Cheap PCB Company

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soundNERD

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Joined 2003
electronet.dyndns.org
#1
I need to make a bunch of headphone amps for friends, and would find it easier just to have a company make my PCBs.

what is the cheapest company avaliable? the boards use surface mount chips but the masks and stuff isn't neccesary since i will hand-solder. they are about an inch by an inch and a half and single sides.

i dont want nothing fancy just a board that will work.

i would order about 10-20 of them

thanks, mike
 
#3
since this is probably a one-off, you might want to try www.expresspcb.com -- the reason being that you can download their software, or now load a schematic into their software -- i have been pretty happy with the orders that I've sent to www.pcbexpress.com, but I have the software to create the gerber, drill tool, and silkscreen files they need.

I used expresspcb when I first started sending PCB's out, then pcbexpress when I got sufficiently confident to order boards to sell to others. i am not averse to using others, however.
 
#4
Hi soundNERD,can you offer the details of boards?Need other technologies?

If the project which you design with protel, I think that I can help you.The factory of Beijing are relatively low.

This is my RA-1 pcb design, two sided 63X51(MM),The total cost is 80/10pics.
 

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#5
heres a low quality copy of it

the circle thing isn't on the actual board

i have the original files in eagle

im talkin about less than 50 cents a board

otherwise ill just take the time with toner transfer and touching it up and stuff

also, the boards is smaller only 1 1/4 inch wide and 1 inch tall
 

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#7
http://www.barebonespcb.com/

I rather doubt you'll find anything much cheaper than that. Forget about 50c / board unless you want to buy a few hundred of them... Materials cost is low, but there are fixed costs to process each order (CAD prep, tooling, handling, shipping, billing).

For single-side SMD, you might as well just go ahead and make 'em yourself... with no side-to-side alignment or drilling to do, this is super easy.
 
#11
i use....

www.custompcb.com

They will "panelize" the board for you (some of the others mentioned above will too), putting your designs next to each other on the same board and then cut it for you at the end for a small fee (around $2). Send them your Eagle file with instructions and they will send you back a quote.

These guys are the cheapest I have been able to find. As for quality, I have no experience with this stuff so I can't speak to it (but an example of their work is below, and I've used them 4 times and its worked each time).

See this thread.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=15850&perpage=15&highlight=&pagenumber=1

click on this link for an example of a board I have made using custompcb: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=296682#post296682
 
#12
#13
hifiZen said:
http://www.barebonespcb.com/

I rather doubt you'll find anything much cheaper than that. Forget about 50c / board unless you want to buy a few hundred of them... Materials cost is low, but there are fixed costs to process each order (CAD prep, tooling, handling, shipping, billing).

For single-side SMD, you might as well just go ahead and make 'em yourself... with no side-to-side alignment or drilling to do, this is super easy.
Click to expand...

I ordered these boards once, and they are not too good. The quality of the boards is great, but they were tinned with a horrible solution, making soldering of the SMD parts quite a hassle. This is done through Advanced Circuits, but without soldermask, silkscreen and proper plating. I suggest to get their normal $33 special. $33 for a single board, with a size up to 85 sq in. If you put multiple parts on the board, they charge you $50 extra for the entire order. I used this for prototyping my cdpro2 project:
http://www.briangt.com/gallery/cdpro2-pcb2

I like their regular service if you are getting a large batch of boards made. The prices might be a bit higher, but the quality is great, and so is the customer service. For my projects, I would rather order from then, then possibly save money by ordering overseas.

Advanced Circuits website:
www.4pcb.com

$33 special:
www.33each.com

They also offer a free design check through:
www.freedfm.com
I would recommend using it, regardless of whether you use their service.

--
Brian
 
#17
actually i noticed a ton of changes i can make to not need such close traces. first, get rid of LED, since it isnt really needed, next, fix obvious thing (like why go between a surface mount cap to get to ground when gnd is one of the cap pins is connected to ground???). Third, thicken traces and move them apart to prevent traces from smearing together when ironed onto the board.

so, the board is less complex, easier to make and easier to work with. so, i no longer need a professional company to do it.

thanks anyway
 
#19
Any cheap companies yet? Now what I wan't to do is make a multi-channel amplifier (surround sound). I would need many of the same PCB's (one PCB is 2 opa549 bridged) since for the front channels I need to parallel 3 of the bridged circuits together to drive a 2 ohm load. So there's 6 boards. Then the center and rear's - 3 more boards. So a total of 9 of the same boards (hmm, i'm starting to think, is 18 chips a little excessive?). Anyway, the boards are about an inch and a half tall, and 4 inches wide. I don't want to make that many boards so I would much rather have them made.

I need nothing but the single layer board pre drilled. So no silkscreens, no 2 layers, etc. The simpler the better.

Anybody know of a company who would make these for under about $10 or $20 for all?
 
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