A great place to get PCB's made

[brad]

I saw this post on http://www.digital-diy.com forums.

The concept is great - collectively fit as many PCB designs on a single board, produce them, then send them off to their respective owners. The whole process is very automated - design your board, submit the files, wait for the DRC bot to pass/fail the design, pay for it, wait for it.

Generally speaking, there is enough activity for a whole PCB board to be filled and produced every couple of days (as of writing, the last board was created yesterday, and the current one is already 40% full)

What you can do: Submit your PCB design to be part of the next batched board.
What it costs: There is a once off $10 setup fee for each design. From there on, you only pay $2.50 sqr/in (2-layer)
Minimum QTY: None. I've made single boards as small as 1"x1"
Shipping: I've paid $1.50 shipping to Australia on two separate orders (that's the lowest grade international shipping - its much faster and costs $2 within the USA from what I understand)

The only catch I can see is that the board is not electrically tested. Not many PCB prototyping companies offer that anyhow.

[Chuckt]

What software would you use to create the board? Also, what companies do you suggest are the best to make boards?

Eagle Cad is free for small boards unless you sell them and make a profit.
Otherwise the license is $50 for small boards and $$$ for large boards.

I think we need instructions on how to make a board with software.

[brad]

While I haven't dealt with them just yet, I am 99% sure that they would accept gerber files (which is basically the PCB industry standard).

You can export your files in just about all PCB routing software to gerber format.

I highly recommend DIPTRACE, I have used plenty of different pcb cad programs and diptrace is by far my most popular choice. Infact I upgraded from the free version (which only has a limitation of 250 pins) to the paid version. The free version still has all the functionality of the paid apart from the pin limit.

[Chuckt]

A lot of people recommend http://4pcb.com/ for small boards.

[sdudley]

A lot of people recommend http://4pcb.com/ for small boards.

That looks pretty good. Some others are also:

www.expresspcb.com

www.freepcb.com

www.pcb123.com

Keep in mind that some of this "free" PCB software is offered by companies who are pushing their manufacturing facility.

I think this is a fabulous marketing strategy. However, once you begin using (and become familiar with) a software package, you really have little desire to change. They know this and you soon become a loyal customer.

The output files might also be proprietary so you can't design it on their software (which you have already become happy with) then send the files to another facility.

It took me quite some time to become familiar with Eagle and I have to be honest, I really have no desire to change now because I know it does everything I need and I know that I can output all the necessary files for any manufacturing facility.

I have not tried DIPTRACE, but I believe it is a PCB layout only software (please correct me if I am wrong on that Brad). With eagle I can design my schematic and Eagle will do much of the work when it comes to the PCB layout.

I can also make changes to the schematic and it will update the PCB for me (with minimal effort on my part).

There are also a ton of libraries available on the internet (for free) and support from places like sparkfun and many others.

Anyway, I am sorry to rant about Eagle because I am really not trying to "sell" it on you but I really do like it.

There is a lot of good free software out there that can do anything a hobbiest needs. I guess it depends on what appeals to you.

Good luck,

Stacy

[brad]

You are right about those manufacturers who have their own free software. It takes you a little while to learn, but once learnt you can't be bothered learning a different piece of software. Since these companies don't have any kind of export feature (so that you can get your board made anywhere) you are stuck with their high priced boards.

DIPTRACE is a shematic editor and pcb design tool. The best in my opinion

[sdudley]

Can you link to slightly bigger pictures?

Also, I remember you once telling me that you had to do schematics and boards in two separate programs. Not sure whay but that's what I thought.

Stacy

[brad]

Feast your eyes on these!











I have just seen that they have increased the pin limit on the freeware version from 250pins to 300pins

[sdudley]

WOW! You're new LEDBoy is really coming along!

Greta job.

My head hurts now.