Recommendation for PCB fab?

[NeverDie]

Elecrow charges extra to panelize, but it wasn't clear to me whether they do panelizing or whether you have to submit already panelized gerbers.

[scalz]

The easiest way, if you want to panelize, for cheap, with mouse bites (drills for breakable), has been explained by tbowmo and yveaux above, by using dirtypcb.

Else that needs some tinkering.

I usually use elecrow, and seeedstudio service too. it's up to you to panelize. ask them maybe they'll do it for free, but not sure. i imagine if all people would ask them this..
And doing this, costs the same as ordering separate design boards (which are already milled..).

So when i want to use their service, and not pay for sub boards, i panelize in one bigger board and separate sub boards with silkscreen lines (not milling) and cut them myself (i have saws for this, circular etc.). If you think to add mouse bites for breakable in this case, that won't be ok. They will ask you to remove them and to fix your panel or use their subboards fee.

[tbowmo]

dirtypcbs support mousebites to separate pcb's, without extra fees..

It seems that the tool from thisisnotrocketscience is tested primarily with dirtypcbs :)

[gohan]

@tbowmo is there any guide on how to use that program?

[scalz]

@gohan
maybe you can find some more howtos on google, here is one:
https://hackaday.io/project/19202-small-pcbs-for-panelizing-tutorial/log/59210-panelization-using-gerberpanelizer-on-windows-linux-possible

[NeverDie]

I placed an order with Elecrow just now. $9.70 for ten boards delivered seems like a bargain. I'll make another post once they're delivered so that we'll have a record of how long it takes to receive.

I'll try the panelizing approach with dirtypcb's sometime soon. It sounds like a fantastic deal also.

Thanks everybody for your suggestions!

[Yveaux]

@NeverDie said in Recommendation for PCB fab?:

I'll try the panelizing approach with dirtypcb's sometime soon. It sounds like a fantastic deal also.

Let us know if you need any help with it!

[NeverDie]

@NeverDie said in Recommendation for PCB fab?:

I placed an order with Elecrow just now. $9.70 for ten boards delivered seems like a bargain. I'll make another post once they're delivered so that we'll have a record of how long it takes to receive.

I'll try the panelizing approach with dirtypcb's sometime soon. It sounds like a fantastic deal also.

Thanks everybody for your suggestions!

I received the Elecrow boards today. Wow, just 17 days from order until receipt. 10 boards for $9.70 total, including shipping. Much cheaper than OSH-PARK, and only a few days extra. :)

[gohan]

@NeverDie how much are the boards and the shipping costs?

[NeverDie]

@gohan Third sentence immediately above.

[gerritv]

Very pleased with my Elecrow order as well. This is the first pcb I designed since the 1980's when you taped up the art work by hand :-)

[NeverDie]

One visible difference though is that the elecrow pads are silvery in color, whereas the OSH Park pads are brass/gold in color:

Does it matter?

Also, the OSH Park boards have the annoying mouse bites, whereas the Elecrow are nice smooth edges.

[gerritv]

The default surface finish at Elecrow is HASL. ENIG is goldie colour but more expensive. There are a few others as well.
Good explanation of differences: http://www.epectec.com/articles/pcb-surface-finish-advantages-and-disadvantages.html
OSH might be using OSP / Entek coating.

IMHO it is an appearance thing for us hobbyists. As long as it is not bare copper it should be ok.

[gohan]

@NeverDie I actually meant the costs split

[gerritv]

US4.90 for 10 boards (100x50) on special, US4.85 shipping to Canada.

[NeverDie]

Today I received another order from Elecrow. This time it took 18 days to receive from the date of order. However, they did send me 12 boards instead of 10, so that's nice. :)

[Nca78]

@NeverDie said in Recommendation for PCB fab?:

Today I received another order from Elecrow. This time it took 18 days to receive from the date of order. However, they did send me 12 boards instead of 10, so that's nice. :)

That is still pretty quick if you selected the cheap shipping option !

[NeverDie]

@Nca78 said in Recommendation for PCB fab?:

That is still pretty quick if you selected the cheap shipping option !

Yup, it was this board here: https://www.openhardware.io/view/472/Ebyte-nRF52832-Prototyping-Board

Shipped using the cheapest shipping option.

[mtiutiu]

@Nca78

Elecrow is a good fab imho and yes they are very generous - I received too my boards today and instead of 5pcs I received 11pcs !!!. And this is not the first time they deliver more than requested. The price - 5$ for boards and 3.5$ shipping(standard mail) - 8.5$ in total. And yes they are the cheapest and pretty good quality pcbs - I'm very pleased about their services so far. They beat all the Chinese fabs including shipping so far(and the quality is pretty good - at least for what I need my pcbs for it's well beyond my expectations).

[NeverDie]

At the moment I'm getting a PCB fabricated by pcbway (my fist time using them). They give tracking info which (allegedly) shows exactly where your PCB is in the manufacturing process. For example, here's the status of my board at this very moment:

MI (Manufacture Instruction)	 	 11/13/2017 10:04:37 AM
Cut Lamination	 	 11/13/2017 11:41:12 AM
Drill	 	 11/13/2017 11:44:05 AM
Plated Through Hole	 	 
Circuit	 	 
Etching	 	 
AOI	 	 
Solder Mask	 	 
Silkscreen	 	 
Surface Treatment	 	 
Double Drilling	 	 
Routing	 	 
Testing	 	 
Package	 	 
Delivery Ready	

i.e. the first drilling is finished, and the next step for it is the thru-hole plating. They update the status once every 5 minutes.

The other interesting thing is that they have a chat window, so you can chat with them anytime about your order. I asked them a question at about 4am China time, and within about a minute or two I got an answer.