB business in this region uses low price to bait customers in only to hit them with this excessive shipping and handling cost. We frown upon this practice. So while some competitors may appear to cost less than us at a glance.  But when you add it all up, the total shipped cost will often be higher than our total shipped cost. Just beware of excessive shipping charges.

FAQ after sales

How long is my production run setup stored?

We store production run  setups for a minimum of 12 months from order date using the setup. The setup expiry date can be extended for another 12 months on each reorder.

The PCB came in and it looks great! But where is my invoice?

For each parcel shipped out we will include 4 copies of our commercial invoice. 3 will be taken out by the time it reaches the destination leaving 1 copy. Occasionally, Customs officer may take all copies of the invoice thus  leaving none in the parcel.

When this happens, you can contact the salesperson in charge of your order and he/she will send a PDF version of the invoice.

The board that I received is not mine. What should I do with it?

In some rare occasion (1 in 2000 parcels) mistakes does happen when sorting out PCB for delivery . If you receive a PCB that is not yours, chances are that another customer is  having your PCB. Normally the customer is within the same country as the finished PCB is sorted by country before being packed and shipped.

Please contact us immediately so we can arrange for a swap. We will advice you on the procedures to send parcel to each other using our FedEx account.

I received the boards and I believe there are some fabrication mistakes. Can I get a replacement made?

Due to the nature of our business where all products is custom made to order, sometimes, we do make mistakes during CAM processing. We don't deny it happens - but we have recently brought the rate of mistake down to 1 in 350 orders.

If you do receive a board that is not as specified in the PCB design file, do e-mail us and point out to us the discrepancy between the end PCB and given files.  We will investigate on that matter and remake the PCB if we made an error.  If you can include pictures to support your claim, that will also help in our remake/rework filing. 

Over 90% of defect claims is entertained and remade. Kindly use a Gerber viewer to review the files sent to us prior to filing a claim. Claims can be filed by writing e-mail to sales@custompcb.com .

We received less PCBs than ordered, whom do I contact ?

Please e-mail to sales@custompcb.com to resolve the issue. Occasionally we make packing mistakes. More often than not, we may have left out a few boards during packing process.