Cheap PCB manufacturer + design prog HELP

Cheap PCB manufacturer + design prog HELP
by game-tech.us on 2011-01-13 (#72722)

Just curious if any one here has any good or bad experiences to share with any pcb manufacturers.
Also, what prog do you use for design?
Seems to be an endless choice for each...
I've got a number of small boards I want made, in limited quantities, but am just starting to get to the point where I'm going to want to know who to use and what progs are best for design.
I've actually used pcb123 from sunstone, it was awesome to learn, but it seems to be too constricted for use with sunstone companies for manufacture, and seemed way too expensive. Also tried KiCAD and ExpressPCB, wasn't impressed with either.
So i'm going to check out Altium, it was compared with pcb123 on their site and got a lot of good marks, better than Eagle and OrCAD barely had any good marks.

Re: Cheap PCB manufacturer + design prog HELP
by lidnariq on 2011-01-14 (#72725)

akaviolence wrote:

Just curious if any one here has any good or bad experiences to share with any pcb manufacturers.

I'm pretty certain I used sunstone a few times; I recall them being very responsive and having great customer service.

Quote:

Also, what prog do you use for design?

I used eagle for personal projects and Altium for work; Altium was a huge behemoth and takes forever to load. I got used to both Altium's and Eagle's UIs, can't really say I thought one was intrinsically better than the other. Altium had a slightly more complete library, but Eagle has a massive DIY volunteer team making parts (for good and ill -- it's often "here's the LIB of the parts I used in my project" which has 25% overlap with your project). Eagle has a freeware version with a limitation (2-layer, 8x10cm board max) but I've not run into that limitation for my own projects. Altium is probably not worth its price tag (warning: opinions vary). There's also gEDA but I haven't tried it and I don't know how mature it is.

by Memblers on 2011-01-16 (#72771)

For boards, I've used MyroPCB exclusively over a period of 6 years or so. Had production problems a couple times, but both times they fixed it quick. I think my problem was using lots of 8/8 trace/space and specifying it to that resolution. I noticed on there now you can go down to 5/5 before it affects the price. They make good boards, and pricing has remained the same the whole time I've used them.

I don't know what boards you have in mind, but if it's a basic prototype order (not NES cart because the gold, beveling, etc.) I could give you a referral number, if you wouldn't mind (to score me a few bucks).

The board design program I use is Proteus by Labcenter. I found it easy to use, and was able to buy it for under $300. The limitation at that price is 500 device pins in your netlist though.. I might have to upgrade to 1000 later, dunno yet.

KiCad seems pretty decent, especially for the price. I didn't like the gerber viewer much though, seemed buggy, but was usable.

by game-tech.us on 2011-01-16 (#72803)

Memblers wrote:
For boards, I've used MyroPCB exclusively over a period of 6 years or so. Had production problems a couple times, but both times they fixed it quick. I think my problem was using lots of 8/8 trace/space and specifying it to that resolution. I noticed on there now you can go down to 5/5 before it affects the price. They make good boards, and pricing has remained the same the whole time I've used them.

I don't know what boards you have in mind, but if it's a basic prototype order (not NES cart because the gold, beveling, etc.) I could give you a referral number, if you wouldn't mind (to score me a few bucks).

The board design program I use is Proteus by Labcenter. I found it easy to use, and was able to buy it for under $300. The limitation at that price is 500 device pins in your netlist though.. I might have to upgrade to 1000 later, dunno yet.

KiCad seems pretty decent, especially for the price. I didn't like the gerber viewer much though, seemed buggy, but was usable.

I'll keep you in mind if I do end up using them. No not NES cart, mostly interested in getting boards done to do atari svid/composite/stereo/pause and also looking to do an RGB to component board for most other consoles. I may end up doing a 'controller initiated console reset' board for the NES at some point though.

I think pcb123 spoiled me with its awesome library and easy part placement is why I didn't care for KiCAD and didn't put much effort into learning it. Oh I remember, I had a schem done and couldn't figure out how to trans it over to pcb, pcb123 was automatic and that was enough for me to start looking at something else. Just don't want to waste a bunch of time when I could be learning something better.

by acem77 on 2011-01-19 (#72935)

I am not at home but i am 99% i used this
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Science-CAD/EAGLE.shtml
the free light ver will let you do 2 layer pcbs at 4 x 3.2 inches.
and export the file used by many companies.

I used this place for making the pcbs
http://www.futurlec.com/
very nice prices for their service and parts.
easy to work with.

by Xious on 2011-01-20 (#72943)

As far as programmes, I highly recommend trying KiCAD: You really can't go wrong, as it's fully open-source, and won't cost a cent. It nicely integrates schematic capture and PCB layout, and build sheets and had a fully editable (and reasonably easy to use) component editor/creator, plus a decent library of components. It does have a learning curve, but it's a nice set of tools nonetheless.

I pretty sure there are additional component module packs that you can DL as well. The only issue is getting used to its quirks, but once you're past that stage, it is a really nice and memory efficient suite. It doesn't do any simulations or emulations though, except a design rules check, so you need t be sure that what you're designing is functional.

Otherwise, if you want to either spend a bit of money (or put on a peg leg and parrot), there's OrCAD, the industry standard EDA suite, and Eagle, the professional and highly expensive industry standard suite. . I also used to use ProTel, X-CAD and AutoCAD for various purposes once upon a time. I think ProTel is still being madeand I also used to use Mentor Graphics' tools (Calibre, HyperLynx and BoardStation come to mind) which are still top-notch to this day, but not very affordable.

I guess it all depends on your budget. Free = KiCAd, Low/Med = OrCAD, Med/High = Eagle, High/Very High = Mentor.

For basic PC layout, KiCAD does the job quite nicely. If you want to design analogue signal ICs though, you'd better go elsewhere.

by game-tech.us on 2011-02-03 (#73535)

Couple updates:
I did end up getting the free version of Eagle and easily and quickly drew up 5 boards, now just sorting through the board houses maze. Looks like i'll end up using advanced circuits for protos since I wont have to wait for a long time with the chinese holiday delay, then once i'm sure the boards work i'll use Gold Phoenix for cost reasons.
Eagle was pretty easy to learn after using the other progs, still want to invest some time into Altium, eventually.
Another thing I need now is a gerber viewer, I never thought about it, but maybe altium has one? The only free one I heard about, viewmate, requires you to sign up, ehhh.
Recent:
I put in my order with the DorkBot crew last night, i'll end up with just over 30 sq in of boards for just over $50 shipped.
Can't wait to see the results, I guess all their boards are now purple masked, awesome!
Even talked the guy into giving me a couple freebie tssop-24 adapter boards, free!
I guess he does that on a regular basis, but I asked for them specifically and he said he would hook me up!
Looks like the next order will be sent in Feb 7th and should get mailed out by Feb 16th.

by game-tech.us on 2011-02-04 (#73567)

Well the group order filled up early, again, went in today.
I'm lovin this, cheap and much quicker than expected.

by marshallh on 2011-02-04 (#73571)

I use GC-Prevue for looking at gerbers

by game-tech.us on 2011-03-09 (#75318)

I forgot to share my experience so far with dorkbot.
Here is a pic of my first set of boards.
They look awesome! A shame to hide them inside a console!
The sop24 boards, lower left, were free!
I did have a couple small problems, but the guy running the show has been above and beyond helpful!
They are considering a medium run order that will be cheaper for 150 sq in and over, like $1.30 ish per sq in!