The board I got last Summer was circular too, but at least the traces were straight. It had to fit inside an aluminum cover over a round shaft. I wasn't actually suggesting sending to Oshpark, however.

My real question is whether you have found a really safe site to download gerbv from.

John

 

Good or bad I got it from the Sourceforge site, nothing shown up yet?
Max.

 

I'll wait a day or two, and if you stop posting, then I will worry. I can wait. Thanks for being the guinea pig. It's like testing parachutes.

John

 

Even Oshpark has suggested "gerbv". Once you upload s project, the detailed views are no longer available. When I inquired about this, Oshpark support recommended gerbv.

The underlined comment has been challenged on another site, so I checked directly on Oshpark. True, it recommends gerbv, but this comment strongly suggests that it still provides a Gerber preview:


Source: http://docs.oshpark.com/submitting-orders/preflight-checklist/

John

 

The underlined comment has been challenged on another site, so I checked directly on Oshpark. True, it recommends gerbv, but this comment strongly suggests that it still provides a Gerber preview:

View attachment 104021
Source: http://docs.oshpark.com/submitting-orders/preflight-checklist/

John

While Oshpark does provide a detailed preview, IT IS ONLY AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY AFTER AN UPLOAD. Once you save your project, the previews of the individual files are no longer available. This was confirmed to me by Oshpark support. You can see a preview of the top and bottom views, but the solder mask, drill holes, screened layers cannot be seen by themselves.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I commented on EEVBlog recently that Oshpark didn't have the Gerber view service and was corrected by another member who had ordered in the past couple of weeks. The OP was happy with the previews he got and claimed to have ordered from Oshpark.

For most people, I would think just the top and bottom complete or composite views would suffice. That is, if they include the vias, PTH, silkscreen and solder mask. Last year, from a different vendor, I ordered some boards, and they arrived without a bottom silkscreen. That is something I would have caught on a complete preview. It was a very simple board and didn't make much difference, but for my next board, I went back to Oshpark.

I think providing Gerber views is a good marketing ploy by Oshpark -- even for people who don't order from it -- and would be a bit surprised if it stopped offering that in some form. I do wish it offered other colors.

John

 

Just received a set of 10mm x 10xmm boards from DirtyPCB's.com $25.00 p. paid.
They appear equal to Itead and Oshpark quality.
Shipped quick, but took over a month to arrive!.
Max.

 

Much the same experience here with Itead. I suspect part of the price penalty at Oshpark is that it pays for faster service from China.

John

 

Just received a set of 10mm x 10xmm boards from DirtyPCB's.com $25.00 p. paid.
They appear equal to Itead and Oshpark quality.
Shipped quick, but took over a month to arrive!.
Max.

Oshpark seems to be customer-centric. I had a problem ordering on their website, and they upgraded me to express service, NC.