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From: Jon Slaughter on 2 Dec 2009 01:14
Ok, I know I've asked these questions a thousand times but heres the final
one(as I'm ready to send off for fab).

I have an approximately 20x2.5 pcb(actually 19.5x2.3). It is
non-rectanular(sorta tapers) and consists of 2 layers with about 350
10mil(hole) vias. It has a total of 222 components. About 20 IC's in 32-pin
QFN's and 1 28-pin TQFP. The rest are 402's and a few 603's and 805's.
(might add a few larger bypass caps before I send). Traces are all around
10mil's with a few larger and I think none are smaller. I think all spacing
is > 10mils.

4pcb quotes me around 20-25$(depending on how I select a few variables such
as copper thickness and "extra room", etc...) for 30-42.

This seems like a rather good deal from what I've seen. Most others won't
even go up past about 14" to 15" so I'm kinda SOOL there anyways.


In any case, everything seems to look good from the quote. Anyone have any
experience with this site as far as reputation and quality? I'm a bit
worried because they kinda spammed my email when I registered and there site
looks a little low quality.

Or anyone know of another fab that can do the size I need at around 20$ @
about 30-40? I was thinking that I could split the board in 2 halves but
this is far from ideal. The biggest problem is that I would have to connect
them back in a seemless way with some mechanical strength(with no
significant change in the profile). While this isn't difficult the real
challenge is being able to do this in the gerber files. (if I could simply
cut them and drag the other half around then it wouldn't be an issue and I
might go down that route)



From: TTman on 2 Dec 2009 03:15

"Jon Slaughter" <Jon_Slaughter(a)Hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:hf50kq$b18$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...
> Ok, I know I've asked these questions a thousand times but heres the final
> one(as I'm ready to send off for fab).
>
> I have an approximately 20x2.5 pcb(actually 19.5x2.3). It is
> non-rectanular(sorta tapers) and consists of 2 layers with about 350
> 10mil(hole) vias. It has a total of 222 components. About 20 IC's in
> 32-pin QFN's and 1 28-pin TQFP. The rest are 402's and a few 603's and
> 805's. (might add a few larger bypass caps before I send). Traces are all
> around 10mil's with a few larger and I think none are smaller. I think all
> spacing is > 10mils.
>
> 4pcb quotes me around 20-25$(depending on how I select a few variables
> such as copper thickness and "extra room", etc...) for 30-42.
>
>SNIP
Pcbcart.com quote is ~7$ + $65 tooling, +shipping.I use them for all my
boards. Excellent service all round, especially their front end design rule
checking.


From: Jon Slaughter on 2 Dec 2009 03:44
TTman wrote:
> "Jon Slaughter" <Jon_Slaughter(a)Hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:hf50kq$b18$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...
>> Ok, I know I've asked these questions a thousand times but heres the
>> final one(as I'm ready to send off for fab).
>>
>> I have an approximately 20x2.5 pcb(actually 19.5x2.3). It is
>> non-rectanular(sorta tapers) and consists of 2 layers with about 350
>> 10mil(hole) vias. It has a total of 222 components. About 20 IC's in
>> 32-pin QFN's and 1 28-pin TQFP. The rest are 402's and a few 603's
>> and 805's. (might add a few larger bypass caps before I send).
>> Traces are all around 10mil's with a few larger and I think none are
>> smaller. I think all spacing is > 10mils.
>>
>> 4pcb quotes me around 20-25$(depending on how I select a few
>> variables such as copper thickness and "extra room", etc...) for
>> 30-42. SNIP
> Pcbcart.com quote is ~7$ + $65 tooling, +shipping.I use them for all
> my boards. Excellent service all round, especially their front end
> design rule checking.

I got a total cost of about 450$ for 30 boards. If this is approximately the
cost with no hidden charges(a forced test) then it seems like a much better
deal. They don't mention the maximum board size though.

It seems cheaper... I hope without a loss of quality.

One thing. Do you think it is an issue to get them v-scored properly long
the pcb as it is not-rectangular(in fact I would like to get them to cut it
exactly out... it needs to be done by a machine and not by hand and I don't
really want to do it myself).

Strange though,

When I do 30 20x2.5 boards I get a quote of 450$ yet when I do 5 20x15 it
costs 200$ more in tooling. Hence doing individual boards is much cheaper
which seems counter intutitive because I imagine they are going to panelize
them anyways?

Anyways, I'll give them a call today or tomorrow and see what they say.



From: TTman on 2 Dec 2009 03:50

"Jon Slaughter" <Jon_Slaughter(a)Hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:hf59d6$76c$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...
> TTman wrote:
>> "Jon Slaughter" <Jon_Slaughter(a)Hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:hf50kq$b18$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...
>>> Ok, I know I've asked these questions a thousand times but heres the
>>> final one(as I'm ready to send off for fab).
>>>
>>> I have an approximately 20x2.5 pcb(actually 19.5x2.3). It is
>>> non-rectanular(sorta tapers) and consists of 2 layers with about 350
>>> 10mil(hole) vias. It has a total of 222 components. About 20 IC's in
>>> 32-pin QFN's and 1 28-pin TQFP. The rest are 402's and a few 603's
>>> and 805's. (might add a few larger bypass caps before I send).
>>> Traces are all around 10mil's with a few larger and I think none are
>>> smaller. I think all spacing is > 10mils.
>>>
>>> 4pcb quotes me around 20-25$(depending on how I select a few
>>> variables such as copper thickness and "extra room", etc...) for
>>> 30-42. SNIP
>> Pcbcart.com quote is ~7$ + $65 tooling, +shipping.I use them for all
>> my boards. Excellent service all round, especially their front end
>> design rule checking.
>
> I got a total cost of about 450$ for 30 boards. If this is approximately
> the cost with no hidden charges(a forced test) then it seems like a much
> better deal. They don't mention the maximum board size though.
>
> It seems cheaper... I hope without a loss of quality.
>
> One thing. Do you think it is an issue to get them v-scored properly long
> the pcb as it is not-rectangular(in fact I would like to get them to cut
> it exactly out... it needs to be done by a machine and not by hand and I
> don't really want to do it myself).
>
> Strange though,
>
> When I do 30 20x2.5 boards I get a quote of 450$ yet when I do 5 20x15 it
> costs 200$ more in tooling. Hence doing individual boards is much cheaper
> which seems counter intutitive because I imagine they are going to
> panelize them anyways?
>
> Anyways, I'll give them a call today or tomorrow and see what they say.
>
>
>
They can do panneling with V scoring. There seems to be a small bug in
their panneling tooling. I think they assume panneling to them ( as far as
quoting goes) means different circuits on one panel.
I just did a 5x5 total size 7.6" x 4.6" tooling cost was 'correct'.
I usually do the step ups myself and treat it as one board.Then I get the
'right' tooling costs.
redo the quote as 20x15, 6 off.


From: George Herold on 2 Dec 2009 09:05
On Dec 2, 1:14 am, "Jon Slaughter" <Jon_Slaugh...(a)Hotmail.com> wrote:
> Ok, I know I've asked these questions a thousand times but heres the final
> one(as I'm ready to send off for fab).
>
> I have an approximately 20x2.5 pcb(actually 19.5x2.3). It is
> non-rectanular(sorta tapers) and consists of 2 layers with about 350
> 10mil(hole) vias. It has a total of 222 components. About 20 IC's in 32-pin
> QFN's and 1 28-pin TQFP. The rest are 402's and a few 603's and 805's.
> (might add a few larger bypass caps before I send). Traces are all around
> 10mil's with a few larger and I think none are smaller. I think all spacing
> is > 10mils.
>
> 4pcb quotes me around 20-25$(depending on how I select a few variables such
> as copper thickness and "extra room", etc...) for 30-42.
>
> This seems like a rather good deal from what I've seen. Most others won't
> even go up past about 14" to 15" so I'm kinda SOOL there anyways.
>
> In any case, everything seems to look good from the quote. Anyone have any
> experience with this site as far as reputation and quality? I'm a bit
> worried because they kinda spammed my email when I registered and there site
> looks a little low quality.
>
> Or anyone know of another fab that can do the size I need at around 20$ @
> about 30-40? I was thinking that I could split the board in 2 halves but
> this is far from ideal. The biggest problem is that I would have to connect
> them back in a seemless way with some mechanical strength(with no
> significant change in the profile). While this isn't difficult the real
> challenge is being able to do this in the gerber files. (if I could simply
> cut them and drag the other half around then it wouldn't be an issue and I
> might go down that route)

Hi Jon, We get most of our PCB's from advanced circuits. There were
one or two times in the past where a board was 'bad'. (Some fly spec
of copper shorting out a trace to ground...) I think we now pay the
one time charge to have an electrical test run on all PCB's and have
not had any further problems.

George H.

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