PCB Fabrication

[FusionITR]

What company do you guys recommend that specializes in low quanity pcb fabrication for a reasonable price? One that at least includes silk/masks that doesnt have a minimum order quanity greater than 3.

Thanks.

 

[RadioRon]

I've used ExpressPCB and got very good service from them. The trouble is that you have to use their layout tool to layout your board. Otherwise, you might try Advanced Circuits or E-Teknet

 

[freeskier89]

PCBexpress (different than ExpressPCB) has pretty decent prices for basic boards.

 

[dknguyen]

www.batchpcb.com is by far the cheapest (and the PCBs comes with the all the standard trimmings). There is an initial $10 setup fee (shipping already included) for each order and after that it is priced soley by board area (doesn't matter if it's one large PCB or 5 littles ones- if they are the same area they will cost thje same). If you need 5+ identical decent sized boards, it can start to cost more than other places, but for one or two, it absolutely cannot be beat (from what I have found). The PCBs are also lead-free with plated traces which is not stated in the following specs:

* 2 layer board - 0.062" FR4 material
* 8mil spacing minimum
* 8mil traces minimum
* 20mil minimum drill size
* 500mil maximum drill size
* No internal routes, no v-scoring
* Board is routed to the indicated border (very clean edges, you can get creative with the shape as well!)
* Soldermask both sides
* Silkscreen both sides
* 1oz Copper
* No limit on the number of vias
* No limit on pads or components
* Multiple designs, multiple copies are allowed!
* Any size up to 10x15", measured in inch increments
* Minimum billable size 1x1" (smaller boards are allowed but rounded up)
* Your design can be any size - board size is rounded up to the nearest inch


$10 setup fee (shown as an expensive shipping fee) - $2.50 per square inch.

 

[freeskier89]

www.batchpcb.com is by far the cheapest (and the PCBs comes with the all the standard trimmings). There is an initial $10 setup fee (shipping already included) for each order and after that it is priced soley by board area (doesn't matter if it's one large PCB or 5 littles ones- if they are the same area they will cost thje same). If you need 5+ identical decent sized boards, it can start to cost more than other places, but for one or two, it absolutely cannot be beat (from what I have found). The PCBs are also lead-free with plated traces.

* 2 layer board - 0.062" FR4 material
* 8mil spacing minimum
* 8mil traces minimum
* 20mil minimum drill size
* 500mil maximum drill size
* No internal routes, no v-scoring
* Board is routed to the indicated border (very clean edges, you can get creative with the shape as well!)
* Soldermask both sides
* Silkscreen both sides
* 1oz Copper
* No limit on the number of vias
* No limit on pads or components
* Multiple designs, multiple copies are allowed!
* Any size up to 10x15", measured in inch increments
* Minimum billable size 1x1" (smaller boards are allowed but rounded up)
* Your design can be any size - board size is rounded up to the nearest inch


$10 setup fee (shown as an expensive shipping fee) - $2.50 per square inch.

I am so glad you posted that! I was just thinking the other day how it would be nice to have a cheap pcb manufacturer that did not have exorbitant prices, so quick smd projects would be feasible without a $300 set up fee.

 

[philba]

batchpcb is a reasonable service but quick is not one of their attributes. I think they say to expect up to 3 weeks. it's one of the reasons I don't use them. I'm not in a hurry but that's incredibly slow.

 

[MikeHibbett]

Try www.olimex.com.

Bulgarian, very cheap, very quick ( In europe )

Mike