PCB make+assemble service

If you can move all the components on one side of the board, you should be able to do your own skillet reflow soldering. I do it all the time. Last project I did was 350 tiny boards. Took the better part of a week, but it wasn't too hard. Like I said, to make it easy, you want all the parts on the same side of the board.

Not using any specific parts, just general/generic ones, the individual cost if purchased through Digi Key would be around $3.62 $3.85. With PCB service through ITeadStudio, add another 25 cents each. And I would strongly suggest getting stencils made ... $25 for 6-up on a single 8.5 x 11 sheet.

I should note, the pricing I looked at were for bulk purchases of 250, 500, and 1,000 pieces. In some cases it's cheaper to purchase 1,000 of something than it is to buy 800.

Your design doesn't seem to have an ISP header broken out (or if it does, it's not in the standard 2x3 configuration). You're going to need that to put a bootloader on the board (if you're planning to run Arduino on it), or to burn sketches directly to the board. Might also be worth it to break out the FTDI pins if you haven't already.

As CR mentioned, chances are you will get nailed with VAT when you get them. But, if you think you'll be ok, and you want to provide parts (or the money to procure them), I'm happy to cook them for you with the only requirement that you move the parts top-side only.

KirAsh4:
If you can move all the components on one side of the board, you should be able to do your own skillet reflow soldering

Since i'm a student and i'm busy with school a lot i can't spend that much time. I am making an arduino based reflow oven controller for the first prototype batch (about 10 boards).

Your design doesn't seem to have an ISP header broken out (or if it does, it's not in the standard 2x3 configuration). You're going to need that to put a bootloader on the board (if you're planning to run Arduino on it), or to burn sketches directly to the board. Might also be worth it to break out the FTDI pins if you haven't already.

Nope, ISP is not broken out but i'm planning on making a simple board that has all the pins broken out to standard 2.54mm header pins and that adds ISP header. FTDI pins are already broken out though.

If you'd like, and are willing to share your design, I can attempt to re-route them to the top layer. But that's entirely up to you and would of course depend on whether you want to do that and/or want to figure out if it is worth the cost to have them outsourced, or if you want to do them yourself.

KirAsh4:
If you'd like, and are willing to share your design, I can attempt to re-route them to the top layer.

No, i'm sorry. I had to add another part (to the top layer) so it's really tightly packed right now. I also already did all the silkscreen things and i don't want to do it again. Thanks anyways.

Ah, from seeing the board design you posted earlier, I recon you could potentially use smaller pad sizes along the edged if you're going to have through holes anyway. That should buy you some more real estate. And you could also always shrink thins down even more by using 0402 parts. But that's now nitpicking. :slight_smile:

You could still build a reflow-friendly board by having the smallest, or hardest parts on one side of the board (such as the ATMega, regulator, small 0603 parts, and the crystal) and move the large 1206 caps on the other side. Those are easy to hand solder.

Have you decided what you're going to do as far as production of the quantity that you want?

KirAsh4:
You could still build a reflow-friendly board by having the smallest, or hardest parts on one side of the board (such as the ATMega, regulator, small 0603 parts, and the crystal) and move the large 1206 caps on the other side. Those are easy to hand solder.

Hm.. I'm not that good at it, its also already routed, could i send the .brd file to you?

Have you decided what you're going to do as far as production of the quantity that you want?

I'm going to have a fundraiser and see how much are wanted, minimum number i think about 200-250. If you could get the parts to the top i think i will try to let you assemble them if you want to do it.

lyron:

KirAsh4:
You could still build a reflow-friendly board by having the smallest, or hardest parts on one side of the board (such as the ATMega, regulator, small 0603 parts, and the crystal) and move the large 1206 caps on the other side. Those are easy to hand solder.

Hm.. I'm not that good at it, its also already routed, could i send the .brd file to you?

You'd have to send both files. Zip up the .sch and .brd files together and send that. If you want to do that, I'll send you a PM with my e-mail.

lyron:
I'm going to have a fundraiser and see how much are wanted, minimum number i think about 200-250. If you could get the parts to the top i think i will try to let you assemble them if you want to do it.

We'll have to talk timing, as in what your deadline is, and how to procure all the parts. But if things work out, then sure, I'm happy to help.

KirAsh4:
You'd have to send both files. Zip up the .sch and .brd files together and send that. If you want to do that, I'll send you a PM with my e-mail.

Okay thanks, you can PM me

Is the design shown in the image still the one going to the fab?

Assuming you're using 6mil traces, some places look like you have a lot less trace separation than that. Especially the bottom-right corner looks suspicious to me.

Places like itead/seeed-studio and others can do 6/6 quite well - and now they seem to include full E-testing for all boards.

lyron:
Okay thanks, you can PM me

I sent you a PM, but with the boards the way they are these days, i don't know if you actually received it or not. Let me know.

Seeedstudio probably has fairly competitive pricing for pcb manufacture+assembly.

You can also try futurlec.com, they have pcb assembly starting from 50 pcb's.

Thanks for making holland sound like a pile of weed and strippers btw :wink:
They're mostly there for the tourists anyway, people in other countries smoke much more weed.

umakebot:
Seeedstudio probably has fairly competitive pricing for pcb manufacture+assembly.
ODM

You can also try futurlec.com, they have pcb assembly starting from 50 pcb's.

Yes, i already had seeedstudio in mind, Kir4Ash is helping me with the design right now.

Thanks for making holland sound like a pile of weed and strippers btw :wink:
They're mostly there for the tourists anyway, people in other countries smoke much more weed.

Alsjeblieft! xD

umakebot:
Thanks for making holland sound like a pile of weed and strippers btw :wink:

Well, the truth hurts! (just kidding!) The Swiss enjoy similar hospitality in German border towns in establishments that are happy to take Swiss as well as EU currency. That way, the Swiss can indulge in all sorts of naughty stuff that is banned in Switzerland without having to change currency. :smiley:

Coming back to the subject at hand, thanks for the mention of the Seeedstudio assembly services! I will have to keep that in mind for my current project, Seedstudio costs about a quarter of what I would pay for similar services performed in the States. Makes sense, I guess, the PCB fabrication cost discrepancy is similar.

lyron:
Yes, i already had seeedstudio in mind, Kir4Ash is helping me with the design right now.

And I have to say, it's been a pleasure working on your designs. Doing the nano board alone proved to be a welcome challenge (for me.) I'm glad things worked out.

Now on to getting them manufactured and decide whether you're going to populate them yourself or outsource that as well. Like I said before, I can certainly work with you on getting them reflowed.

Wow...the Propagate service at Seeed does look pretty good, I may be contacting them also for my current project.

lyron:
It sucks Holland doesn't have a lot of stores like Radioshack etc.

These days, Radio Shack sucks. Fry's has a barely acceptable set of passives, but pretty much stops there. Jameco has an okay but not great selection, and does will call orders if you happen to live close. Really, buying over mail is what you've got to do for any discriminating project.
Which I guess is good for people who want to live more than 10 feet away from their neighbors. Amazon and eBay may well be the force that brings people back to the countryside :slight_smile:

I agree. The selection and organization at the typical radio schack has decreased to the point where they might as well not carry anything at all. You can look through the various drawers and find components sorted willy-nilly all over the place.

You are typically better off going to local mom-and-pop stores that cater to the electronic hobbyists. Stores like you-do-it electronics in Boston. I blame several factors: Most kids these days are getting bigger gratification out of blowing their friends up on a video game, lack of electronics education in school, and margin pressures in stores. No matter how overpriced electronics are at Radio Schack, they likely are not covering their carrying costs.

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