[Contract] - PCB Designer Wanted for PCIe Adapter

[dgioulakis]

I came across this forum while doing research on PCIe expansion. This contract opportunity is for personal projects for my homelab; with non-commercial intent. I am looking for a PCB designer that can generate the required files necessary that I can then bring to a company (like PCBWay) to assemble at low volume or batch size. After reaching out to multiple companies worldwide, it's proven to be very difficult to find a supplier of PCIe Gen4 adapters. This is my first attempt at building a custom PCB.

Specifically, I am looking to make a handful of target device adapters for SAS-4, or 24Gb SAS. I believe the pinout information can be found here: https://members.snia.org/document/dl/27380, but I am a complete novice and would lean on your expertise to help guide this process and choosing the appropriate material for design. It is my understanding that the pinouts are slightly different for 24G SAS than SAS-3, but the receptacles/cages are the same.

SFF-8674 (external Mini SAS HD SAS-4 24Gbps) to SFF-8654 (internal SlimSAS 24Gbps)

(1) 1x2 Receptacle -> (1) 8i Receptacle for x8 electrical
and
(2) 1x2 Receptacle -> (2) 8i Receptacle for x16 electrical


SFF-8674 (external Mini SAS HD SAS-4 24Gbps) to SFF-8673 (internal Mini SAS HD SAS-4 24Gbps)

(1) 1x2 Receptacle -> (1) 1x2 Receptacle (x8 electrical)
and
(2) 1x2 Receptacle -> (2) 1x2 Receptacle (x16 or bifurcated x8 x8 use)
or
(1) 1x4 Receptacle -> (1) 1x4 Receptacle (x16 or bifurcated x8 x8 use)


Examples:
The following are examples of similar products, but designed for SFF-8644 (12Gb) SAS-3

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166352334557
https://www.ebay.com/itm/315058663803
https://cs-electronics.com/product/dual-12g-hd-mini-sas-female-panel-mount-sff-8644-%e2%86%92-dual-sff-8643-hd-mini-sas-male/

Contract Information
If you feel your are knowledgeable and capable of providing this service, please:

• Send me a message including your hourly rate and/or a rough estimation for the entire project
• If you have references or a profile on Upwork or Fiverr, or prior history with projects on EEV, please send as well.

I will be forthright here in saying, that I recognize that I am ill-equipped to assess your credentials and capabilities. I'm looking for someone honest and trustworthy to provide me sound insight and guidance, as well as the digital deliverables. Prior to completion, I may post your design elsewhere to solicit feedback from various technical communities, but we can discuss this if you have concerns. This would solely serve as a way for me to get constructive feedback and confirmation of correctness. I'll try my best to learn what I can from you, but there's simply too much I don't know about hardware design for me to feel confident.

Expected deliverables:

• Gerber files for each adapter design. This would be about 3-4 different designs and I'll work with you to determine which are highest priority or easiest to accomplish if you feel others are impractical.
• Guidance on assembly requirements that I can bring to a prototype/assembly service: layers, material, thickness, etc