I'm pretty sure Sunstone doesn't charge for tooling if you use their proprietary software. You're locked in, but the costs aren't too bad for development. I'm s

I'm pretty sure Sunstone doesn't charge for tooling if you use their proprietary software. You're locked in, but the costs aren't too bad for development. I'm sure getting the actual gerbers is a pain. ExpressPCB has a similar deal where they will make three index card size boards for $51 total. Not too bad, but they charge ~$60 for the gerbers. If you're using "normal" software that can generate gerbers, there are other options. If you don't mind long turnaround and overseas fab, Seeed Studio will make boards for ~$1 each, for 5cmx5cm [1]. Slightly more for larger boards. For hobby projects and prototypes, OSH Park can't be beat. Started as a board pooling coop for open hardware, they now send out batch jobs a few times a week to Amitron in IL and produce high quality boards (ENIG, with silk screen and soldermask) for $5/in^2 (for three copies, so a 1.5in^2 board would be $3.75 each)[2]. Their ordering process couldn't be better--upload gerbers, approve an on-screen rendering, specify the number of boards, and enter your billing info. No confusing options to go through. Seriously, try it. It's awesome. So board fab is not that expensive anymore, and perhaps cheaper than when you last looked. The turnaround times aren't great for the inexpensive options, but with luck or good EDA it's possible to get by without too many iterations. 1. http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/fusion-pcb-service-p-835.html http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/fusion-pcb-service-p-835.ht... 2. http://oshpark.com/ http://oshpark.com/