GW-DEC-1: A New DEC Prototyping Board

[Jon Elson]

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