From: Doug Sutherland (wearable_at_earthlink.net)
Date: 2001-12-13 04:24:22
That epanorama site has some good links to sites
with info on how to make PCB boards ...
http://www.epanorama.net/links/basics.html#pcb
Wow, it sure looks like a PITA and a lot of work.
I looked at pricing of boards at PCB express. They
list their prices by board size in square inches
and quantity. For ModularEEG, both boards are
3.9 x 3.15 = 12.285 square inches. This puts it in
the 10-19 inch pricing category at PCB express.
They have four pricing categories:
#1) 2-sided, ReflowedT/L, no mask, no legend
#2) 2-sided+, SMOBC, 2-mask, legend
#3) 4-layer, ReflowedT/L, no mask, no legend
#4) 4-layer, SMOBC, 2-mask, legend
Following are the prices for 10-19 sq inch boards
Qty #1 #2 #3 #4
2 $99 $245 $163 $288
4 $130 $265 $193 $328
6 $161 $285 $223 $368
8 $192 $305 $253 $408
10 $223 $325 $283 $448
15 $273 $375 $343 $488
20 $333 $425 $403 $528
Assuming that option #1 is good enough, that is :
- 2-Sided, Plated Through, Tin Lead Re-flow.
- No Mask or Silkscreen Legend (Nomenclature)
- Single sided manufactured as 2-sided plated-through
- Industry standard 0.062" laminate FR-4 with 1/2 Ounce copper.
- Routed to outside board shape using board cutline,
limited to 1 pass with .093 router bit
- 15 finish drill sizes
Then it looks like minimum order is quantity 2 for $99.
So if I wanted to do this by myself I would need to
order two of each board for $198 plus shipping. If I
split that with someone that's $100 each. If we get a
group order together, then the cost per person is:
2 $99 x 2 boards / 2 = $99
4 $130 x 2 boards / 4 = $65
6 $161 x 2 boards / 6 = $54
8 $192 x 2 boards / 8 = $48
10 $223 x 2 boards / 10 = $45
15 $273 x 2 boards / 15 = $36
20 $333 x 2 boards / 20 = $33
I hope I have that right, can somebody check? The above
does not include shipping from PCB express or to the
individual people. If 20 of us get together it looks
like we can each get one set of the ModularEEG boards
(amp plus digital board) for $35-$40.
Is option #1 at PCBexpress good enough for this?
http://www.pcbexpress.com/PCBexpordr.php
It would be worth $40 to me to avoid trying to etch
those boards myself. I could probably spend close to
that just getting the right materials and chemicals,
and I'd probably screw it up.
-- Doug
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : 2002-07-27 12:28:33 BST