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Short run printed circuit board manufacturer...?

S

spinjector

Can anyone suggest a short run printed circuit board manufacturer? I have some gadget ideas I'd like to make real, and I would like to have some boards made up in quantities ranging from just one to a dozen or so.

I remember one company advertised a handy JAVA-based CAD program on their website that could be used for simple projects, but I don't remember where I saw it or what the name was.

Thanks.
 
spinjector said:
Can anyone suggest a short run printed circuit board manufacturer?
Click to expand...

I use http://www.4pcb.com and have been very happy with their work on numerous projects. They are high for a one shot, but if you're looking for 100-200 boards they are pretty good on price.

They like to work from Gerber files, so if you have a program that will do the different files you need, it's real easy to put one together. You have to generate Gerber files for ...

  • Bottom Copper
  • Top Copper
  • Bottom Mask
  • Top Mask
  • Top Silkscreen
  • Drill

I use an old program called IVEX for all my work. IVEX is out of business, but I've not found anything else that I like that I can afford. :)

4PCB has a design program that you can use and it exports to them. There is also EPCB (or something like that), but I have no idea if they are decent. Never used them, although some guys in the ham radio forum swear by them.

Here is a board I did recently. http://www.vobbe.com/images/AudioBoard3.jpg
 
At one time I boards made by Proto-Quick in Dallas. The quality was excellent. They have been in business at least 35 years, maybe more. Your really need to get some quantity (100-250 or so) to make them economical. I suspect that just about every supplier is like that.

http://www.proto-quick.com/index.htm
 
Pick up a copy of "Nuts and Volts" magazine. It has some ads in it that would be what you may be looking for.
 
While we are on this topic, what recommendations are there for easy to use design programs for PCBs?

I mean a program that doesn't require 200 hours of study to learn how to use it, and actually works without throwing
up silly run-time errors after you've spent the last 5 hours designing a board then trying to save it!

I've tried a few programs so far but none of them really do much for me.

I don't need anything flash. All I want to do is lay out tracks for single sided boards.

I don't need overlays, component ID silkscreening or anything else fancy.

The other issue I have found is that not all programs seem to output the results uniformly.

The people I get to do my boards ask for a particular format, and often it seems that whatever the program wants
to give me is different to what they require.

I don't know anyone around here who designs or makes boards so I can't call on them to give me a crash course in
actually operating the program - so something that comes with a video tutorial on how to drive it would be cool.
 
Bill Wolfenbarger said:
Pick up a copy of "Nuts and Volts" magazine. It has some ads in it that would be what you may be looking for.
Click to expand...

Lordy, I was wondering if that was still around - it's been ages since I've seen a copy!
 
I have used ExpressPCB. You can download a free PCB designer program with a parts library referenced to Digikey's part numbers. With their Miniboard service, you can get 3 double-sided prototype boards made for $51 plus shipping if you can fit your circuit into a fixed board (3.8x2.5") area and have them back in four days after uploading it to them. expresspcb.com
 
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