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[43] Favorite PCB manufacturing house
http://forum.6502.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=300		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  RichCini [ Thu Apr 13, 2000 10:10 am ]
Post subject:  [43.1] Favorite PCB manufacturing house
I think that I have my own 6502 project board to the point where I can commit it to fiberglass and copper. So, I wanted to poll the membership and see which board houses others use.

Any recommendations???

Rich Cini
Author:  Mike Naberezny [ Thu Apr 13, 2000 3:19 pm ]
Post subject:  [43.2] Favorite PCB manufacturing house
Rich,

I haven't really looked into the different houses yet, but no doubt I will be an expert by the time the "Iteration One" PCB Design Project is done. :-)

There is a service called ExpressPCB you may want to check out if you're only going to make a couple of boards for yourself. Check out http://www.expresspcb.com . They have a simple PCB CAD program you can download and once your design is completed you can send it to them with one click. Small quantities are around $100 shipped in 2-3 days and the boards I had made (which even had tiny TQFP packages on them!) were extremely high quality.
Author:  RichCini [ Fri Apr 14, 2000 3:06 pm ]
Post subject:  [43.3] Favorite PCB manufacturing house
Mike:

I've seen ads for Express before, but I really haven't checked them out yet. The CAD program that I have (EDWin) is a complete CAD system, and produces Gerber files directly.

I'll check out Express now and see what their requirements are like.

Rich
Author:  Mike Naberezny [ Fri Apr 14, 2000 6:26 pm ]
Post subject:  [43.4] Favorite PCB manufacturing house
Rich,

My biggest gripe with ExpressPCB is that there isn't (or wasn't) an easy way to get files into or out of their proprietary editor. For small boards it is a good service, but for something really complicated I don't think it is the best option.
Author:  RichCini [ Thu Apr 27, 2000 1:17 pm ]
Post subject:  [43.5] Favorite PCB manufacturing house
Mike:

In Circuit Cellar, I found several PCB houses. Here's my report...

The My6502 board is 7.5"x6.5" (roughly 48 sq-in) double-sided with 991 holes (667 pads, 324 vias). This results in a hole density of 20.5 holes/sq-in. Standard 0.062" FR-4 laminate with 0.5 oz copper.

House#1: PCB Express (http://www.pcbexpress.com/) has been around since 1972 and are located in Portland, OR. They have an "express" service which takes common CAD output files (Gerber and Excellon drill files) and produces boards. With the express (read-no frills) service, My6502 would cost $166 for two boards. For a version of the board with legends and masks and a conformal coating, the price is $322. This is 3-day service and *no* verification or testing. Data is transferred in ZIP files by FTP. Max board size is 9x12.

House#2: AP Circuits (http://www.apcircuits.com/). Opened in 1988. Cost for the same board is $109 for the "Proto 1" service. The drill upcharge is $9 per drill over standard sizes. The "Proto 2" service includes masks and conformal coatings and has a 15-day lead time. Pricing is too hard for me to figure out without doing serious math. Max board size is 11x13.

House#3: Smth Circuits (http://www.smthcircuits.bc.ca/). For full service (5-day lead time), a 6"x8" board with legend and conformal coating is $110 for two boards. Prices go up for faster service. There are no drill size restrictions, only on number of tool changes. Max board size is 11x13.

House#4: Bay Area Circuits (http://www.bacircuits.com/). Been around since 1975. Who knows, maybe Apple used them :-). Anyway, their proto price is $295 + $20 S/H. Same day service. No drill restrictions. Max board size is 11x13.

Hope this research helps. If anyone has any other board shop recommendations, lets hear them.

> Rich Cini/WUGNET> ClubWin!/CW1> MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking> Collector of "classic" computers> http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/
Author:  Mike Naberezny [ Fri Apr 28, 2000 2:23 am ]
Post subject:  [43.6] Favorite PCB manufacturing house
Rich,

Thanks for this info! I will investigate them further when the time comes, hopefully we will be getting the boards made very soon in the coming months.
Author:  GARTHWILSON [ Wed Oct 18, 2000 2:31 am ]
Post subject:  [43.7] Favorite PCB manufacturing house
I'm new to the forum, so I hope I don't violate "protocol" here. I should get the hang of it after awhile.

How complex a board do you want to make? In my work, I've worked with probably a dozen board houses. Some are great, and other ones should not be in existence. One board house gave us zero defects for two years, and then the man who apparently was holding it all together left the company, and suddenly we had a 40% defect rate.

Our boards are very dense fine-line boards of two to 12 layers. If your budget only allows for the relatively simple double-sided boards with plated-through holes, no legend, and no soldermask, there are quite a few board houses that should be able to handle that without fowling something up. They will process your order more-or-less like the dry cleaners or the cheap photo finishing places; ie, your order won't get any special attention for design rule checking, etc. They often allow only certain hole sizes for the cheap service and may have other restrictions; but if you do your homework, it should be great for the hobbyist. You may be able to get such an order as low as $60 or $80 from places like Electronic Controls Design in Mulino OR (503) 829-9108 or Advanced Circuits in Aurora, CO www.advancedcircuits.com . There are others.

Edit, many years later: See our topic "Cheap PCB stories..., and the custom-PCBs page of the 6502 primer, at http://wilsonminesco.com/6502primer/CustomPCB.html .

Garth Wilson
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