777funk 0 Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 Which shops are the better houses to have PCB's made? Seems like I've seen good things about a few of them (Seeed, BatchPCB, Golden Pheonix, etc). Curious what will be the most economical for small runs say: -10 -100 -1000 Boards made? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GeekDoc 226 Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 First: see my sig below for warning. For even fewer (3 boards), don't forget Dorkbot-PDX. I've used them before, and they are excellent quality with excellent service. Seed seems to be the go-to for 10-board orders, especially if they're under the 5cm x 5cm size. Probably good for medium-sized orders as well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bluehash 1,581 Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Seed seems to be the go-to for 10-board orders, especially if they're under the 5cm x 5cm size. Probably good for medium-sized orders as well. Agreed.. They sometimes give you extra boards too. Probably to fill up the panel. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
oPossum 1,083 Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 For 100+ qty... Advanced Circuits in USA PCB Cart in China Both charge a tooling fee, so not competitive for small qty. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SugarAddict 227 Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 For 100+ qty...Advanced Circuits in USA PCB Cart in China Both charge a tooling fee, so not competitive for small qty. 4pcb looks scary... and $33 a board? What's it cost at qty 100 with what size limits? They have that stupid "instant quote" crap that I hate... wait, both do... blech... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TomKraut 17 Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 When you are making hundreds or thousands of one PCB, chances are you won't be assembling the components on them yourself... You will use a manufacturer for that, called an electronic contract manufacturer (ECM). I work for such a manufacturer, and we usually handle the sourcing of PCBs ourselves and just give a quote for the complete device to our customers. Cheers TomKraut Quote Link to post Share on other sites
inneedofpcbafab 0 Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Hi Tom. I am interested in pricing where u work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
abecedarian 330 Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Hi Tom. I am interested in pricing where u work.@@inneedofpcbafab after clicking to reply, you can use the "@ Mention" link under a users name in their post. That will add something to your reply which will send a notification to the user that you are replying to them directly. @@TomKraut Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tieri 6 Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 Looks like the information has gotten old, so here is little update. OSH Park grew out of Dorkbot-PDX and BatchPCB. No personal experience. I have read good things about them. I feel the pricing information little bit confusing compared to other sites because the imperial system used. Seedstudio does have a PCB service, but I have not tried it yet. Heard good thing about them. Elecrow offers also a PCB service. I have made one order from them and I was very pleased. I will definitely use them again, if anyone can't change my mind for some reason. BTW they have free FIFA World Cup contest where you pick the winning team and you get change to win Elecrow reward points. More info about the contest in Elecrow blog. Golden Pheonix. Had a quick look at their site, and it does not look like place for small prototype runs. No clear pricing, need to ask quote. If anyone knows good and preferably cheap prototyping PCB service besides the mentioned, please let me know. There was some place in Poland or Romania, but they don't take orders any more. Close proximity to Europe is big plus for the sake of cheap and fast postage. Also any information regarding PCB assembly services and/or electronic contract manufacturers (ECM's) for 10-100 boards would be very much appreciated. Do they even take 100pcs orders or do you have to order in magnitude of thousands? 10 PCB's is just maby doable, but soldering 100 PCB's with 6050's and QFNL's is not what I am looking forward to. Any flex PCB experiences are also very welcome. EDIT: Forgot the Dirtypcbs.com. No personal experience. @@rampadc has ordered from them and has posted some pictures in to the mailbag thread. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
zeke 693 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 I have used U&I QuickturnPCB out of South Korea. Here are some photos of the board they did for me. I like them a lot. I will use them again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rampadc 29 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Unless you're living in the US, I find OSH Park quite expensive. The delivery time for me is about 2 weeks, pretty much the same as other Chinese manufacturers. If you try 5x5cm boards, OSH costs $19.75 for 3 boards while others charge $9.90 for 10 excluding shipping, or in DirtyPCBs case, $14 for 10 including shipping. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
greeeg 460 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 My last elecrow order came to $14.49. So DirtyPCBs is basically the same rate, Customer service at Elecrow is good, they have decent response times. I used Laen's PCB service many times. (2010 before it was renamed OSH park and combined with batchPCB). Shipping to the other side of the world (Australia) adds cost and delays. It should be noted that OSH park PCBs have ENIG plating by default, this option adds $15 to the elecrow service. So if you will just be using the extra 7 boards from elecrow as coasters and need EING, it makes OSH more reasonable. Or if you live in the US, boards will arrive faster from OSH park. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PedroDaGr8 33 Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Don't forget iTeadStudio they are a direct competitor with Seeed. Tend to be a tad bit cheaper but not always . I ordered some boards recently from itead the quality was very solid. I chose DHL shipping, expensive but we needed them ASAP. Boards left Shenzen Sunday night my time, arrived Tuesday morning my time. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spirilis 1,265 Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 My own experience with OSHpark and the Chinese fabs (I think itead, seeed and elecrow all use the same one?) has shown to me that OSHpark boards tend to have copper pads that are more resilient to rework/high heat, particularly with hand soldering. I have been surprised a few times how easily the chinese boards lift pads. Sent from my Galaxy Note II with Tapatalk 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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