Questions for anyone who's had PCBs manufactured.

[bobbletrox]

I've etched a fair few PCBs over the weeks and have run out of supplies.  Rather than buy more chemicals ect, I was wondering if it'd be more cost effective to send my PCB artwork to a manufacturer who does prototype runs.

Has anyone ever had PCBs made like this?  I would think that the price would come down even further by passing on processes like drilling, plated through holes and silkscreening.  I like the idea of being able to choose the board material and soldermask too.

So is it cost effetive to get a small run of assorted  PCBs (10 or so) manufactured like this?  I don't really like having chemicals around the house from etching boards myself.

[Peter Snowberg]

I gave up on etching my own boards long ago for a long list of reasons. The big problem with having a board house do it is quantity, but I find it more than worth it at just about any number.

It used to be that $500 was about the minimum for a production run but now a number of places do "proto" quantities for much less.

I've been using ExpressPCB for a couple of years now and have done small runs of boards with them using both "Proto" and "Production Service". I have been very happy and have never looked back. The secret to their pricing is that you get a price break at 50 pieces.

They have their own layout program which ropes you into their service, but it's free, easy to use, and pretty good. I've done many surface mount layouts with feature sizes down to 0.007" . Download their layout program it free and have a go.

Their prototype service gives you three 2.5" x 3.8" double sided boards with plated throughs for $66 delivered to California (includes tax). If you can tile two circuits on one of those boards, each one is only $11 which is really cheap for what you get if you ask me. Most of the cost in doing boards is setup.

http://www.expresspcb.com/

I have never looked back and I may never etch another board for the rest of my life. I'm pleased as punch about that.

Take care,
-Peter

[bobbletrox]

$11 per board?  That's not bad at all considering JD charges an average of about $14 per board over at GGG.  The ExpressPCB CAD looks great too -especially the cost calculator.  Thanks for the tip Peter!

the question is; will they ship to Australia?

[ExpAnonColin]

At futurlec, you can get the boards for extreeemely cheap, but for some reason they had trouble with the ExpressPCB file that peter made for me, so I'm going to have to try to go with gerber from now on...  It's been taking forever.

-Colin

[bobbletrox]

Hey...I didn't know Futurlec made PCBs!  Those prices are unbelieveable!  I've ordered components from them before and thought they had great service.  Is it possible to send them a *.pcb containing several layouts to be etched on the one board?

[Peter Snowberg]

Watch out, .pcb is not a standard file type. To be totally universal, stick with Gerber.

There is also a place in Bulgaria that Paul Perry was posting about. http://www.diystompboxes.com/sboxforum/viewtopic.php?t=16805

-Peter