How Long?

Archive BatchPCB
1

Hi all,

I got a board that I want to make and BatchPCB seems like the best place to do it, especially with the cheap prices. I’ve looked around the forum to see how long it usually takes them but I see a wide amount of times. Is there a typical wait time? 2 weeks? 3 weeks?

Thanks

2

I just got 20 made for me at Sunstone. They came out great and they only took about a week. I am extremely pleased with the boards.

3

About 3 weeks. So if you are not willing to wait, or if you are making quantities, BatchPCB would not be the place for you. But if you are willing to wait for your small quantity of small boards, it’s really nice.

I really like my boards. They have stood up quite well to the stupid things I have done to them. I received 2x my order too.

4

hmmm… Sunstone seems like a faster service and their price don’t seem half bad. HOwever this is my first board so I’m not sure what “tin lead finsish only means”. Anyone care to shed some light on this for me?

Thanks

5

Tin/lead pads are fine. It’s what I use on all my boards. The only reason to change that is if you need to use silver for RoHS compliance or something.

6

I use Sunstone at work. The cheapest boards do not have solder mask, which I believe is what you’re asking. Without solder mask, it is easy to create solder bridges between close traces / pins. If you don’t care about this and like the ~5 day board-in-hand time, for about $200 you can get between 2 and a lot of boards.

BatchPCB includes silkscreen and solder mask, but expect to wait 3 weeks. It’s price is much more reasonable for personal projects in low quantities. It really depends on the time/price trade-off.

7

Thric:
Hi all,

I got a board that I want to make and BatchPCB seems like the best place to do it, especially with the cheap prices. I’ve looked around the forum to see how long it usually takes them but I see a wide amount of times. Is there a typical wait time? 2 weeks? 3 weeks?

Thanks

It took 18 days for mine, 2 layer. And instead of getting 2 each of my 2 designs, I got 5 of one and 6 of the other! That makes each board insanely cheap.

One thing I noticed is that holes have to be made a little bigger than you’d expect. For example, the pins on a crystal are 17 mils according to the datasheet, so I thought the default footprint using 20 mil holes would be ok. Not so. Luckily, there are no traces on the component side for this part so I was able to drill them out slightly bigger; not a big deal. It makes sense now; they drill at 20 mils, then plate and tin which takes more space.

This is the first time I’ve had a PCB made. I’ve always made my own before, but this one was too complex and too small of spacing to do myself.

I’m sold on BatchPCB. Some patience required though.

8

jrmymllr:
One thing I noticed is that holes have to be made a little bigger than you’d expect. For example, the pins on a crystal are 17 mils according to the datasheet, so I thought the default footprint using 20 mil holes would be ok. Not so.

Generally, board houses quote finished hole sizes, so they increase the actual drill size automatically to account for the plating. However, plating generally has a higher tolerance than drills, +/- several mils is common. When in doubt, make your hole sizes quite a bit bigger than the pins. It's easy to fill holes with solder, but as you probably found out, much harder to remove plating from them :)
9

Agree wholeheartedly!

10

Yes once we have panelized the design, the lead time is 2 1/2 to 3 weeks to receive the order back, then we ship it out to you. If you have any more questions fell free to email me at support@batchpcb.com