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Not really much of an article is it, could be summarised as 'How I ordered a cheap PCB by choosing one of the many companies offering to build cheap PCBs'. I wa

Not really much of an article is it, could be summarised as 'How I ordered a cheap PCB by choosing one of the many companies offering to build cheap PCBs'. I was expecting a little more DIY from the title.

LeifCarrotson 11y ago
Same here! But I think that is the point of the article. The best way to make a cheap PCB is to just buy one. And he's probably right. There are definite advantages to etching a PCB at home - if you make a mistake that you only discover on assembly, you can make a new run in hours instead of weeks - but soldermask, small vias, and small features are much easier at a real plant. And you won't beat the prices. He recommends http://dirtypcbs.com/ http://dirtypcbs.com/, I personally have had a lot of success with https://oshpark.com/ https://oshpark.com/ - local support, you only need 3 boards (not 10) for prototypes, and they do 2-layer in 12 days for $5/sq inch and 4-layer in 2 weeks for $10/sq inch. Once you need a production run, take it to Gold Phoenix.
- lucaspiller 11y ago
  Does anyone have any recommendations for a PCB fab in Europe? i.e. where I don't need to wait 4 weeks.
  - deutronium 11y ago
    I've had PCBs from China take a little over a week, if you checkout http://pcbshopper.com/ http://pcbshopper.com/ you can specify the delivery time you want to pay for.
  - alex_hitchins 11y ago
    BoldPort (https://boldport.cratejoy.com/ https://boldport.cratejoy.com/) recently had some excellent boards made up with European Circuits (http://www.european-circuits.co.uk/ http://www.european-circuits.co.uk/).
  - oddeyed 11y ago
    I wrote a bigger comment too but Ragworm do (pretty cheap) 2-week turnaround. Only 2-layer by default though, get in touch with them for more.
  - cillian64 11y ago
    If you pay DirtyPCBs some more money for decent shipping you can get your board in about two weeks. A week for fab, a few days for shipping. $14 for the boards, $14 for the shipping. It's still very cheap for very good boards, and even cheaper if you can batch up a few projects and combine shipping.
- david-given 11y ago
  Do you know any places that do assembly as well? My soldering skills are approximately good enough to do 0.1 inch pitch pins about 90% of the time, which isn't really good enough for surface-mount, and most modern microprocessors don't come in anything else.
  - ZenoArrow 11y ago
    You don't need to have great soldering skills for surface mount components. The easiest way to solder surface mount is the "solder stencil + solder paste" method (for want of a better term). You create a solder stencil to match the pin layout, place it over the PCB pads, apply solder paste, place the component on top then melt the solder (if you'd be doing multiple batches it's easy enough to modify a toaster oven to do this). Solder stencils are also easy enough to create, especially if you have access to a laser cutter. Are there any hackerspaces near where you live?
    - cillian64 11y ago
      What do you cut your stencils from? I've spent a lot of time mucking about with various plastics and never gotten particularly good results - 0.5mm pitch pads tend to start melting together into a mess. The good stuff is meant to be Mylar, AKA PET. I've bought plastic advertised as Mylar which has not been particularly good, and I suspect it may actually be PE rather than PET, as apparently the two are often confused.
      - jwr 11y ago
        Just order them from OSHstencils. They aren't expensive.
      - ZenoArrow 11y ago
        Depends on how much you want to spend. If you're on a tight budget, you could try this... http://www.popsci.com/article/diy/build-diy-soldering-stencil-out-soda-can http://www.popsci.com/article/diy/build-diy-soldering-stenci...
    - 11y ago
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
alexhawdon 11y ago
I enjoyed it. As someone unfamiliar with these things I was pleasantly surprised to learn how inexpensive it was.
alex_hitchins 11y ago
Well, it is listed under "Ramblings". I don't think it was written as an article, it's just a blog post that could help out someone looking to do the similar.
- ZenoArrow 11y ago
  > "Well, it is listed under "Ramblings"" My issue was with the word 'made'. If I see a title for 'I made x' I expect a little more than 'I ordered x'. I'm not going to make an article about 'How I made an iPad' if I just ordered one from Amazon.
  - unwind 11y ago
    Huh? Teaching oneself PCB layout software and actually, you know, doing the layout work is certainly "doing". It doesn't even say, but I assume (from the picture of the unpopulated board) that the OP also soldered the board, which is even more "doing".
    - ZenoArrow 11y ago
      True, was probably mostly a case of misunderstanding. I was hoping to see an article about making PCBs as in making them at home. If the term used was 'assembling a cheap PCB' I'd probably not have overreacted.
  - jpindar 11y ago
    I work in electronics manufacturing and if I said "we made a new board for this project", I would mean we laid it out and sent it out to be fabricated.
agumonkey 11y ago
next: how I printed PCBs by printing P, C, B and s.

LeifCarrotson 11y ago

Same here! But I think that is the point of the article. The best way to make a cheap PCB is to just buy one. And he's probably right. There are definite advantages to etching a PCB at home - if you make a mistake that you only discover on assembly, you can make a new run in hours instead of weeks - but soldermask, small vias, and small features are much easier at a real plant. And you won't beat the prices. He recommends http://dirtypcbs.com/ http://dirtypcbs.com/, I personally have had a lot of success with https://oshpark.com/ https://oshpark.com/ - local support, you only need 3 boards (not 10) for prototypes, and they do 2-layer in 12 days for $5/sq inch and 4-layer in 2 weeks for $10/sq inch. Once you need a production run, take it to Gold Phoenix.

lucaspiller 11y ago
Does anyone have any recommendations for a PCB fab in Europe? i.e. where I don't need to wait 4 weeks.
- deutronium 11y ago
  I've had PCBs from China take a little over a week, if you checkout http://pcbshopper.com/ http://pcbshopper.com/ you can specify the delivery time you want to pay for.
- alex_hitchins 11y ago
  BoldPort (https://boldport.cratejoy.com/ https://boldport.cratejoy.com/) recently had some excellent boards made up with European Circuits (http://www.european-circuits.co.uk/ http://www.european-circuits.co.uk/).
- oddeyed 11y ago
  I wrote a bigger comment too but Ragworm do (pretty cheap) 2-week turnaround. Only 2-layer by default though, get in touch with them for more.
- cillian64 11y ago
  If you pay DirtyPCBs some more money for decent shipping you can get your board in about two weeks. A week for fab, a few days for shipping. $14 for the boards, $14 for the shipping. It's still very cheap for very good boards, and even cheaper if you can batch up a few projects and combine shipping.
david-given 11y ago
Do you know any places that do assembly as well? My soldering skills are approximately good enough to do 0.1 inch pitch pins about 90% of the time, which isn't really good enough for surface-mount, and most modern microprocessors don't come in anything else.
- ZenoArrow 11y ago
  You don't need to have great soldering skills for surface mount components. The easiest way to solder surface mount is the "solder stencil + solder paste" method (for want of a better term). You create a solder stencil to match the pin layout, place it over the PCB pads, apply solder paste, place the component on top then melt the solder (if you'd be doing multiple batches it's easy enough to modify a toaster oven to do this). Solder stencils are also easy enough to create, especially if you have access to a laser cutter. Are there any hackerspaces near where you live?
  - cillian64 11y ago
    What do you cut your stencils from? I've spent a lot of time mucking about with various plastics and never gotten particularly good results - 0.5mm pitch pads tend to start melting together into a mess. The good stuff is meant to be Mylar, AKA PET. I've bought plastic advertised as Mylar which has not been particularly good, and I suspect it may actually be PE rather than PET, as apparently the two are often confused.
    - jwr 11y ago
      Just order them from OSHstencils. They aren't expensive.
    - ZenoArrow 11y ago
      Depends on how much you want to spend. If you're on a tight budget, you could try this... http://www.popsci.com/article/diy/build-diy-soldering-stencil-out-soda-can http://www.popsci.com/article/diy/build-diy-soldering-stenci...
  - 11y ago

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

alexhawdon 11y ago

I enjoyed it. As someone unfamiliar with these things I was pleasantly surprised to learn how inexpensive it was.

alex_hitchins 11y ago

Well, it is listed under "Ramblings". I don't think it was written as an article, it's just a blog post that could help out someone looking to do the similar.

ZenoArrow 11y ago
> "Well, it is listed under "Ramblings"" My issue was with the word 'made'. If I see a title for 'I made x' I expect a little more than 'I ordered x'. I'm not going to make an article about 'How I made an iPad' if I just ordered one from Amazon.
- unwind 11y ago
  Huh? Teaching oneself PCB layout software and actually, you know, doing the layout work is certainly "doing". It doesn't even say, but I assume (from the picture of the unpopulated board) that the OP also soldered the board, which is even more "doing".
  - ZenoArrow 11y ago
    True, was probably mostly a case of misunderstanding. I was hoping to see an article about making PCBs as in making them at home. If the term used was 'assembling a cheap PCB' I'd probably not have overreacted.
- jpindar 11y ago
  I work in electronics manufacturing and if I said "we made a new board for this project", I would mean we laid it out and sent it out to be fabricated.

agumonkey 11y ago

next: how I printed PCBs by printing P, C, B and s.