Gerber Gate

PCB DFM Review

Ten years of design, prototyping and volume manufacture, reviewing your data package before it goes out. Footprint deviations, BOM discrepancies and placement constraints identified while they still cost nothing to fix. Annotated PDF returned within as little as 48 hours.

The Review

Common failure points

A design that passes DRC can still be unbuildable. The review works through the assembly data the way the line does, checking the points where CAD output and process reality diverge.

Pad Size Discrepancy

Land patterns that don’t match the part they’re carrying, usually inherited from a library footprint built to a superseded datasheet revision. Undersized pads starve the fillet and give open or weak joints; oversized pads let the part drift during reflow. Neither shows up until first article, and by then the stencil is already cut.

Polarity Conflicts

Pin-1 indication that disagrees between silkscreen, assembly drawing and centroid file. The line places to whichever source it was given, so every board in the batch is populated backwards and consistently — which makes it scrap, not rework.

Fiducial Problems

Missing, asymmetric, or partially covered by soldermask. The machine can’t establish a reference, so placement falls back to board edge tolerance — which is where fine-pitch accuracy goes.

BOM Errors

Obsolete or NRND lines, single-source parts with no approved alternate, and lead times that exceed your build schedule. Found at kitting rather than at review, this stalls the whole job while the rest of the BOM sits on a shelf.

Review Options

Pricing

Pricing is per board and fixed at the point of enquiry. The flat rate covers assemblies up to 100 unique parts and 500 placements; beyond that, or for rigid-flex and mixed-technology builds, a fixed quote is issued on receipt of the data.

Full Review

£250

Complete review of your Gerbers, drill files and BOM. The report annotates every finding: footprint and land-pattern deviations, courtyard clashes, paste and panelisation issues, fiducial placement, and parts flagged as obsolete or long-lead. Returned within five working days of payment.

Priority Review

£350

Identical scope, returned within 48 hours. Includes one re-check of the corrected package before release, confirming the changes hold and that nothing new has been introduced by the edits. Findings are set out in the same annotated report format.

Request Review

How It Works

Purchase a review from the section above. Work starts once the payment and files are received. Review requests should include: BoM, XY Data, and Gerber Files. Alternatively, KiCad project file and BoM.

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