That points out a key difference in the PCB house pricing models:
ExpressPCB and the Advanced Circuits $33 prototype are flat fee up to a
size limit (for Advanced Circuits 4 x 6 inches) while others go by the
square inch -- OSH Park is $5/in2 for three copies of two layer, and
$10/in2 for three of four layer.
So for small boards, OSH Park is great but for larger boards, the price
difference reduces (a 4 x 6 board ends up being just about the same
price as Advanced Circuits). And if you can stand the slower
turnaround, the Chinese board houses can't be beat for any size.
John
----
On 12/9/2016 3:18 PM, Bob Stewart wrote:
I built my first set of boards with ExpressPCB, but they get expensive quickly if you
want to make something that's not in their special form factor. I use KICAD and
OshPark.com to make my boards (there are other board makers). I just ordered some boards
that are .7" x .63" that cost $8.40 for 12. You buy in multiples of 3, so that
was actually $2.10 for a set of 3 times 4 sets. Using surface mount, I was able to put
an SOIC-14, an SOIC-16, an SOT23-5, three 0805 caps, a 3 pin header, and a 5 pad
connector on the board. Something like that would be wastefully expensive on ExpressPCB.
Bob
From: BIll Ezell <w...@quackers.net>
To: time-nuts@febo.com
Sent: Friday, December 9, 2016 1:58 PM
Subject: [time-nuts] OT: ExpressPCB (cross-post from volts-nuts)
Sorry if I'm behind the times, just did a new project that required a
pcb, and ExpressPCB is my go-to vendor for one-off boards. I just
noticed they now provide the low-cost boards (fixed size, 3x5, quantity
3) that I've always ordered with silk screen and solder mask for $71. I
got my latest boards that way and they're beautiful. No relationship to
them, just a happy customer. You can still get the barebones boards for
$51. The hack I used to use was to put the component id and such on the
top copper layer as tiny text, but that was a bit of a pain for layout.
(Oops, can't put that label there, it's copper and there's a trace there
also) Really nice to be able to get real boards, even if it does end up
being ~$23/board.
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