What's the best company for low volume, quick turn around PCB assembly?

[billthebuilder]

What's the best company for low volume, quick turn around PCB assembly?

Why do you choose their service over others?
What's the ballpark cost for 10 3"x3" boards assembled?
How quick can they be, from sending BOM to the package arriving?

Thanks,
Bill

[marshallh]

Typical numbers for a not-shady Chinese outfit:

$1500 NRE, setup
$5-15 assembly cost per board
Parts cost is BOM + 10% for overages

Turn time can be 3-5 weeks.

American numbers will be 3-5 times higher.

[krivx]

Typical numbers for a not-shady Chinese outfit:

$1500 NRE, setup
$5-15 assembly cost per board
Parts cost is BOM + 10% for overages

Turn time can be 3-5 weeks.

American numbers will be 3-5 times higher.

I'm a little surprised by that setup cost, is that for a complex board?

[nctnico]

I agree. That sounds way too high!

[IconicPCB]

Billthebuilder,

email the BOM for a competitive quote.

In another thread You were however saying you had a P&P machine of your own ..or did I misunderstand Your comments?

[T3sl4co1l]

American protos will run in the $5k range for commercially useful turn times (say 2 weeks).

Tim

[calexanian]

Only 10 pieces? Why not just assemble them yourself? If you don't want to bother I think you would be a good candidate for Advanced Circuits turnkey option. They are in Colorado.

Here is a link http://www.4pcb.com/Assembly-Services.html be sure to ask for the new customer discount.

We use them for all of our quick turn boards and have had very good luck. We have never used their assembly services because we are all in house assembly but I have seen samples and they look legit.

[tonyarkles]

Check out macrofab.net. They're based in Austin, TX, and I've had fantastic luck with them. Their quick-turn (5 day) service adds about $1,000 to the price, but that's not bad at all. You just upload your Eagle or Gerbers, an XYRS for pick & place, and a BOM. They'll order the parts for you, fab the boards, and do the PCBA. You can play with the numbers right in the web interface to see how much it'll cost for different quantities.

Honestly, for my business, they've changed everything. I used to order prototype boards from China with all of the expedited options, and then do hand assembly in-house. Now I just send them off to Macrofab.

I don't mean for this to sound like an ad, but I've used their service more than once and am super super happy with them.