I'm looking at having a sample run of a PCB made and was looking for some advise on who to use in the USA. The two options are unpopulated and populated and although I'd prefer populated I'm not sure what the price delta would be. As a heads up the PCB would be mostly a single part LED SMT module with SMT resistors for a couple lighting projects I'm working on. So, each PCB, if fully populated, would have 768 LED's of 3mm x 3mm as well as 92 resistors -- so just two part number in total. I could have the PCB made by itself then populate it and put it in a solder oven but I don't have one and my skill at SMT soldering is not world class to say the least.
So, can I get some ideas on vendors to use and a ballpark cost for a single PCB of about 390mm x 384mm that would be ready to be populated? What about a solder stencil -- how much for that? And finally, if I wanted the whole thing done so the board is ready to use what cost for that -- again. as a single test?
Brian