board fab for our little PIC projects ?

[gpsmikey]

I realize this is a bit "OT", but who better to ask - anybody have any suggestions on a good place to get good small PC boards in small quantities for our little projects ? Pref. in the US (for some, customs and shipping is more than the boards ! ). These PICS are perfect for various little projects - currently, my dev platform is the low pin count board from Microchip, but I want to make a few small boards for my projects. Hopefully someone here from the US side can suggest a good source for prototype PC boards. Put my PIC's and CCS compiler (4.114) to work here. I did Google around a bunch and checked out the ads in Circuit Cellar etc. Just wondered what others were using for their projects.

mikey
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mikey
-- you can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !
old engineering saying: 1+1 = 3 for sufficiently large values of 1 or small values of 3

[PCM programmer]

Previous thread on this topic:
http://www.ccsinfo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25831

[bkamen]

I get my boards from Advanced Circuits (www.4pcb.com) they have a $33ea deal (but you have to pay for 4 while you get 1 free - 5 total).

The only bummer is the smallest drill is 0.015" but they don't have stupid line/trace/space limits that essentially blow you out from using anything SMT like I have come to find with some other board houses.

-Ben
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Dazed and confused? I don't think so. Just "plain lost" will do. :D

[gpsmikey]

OK, thanks folks. The one place http://www.solnix.com listed in the previous discussion seems to have vanished. Both PCBFABexpress and Advanced Circuits (www.4pcb.com) look pretty good and have good info. How is the free software (PCB Artist) from Advanced Circuits ?

mikey
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mikey
-- you can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !
old engineering saying: 1+1 = 3 for sufficiently large values of 1 or small values of 3

[bkamen]

[gpsmikey]

OK, thanks for the feedback Ben. I think I will install their free software on my older machine and see how works. I had been going to use Eagle, but this looked pretty good too. (I don't think I can sneak the price for a full package past the budget director in my house although I did get approval for the CCS full IDE package which I purchased recently).

mikey
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mikey
-- you can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !
old engineering saying: 1+1 = 3 for sufficiently large values of 1 or small values of 3

[dyeatman]

I have used Olimex for many years. I just email them my Eagle .BRD file
and don't have to worry about Gerber files and the like. The board quality
has always been excellent, silkscreens and all.
_________________
Google and Forum Search are some of your best tools!!!!

[dbotkin]

I used Olimex for a couple of years, but switched to Advanced not long after Olimex changed their pricing from $ to Euros. I'm usually doing larger volumes, though. For protos I'll used Advanced's "Bare Bones" option; even with SMT it's not bad to work with and it's fairly cheap. I did have to learn how to make Gerbers, since only Olimex will take an Eagle .BRD file... but it's not hard to do!

For a simple one-off, take a look at Express PCB. You do have to use their proprietary software & format, but they do make boards quickly and inexpensively and the last time I used them the result was very nice quality. I just designed a 1-line, USB controlled automatic POTS failover switch for my Asterisk box; I only need one so I'll have them do it. If I decide to sell it I'll lay it out from scratch in Eagle and have my regular guys do it.

[envisionelec]

I use MyroPCB frequently. Their prices used to be super cheap, but now they're just "less expensive" than the low cost competition.

I've been satisfied with the quality of multilayer, laser-drilled boards as well as 1 and 2-side generics. Communication could be better, but it has improved significantly in the 6 years I've used them.

www.myropcb.com

[gpsmikey]

Thanks all for the input. Unfortunately, Myropcb is in Ontario, Canada, so it is again one of those 1/2 budget for the boards and 1/2 budget for customs/shipping things. I'm going to try out the "Advanced Circuits" ( 4pcb.com ) with their free software and see how it goes.

mikey
_________________
mikey
-- you can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !
old engineering saying: 1+1 = 3 for sufficiently large values of 1 or small values of 3

[jecottrell]

What I have learned...

It's cheaper to find a prototyping board and cob small projects together on them to test and get ideas. I tend to use this board with their prototyping piggyback boards for small simple stuff.

http://www.modtronix.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_50&products_id=256


When I'm going to have boards made I use:

pcbfabexpress

pcb-pool

or

http://batchpcb.com/index.php/Products

depending on size, number and urgency.

[gpsmikey]

Thanks for the info - the Modtronix boards look pretty good for prototype stuff. I have been using the Microchip low pin count board for the 18 pin chips that has prototype space on it for my current project, but I like the Modtronix look. (Have to sneak a few of those past the "budget director" (also known as "the wife")) for experimenting as well as the adapter from the Pickit2 to their board.

Their web pages do have a few errors on them (I think) - like the comment

[jecottrell]

I have two of the motherboards. One of the originals and a second that I swapped the 5V LDO for a 3.3V. I looked at mine and there is a 10Mhz crystal on them. I don't recall whether I put them on there or not.

You can get them from here:

http://microcontrollershop.com/product_info.php?cPath=112_160_197&products_id=1436

[yerpa]

I have had good luck with batchpcb.com. I found them through Sparkfun. They are great for prototypes because there are no setup or tooling charges. The boards are very nice quality. I have been using double sided, plated thru, with soldermask and silkscreen on both sides. You do have to provide gerbers and a drill file. I use Eagle for schematic and board layout.

You can find cheaper (and faster) board houses for production quantities, but I haven't found anything better for short runs and prototyping. They just supply boards, not assembly services.

[ELCouz]

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Spam post removed.
Thanks.

- Forum Moderator
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Nice SPAM inserted here on an old thread!
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Regards,
Laurent

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Here's my first visual theme for the CCS C Compiler. Enjoy!