Don't trust those pre-made PCB boards from the random overseas shops

I grabbed 5 boards from a seller on AliExpress for like $23 to prototype a fuzz circuit, saved maybe 3 days of etching. After wiring the third one up, the trace under the footswitch pad lifted clean off, the copper just peeled with the solder. Checked the other four with a magnifier and half the pads were barely attached, one had a bridge I didn't even place. I'm back to etching my own boards now, that 3 hours of sanding is way better than chasing a phantom short. Anyone else had QC issues with budget PCBs, or did I just hit a bad batch?

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clairem382mo ago

Gotta say that peeling trace story gave me chills, that's the kind of thing that kills a whole weekend. I've seen cheap boards do weird stuff, but copper lifting off the pad like that sounds like they skipped the adhesion step entirely. Tbh, I'd rather sand my own copper for hours than gamble on a board that might betray me mid-solder.

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