Where to buy your prototype PCB or sample lots? Please share your experience.

kamelorox

I have the need of buying prototypes these days for PCB board. I wonder who should I go to for the small volume to be printed. Some suggest me online is the best way out. They told me pcbwing and pcbtrain and pcbfinpo are the three good suppliers who accept small volume orders. Can anyone share their experience if they have tried witih the above listed shops before? I believe the sites are http://www.pcbwing.com and http://www.pcbfinpo.com Any advise is appreciated in advance.:nerd:

Leon

I get excellent service and quality from PCB Pool:

http://www.pcb-pool.com/

Tubular

Depends on where you are located...

DorkBotPDX is hard to beat for small volume proto. $10 including postage for Qty 3 x 2 inch square boards. They are USA made boards with excellent specs (6 mil track/space, 13 mil via hole), and usually come with gold flash and funky purple finish.

max72

Besides an Italian factory (pcb-proto.com), I use Olimex.
The Italian one is quite good and offers a cheap proto service, but tailored to an Italian customer.
Olimex is feature limited, but you pay a fixed amount for a board, and you can stuff (almost) anything. You have limited drill size, and the drilll size is not the finished one. Tracks limits are 10 mils, or 8 with longer lead time.
On the other hand if you have different board designs, you can send the gerbers, and ask them to panelise and depanelise them for you, possibly sending a sketch showing how they should assemble the board.
I was able to send an assembled panel to PCb proto, in order to cut it at home to reduce the manufacturing price, and they accepted my request. So maybe asking the manufacturer and planning an easy to cut design you can reduce the cost...
Massimo

DaveJenson

I have done all my PCB layout and schematic work with ExpressPCB and use their board manufacturing.

SSteve

The engineer where I work uses ExpressPCB and is very happy with them.

localroger

I use ExpressPCB too. Yeah I know the software is nonstandard but the software is free and easy to master, it's very cheap if you can cram your project into their MiniBoard format or if you need enough units to spread the setup cost around, and for basic work (no complicated ground pane pours, etc.) I've never had a quality problem from them.

firespirit

I have used pool express finpo phoneix and myro. I believed my best exp was with express and finpo. Express is fast as mentioned above. But, they are not as cheap as Finpo when it comes to 6 layers and even 4 layers with more quantities. Finpo and Express both deliver pcb boards on time with 2-3 business working days lead-time for 2L, is that the board you need to be printed?

However, I have never tried wing, and none of them were better than finpo and express from my last few orders' exp. You can go for either of them if your board is 2-4L , if 6 L then finpo is a much better choice in every way.

bradharper

+1 for DorkBotPDX. Orders go out almost every Monday, and I have the boards within 10 days typically. Plus, they're blue.

antoniowayde

I have two thumbs up for PCBFinpo. They got my boards delivered on the same Friday when I just paid them via my VISA card on Tues morning. It was a 4 layer, with 4 mil for trace. I think there are way too many out there, but why I stay with PCBFinpo, is the way how they take care of your need. They knew that I did not want thte boards have scratch on them, so they seperate each board with papers. That is a very nice way to pack the boards.

Tymkrs

Second what Tubular and bradharper said - @laen runs http://pcb.laen.org (which is dorkbotpdx) and he combines a whole bunch of orders on one board to make it cheaper for diyers/hobbyists.