Oversize PCB causes problems.

[wakibaki]

I have a projected requirement for 2 - 4 PCBs a month over 5 years - demand dependent. This will hopefully increase with expansions of the product lineup.

The problem is the dimensions - 32 x 9.5 inches. It's doublesided, but not otherwise demanding to produce.

I can easily find manufacturers for boards up to 24 inches, but above that things get difficult.

Does anybody know a supplier who can do this? International is not necessarily a problem, but price is critical, as always.

w

[peranders]

www.pcbcart.com can make 600x700mm

Can't you divide your thing in two pieces? What is it, your project?

[wakibaki]

Hi P-A,

It's totally unrelated to audio, but I didn't think anybody'd mind, I was just in a thread about DC current sensing.

It's for a backlit AC/DC control panel for a yacht (millionaires plaything). It has a limited production run.

It carries in excess of 120 LEDs (and ballast resistors), the majority firing into a lightguide and all in the same circuit, the rest are status indicators. The lightguide and breakers are pierced in numerous places to accommodate some 30-odd breakers and switches.

I hand-fabricated (etched) 3 individual single sided boards for the prototype. They were pre-cut on a CNC router, but required to be hand-drilled. This works, but 2 x 25-way D-type connectors had to be broken out and hand-wired to individual headers for the status indicators and meters. I need to productionise it and get the manufacturing costs down.

The usable board real estate is limited but I can land the D-types on the board and fan them out if I use 2 mezzanine boards and go to doublesided, but the additional board-to-board connectors make this very difficult if the board is broken into 3 parts.

All I need (!) is to get this board made in one piece for the same price as it would cost in 3 pieces...

w

[peranders]

I'm sure you can solve this by joining two high quality pcb's together. The cost isn't per board, it's more per area.

If you must make a strong joint you can use a third board with cut up holes at the end so you'll get plated half circles at the edge of the board. This is a common method when you want to solder a board on top of an another.