need to make a pcb

M

markland556

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 24, 2004
Messages
196
well i wanna do a little pcb for a modding project for my xbxo crap. and i was wonding if there is a cheap way i can make like 50-100 of them. mostly it is a 4017 IC, 555 timer, 8 transistors, a potometer, and some wires comming off it. all i really need is the pcb made and drilled. no silkscreen, i am looking to sell them for about $15-20 each :D :D

so the basic question is if any of u guys know a good place to get my PCB's made?? :confused:
 
Not off hand. My company has a beauty of a machine made by LPKF. This beast automatically drills the holes. Then I coat the board with conductive ink which coats the inside of the holes. After electroplating, there's an electrical connection between the top and bottom layers. The same machine then mills paths around the holes and traces, isolating signal paths from the rest of the copper. Its a really cool system. Once all the CAD is done, I can make a board with 500+ holes and 4000 inches of signals in less than a day.

The whole reason we bought this machine is due to the absolutely insane cost of PCB outsourcing. We're not a manufacturer, only R&D. So all of our boards are stictly prototypes. We'd go broke having other companies make our boards. Most outfits i've seen charge $500-$1000 for the 1st board, then a few dollars per additional. I'll start looking through the magazines here for cheap deals though.

EDIT: Cheapest company I found on google was pcbexpress.com. Look here for pricing: http://www.pcbexpress.com/products/express1.php#pricing. 50 boards range in price from $400 to $900, depending on size. You're probablly looking at about $10 per board.
 
I've never ordered a PCB in a quantity over 8, but here's who I've dealt with:

apcc.com (canadian) - excellent pricing, especially on boards without a silkscreen. But don't do SMT without a soldermask whatever you do...
olimex.com - cheap price, cheap results... unless you're doing fine pitch surface mount, they're an excellent choice.
custompcb.com - not quite as cheap, but they're lead free and their results are outstanding.

For what you're doing, something like barebonespcb.com seems to be the way to go.
 
gee said:
I've never ordered a PCB in a quantity over 8, but here's who I've dealt with:

apcc.com (canadian) - excellent pricing, especially on boards without a silkscreen. But don't do SMT without a soldermask whatever you do...
Click to expand...

www.apcircuits.com I think you mean.
 
joecool234 said:
Not off hand. My company has a beauty of a machine made by LPKF.
Click to expand...
Those are nice toys...I mean tools, aren't they...we have that and a rapid prototype machine, both are strictly hands off for us peons...

Although they do build me calibration jigs everyso often...

MD
 
MD_Willington said:
Those are nice toys...I mean tools, aren't they...we have that and a rapid prototype machine, both are strictly hands off for us peons...
Click to expand...

One of the benefits of working at a very small company. My boss bought our machine like 3 years before I started, and he was still trying to figure it out. Within 2 months, I learned how to use the software and convinced my boss to upgrade my "peon" status.

I would recommend begging to learn how to use the machine. While incredibly intimidating, they are quite easy to use. And I'm hoping some day I will makes some serious cash, simply because LPKF is listed on my resume.
 
well this is working out awsome pcbexpress seems like the way to go. got my design done and it gunna cost me like $3.44 a board which is an awsome price. :D :D
 
If you have the resources to create your own Gerber files I would strongly suggest you pay a visit to WWW.PCBNET.COM

(pcbexpress uses their own software)


For a small prototype order....your first ten pieces are $10 each (assuming only two layers) and the next 10 pieces are $5 each.
The cool part is they have overlapping discounts on a second order if you order place a second order at the same time you place the first order (I know my description doesn't make sense but if you place the order it will make perfect sense).

It all works something like this------> You place a small initial "prototype" order for say 20 boards and then you also order X # of boards to be delivered at a later date.
They give you half off the price of the "second order" and you also qualify for a discount of up to $350
When the second batch of boards ships Imagineering applies both the second discount and the boards end up costing you a few cents each.
The big question is ... do you have a use for that many of these boards? :D
 
Little Grabbi said:
I'd tile my roof if i had enough old PCBs lying around :cool: :D
Click to expand...

I think the front page linked, a while ago, to this crazy german who used old pcb's for art projects. Now that certainly looked pretty cool. It had a stained-glass look to it.
 
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