professional pcbs almost cheaper than making them

8/2/2019 Professional PCBs Almost Cheaper Than Making Them

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http://www.instructables.com/id/Professional-PCBs-almost-cheaper-than-making-them-/

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Professional PCBs almost cheaper than making them at homeby Dr_Acula on September 4, 2007

Table of Contents

Professional PCBs almost cheaper than making them at home ............................................................................

Intro: Professional PCBs almost cheaper than making them at home ....................................................................

Step 1: Designing the schematic ...............................................................................................

Step 2: Place all the components ...............................................................................................

Step 3: Fix any errors .......................................................................................................

Step 4: Create a drill file .....................................................................................................

Step 5: Create an Excellon drill data file ..........................................................................................

Step 6: Open the Cam Processor ..............................................................................................

Step 7: Select the Excellon File ................................................................................................

Step 8: Click on Process Job ..................................................................................................

Step 9: Create the Gerber files ................................................................................................

Step 10: Create the Gerber files ...............................................................................................

Step 11: Collect all the files and Zip them up ......................................................................................

Step 12: View some of the files just to make sure ...................................................................................

Step 13: View a Gerber file ...................................................................................................

Step 14: Find a PCB manufacturer .............................................................................................

Related Instructables ........................................................................................................

Comments ................................................................................................................
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Intro: Professional PCBs almost cheaper than making them at homeWhile there is great satisfaction in home building PCBs, adding up the cost of the blank PCB, etchant and the drill bits comes to over $4 per board. But for $6.25 a boathe whole thing can be made professionally. This Instructable takes you through the steps to create the Gerber files that the PCB manufacturers need. The total cost w$75US including shipping for 12 boards. 3 boards would be about US$62.

This Instructable builds on some great work at http://www.instructables.com/id/EXU9BO166NEQHO8XFU (Draw Electronic Schematics with CadSoft EAGLE) andhttp://www.instructables.com/id/EZ3WN1QUKYES9J5X48 (Turn your Eagle schematic into a PCB). Eagle is free.

Step 1:Designing the schematicThe full schematic is at http://drvernacula.topcities.com/315_mhz_solar_powered_radio_rptr.htm and is the schematic for a solar powered radio repeater module.

Step 2:Place all the componentsThe instructable links on the intro page show how to create a pcb from a schematic using EaglePCB. One main difference is that none of the design rules about trackwidths need to be changed at all (the drc design rule check). The defaults are all fine and while the tracks look really thin and close to pads i t doesn't matter as the gresolder mask makes it very easy to solder. In fact, these sorts of boards are much easier than soldering up prototypes. Some big pads were used for connecting externwires and there were a few extra comments added for the white component overlay layer.

The wonderful thing about having boards like this made compared with building homemade boards is you don't have to worry about trying to optimise the autorouter fosingle layer. Just run the autorouter once and it defaults to double layer mode and it always produces a 100% design automatically within a few seconds. Even withcomponents a lot denser than this board Eagle always autoroutes the whole board.
http://drvernacula.topcities.com/315_mhz_solar_powered_radio_rptr.htmhttp://www.instructables.com/id/EZ3WN1QUKYES9J5X48http://www.instructables.com/id/EXU9BO166NEQHO8XFU


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Step 3:Fix any errorsSometimes one finds a better component in the library or changes a component. To rip up and replace the tracks click on the ripup symbol (green circle), click on thetraffic light (red circle) and then reroute (yellow circle).

Over the last few years I've found a few tips and tricks to making better boards:1) To get tracks closer - Tools/Auto/General and set the grid to something like 10mil2) To make data tracks thin but power tracks fatter, Edit/Net (at the bottom) and start typing in a text box to name the class. I use three classes; Gnd, Power and one fall the rest.3) In DRC, distance/copper dimension change from 40 to 20 - this allows two tracks to fit between IC pads, which can greatly increase board density.4) In DRC - clearance/pad to via increase from 8 to 40. (leave all the rest at 8mil). This increases the distance between vias and pads so less chance of bridges whensoldering. Surprisingly, this also sped up the autorouter too.


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Step 4:Create a drill fileThe manufacturer needs to know what drills to use. Eagle has automatically used whatever drill fits the components that have been chosen. Go to File/Run and selectfile "drillcfg.ulp". I selected inches rather than mm and that seemed fine with the manufacturer. Click ok then ok again. It will save a file with a .drl extension.

Step 5:Create an Excellon drill data fileClick File/Cam Processor

Step 6:Open the Cam ProcessorIn the Cam Processor click File/Open/Job


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Step 7:Select the Excellon FileSelect Excellon

Step 8:Click on Process JobClick on Process Job. This will create some files. Close down this menu with the x at the top r ight.


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Step 9:Create the Gerber filesRepeat steps 5) and 6) to reopen the CAM processor and this time open the file gerb274x

Step 10:Create the Gerber filesThis is the important bit. You need to click on each one of the tabs circled in green and ensure that Mirror (circled in yellow) is off. As you click through the tabs you winotice the Nr and Layer lines highlighted on the right will change. One default you might want to change is component values - in my copy this was deselected and the

silk screen ended up with U20 but not the actual chip - eg an IC might be 74HC04. Click along the tabs to Silk Screen Cmp, and click on 27 tvalues. Once all the mirroboxes are definitely unchecked, click on Process Job (red circle).

Step 11:Collect all the files and Zip them upI collected 10 files, put them in a temp directory and used winzip to create a single zip fi le. I have a feeling that one or two of these are not actually needed by themanufacturer but I sent them anyway. The f ile the manufacturer definitely does not need is the .sch schematic file.

Steps 4-11 are summarised in text format at http://drvernacula.topcities.com/creating_gerber_files_from_eagle.htm
http://drvernacula.topcities.com/creating_gerber_files_from_eagle.htm


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Step 12:View some of the files just to make sureDownload a free Gerber file viewer

Step 13:View a Gerber fileThe drill files can be viewed with a text editor.

The Gerber files can be viewed with a free Gerber file viewer. I went to the website above and installed Viewmate. It appears in the Start menu of windows asStart/Programs/Pentalogic. In Viewmate I clicked on File\Open and browsed to C:\Program Files\EAGLE-4.16r2\projects\RadioRepeater and at the bottom of the windchanged Files of Type to *.*. As an example this is the .sol solder side file


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Step 14:Find a PCB manufacturerThis company OurPCB is in China and stood out from some of the others in that they freely advertised their price for small quantities. Shipping is FedEx and to the USthey quote $22. The $40 above for a 10 sq inch board is for all the 3 boards, not per individual board. At a quantity of 100 the price per board is $1.80 each. They cangive a firm quote once they get the zipped files.

These boards arrived in 9 working days. There were a few problems initially with me sending the wrong files (which is mainly why I wrote this Instructable!) and they wvery patient and polite from their end. There were also some email problems in that emails coming back were totally blank. I was able to read the source text and at lework out who they were from but I nearly did delete the mail as junk mail. Finally I ended up communicating by Skype text. They all write very good English which is a embarrassing as my Mandarin is non existent. My kids are learning Mandarin at school though.

Payment was via Paypal which remains safer than using a credit card (for both parties) and far cheaper than an interbank transfer.

I hope this Instructable is useful. I have built many hundreds of prototype boards over the last twenty years but I think from now on I wi ll be getting boards madeprofessionally.

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Comments

46 comments Add Comment

abraxas2 says: Apr 2, 2010. 7:36 PM REPThanks for taking me a leap forward. When I process this board into files via the CAM, I notice the check box "Fill Pads" is checked and I can't uncheck itbecause it's grayed out. Sure enough the artwork in the files generated has all of the pads filled in. I'm doing home brew boards so I need these holes as aguide for my drill. Your help in unfilling these holes is appreciated.

siddhc says: Dec 5, 2011. 3:53 AM REPHi,

I also have the same problem .. "Fill pads" is checked and I cannot un-check it.

Please help if you figured out the solution.

Thank ou ver much,
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DaleS44 says: Nov 27, 2011. 2:40 PM REPMy misteak! Roller microchips should read roller micro switches! The kind that are actuated by a cam. Is shaping the pc board and cutting slots for some ofthe components done by another device like a router (not trace router) that requires a separate instruction set?

DaleS44 says: Nov 27, 2011. 12:01 PM REPI recently needed to build a simple PC board so I downloaded Eagle PCB. With the help of a couple of tutorials and your instructibles I was able to completthe project to the finished, and previewable, gerber files. Your step by step instructions made the process very seamless.I have one question though. My PC board must have a u shaped cutout in the top of an otherwise rectangular board. I also need to mount some rollermicrochips on this side where there is an angle and very specific measurements between holes.Is there a feature in Eagle PCB that allows more specific adjustments to the size of the board beyond pulling in on the side frames and is there a way tolocate non-pad holes for mounting the micro switches so that they are in a very precise location and can be drilled when the boards are being manufactureI do have the entire project in AutoCAD and I have a drill layout and shape as one of the layers. I am just unable to figure out how to export this layer in a

format that can be combined with the output files from Eagle PCB.Thank you for your help and for taking time to respond.Dale

Dr_Acula says: Nov 27, 2011. 1:57 PM REPThankyou for the kind words.

I am not sure about changing the board shape but I think there are other instructables that might show how to do this. Search for Eagle? Also you wouprobably need to ok this with a PCB fab house. Maybe start with the PCB manufacturer first.

Re non pad holes, I have found i t easiest to design a new part. There are instructables on how to do this. One of the things you can add to a new part ia hole (of various sizes). I t helps to have the exact part dimensions.

Sorry I can't help further but there are other instructables written by authors who know a lot more about Eagle than me!

Cheers, James Moxham

cardinalflyer says: Jun 14, 2011. 12:39 PM REPThis comment may be late in the game:

"always autoroutes the whole board"Not true.I have been creating Arduino-size PCBs (80x100mm, 60x80mm) with 3-4 extra SMD ICs, and Eagle has hard time completing it. One needs to take carewith component placement or you find yourself having to clean up a lot.Oddly, even with 2 ground planes, the place where I have been left hanging is ground connections! I've been having luck with that by moving signals arounmanually to let the lower & upper ground areas overlap and then adding a via to connect them.I'm using the free eagle software, and have the 1-sheet schematic pretty full up, not a lot of interconnections shown to free up space, bunch of parts with jusi nal names han in off.

hamraddude says: Feb 28, 2009. 5:47 PM REPOurPCB sucks thundershit. I asked them for a quote on a 2.5 in x 4 in double sided PCB, and the price came up to 6.30 USD + 30 USD (!) shipping and 10USD "tooling charge". Yep, 136.30 USD for a 2.5 in x 4 in double sided PCB. No thanks, I'll keep making my own.

votecoffee says: Mar 18, 2011. 12:09 AM REPFor smaller scale you need a different PCB company. Different companies specialize in different things:http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/fusion-pcb-2-layer-10cm10cm-max-10pcs-p-396.html?cPath=64_12http://iteadstudio.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=19_20

A quick price checker for these and the rest:http://www.ladyada.net/library/pcb/costcalc.html

This one has a really good student offer, $33 for 3 boards with all bells and whistles I thinkhttp://www.4pcb.com/

And of course they already mentioned sparkfun and some other sites that do single boards at a higher price.

Dr_Acula says: Mar 1, 2009. 3:54 AM REPJust double check that $100 - they tr ied to charge me that last month but it was because it was the Chinese New Year and I think they wanted a holida$50 is the usual charge. I think if you want just one board do it with a prototype. If you want 3, there may well be other manufacturers where the price is

cheaper because you can piggyback on other people's orders. But if you want 10 boards or more, it ends up very good value IMHO. Tonight I'm sendinoff an order for 10 sprinkler controller boards and it works out good value, especially if I cost in my hourly rate building 10 prototypes with point to pointwiring vs 1.5 hours designing a PCB. Maybe try searching for some of those other manufacturers that piggyback single orders.

abraxas2 says: Sep 16, 2010. 3:48 AM REPAgain, a million thanks for your generousity in producing this fine tutorial. It's been a lifesaver !! One problem I am having at this point using both yourtutorials, is that I am getting a solder image without pad holes for my components. They would be nice to guide my drill as I am making my own boards.THANK YOU !!!
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Dr_Acula says: Sep 16, 2010. 6:34 AM REPGreat to hear it is helping someone! Can you provide some more information about the solder image? There is the .sol file but there are lots of other fileproduced. Are you making your own boards or sending them off?

abraxas2 says: Sep 16, 2010. 7:13 AM REPI'm making my own. I followed the instructions to a Tee. I did all the steps but when I view the resultant .sol file, all the pads are filled in. when I printhat sol file, likewise, no holes.

Dr_Acula says: Sep 16, 2010. 4:08 PM REPThe gerber files are for the fab house and splits up the board into lots of layers including the solder layer, top side, bottom side, text, and masksSo just bundle them up and send them to the fab house.

If you are making your own boards, then I think you need to print out the layers as a file/print rather than create gerber files.

dosadi says: Jun 7, 2009. 1:27 PM REPI'm surprised no one has mentioned SparkFun's batchpcb.com prototype service. They take small orders and combine them into panel orders that areprocessed by Gold Phoenix. 2 layer boards cost $2.50 per square inch with a $10 setup fee. They're slow, though. Expect to take at least 3 weeks while thgather together a batch order and transit from China, etc. Since they use Golden Phoenix to produce the boards, you already know GP will accept your filewhen you're ready for a larger batch.

SiliconFarmer says: Aug 1, 2010. 10:55 PM REPThe Portland Dorkbot group has been doing batch PCB orders every month for over 8 months, and recently opened it up to anyone. Basically, the cost$5 a square inch and you get three copies of your board. 6mil traces and spaces, double sided, with solder mask and silk screen. I submit a board or twalmost ever month. This is erfect for Ea le CAD sized boards. Check it out at htt ://dorkbot dx.or /wiki/ cb_order

smartroad says: Mar 28, 2010. 9:01 AM REP

Hi,

Having problems with the drill file, all Iget as an output is:

T01 0.032inT02 0.040inT03 0.079inT04 0.126in

and nothing else, so when it uploads to a PCBFab they say the drill file doesn't exist. What amIdoing wrong?

aimee47302 says: Mar 7, 2010. 9:15 AM REPThanks! I followed your tutorial to create my first gerber a couple of weeks ago! If you are looking for a good place for PCB manufacturer my Professorrecommended PCB International (http://www.pcbinternational.com). We fit in 4 different parts and the total charge was only $94. We just recieved them a fdays ago and they look great!

guyfrom7up says: Mar 23, 2008. 8:04 AM REPI beg to differ, 4 bucks a board? Maybe if you buy everything from radioshack. For me it costs about a dollar a board to make a t home.

bluumax says: Aug 21, 2009. 5:47 PM REPDoes not cost only a dollar i f you don't have all the stuff to do it. I can say for sure getting boards made is a lot cheaper than making them at home. Iworked at a couple PCB fab places & got a ton of tooling & FR404 1/2 1/2. I have a mill & cut my own, but with time, forget it, just get 'em made. Rightnow Gold Phoenix is $99 for 155 sq in.

Dr_Acula says: Mar 24, 2008. 3:27 AM REPIt depends if you add in the setup fee and the shipping fee, which are fairly fixed regardless of how many boards. I just ordered another batch of 20 andthe actual board cost was 23c each.

amp0709 says: Jul 1, 2009. 11:52 AM REPHello,

I read the comments but confused about the low pcb costs.For example, I am using ExpressPCB tools.Cost of making 4 boards size of 4 * 5.5 inches is $ 269, professional services including solder mask and silk screen.The standard service is $ 124 without solder mask and silk screen.PCB manufactures say need gerber files, can't do it without.The cost of gerber file order is $ 60.

Andrew
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11/13


Dr_Acula says: Jul 1, 2009. 4:45 PM REPIt certainly is worth shopping around for prices! On the last page is a link to OurPCB and they are a lot cheaper. I got 12 boards 11x16cm maderecently for $110. And due to the fixed setup/shipping but very cheap actual board cost, I also recently got 30 boards 5x5cm for $89. Thatincludes mask, screen etc. Yes they need gerber files, but this instructable shows how to make them (that doesn't cost anything and takes abou30 seconds once you know the shortcuts). I'm using Eagle and the free version can only make beer-coaster sized boards. But i f you pay $125once-off you can go up to a reasonable size. That pays for itself over only a couple of runs. I hope this helps :)

magician13134 says: Apr 5, 2008. 7:33 PM REPI found a seller on eBay who sells 360sq. inches of single or double sided, any thickness, any size blank copper clad board for $10 + $10 shipping.got 60 boards, for $20, that's about $0.33 per board.

http://www.minute-man.com/acatalog/sold me enough ferric chloride to last a lifetime for $20

My laser printer was $10 on Craig's List

I built a heated, agitated etching tank for $25.

So for $75 I can make 60 boards, that's a little over $1 per board, plus I only have to reorder the copper.

As far as ordering online, though, this is a pretty cheap site for small quantities, thanks. Great instructions on making the Gerbers, too!

thermoelectric says: May 11, 2008. 12:53 AM REPhow did you make the heated, agitated etching tank

votecoffee says: Mar 18, 2011. 12:02 AM REPInstead of that, you can also use pigmented ink, yellow is best (I guess it needs more pigment than other inks to look right), to act as a resisYou do need to watch etching times though.http://www.inksupply.com/product-details.cfm?pn=MISPRO-4-Y

magician13134 says:1 of these - http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100292394&N=10000003+90156+501358

2 of these (I actually used 4 of a smaller size, but I couldn't find those on the internet) -http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100402508

1 of these -http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?jspStoreDir=hdus&catalogId=10053&productId=100161471&navFlo1&searchRedirect=marine+sealant&storeId=10051&endecaDataBean=com.homedepot.sa.el.wc.catalog.beans.EndecaDataBean%402860

1 of these - http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=

1 old fishtank heater1 dale rod to stir2 lbs FeCl3 - http://www.minute-man.com/acatalog/Online_Catalog_PCB_Etch_Resist__Exposure_Kit__Etching_Solutions___245.html

My tank is 8"x8"x1" on an... 8"x8" base I think.

TopJimmy says: Aug 15, 2009. 7:29 AM REPI also like reading articles on homebrewing boards. A good source for PC boards and supplies is www.j-tron.com. Nice article. www.meltedsolder.com

racing_turtles says: Jun 12, 2009. 9:59 AM REPThis instructable is right on! It enabled me to create my files and the board came out perfectly. Thanks so much! Ali

ledsales says: Apr 1, 2009. 8:13 PM REPI get all my boards done through Futurlec (www.futurlec.com) as they do a good job and only need the original PCB f ile, not all the separate files like gerbeetc (this is the 21st century, about time PCB makers realised that getting boards made should be simple - it's not rocket science after all). They will email y

a pdf of the various layers and masks etc before manufacture (make sure you ask for this) and if you become a regular like me, they may even do all yourprototypes gratis, they do mine... The only thing to watch out for is that on multilayer boards, their drill sizes are the size of the hole they drill before theysleeve it, the finished board will end up with holes about 4 mil smaller than your drill sizes specified. Also, being based in Thailand, there can be a fewlanguage issues - just make sure you ask for that PDF proof!

Dr_Acula says: Apr 1, 2009. 9:26 PM REPGood find! And a slightly weird experience as I was in the Futurlec site buying some leds when this message came through. (I just noticed yourusername - this is getting even weirder?!) They have an automatic quote system and for a 80x160mm double sided board, $74 for 1 board, $99 for 3 a$190 for 10. Plus $14 shipping. I like Futurlec - $4 shipping for small orders worldwide (vs $30 for digikey). Plus I emailed them once about adding a pato their stock and they added it a week later. Free protoboards? Nice. How does that drill size thing work? Does it mean that standard library files from,say, Eagle, end up not quite f itting standard components or is 4mil too small to notice, or do you just push the components in?
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12/13


ledsales says: Apr 1, 2009. 11:25 PM REPThe Futurlec online quote system is pretty inaccurate, i t always quotes higher than what they really charge you in my experience, so always emailthem ([email protected] or [email protected] for anyone in Oz) to get a quote...

ocayaro says: Dec 5, 2008. 8:11 AM REPguyfrom7up try making a six layer board at home then

jazzplayermark says: Jun 7, 2008. 3:33 PM REPAs a new Eagle user and being retired 12 years from design, this Instructable was a HUGE help. thanks so much for taking the time to put it together. mar

instructor911 says: Mar 24, 2008. 2:15 PM REPOf course the unseen costs need to be considered. Wir ing an extremely complex board may take a long time and be fraught with errors. If the wiring takesyou 2 extra hours per board and your salary is $20 an hour then you've saved $40 by avoiding hand wir ing.

rpwilsonjr says: Jan 29, 2008. 11:44 AM REPThanks for the very useful Instructable. I followed it, submitted the CAM files to the OurPCB, and 10 days later I had PCBs in hand. I assembled two of theboards ri ht awa , and the worked.

UltraMagnus says: Dec 5, 2007. 11:50 AM REPEagle is not free at all, only a neutered beer free version is. GNU EDA is far better and entirely free

Dr_Acula says: Dec 5, 2007. 1:47 PM REPIt is free for boards up to a little bigger than the one above. For big boards, yes it costs but many projects can be fitted on a board of this size.

UltraMagnus says: Dec 6, 2007. 6:17 AM REPas i said, only a neutered, or crippled version is "free"

westfw says: Dec 6, 2007. 6:12 PM REPTechnically, eagle is only free for hobbyist usage. If you're going to be commercial, you're supposed to pay $49 even for the "neutered" versionhaven't tried GEDA; I've been happy with the neutered EAGLE. How about writing an instructable on using GEDA ?

Itsgoofytime says: Sep 9, 2007. 4:10 PM REPI use www.4pcb.com. Their Software is the best and is extremely easy. I use It all the time, and their prices and deals are great.

westfw says: Sep 8, 2007. 12:45 AM REPNice job explaining the CAM output used by most PCB houses. While I fully agree that using a professional service makes a lot of sense if you have use fo(ie) 12 boards, the problem I have as a hobbyist is that I tend to need ONE of a board, and frequently it's an untested prototype that doesn't work. $62 forzero working boards is pretty steep :-( I also tend to make very small boards, and many board houses won't "tile" a small design to fit their minimum sizedboard (at their "prototype" prices.) So my 2 sq inch board would still be $62 for three boards (that didn't work.) :-( All sorts of fine print to read and payattention to.

Dr_Acula says: Sep 8, 2007. 1:22 AM REPI absolutely agree. But if I was building a single prototype I 'm sure there would be many iterations/resoldering before it was working. I use this techniquwith wirewrap wire http://drvernacula.topcities.com/1_hour_micro.htm to make prototypes. If the prototype works and I only need one then it goes in abox. If I want two I'd still prototype with wirewrap wire (I have built boards with 20 digital chips using this technique). If I wanted 3 or more I'd go forprofessional PCBs. There is no way I would send off for a single board without having a working prototype - there is always something that turns out noto work as expected!

dveloz says: Sep 5, 2007. 7:30 AM REPAt work I keep different drill sizes to a minimum; for every different drill size the price of my board goes up. My understanding is that for every differentlysized drill bit, a worker must stop the drilling process to swap out the drill bit. Labor stateside can be expensive, does this matter in China?

matseng says: Sep 5, 2007. 10:46 AM REPIt's not a matter of labor and the costs related to that. It's more a matter of getting less boards thru the drilling machine in a given time period. Themachine will change the bit automatically by itself, but it needs to spin down the current drill, return to the drill rack and replace the drill and then spin uto an ultrahigh speed again. All this takes a lot of time that could have been productive drilling a lot of holes instead.
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13/13

dfowler7437 says: Sep 5, 2007. 12:35 AM REPI just got some boards done by Gold Phionex and posted some pictures on my blog. I think they do a great job.http://www.uchobby.com/index.php/2007/09/05/arduino-siggen1-boards-arrive/

matseng says: Sep 4, 2007. 8:07 AM REPExcellent! An Eagle to fab-house tutorial. I've only used manufacturers that could 'eat' Eagle-files directly, and I've been procrastinating learning this Gerbestuff. Now I can finall use Gold Phoenix and their reall chea 155 s . inch anels for m u comin ro ect.
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professional pcbs almost cheaper than making them

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