Getting pcbs made.....

[SnM]

I want to get some pcbs made for a few microcontroller projects that I have. I thought I remembered someone on here that ran a business of designing the boards? I thought I saved the link to their website, but I cannot find it.

Any help would be great.

I was going to try and make them myself, and use sparkfun's service, but I don't like that Eagle program, and I downloaded the demo for PADS, and I am stuck with getting my schematic in there.

If anyone has a tutorial for PADS, that would be cool too. I am stuck at finding the correct parts for the schematic..... For example, there are a lot of different capacitors to choose from, and I don't know what the difference is.... and for getting the pic in there, is their a library that I can add, or do I have to make the part myself? if so, how? any help would be great.
Thanks!
Steve

 

[mstechca]

I make my PCB's with only wax, a soldering iron (to heat wax and solder :wink: ), ferric chloride, and a dental pick. I wax the entire board, and yes, I leave the wax on. I carve only the portions I don't want to see copper. Basically, it is the inverse of the method where you draw the PCB with a black marker.

 

[SnM]

nobody remembers?
He was/is a member here.... i just can't find any any info, nor can i find my bookmark to his page.

 

[Tdot]

We do PCB design & prototyping in house.

Email me with your info and i'll send you a quote.

please use my toekneee@hotmail.com with subject "TONY PCB *****"

i'll email you back from my work address. i don't want my work email spammed just yet. I hope we'll be able to help.

Tony

 

[upand_at_them]

https://www.sparkfun.com

 

[kwik]

I downloaded schematic program and pcb layout for free.Then made the schematics on my PC,then ordered via the schematics program ....waited 4 days and UPS delivered 4 prototype boards to my doorstep. Boards works fine...very happy. Here is the place :

https://www.expresspcb.com/

 

[Pommie]

I've used a similarly named company called PCBExpress. They provide a good service. There is also a Chinese company that (legitimately) advertises here that will make the same thing for around a quarter of the price. Found it, This company I haven't used but there prices are good..

If anyone has experience of other companies then maybe they can give there recommendations.

Posters that have 1 post and try to advertise a company with a similar URL to a quality company should not post.

Mike.

 

[philba]

Posters that have 1 post and try to advertise a company with a similar URL to a quality company should not post.

Mike.

lets see, isn't there a name for that? oh! yeah! SPAM

 

[phalanx]

If you absolutely need your board yesterday, Advanced Circuits (www.4pcb.com) has excellent service and excellent quality and can do same day turns if necessary.

For small quantities where time is not an issue, I've used www.batchpcb.com several times. It is run by the folks at Sparkfun Electronics.

I just noticed the site advertiser www.pcbcart.com and their prices look fantastic. Does anyone have any first hand experience with them? I have a 100 board run in the works and I could potentially save a fair amount of money by using them.

 

[phalanx]

I have seen boards from expresspcb and they are good quality but their pricing is through the roof. I would avoid them because there are significantly cheaper options available.

 

[philba]

I haven't used pcbcart but have spoken to one person that had and was happy.

 

[Pommie]

I just noticed the site advertiser www.pcbcart.com and their prices look fantastic. Does anyone have any first hand experience with them? I have a 100 board run in the works and I could potentially save a fair amount of money by using them.

If you do use PCBcart, can you let us know the outcome.

Mike.

 

[dknguyen]

For example, there are a lot of different capacitors to choose from, and I don't know what the difference is....

You do realize the component doesn't matter right? As long as the footprint is the same? A little bit of effort will save you a lot of money. There are a few places though with software that can make very cheap boards with constraints of course. For example, the board can only be a prespecified size.

Three 2.5"x3.8" PCBs for $51: https://www.expresspcb.com/

is the only one that comes to mind right now that has such an offer and provides their own softare (the others I know of do not have software). This is actually very good price because it's set up that way. Any other option will cost you a lot like most other board houses.

I have seen boards from expresspcb and they are good quality but their pricing is through the roof. I would avoid them because there are significantly cheaper options available.

You would even avoid the $51 deal above? I agree about their other options though.

 

[kwik]

What I liked best about expresspcb.com was...

Hello again !
My intention was to give Steve as many options as possible.

There is one very important thing about experesspcb ; Their Software !!

It makes all the difference. You download two packages ; One for drawing the schema ,and one for drawing the Layout. And both packages has component layout librarys with favourite components. I found both programs to be just great !!! And remember ; You dont need to find exactly your component ! One with correct pin-layout - footprint is good enough ( Copy and rename)

And one more thing about these two programs ; They are linked together ! So if you click on a pin on the layout ,all pins that should be connected (according to your schema-diagram) lights up. So its not Auto-routing ,but semi-interactive-auto-routing. He.
-he. I love it.

I remember back in the 80'ies ....such programs was only for big corporations ...now I have it on my PC.Wonderful.

No more messing around in my house with dangerous acids and stuff ....just click a button and wait 4 days !
The price ? I guess it has to do with your financial situation.

 

[dknguyen]

Really? I did not know there was any free dedicated software from PCB houses that had the schematic+layout going on. I always assumed it was all layout.

 

[phalanx]

Three 2.5"x3.8" PCBs for $51: https://www.expresspcb.com/

You would even avoid the $51 deal above? I agree about their other options though.

Considering the limitations placed on you for $51, I don't think it is that great of a deal. If you were to order the exact same specs as that from a company like Advanced Circuits it would be marginally more money but you wouldn't be constrained to the exact board size of 2.5"x3.8". With expresspcb, those dimensions are the only option for that price. If you take the time to learn Eagle, it is far more powerful then the software at expresspcb.

If you can stand to wait a few extra days, pcbfabexpress has a $12/board deal with a minimum quantity of 5. For that you get a board of any shape up to 10in^2 that includes soldermask and a component side silk screen. They have a tiered pricing system with square inches and lead-time as inputs. I've used them several times with great results.

My preference for board houses depends on whether or not it is for work or fun. For work, I almost exclusively use Advanced Circuits. They are very fast, have outstanding quality, and the best customer support that I have come across. You have to pay a little more to use them, but when you needed your boards yesterday they are the people to talk to.

For my hobby work I use batchpcb for smaller boards when time isn't an issue and pcbfabexpress for larger boards. Never had an issue with either of them and I use them semi-frequently.

Hopefully I'll soon have an order that I can place through pcbcart. If I go through them I'll let everyone know how they are.

-Bill

 

[philba]

Yeah, i agree that eagle is a far better piece of software. odd interface not withstanding. it's amazingly powerful for it's price (free and up).

I tried to use expresspcb but the design software is very clumsy. It's kind of odd that they do not take gerber submissions - you must use their software. I'd really rather not get locked into them.

 

[kwik]

Very interesting info , Bill. I might try batchpcb next time. For me ,its just for fun /hobby .

 

[Rolf]

I make my PCB's with only wax, a soldering iron (to heat wax and solder :wink: ), ferric chloride, and a dental pick. I wax the entire board, and yes, I leave the wax on. I carve only the portions I don't want to see copper. Basically, it is the inverse of the method where you draw the PCB with a black marker.

They have cheap hot wax pens used for resist dyeing of silk. It might be easier to lay down the traces instead of removing all the surrounding wax.
Just my two cents worth.

 

[tulit]

We just placed an order for some fairly complex 4mil/6 layer boards with pcbcart.

They should be here in about 2 weeks, so I will post my experience as well. Their prices were significantly better than anyone else contacted, so we'll see how they work out...