custom pcb colors

[VEGETA]

Hello,

what do you think about custom pcb colors?

like who provides such service and how much does it cost approximately more than regular stuff.

of course, it is not that important to have more colors than what is available but still good to know.

thanks

[mariush]

It's not that hard to compile a list of top 5 or top 10  pcb manufacturers and check their offerings, as they'll quote you prices depending on what options you pick. Do your homework.

2-3 most popular colors will usually be cheaper, as they can bundle multiple projects / designs on a large panel of that color and do bigger batches.
For less common colors, they'll have to wait more time to have enough circuit board projects to not waste pcb, or they'll just waste pcb and charge you more for that.

For example, JLCPCB doesn't charge extra, but for all pcb colors other than green, they add 2 days to processing time, which is probably enough for them to gather enough boards.

[VEGETA]

maybe you misunderstood me, i know there are black, blue, red, etc... not just green. i have used some of them. but what i need to know if i can give them my preferred color which is not one of those standard colors... will any of them be able to do it for me? I thought perhaps someone here done it before.

i contacted pcbway and said they don't do it... but that was chat support not sales rep.

[SiliconWizard]

Uh, no. Soldermask is ready-made and bought in very large volumes, there's no way you can get soldermask color on demand.

[VEGETA]

Uh, no. Soldermask is ready-made and bought in very large volumes, there's no way you can get soldermask color on demand.

so if i need a certain color, i can provide it to them and they order it in volume which means i need to have huge quantity. correct?

more like the arduino blue-greenish color

[jpanhalt]

Oshpark (oshpark.com)  also has a relatively unique purple.  Dan Sheadel is the person to contact there.  He can tell you where he gets it done.  Volume is usually a sensitive matter for businesses, but he may volunteer it.  I wouldn't ask, though.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Smaller places may be willing to do it, but expect a minimum order quantity or to cover the cost of the MOQ for the ink & maybe some 1-off charges for cleaning etc.
Don't expect Chinese prices.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Bear in mind that some places may use dry film resist, which would only be available in standard colours,whearas inks can be mixed

[mikeselectricstuff]

Uh, no. Soldermask is ready-made and bought in very large volumes, there's no way you can get soldermask color on demand.

Not necessarily - e..g 500g packs :
https://www.fortex.co.uk/product/liquid-photoimageable-uv-cureable-ident-solder-mask/

[jonpaul]

If you use Cheap Chinee PCB fab :

  Expect very poor fidelity of colors, and poor screen technique, perhaps zero QC.

We had to reject many times and after 2..4 tries finally got (barely) acceptable boards.

Just our experience

j

[thm_w]

Uh, no. Soldermask is ready-made and bought in very large volumes, there's no way you can get soldermask color on demand.

Not necessarily - e..g 500g packs :
https://www.fortex.co.uk/product/liquid-photoimageable-uv-cureable-ident-solder-mask/

Also this stuff: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001619895869.html

[nigelwright7557]

JLCPCB do a few colours and dont charge extra for none green.
However it does take 2 days longer to make the pcb's if not green.

[Doctorandus_P]

I'm guessing that if you are placing an order for 100k PCB's, then most of the manufacturers will put in extra effort to mix custom colors as close to the RAL specification you give them as they can manage.

If you want to order a handful of cheap PCB's, then you may be lucky if you can even select from a handful of available standard colors. Some have upto 10 or so standard colors, others have only a single color, most often green (Oshpark uses purple).

The reason for this is that they do not make single PCB's for you. PCB's from a lot of customers are combined into a big panel (for example approx 50cm by 70cm), and then later that panel is cut into pieces by a router. And all the PCB's on a single panel have to have the same color.