Steve, Hey, I never thought about there's that kind of board vendor ever existed in Silicon Valley. It must be hard for you to put up with that of abuse and hassle from your fab vendor. Maybe I introduce you one of my Canadian fab vendors. They are extra sensitive about customer's yaking and prices are dirt cheap (imagine the exchange rate of 40% & more), and their quality is undescribable. Better hurry, Canadian Loonies (nickname for one dollar Canadian coin) are closing up fast to US dollars. I always dream about moving down to San Jose and working for one of those high tech companies. You changed my mind about that now and this is your fault. Be good to you & your fab vendor. Matthew Park Norsat International Inc. >>> "Stephen R. Gregory" <[log in to unmask]> January 6, 1999 11:29 am >>> In a message dated 1/6/99 10:57:32 AM Pacific Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: << Ken, OSP coated boards are tested electrically before the coating is applied by fab houses. The coating is applied at last fabrication process step just before packaging and shipping. Matthew Norsat International Inc. >> Yep Matthew, that's the way it's SUPPOSED to be done. However, I have received OSP coated fabs from shops where you could see where the probes have broken thru the OSP. I've always understood that the coating must stay intact and unbroken. But when I questioned the marks I observed, I was told that people complain when they DON'T see probe marks because they think the board wasn't tested. I really didn't buy that...sounded too much like a tap-dance to me... -Steve Gregory- ################################################################ TechNet E-Mail Forum provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ################################################################ To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TechNet <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TechNet ################################################################ Please visit IPC's web site (http://www.ipc.org) "On-Line Services" section for additional information. For technical support contact Hugo Scaramuzza at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.312 ################################################################ ################################################################ TechNet E-Mail Forum provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ################################################################ To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TechNet <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TechNet ################################################################ Please visit IPC's web site (http://www.ipc.org) "On-Line Services" section for additional information. For technical support contact Hugo Scaramuzza at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.312 ################################################################