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W07VH5 |
I've been prototyping some circuits on oshpark. The PCBs are high-quality and I'm happy with the results but I'm wondering if there are better options for higher quantity, made for production PCBs. I imagine higher quantity should offer better pricing. Anyone, produce printed circuit boards or have then made in quantity? | ||
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| Member |
I have been having 300 boards a year made by a small-ish shop in Silicon Valley. I know they could be done much cheaper in China, but the quality would probably suffer and I am sure they would copy our design. Right now a friend of JAllen is making new prototypes for me, plus he will build our next production boards as well. This is a semi-retired person in Maine and his prototype prices are fair and reasonable compared to Silicon Valley. He has all the standard mass production tools needed to turn out boards in quantity. I should add that he is building assembled boards for us, the bare PCB he has made somewhere. -c1steve | |||
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| W07VH5 |
Thanks c1steve. Oshpark charges by the size of the board; it's about $1.66/ sq.in. for small prototype runs and $1/ sq.in. for medium runs. Can you say if the prices are lower, similar or higher for bare PCBs? | |||
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| Member |
I don't think you will find higher quality small-quantity boards than OSHpark. They basically ARE production boards, they just combine a bunch of small prototype orders into 1 panel. You can probably find equal quality at a lower price, but the wait time will probably be much higher - and you might get burned a few times before you find the right place. A lot of the cheaper chinese proto-build houses don't use the 'better' plating (gold, ENIG?= can't remember the acronym) that OSH uses. It's cheaper, but more difficult to solder - not massively, but you need more flux & more prep. And if you design a relay footprint upside down, the cheaper plating is more likely to pull off when you remove the relays to flip sides, ask me how I know..... For single-digit orders, I doubt you can beat the quality/speed/service/price that OSH provides. Meet it, probably. | |||
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| W07VH5 |
Thanks. I am not unhappy with their service, just wondering if I could offer better prices. I'll probably stick with oshpark. | |||
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| Member |
Based on some general figures Rex sent me, I would say he is paying about the same amount that OshPark charges. -c1steve | |||
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| W07VH5 |
Thanks again!  | |||
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