Author Topic: Low cost 4 layer PCB prototyping service? (Read 25006 times)

deephaven · « **on:** August 06, 2011, 12:48:54 pm »

I've used iTead Studio with great success for small 2 layer PCBs but they don't appear to do 4 layer ones. Does anyone know of a low cost service for such boards? My board is approximately 200mm X 200mm.

mikeselectricstuff · « **Reply #1 on:** August 06, 2011, 12:56:02 pm »

Eurocircuits' PCB+Proto service is pretty good.
This Ebay seller is a UK PCB house that periodically offers very good deals on protos (GBP37 for 1 square foot of 2-layer inc post, GBP47 for 4-layer), they aren't offering anything at the moment - I know the ebay service is run by one guy at the company - don't know if he's on holiday or if they only do offers when they have spare capacity. Whenever I've asked them for quotes direct they've been very expensive.

deephaven · « **Reply #2 on:** August 06, 2011, 01:02:33 pm »

Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on August 06, 2011, 12:56:02 pm

Eurocircuits' PCB+Proto service is pretty good.
This Ebay seller is a UK PCB house that periodically offers very good deals on protos (GBP37 for 1 square foot of 2-layer inc post, GBP47 for 4-layer), they aren't offering anything at the moment - I know the ebay service is run by one guy at the company - don't know if he's on holiday or if they only do offers when they have spare capacity. Whenever I've asked them for quotes direct they've been very expensive.

Wow - thanks for the quick response Mike! I will see how much Eurocircuits quote me.

Cheers,
Nigel.

deephaven · « **Reply #3 on:** August 06, 2011, 05:45:45 pm »

Quote from: Squonk on August 06, 2011, 05:37:42 pm

I checked recently what was available as public prices for a 4-layer Eurocard (16 x 10 cm or 6.3 x 3.937 in.) board:
PCB-POOL: $171.12
PCBUniverse: $406.99/4 inc. ship, or $99/ea.
E-TekNet: $84.99
Gold Phoenix: $550/100 sq. In., or $137.5/ea.
PCBFabExpress: $528.76/4, or $132.19/ea.
PCBInternational: $350/100 sq. in., or $87.5/ea.

That's very useful, thanks Squonk.

mikeselectricstuff · « **Reply #4 on:** August 06, 2011, 09:37:37 pm »

Eurocircuits 100x160 : 210 Euro for two (or maybe 3 - they run 3 and give you the spare if its tests OK)

joelby · « **Reply #5 on:** August 07, 2011, 01:25:57 pm »

DorkbotPDX have a cheap 4 layer service: http://dorkbotpdx.org/wiki/pcb_order

It's $10 per square inch for three copies, which is $620 for your board, but for smaller designs it's good value because there are no setup fees.

ciccio · « **Reply #6 on:** August 31, 2011, 07:40:52 pm »

I've posted this info in another tread before:
I use the services of this company : http://www.emz-elettronica.it/home_0.html
I'm sorry but the new site is Italian-only. There was an English version before, that included a on-line price generator.

The ladies there (the company is female-only) are competent and helpful.

I have a price list for the prototypes, and I read that the cost for a 4 layers board, all inclusive is:
- 450 euros + VAT for 2000 cm2 total surface (5 boards of the required size)
- 550 euros + VAT for 2500 cm2 total surface (6 boards of the required size : not convenient in your case)
- 800 euros + VAT for 4000 cm2 total surface (10 boards of the required size).

Delivery time is about one week.

Regards

deephaven · « **Reply #7 on:** September 01, 2011, 02:10:40 pm »

Thanks for the info, ciccio.

Well, I ordered some boards from Eurocircuits and have them back here. I ordered 2 but they sent me 4 and the total cost was 261.81 EUR including shipping.

I am very impressed with the company. They opened a credit account straight away and I had my boards three weeks before I had to pay for them which was pretty good for a new customer. The other thing I liked was that I could go onto their website and preview the plots they had made from my gerbers, this was a good confidence check that they had interpretted my data correctly. So a big thumbs up from me!

ciccio · « **Reply #8 on:** September 01, 2011, 05:01:02 pm »

Thanks for the informations.
A friend gave me the following link.
It's a big German Company (WURTH electronic, from WURTH fasteners fame).
In this page you can generate the price for your design.
They seem very high quality:
http://www.wedirekt.de/index.php/pcb

I tried it with the specs of my last 4 layer design, and they cost a little (some euros) less than my current supplier.
Please note that the prices I included in my previous post don't include shipping, but I live near EMZ' facility, so I usually pick-up the PCBs directly.

Regards

pcbcomponents · « **Reply #9 on:** December 19, 2011, 12:45:09 pm »

good price for prototypes and mass production.

USD $ 320 for the 4 layer PCB prototpyes, free tooling, free shipping cost.

Quote will be released in few minutes.

Jon Chandler · « **Reply #10 on:** December 19, 2011, 07:29:07 pm »

ITead Studios is now offering 4-layer board fab.

The standard service is for 5 cm x 5 cm boards or 10 cm x 10 cm boards but they are doing larger runs now too so they may be able to make the larger boards needed.

ITead 4-Layer Service

naimis · « **Reply #11 on:** January 08, 2012, 07:30:54 pm »

Old thread, but I thought I'd chime in since my fav shop didn't get plugged :-)
I've used ExpressPCB for several projects. Most recent was a 4-layer board in their standard 3.8"x2.5" size (if your board is that size, you'll only pay about half the normal price). Four 4-layer boards in that size currently run around 110 USD shipped to Texas 3rd day UPS. If you want boards of a different size, expect to pay a bit over $200 US. Price includes the four layer board with solder mask and top-layer silk screen.

The catches are several - near as I can tell you have to use their s/w to do the design and submission. I find their software pretty darn easy to use though I have had to create multiple components/pad layouts. The quality of the 4-layer boards I've had made has been quite good, IMO (though EE isn't really my schtick and I couldn't confidently pick out what was wrong with DrGeoff's board fail pictures, so YMMV).

ejeffrey · « **Reply #12 on:** January 31, 2012, 11:10:28 pm »

Quote from: naimis on January 08, 2012, 07:30:54 pm

Old thread, but I thought I'd chime in since my fav shop didn't get plugged :-)
I've used ExpressPCB for several projects.
<snip>
The catches are several - near as I can tell you have to use their s/w to do the design and submission.

That is pretty much a deal breaker as far as I am concerned. No matter how good their software is, getting locked into one vendor and one software package is going to bite you in the ass down the road. Even without the locking issue, it is always better to supply gerbers than CAD files. For instance many PCB houses accept EAGLE .brd files in addition to gerbers. That is an OK option to have for beginners who are intimidated by the CAM processor in eagle, but the gerbers let you know exactly what you are actually asking for -- there is no question about which layers are going to get included in your final product.

efeldman · « **Reply #13 on:** April 12, 2012, 09:43:02 pm »

Quote from: deephaven on August 06, 2011, 12:48:54 pm

I've used iTead Studio with great success for small 2 layer PCBs but they don't appear to do 4 layer ones. Does anyone know of a low cost service for such boards? My board is approximately 200mm X 200mm.

I've used bittele.com prototyping services. The price is good. Just takes a while to ship it back in the states.
I remember a company in Florida that does prototyping overseas, but I forget their name.

LEECH666 · « **Reply #14 on:** May 03, 2012, 10:57:22 am »

iTead has had the following two offers for at least 5 months now. Probably even longer.

Green 4 Layer 5cm*5cm max -10pcs / 65$

Green 4 Layer 10cm*10cm max -10pcs / 99$

Psi · « **Reply #15 on:** May 03, 2012, 11:35:13 am »

Quote from: Squonk on August 06, 2011, 05:37:42 pm

I checked recently what was available as public prices for a 4-layer Eurocard (16 x 10 cm or 6.3 x 3.937 in.) board:
PCB-POOL: $171.12
PCBUniverse: $406.99/4 inc. ship, or $99/ea.
E-TekNet: $84.99
Gold Phoenix: $550/100 sq. In., or $137.5/ea.
PCBFabExpress: $528.76/4, or $132.19/ea.
PCBInternational: $350/100 sq. in., or $87.5/ea.

Can PCBCart to that list, $218.59 + shipping

shanes1007 · « **Reply #16 on:** November 28, 2012, 05:03:35 pm »

Have you considered prototyping in-house? When dealing with multilayer boards, the savings really show.

Check out this webinar for more:

http://www.lpkfusa.com/RapidPCB/webinars/In-house-vs-Outsource-RF-Microwave.html

mountain-lee · « **Reply #17 on:** May 09, 2014, 09:33:15 am »

Quote from: deephaven on August 06, 2011, 12:48:54 pm

I've used iTead Studio with great success for small 2 layer PCBs but they don't appear to do 4 layer ones. Does anyone know of a low cost service for such boards? My board is approximately 200mm X 200mm.

Your board is a large board. Compared to Prototype PCB Boards Package ( 5 PCS, 2 Layers ) of www.nexpcb.com, It seems need extra fee.

Dago · « **Reply #18 on:** May 09, 2014, 10:50:26 am »

http://www.elecrow.com/services-c-73/pcb-fabricate-service-c-73_116/4-layer-10-10cm-max-10pcs-p-365.html Elecrow offers 100x100mm 4-layer (10pcs) PCBs for 23,9$. Best I've found so far. Friend said that service was very good as well (I think there was a topic in here complimenting Elecrow on the service too).


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Author Topic: Low cost 4 layer PCB prototyping service? (Read 25006 times)

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