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Who do you use to get your boards made? #fab-house #pcb-manufacture

 
Edited

PS: OSH Park is happy to accept your KiCad file... you don't have the extra step of exporting to one of the more widely supported formats. If you have advocated for other fab services, maybe you could update your recommendation with the situation elsewhere?

===
Okay... I've finished my work with KiCad... now how do I turn the files into an actual PCB?

For my wants (simple!), OSH Park do a good job... the product is good, I can order as few as three, and the ordering process is brilliantly arranged. More at...



Others? (Maybe say a word about what you need the service for... a few bare boards for a hobbyist? More than that?)
 

For the past few years
ive been using Seeed Studio,
hi quality and very reasonable pricing.
I cant imagine anyone rolling their own any more.



Al D.

On 10/29/19 5:30 AM, ng10066504jan via Groups.Io wrote:
Others? (Maybe say a word about what you need the service for... a few bare boards for a hobbyist? More than that?)
--
AC2CL I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything. - Nikola Tesla

 

I've used? ?and?
I find OSH Park good for small PCBs and pcbway better for larger ones. PCBway is cheaper per inch but its shipping is pretty expensive.? I've not used seeedstudio yet but I plan to try them out on my next project.



On Tue, Oct 29, 2019 at 6:33 AM Al Dutcher <alziedood@...> wrote:
For the past few years
ive been using Seeed Studio,
hi quality and very reasonable pricing.
I cant imagine anyone rolling their own any more.



Al D.


On 10/29/19 5:30 AM, ng10066504jan via Groups.Io wrote:
> Others? (Maybe say a word about what you need the service for... a few
> bare boards for a hobbyist? More than that?)


--
AC2CL I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human
heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the
brain unfolding to success... Such emotions make a man forget food,
sleep, friends, love, everything. - Nikola Tesla




 

OSH is expensive per square inch and you have to open source your design but you do get gold flash as standard. For anything? half Eurocard sized or bigger there are any number of Chinese PCB manufacturers to choose from. I used Seeedstudio for several years but now I have switched to allpcb.com. I am about to order some boards 10 inches by 12 inches. Five of them gold flashed with blue solder resist shipped by DHL costs $100.

Cheers

Ian
 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

I've been using PcbWay. If you keep the board below 100mm a 2-layer is $5 for 5. The shipping is about $20.
One thing I like is that a stainless stencil is $10, which seems very reasonable.

Also, I had them assemble 40 boards for me. They handled the procurement of the parts and the assembly in a very painless way. I though the price was good and the quality was fine.

Doug


On 10/29/2019 3:30 AM, ng10066504jan via Groups.Io wrote:

Okay... I've finished my work with KiCad... now how do I turn the files into an actual PCB?

For my wants (simple!), OSH Park do a good job... the product is good, I can order as few as three, and the ordering process is brilliantly arranged. More at...



Others? (Maybe say a word about what you need the service for... a few bare boards for a hobbyist? More than that?)

 

If you want pcb fab only, oshpark has served me well personally and professionally. For more layers, I go over seas to pcbway. They have quality issues from time to time,? but it usually workable and if it is really bad, they usually re do it with no questions asked.

If you want PCB assembly, macrofab has been hitting it out the park for me.

On Tue, Oct 29, 2019, 10:11 AM Doug McKnight <doug@...> wrote:
I've been using PcbWay. If you keep the board below 100mm a 2-layer is $5 for 5. The shipping is about $20.
One thing I like is that a stainless stencil is $10, which seems very reasonable.

Also, I had them assemble 40 boards for me. They handled the procurement of the parts and the assembly in a very painless way. I though the price was good and the quality was fine.

Doug


On 10/29/2019 3:30 AM, ng10066504jan via Groups.Io wrote:
Okay... I've finished my work with KiCad... now how do I turn the files into an actual PCB?

For my wants (simple!), OSH Park do a good job... the product is good, I can order as few as three, and the ordering process is brilliantly arranged. More at...



Others? (Maybe say a word about what you need the service for... a few bare boards for a hobbyist? More than that?)

 

I have also used PCBWay, and found their board workmanship and delivery times to Australia excellent.

I believe pricing-wise PCBWay is the best I have found (definitely compared to OSHPark, which I have also used a lot).
--
Kind regards,

Peter Dalmaris, PhD

Founder, Tech Explorations, Inc.
Online instructor (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, KiCad and more)
Author of Electronics Education for Makers & KiCad Like a Pro
techexplorations.com
@futureshocked
 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

I have had several boards made by Seeed Studio using their Fusion offering:

Boards were excellent- 4 layers, silk screen. solder mask etc. Delivery times to Colorado were quite fast.

Gordon Hardman

On 10/29/2019 13:22, Peter Dalmaris wrote:
I have also used PCBWay, and found their board workmanship and delivery times to Australia excellent.

I believe pricing-wise PCBWay is the best I have found (definitely compared to OSHPark, which I have also used a lot).
--
Kind regards,

Peter Dalmaris, PhD

Founder, Tech Explorations, Inc.
Online instructor (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, KiCad and more)
Author of Electronics Education for Makers & KiCad Like a Pro
techexplorations.com
@futureshocked

Virus-free.

 

Thanks all for the pc board mfgs info.

I have been using Osh Park to make my 4-layer boards and have been happy with the quality of the boards, fast production and delivery.

And thanks to Peter for getting the Kicad users group moved to groups.io.

John Baker
Retired from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory


Author: "I am an Electrical Engineer"
[email protected]
 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

I second PCBWay. Excellent boards, timely delivery to US...
Henri Monnier

On 10/29/2019 5:23 PM, Gordon Hardman wrote:

I have had several boards made by Seeed Studio using their Fusion offering:

Boards were excellent- 4 layers, silk screen. solder mask etc. Delivery times to Colorado were quite fast.

Gordon Hardman

On 10/29/2019 13:22, Peter Dalmaris wrote:
I have also used PCBWay, and found their board workmanship and delivery times to Australia excellent.

I believe pricing-wise PCBWay is the best I have found (definitely compared to OSHPark, which I have also used a lot).
--
Kind regards,

Peter Dalmaris, PhD

Founder, Tech Explorations, Inc.
Online instructor (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, KiCad and more)
Author of Electronics Education for Makers & KiCad Like a Pro
techexplorations.com
@futureshocked

Virus-free.

 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

I've used

for several jobs, from a couple of pc prototypes to several hundred pieces in both circuit board and flex with good results.? I especially like the automated bidding process as you can see immediately how much it will cost and delivery times.
Charles R. Patton
On 10/29/2019 2:28 PM, hcm@... wrote:

I second PCBWay. Excellent boards, timely delivery to US...
Henri Monnier

On 10/29/2019 5:23 PM, Gordon Hardman wrote:

I have had several boards made by Seeed Studio using their Fusion offering:

Boards were excellent- 4 layers, silk screen. solder mask etc. Delivery times to Colorado were quite fast.

Gordon Hardman

On 10/29/2019 13:22, Peter Dalmaris wrote:
I have also used PCBWay, and found their board workmanship and delivery times to Australia excellent.

I believe pricing-wise PCBWay is the best I have found (definitely compared to OSHPark, which I have also used a lot).
--?
Kind regards,

Peter Dalmaris, PhD

Founder, Tech Explorations, Inc.
Online instructor (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, KiCad and more)
Author of Electronics Education for Makers & KiCad Like a Pro
techexplorations.com
@futureshocked

????Virus-free.

<#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>






I second PCBWay. Excellent boards, timely delivery to US...
Henri Monnier

On 10/29/2019 5:23 PM, Gordon Hardman wrote:

I have had several boards made by Seeed Studio using their Fusion offering:

Boards were excellent- 4 layers, silk screen. solder mask etc. Delivery times to Colorado were quite fast.

Gordon Hardman

On 10/29/2019 13:22, Peter Dalmaris wrote:
I have also used PCBWay, and found their board workmanship and delivery times to Australia excellent.

I believe pricing-wise PCBWay is the best I have found (definitely compared to OSHPark, which I have also used a lot).
--
Kind regards,

Peter Dalmaris, PhD

Founder, Tech Explorations, Inc.
Online instructor (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, KiCad and more)
Author of Electronics Education for Makers & KiCad Like a Pro
techexplorations.com
@futureshocked

Virus-free.


 

Those in Australia might like to try??who have an office in Melbourne so you talk to someone local, while the fab and assembly is done in China.
I've also used?http://www.brightcircuits.com/ for years for PCBA orders with good results.
 

I use a variety of PCB houses depending on what the project is, how many I intend to make and whether or not I'm going to do the assembly myself.

OSHPARK is great for small quick prototype boards.
JLCPCB is great for larger boards and higher quantities. Great boards at good prices.
I use General Circuits in China if I'm building a large quantity and I want to get them turnkey. They've been duped into bad components a time or two, but they're usually fair about it.
I've used a local shop (Prototron) here in town if I need it really fast. Very expensive, but when you gotta have it...
I've used PCBWay before, I don't recall why I haven't used them recently.
I've pondered using SeeedStudio for a build, but I've not gotten a round tuit! :-)
 

I've used seeedstudio as long as the panel size is under 10cm x 10cm which it almost always is.? I have never had a problem with quality or the fabrication time.? Shipping for one project is a major cost adder but several projects ship for just about the same cost so I usually queue up a few projects.??I've not used their any material other than FR4 for boards so I can't say about flex or other materials.? I have used their stencil service - top quality.

I used to make panels of stupid helper circuits, things like connector adapters for JTAG or level shifters but Seeed like other now has an extra charge if you have more than one design panelized on their 10x10 form factor which makes a single multi panel more expensive than two single panels.? If you don't put the cuts in to break apart the board, it is one design so now I use my band saw and not the board nibbler.? It seems like other places have adopted this surcharge, check with who ever you go with about their rules.
 

On Wed, 30 Oct 2019, nbxmike wrote:
I've used seeedstudio as long as the panel size is under 10cm x 10cm which
it almost always is.? I have never had a problem with quality or the
fabrication time.? Shipping for one project is a major cost adder but
several projects ship for just about the same cost so I usually queue up a
few projects.??I've not used their any material other than FR4 for boards so
I can't say about flex or other materials.? I have used their stencil
service - top quality.
I used to make panels of stupid helper circuits, things like connector
adapters for JTAG or level shifters but Seeed like other now has an extra
charge if you have more than one design panelized on their 10x10 form factor
which makes a single multi panel more expensive than two single panels.? If
you don't put the cuts in to break apart the board, it is one design so now
I use my band saw and not the board nibbler.? It seems like other places
have adopted this surcharge, check with who ever you go with about their
rules. _._,_._,_
The first time I used Seeed, the silkscreens were a mess: spotty coverage and misaligned. At first they told me that was normal and to be expected. After a couple rounds of email with them, they agreed to remake the boards. That was particularly important because I was selling the unpopulated boards. Shortly after that, I read that they upgraded their silkscreening process from some sort of hand-operated one-by-one thing to putting a stack of boards into a machine and letting it run.

--
David Griffith
dave@...

A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
 

I used Seeedstudio once for a small, simple two-layer board, and was completely satisfied with the quality of the results.

As nbxmike said, shipping is a major cost adder (I think it was about $25-$30 to the US). Which is strange, since I've ordered stuff like USB cables from Alibaba and gotten the whole package, including shipping for less than $5! Perhaps that was slower shipping (I don't remember) but it wasn't all that slow.

A friend had a good experience with JLCPCB. They offer controlled impedance for certain 4 and 6-layer boards at no extra charge.?


On Wed, Oct 30, 2019 at 9:00 AM cupricus <dave@...> wrote:

On Wed, 30 Oct 2019, nbxmike wrote:
> I've used seeedstudio as long as the panel size is under 10cm x 10cm which
> it almost always is.? I have never had a problem with quality or the
> fabrication time.? Shipping for one project is a major cost adder but
> several projects ship for just about the same cost so I usually queue up a
> few projects.??I've not used their any material other than FR4 for boards so
> I can't say about flex or other materials.? I have used their stencil
> service - top quality.
>
> I used to make panels of stupid helper circuits, things like connector
> adapters for JTAG or level shifters but Seeed like other now has an extra
> charge if you have more than one design panelized on their 10x10 form factor
> which makes a single multi panel more expensive than two single panels.? If
> you don't put the cuts in to break apart the board, it is one design so now
> I use my band saw and not the board nibbler.? It seems like other places
> have adopted this surcharge, check with who ever you go with about their
> rules. _._,_._,_

The first time I used Seeed, the silkscreens were a mess: spotty coverage
and misaligned.? At first they told me that was normal and to be expected.
After a couple rounds of email with them, they agreed to remake the
boards.? That was particularly important because I was selling the
unpopulated boards.? Shortly after that, I read that they upgraded their
silkscreening process from some sort of hand-operated one-by-one thing to
putting a stack of boards into a machine and letting it run.

--
David Griffith
dave@...

A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

I can highly recommend pcbgogo.com

Very fast turn around on 10 prototype boards for 5 dollars.

Limits are boards need to be no bigger than 10cm square, 2 layers, 6/6mil track/spacing and 0.3mm minimum hole size.? So not really much of a limit for many board designs.? Especially quick prototypes.? They aren't stingy either, because a couple of times i have received 12 boards and not 10 when i had small prototypes. (I guess they got good yield from the panel and just sent me all they had).

I have also had them supply stencils and find them cheap, and good quality.

Steven


On 29/10/19 4:30 pm, ng10066504jan via Groups.Io wrote:

Okay... I've finished my work with KiCad... now how do I turn the files into an actual PCB?

For my wants (simple!), OSH Park do a good job... the product is good, I can order as few as three, and the ordering process is brilliantly arranged. More at...



Others? (Maybe say a word about what you need the service for... a few bare boards for a hobbyist? More than that?)


 

"You have to open source your design" if you use OSH Park??

It has been a (limited) OPTION for many years... but unless there has been a change, not true.

OSH Park allowed you to, if YOU wished, to enable others order copies of your board directly from OSH Park... thus saving you hassle, and the people you wanted to help delay. I don't think there was any way for the 3rd party to download the design files, except as .pdf's of the board's traces, etc.
 

I would always recommend creating Gerber files and using a Gerber viewer to check them. It is surprising how many improvements you can see looking at Gerbers.

Most PCB fab houses use the Protel extensions for Gerber files which is an option in the Kicad Gerber files dialog.

Cheers

Ian
 

I have never found this option. OSH clearly stands for Open Source hardware. On their about page is states "Proudly serving the open hardware community"
If there is an option to not open source your design it is well hidden.

If you go to the "Sharing" tab there is a huge?list of projects. I picked one at random and was able to download Gerbers of it.

Cheers

Ian

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