Prototyping and Small-Run Services

Community PCB Design
1

I’m wondering if there’s a good company out there that can turn prototypes around for less than $300 per part?

As my prototypes get smaller and more complex, I’ve felt the pain of doing a lot of soldering. I’ve been looking for a company that can do the prototyping for me.

The last six months I’ve been working on a project that has growing number of parts, a lot of LQFP pins, smaller and smaller SMD parts. There have been a lot of re-designs and each time, I feel more pain of multi-day builds and tests.

The pain of soldering these projects by hand pushed me to look for a company that could prototype the project.

I couldn’t find a company that would cost something reasonable: most of the quotes were in the $500 to $1,000 per board range.

I was wondering if anyone knew of a company that was offering prototype assembly on the cheap. I can wait 8 days (I can wait longer), but the price of $750 per prototype is too expensive for me.

I was also wondering if anyone else had this problem and thoughts on how to solve it? I saw Sparkfun’s Pit of Despair blog post a few months back and thought I might be sinking into that (http://www.sparkfun.com/news/909)

2

Hi,

I have used a mom-and-pop shop for SMD prototype assembly by hand (down to 0603 and QFN, but no BGA) with excellent results. Very reasonable prices. You give them the PCBs, parts and placement instructions. They’re in the Bay Area. PM me if you want the contact.

Cheers,

E

3

If you want cheap, many of the Chinese companies that make PCBs also assemble prototypes. I haven’t used them, but Gold Phoenix (the company BatchPCB uses) is one example:

http://www.goldphoenixpcb.com/html/serv … embly.html

4

I’ve used screamingcircuits.com for a ~35 board order previously and had great results. They also have an online quote system to play around with.

5

Thanks all.

I am thinking more and more about this, not sure where the pricing makes sense. I appreciate your feedback and ideas.

I’m going to keep on searching. I’m still not happy with price and capabilities . . . yet.

Thanks again!

6

try futurlec.com.

I have had good experiences with pcb work, and I have been meaning to ask them to quote me full assemblies but have not yet. So I dont really know.