custom circuit board
Elaine
Posts: 8
I have been looking at custom PCB creation for a bit now and all i can find are insanely expensive prices. Can you guys give me ideas of where you order from?
Comments
You MUST create the board with their software, but it is pretty good.
The board MUST be 3.8" x 2.5" to get them cheap (3 for $51 w/o marking or soldermask, 3 for $75 with marking and soldermask, 3 for $98 4 layer with marking and soldermask)
Bean
I have also heard people on this forum talk about https://oshpark.com/. I haven't used this service before, but have heard good things about it.
Size of board(s)
Number of layers
Silk/Mask?
Number of components?
The three most popular pcb design software packages are probably Eagle, Diptrace, and KiCad, and there are others. All can generate standard Gerber files which can be used by any pcb manufacturer to make your boards. All have free versions available. They do have their own idiosyncrasies and differ in various ways, so you'd have to do some research or maybe just give them all a try.
The cheapest prices for boards will be from "batching" manufacturers. The drawback is that it may take a few weeks to get your boards. Some of the more popular pcb manufacturers, all of which will happily accept your Gerber files, are ITead, Seeed Studio, Osh Park, Elecrow, and of course, many others.
I haven't tried this but Copper Connection will apparently open ExpressPCB files and create Gerber files from them.
http://www.robotroom.com/CopperConnection/
Their designing software is great. I have used it!
I've never made my own board but I hear good things about OSHPark. From their website:
So 3.8" x 2.5" = 9.5 sq/in * $5 = $47.50 with free shipping and you get the same 3 boards.
I'm assuming marking and soldermask but I cannot confirm that.
Will take 7-9 business days for a to your door turn a round.
Though there will be some mice-bites on the sides, but a file will take care of that.
You can get a mylar stencil from oshstencils.com and solderpaste from digikey.
Once you have tested that everything works, order 20 more for China like Itead studio.
Not as high quality and a more bumpy tin (terrible for 0.5mm qfn)
Compare 25 places at once, based on your needs - size, features, quantity, time.
There are also reviews - some in great detail - so you can get a decent idea of quality and performance.
WOW! That is very cool! And, you pays your money and you takes yr' choice. Almost a factor a 10. Guess it depends on your priorities.
I run PCBShopper. Advertising has absolutely no effect on the price comparison list. PCBShopper works by fetching prices directly from the manufacturers' sites and displaying them, unaltered, to the user. The prices on PCBShopper are the same as what you'll see at the manufacturers' sites (if they're not, it's a bug; let me know and I'll fix it). Also, I do not get any commissions for referring customers.
Advertising also has no effect on which manufacturers are included in the price comparison. Companies do not pay to be included. I choose which companies to include based on my judgement of how interesting they are to electronics hobbyists and professionals. That includes how well known they are, what country they are in (if a company is in a part of the world that's not yet represented in the list, I'm more likely to add them; if they're in a country where I already list several manufacturers, I'm less likely to add them), and whether their pricing structure is different from the companies that are already in the list.
- Bob Alexander
PCBShopper.com
Bob, welcome to the forums!
Didn't mean to provoke a negative attitude.
As a moderator, I am always prowling for SPAM.
Your site looks great, and hope many of the members here use it.
No problem, and no offense taken. And I didn't intend to sound negative. There are lots of "top ten companies" or "top ten products" lists out there on the web that are really just paid advertising, and someone coming across PCBShopper for the first time might not immediately know whether it's truly objective. So it's fair to ask whether PCBShopper's price comparison is objective, and I just try answer the question completely.
- Bob Alexander
PCBShopper.com
Keep everything to less than 100 x 100 and the price is very low.
Everything can be made in 100 x 100 modules.
I received pcbs from this site two days ago: PCBWay. Their boards are cost effective, but the SMT price seems a little high though acceptable.
And many thanks for your suggestion guys. I would try them next time.
Understanding the pricing models is a great way to manage costs for the PCB:
Magic size thresholds - often keeping dimensions to no more than 5cm or 10cm will help to realize cost savings. Note that a 2" (5.08cm) dimension will be rounded up to 10cm with many of the package deals.
Magic quantity thresholds - these vary greatly (3, 5, 8, 10, etc.). When I have been flexible on quantity, I have found some surprising deals.
That said, I am inclined to use a good price from a familiar vendor than I am to save the last few percent with a new vendor.