PCB made to my schematic?????cheap????

[Slickit]

I am looking for a way to get printed circuit boards made for my schematic fairly cheap. I have found MANY places that make them but they are really straight forward and extremely expensive and only take BULK orders or they dont even look like they could help me at all and they are really cheap. I have looked into possibly making my own board but i feel confident that i would mess that up more than i care to think about. So i wondered if there was anyone on here with their infinite knowledge of the electronics engineering community who could relieve my stress and pain of searching any longer. I am more than willing to use third party software to configre my schematic and upload it to the manufacturer. My schematic should only require and single layer, single side board that is about 4in X 4in with about 75-150 connections i estimate.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Papabravo]

Can you define cheap? Most helpful would be a fixed cost plus a unit cost.

My guess is that you need to budget at least $500-700 to get a layout and a couple of prototypes.

 

[GonzoEngineer]

How many boards do you need made?

Post your schematic, and I will give you a cheap quote to layout the board..from the sounds of it we are just talking beer money!

I have a company in Utah that makes boards with high quality and low price.

Their set up charges are very low.

If you just need a low quantity, I have an old friend in Albuquerque that has been making good quality boards in his garage for the last twenty years!

Just what do you want?

 

[Papabravo]

How many boards do you need made?

Post your schematic, and I will give you a cheap quote to layout the board..from the sounds of it we are just talking beer money!

I have a company in Utah that makes boards with high quality and low price.

Their set up charges are very low.

Yah! Dunno 'bout you but I was talkin' beer money! Maybe you drink cheaper beer -- ROFL.

 

[stuhagen]

The attached schematic was quoted by PCB123 for $60 ea if I got only 2 of them. If I ordered 20...they were under $15. So it is all about quantity. For me, I only wanted a couple for testing, because I have no use for 20 if they don't work~! I have not tried anyone else yet. I also would be interested if anyone could do a couple for testing and be closer to $25 ea.
Thought I would throw this out there.

Stu

 

[3v0]

If you are running on a tight budget you need to learn to use the layout tools and etch the boards yourself.

You may mess up but the etching is not as hard as it used to be.

 

[BeeBop]

If you are running on a tight budget you need to learn to use the layout tools and etch the boards yourself.

You may mess up but the etching is not as hard as it used to be.

Yep, what 3v0 said!

It is worth pursuing, and it isn't difficult at all.

 

[premkumar9]

The attached schematic was quoted by PCB123 for $60 ea if I got only 2 of them. If I ordered 20...they were under $15. So it is all about quantity. For me, I only wanted a couple for testing, because I have no use for 20 if they don't work~! I have not tried anyone else yet. I also would be interested if anyone could do a couple for testing and be closer to $25 ea.
Thought I would throw this out there.

Stu

If you want, I can arrange the PCB design here and send the file to you which you can give the PCB maker to make the PCBs. This way you may be able to keep within your budget.

 

[picbits]

I make my own PCBs for my own products.

I sell in low volume, high margin products so quality is more important than quantity for me (as is flexibility).

For price comparison, my boards including the all etching chemicals cost me around £1.50 each to make. I get 4 boards out of a standard 160mm by 100mm board. To get them made from an outside company in the quantities I sell (around 20-30 a month) would cost me 4 times as much.

Of course they take up a fair bit of time but I can etch and drill around 30 boards in 2 days (around 3000 drilled holes !)

 

[Slickit]

this is the schematic i am trying to make initially but it will be changed as i go along, but its not getting much bigger and cheap to me is like under $75 hopefully well under, keeping in mind that if is it a quality board i dont mind paying that much and i am looking at making my own but i want to determine how often ill probably need one to figure out which "kit" i should get. i was looking at a table top one that cost about $897 and i might end up getting it in the somewhat distant future.

 

[premkumar9]

this is the schematic i am trying to make initially but it will be changed as i go along, but its not getting much bigger and cheap to me is like under $75 hopefully well under, keeping in mind that if is it a quality board i dont mind paying that much and i am looking at making my own but i want to determine how often ill probably need one to figure out which "kit" i should get. i was looking at a table top one that cost about $897 and i might end up getting it in the somewhat distant future.

Many offered to help you in developing the PCB. Now it is better to address somebody specifically rather than sending common mails. That is what I felt.

 

[BeeBop]

to figure out which "kit" i should get. i was looking at a table top one that cost about $897 and i might end up getting it in the somewhat distant future.

What do you mean "kit?" Do you mean for etching? If that is what you mean, then that is way, WAY too much! My set up was under a hundred... not including the computer. (If that price includes a copy of EAGLE CAD, then it isn't bad.)

BTW the free version of EAGLE should work for you.

Have you bread-boarded your circuit to make sure it works as expected?

 

[premkumar9]

Many offered to help you in developing the PCB. Now it is better to address somebody specifically rather than sending common mails. That is what I felt.

Sorry. Earlier I couldn't clearly understand what you really meant. Now only I understand that you plan to do everything yourself.

 

[BeeBop]

Sorry. Earlier I couldn't clearly understand what you really meant. Now only I understand that you plan to do everything yourself.

I think that was his intent. (There are two people with schematics here, though.)

One thing I didn't mention, if you want a pretty board with solder mask and silk screen, or a two sided board with plated through holes in small quantity (one offs) check out batch:

BatchPCB.com

We accept 2 and 4 layer designs with unlimited vias, pads and components. Minimum size is 0.5x0.5 inches and Maximum is 10x15 inches. Our prices are $2.50/sq. inch for 2 layer boards and $8.00/sq. inch for 4 layer boards.

 

[Slickit]

sorry everything wasnt very clear but my intent is to find a company or person who can make PCB for my design better (cleaner and professional) and faster, as well as cheaper than i can. If the time comes for me to feel it necessary to make my own i am willing to do so but i dont think this is the time. Beebop has the right idea it seems and ill look into his site further and ill be sure to post every detail i can on my first post in order not to have such confusion. I am very happy to see all of the wonderful posts helping me and i appreciate it more than you can imagine. Thanks everyone!!

 

[BeeBop]

sorry everything wasnt very clear but my intent is to find a company or person who can make PCB for my design better (cleaner and professional) and faster, as well as cheaper than i can. If the time comes for me to feel it necessary to make my own i am willing to do so but i dont think this is the time. Beebop has the right idea it seems and ill look into his site further and ill be sure to post every detail i can on my first post in order not to have such confusion. I am very happy to see all of the wonderful posts helping me and i appreciate it more than you can imagine. Thanks everyone!!

Yes, but they aren't fast, just so you know. I'm sure someone here (and you do have some offers, self included for the one or two you posted) could lay out your board for you...

You have bread boarded it, haven't you?

 

[Slickit]

of course and it works as intended

 

[Slickit]

Im starting to learn how to use Eagle as we speak so i can upload my schematic for quotes and, what a gerber file?? i assume it is the file you get from eagle??

 

[BeeBop]

Im starting to learn how to use Eagle as we speak so i can upload my schematic for quotes and, what a gerber file?? i assume it is the file you get from eagle??

EAGLE as well as other CAD software can output a file in gerber format. It is one of the formats board houses use to make your board. You will need to produce the board first though. Just play around with EAGLE for a few hours. I'll get back to you.

 

[RogerTango]

You can follow my thread here:
Quest for the perfect printed circuit board... - QRZ Forums

Ive started having 100% success rate making my own:
**broken link removed**

The "meat and potatoes" starts about page 12:
Quest for the perfect printed circuit board... - Page 12 - QRZ Forums

GL,
Andrew