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PCB prototyping

A project log for Altair 8800 front panel Ardiuno shield

A very small fully-functional interface for an Arduino Due emulating an Altair 8800

justin-davisJustin Davis 03/16/2017 at 13:231 Comment

I've gotten some comments about rapid-prototyping PCB fabricators. I know there's a lot out there, but one site I use to get quick quotes from a lot of places is http://pcbshopper.com/

You put your board requirement in such as size, mask color, etc. and it spits out many of the rapid prototype places like PCBWay, OSHPark, Dirty PCBs, EasyEDA, Bay Area Circuits, etc with a price which includes total boards cost, per board cost, and includes shipping costs. So you can see how much you will pay at each place with shipping.  However, I often end up using PCBWay since their prices are often the best and give lots of free options such as board color.  Since I wanted a black soldermask, they usually don't charge more for black soldermask.

Each place has different bonuses like low shipping costs, or special mask colors, etc. so it's good to check each line. Some places have price cutoffs for board size like 5x5cm, 10x10cm in their pricing, and others have a rate for the exact board size. However, they all have a minimum board number of 3 or 5, so if you only plan on making one board, your board cost is really much higher.

But it's great how low the prices are for making PCBs these days. I remember the story of Steve Jobs selling his VW van to pay for the first run of Apple 1 boards. These days it's so much cheaper.

Once I create the rev B boards, I will upload them to wherever people would like. Some site do a good job of letting others order your boards, so you don't have to worry about getting them boards. But you still have to order 3 of them at minimum. It would be nicer if you could order 1 board, and then when 2 other people order that same board, it triggers the board getting made. Or if more people order in a certain window, then it might bring the board cost down.

Discussions

MangaValk wrote 02/23/2018 at 11:15 point

Do you have an estimate of when you will upload it? thanks!

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