PCB fab recommendations in the UK

[banedon]

Hi guys

I'm looking at picking up my last half completed 65C02 project and seeing if I can complete it in 2018 (i.e. not getting distracted) . The trouble is I get a bit put off by the high costs of having PCBs made in the UK. For my last project it cost me (if memory serves) approx. £150 for one 4 layer PCB. I do know that the cost comes down the more PCBs you have made in one go, but even then it seems a bit pricey.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a good PCB fab based in the UK which isn't super expensive?

[GARTHWILSON]

Please put it in the Cheap PCB stories... topic when you find out. Hmmm... maybe that one should be sticky.

[banedon]

GARTHWILSON wrote:

Please put it in the Cheap PCB stories... topic when you find out. Hmmm... maybe that one should be sticky.

Will do.

[BigDumbDinosaur]

banedon wrote:

For my last project it cost me (if memory serves) approx. £150 for one 4 layer PCB.

Urk! Where did you get it made? Is the PCB house on Jupiter?

[banedon]

BigDumbDinosaur wrote:

banedon wrote:

For my last project it cost me (if memory serves) approx. £150 for one 4 layer PCB.

Urk! Where did you get it made? Is the PCB house on Jupiter?

It was PCBtrain and, upon checking, I found the stats/costs:

PCB: 4 layer M/L 1.6mm FR4 1oz Cu I.S.
Size: 160mm x 100mm
Wait: 15 days
Qty: 1
Cost per unit £119.07+VAT (tax at 20%) = £142.88 (comes out at US $193.03 using google)

The price does not include carriage charges which range from £5 up to £30 for mainland UK.

The grand total I paid was £154.88 all-in.

I have to say that I have used them twice now and not experienced any issues. Just the price seems steep when compared to what I've seen others have paid. But that maybe because those PCBs were sourced in China perhaps.

[BitWise]

banedon wrote:

Hi guys

I'm looking at picking up my last half completed 65C02 project and seeing if I can complete it in 2018 (i.e. not getting distracted) . The trouble is I get a bit put off by the high costs of having PCBs made in the UK. For my last project it cost me (if memory serves) approx. £150 for one 4 layer PCB. I do know that the cost comes down the more PCBs you have made in one go, but even then it seems a bit pricey.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a good PCB fab based in the UK which isn't super expensive?

I don't think there are any. I've used Newbury Electronics (https://www.pcbtrain.co.uk) in the past and have talked with Ragworm (https://ragworm.eu/) but both are a lot more than a Chinese manufacturer.

[banedon]

BitWise wrote:

banedon wrote:

Hi guys

I'm looking at picking up my last half completed 65C02 project and seeing if I can complete it in 2018 (i.e. not getting distracted) . The trouble is I get a bit put off by the high costs of having PCBs made in the UK. For my last project it cost me (if memory serves) approx. £150 for one 4 layer PCB. I do know that the cost comes down the more PCBs you have made in one go, but even then it seems a bit pricey.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a good PCB fab based in the UK which isn't super expensive?

I don't think there are any. I've used Newbury Electronics (https://www.pcbtrain.co.uk) in the past and have talked with Ragworm (https://ragworm.eu/) but both are a lot more than a Chinese manufacturer.

Yeah I thought as much, but was hoping that there'd be a cheaper local option. C'est la vie.

[Alarm Siren]

I wouldn't recommend Ragworm at all, regardless of price. They've never responded to my email enquiries at all, and everyone I've spoken to who has used them described horror stories - like 1/3rd of all boards supplied being unusable.

I've used Minnitron in the past, based in Kent; the quality was excellent and it worked out to about £65 per board for seven boards.

[banedon]

Alarm Siren wrote:

I wouldn't recommend Ragworm at all, regardless of price. They've never responded to my email enquiries at all, and everyone I've spoken to who has used them described horror stories - like 1/3rd of all boards supplied being unusable.

I've used Minnitron in the past, based in Kent; the quality was excellent and it worked out to about £65 per board for seven boards.

Thanks for advising, Alarm Siren. I've had a cursory look at their website. Only down side is that they don't seem to have a pricing guide that I can find, but I send them an email with the spec that I mentioned above and see what they come back with.

[Fatsie]

Also posted in other thread. An European PCB house where you can do quoting and ordering online: https://www.eurocircuits.com.

[banedon]

Alarm Siren wrote:

I wouldn't recommend Ragworm at all, regardless of price. They've never responded to my email enquiries at all, and everyone I've spoken to who has used them described horror stories - like 1/3rd of all boards supplied being unusable.

I've used Minnitron in the past, based in Kent; the quality was excellent and it worked out to about £65 per board for seven boards.

Minnitron came back to me with a price of almost double that of PCBtrain...

[drogon]

banedon wrote:

Hi guys

I'm looking at picking up my last half completed 65C02 project and seeing if I can complete it in 2018 (i.e. not getting distracted) . The trouble is I get a bit put off by the high costs of having PCBs made in the UK. For my last project it cost me (if memory serves) approx. £150 for one 4 layer PCB. I do know that the cost comes down the more PCBs you have made in one go, but even then it seems a bit pricey.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a good PCB fab based in the UK which isn't super expensive?

Only done double sided, so this may not be that relevant, but I stopped using UK places sometime back due to cost and started using Seeeeeeeeed studio. Turnaround is good - generally < 10 days and prices too cheap to worry about. I did try to put them against Aisler who are the European Fritzing PCB partner for one project I did last year - same price (more or less), Aisler sent me 3 pcbs and Seeed sent me 10. Both ordered electronically the same day and the Seeed ones came in the morning and the Aisler ones in the afternoon of the same day.

I did search for a UK based place as there is a bit of "Buy British" in me but at the end of the day, it's hard when there's such a difference in costs. UK folks I've used have been Dialart - http://www.pcbpanel.co.uk/ for a quick turnaround of some small PCBs but at the best part of £100 for 6 (their smallest panel) was expensive, but they were quick - after that I used Quick Teck http://www.quick-teck.co.uk/index.php for large batches, (150+ at a time) however I've a feeling they just outsource to China... Just checked quick tech for a job I'm about to do - double sided 100x180mm and for 10 they want £129+vat for a 9-day turnaround. Seeed want $41. (US$) - about £30 plus some bank fees.

Cheers,

-Gordon

[cbmeeks]

Yeah, this is where China has us by the kahona's. Same problem over here in the US. Even when we "buy American" many times it's 10x the cost and almost always, there is SOMETHING that was still outsourced to China.

[BillO]

Quite likely a lot of the UK and US companies are farming your boards out to China anyway. Given what they charge, and the dismal 2 week turnaround times, they could use reputable Chinese PCB houses and DHL 3 day delivery and still make about 75%-80% profit without having to gear up, hire staff and face all the environmental licensing headaches.

Seriously, why would they do otherwise?

I say, cut out the middle-man with the new Mercedes.