Where I got my PCBs made

As a hobbyist, I spent hours searching for a cheap place to get my boards manufactured. I searched everywhere until I came across the "Fusion PCB service" by Seeed studio. This place was ridiculously cheap ($35 for 10 boards, shipped) and they came in just under 2 weeks. I made a video review of the service, where I go into the board quality. This might help anybody looking to get their boards made so enjoy :slight_smile:

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iteadstudio will also do 100mm x 100mm boards for $24.90 plus shipping, between $5 & 10 for US Registered air mail.

Chinese New Year holiday coming up soon, lots of places close.

SeeedStudio's Fusion PCB service is great! I use it when I have medium sized boards that I want (between 5cmx5cm and 10cm x 10cm).

For boards smaller than 5cm x 5cm, such as tiny breakout boards and adapters, I go with OSH Park. They charge $5 per square inch for 3 boards, free shipping, so if your boards are very small you can expect to pay less than Seeed. The huge benefit of OSH Park is that all boards have a gold-plated finish and a sweet purple silkscreen - features that cost extra through Seeed. In my experience, the drill and milling work of OSH Park is also better, but Seeed's is not bad enough to cause major problems.

I use them both regularly and love em :slight_smile:

I'm thinking of using OSHPark for my TQFP breakout board, as it's 6x3 cm about, and that's an extra $15 from Seeed (because it's longer than 5 on one side). Plus, with the panelising of the boards in OSHPark, less space is wasted (more eco-friendly :slight_smile: )

The huge benefit of OSH Park is that all boards have a gold-plated finish and a sweet purple silkscreen

Haha I think you mean purple soldermask! Silkscreen is the text. Seeed doesn't even have a purple option - it's an extra $10 for blue, red, yellow or white, and an extra $20 for black! The ENIG gold plated finish is an extra $10 I think as well...

However the custom soldermask charges are somewhat cheaper than other manufacturers. Most places (like Gold Phoenix PCB) charge at least an extra $20 for this.

Just received an order from Seeed myself, 21 days from placing the order to receiving the boards in North Carolina with the cheapest shipping option. The boards look good, and they gave me 12 rather than the 10 I ordered. There's no need to add the order number to your Gerbers any more, nor to e-mail them in--they now let you upload them on their web site.

danb35:
Just received an order from Seeed myself, 21 days from placing the order to receiving the boards in North Carolina with the cheapest shipping option. The boards look good, and they gave me 12 rather than the 10 I ordered. There's no need to add the order number to your Gerbers any more, nor to e-mail them in--they now let you upload them on their web site.

I so hated emailing the files. I think that's a good move to just upload them.

I placed my first order with seeed last night. Just a test batch of I2C backpacks at the default options.

10 boards for just over $13 with shipping.

For the next ones I'll get the size down slightly with SMD components and panelise to get 2 per panel.

It was very straightforward, with uploading before you add to cart. You just need to raise you can only send one file so need to zip or rar. It would be useful if they stated this on the page.

Will post photo's and commens when they arrive (and see if I designed a working board; LOL)

zenwebb:
For boards smaller than 5cm x 5cm, such as tiny breakout boards and adapters, I go with OSH Park. They charge $5 per square inch for 3 boards, free shipping, so if your boards are very small you can expect to pay less than Seeed. The huge benefit of OSH Park is that all boards have a gold-plated finish and a sweet purple silkscreen -

I just designed my first ever PCB and ordered some through OSHP... there were cheaper places on the web but in the end the purple/gold color convinced me to spend a couple of bucks extra. :slight_smile:

The bummer was that I made two different boards and couldn't combine shipping costs for the two (I'm international so I have to pay shipping).

Fingers crossed the boards work...

tiny85.png

teeny85.png

Every board from OSH Park worked great.

Have not received one board yet that had bad traces, silkscreen problems, etc.

There are many PCB makers out there, and depending on options, quantity, quality, all have an advantage over another.

For the small prototypes I have been designing OSH Park is the best choice. For production, that's another story.

Sorry, I'm a bit late posting my promised review.

My first batch of boards from Seeedstudio turned up in about 2 weeks (to UK) and I was very happy with the quality for the price.

They even sent me 11, instead of the 10.

I made a 3 minor errors myself on the board, two silkscreen labelling errors and one error on my I2C or pin driven backlight option, but that just meant the backlight can't be used via I2C on this board, but works fine on dedicated pin. These backpacks are usable as long as I allow for my errors.

Pictures below.

Someone with eagle eyes may spot at least one of the two labelling errors :wink: