Quick Turn Products – Keeping Orders Off Hold

[Terri Miller]

Quick Turn Products – Keeping Orders Off Hold
Hello all!

For some time now we have been reviewing some of the top reasons that our Quick Turn printed circuit board products experience delays and have orders placed in the ‘hold’ status. We would like to share some of these with you in hopes that the information can help in avoiding these delays and receiving your order in a timely manner.

For our Quick Turn Products, we regularly check for issues that could be problematic for your printed circuit board - however, this check is very limited. In order to avoid delays and keep your Quick Turn Order from being placed in a 'Hold' status, there are a few very simple things that you can do.

To help ensure your order will not be held up, confirm the following before submitting the files:

• You are uploading the correct files for the order.
• The files submitted match each other and have the same modification date - for instance, if files have been modified confirm all changes were saved. I see MANY sets of files where modifications have been made to the Gerber files, but the changes were not saved for the NC Drill file.
• All information about the files is given during the order process. For example; if you do not need a bottom soldermask layer (or ANY other layer), choose 'do not need' when mapping the layers. If there is a question about this or about a file missing, your order may be held up.
• Be sure that your NC Drill file is submitted along with your Gerber files. Many times the NC Drill file is missing since this is a separate process from generating Gerber files in a lot of software packages. It can be easy to forget. If you have questions about generating your drill file, please let us know. We may have information to help generate the drill using your software.
• If you choose 'Hold for Outline Redraw', understand that the outline must be a single, continuous line and meet the specs listed here : PCB Quickturn Proto Circuit Boards, or the order will be held up. If the outline doesn't meet the specs, you will either need to modify the existing outline, choose to allow the use of the default outline, OR cancel the order and resubmit through another product line. Understanding the option may help eliminate lengthy delays in getting your order started.
• We see many orders held up due to missing Aperture lists or reports. To ensure the apertures are included with your files, ALWAYS generate Extended Gerber files (RS-274X). When you generate extended Gerber files, the apertures (object sizes & shapes) are embedded so a separate aperture report may not be required – especially ideal for Quick Turn products. If you have questions about how to choose this format in your software, please reply here and we will try to locate the information that you need.
• Slots or Cut Outs - Quickturn Printed Circuits now supports slots and cutouts, read more here.

• Be aware that any MLB (multi-layer) boards that we provide the Native file conversion will need your approval once the conversion is done and before we can proceed with manufacturing. So after your MLB order is placed that will require the generation of files --- watch your email! You should receive a set of files and a pdf for review and approval just shortly after. The sooner we get the approval, or an answer back, the sooner we can proceed with the order.
• Confirm that Inner Layers have Sufficient Clearances – We now run a DRC for clearances on inner layers. This procedure was implemented after finding that internal layers regularly lacked the necessary clearance to prevent internal shorts. For detailed information on “Iinsufficient Clearance Information” please follow this forum link: Insufficient Clearance Information

To review the “Drill/Pad/Clearance Chart” to see what your files require, please follow this link on our website: Drill File Pad Clearance

If you have any questions or suggestions about this post, please reply (or send a personal message if that is your preference) and we will do our best to assist you!

Cheers!

[Terri Miller]

Hello,

One of the items listed here refers to Slots/Cut Outs... Sunstone now offers Slots/Cut Outs for our Quick Turn Service!

When quoting a Quick Turn order, please choose the number of slots or cut outs that are required for your design.

View the Quick Turn Quote Page here: http://quoting.sunstone.com/QuoteQT.aspx.

Sunstone Circuits Quick Turn Slots & Cut Outs

Slots.jpg (26.12 KiB) Viewed 23920 times

If you have questions, please contact our Customer Service Team and we'll be happy to assist you.

[Terri Miller]

Thank you for your feedback Adan!

And don't hesitate to post any questions you may have or suggestions about what other information would be uselful here.

Any time you have a question about a product you are ordering, feel free to contact us for help or clarification.

Thanks again!

Terri