How do I get a Printed Circuit Board made?

How do I get a Printed Circuit Board made?

Author
Discussion

Aquarius909

Original Poster:

99 posts

164 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
I've had a PCB designed for one of my business interests and we have something called "Gerber files" with all the spec to create it. Our usual supplier is asking for more information and the designer is saying all they should need to be able to quote for this is the Gerber files.

Has anyone got a contact (ideally in China - who can make PCBs and could give us a quote using Gerber files? While I am out of my depth here in doing this, I have to think that we're not exactly building the Large Hadron Collider here and this has been one before so quite why I'm running into these obstacles baffles me.

Can anyone help please?

EliseNick

271 posts

180 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
How many do you need?

The manufacturer will also need to know the material, the copper thickness, and probably some metadata for the gerber and drill files.

Aquarius909

Original Poster:

99 posts

164 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
In time I will need thousands but for now I just need quote on what they will cost to make, possibly also a sample or two.

EliseNick

271 posts

180 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
We've used these guys;

http://www.minnitron.co.uk/

without problems before. They've been quite helpful with getting designs into a good format for them. Not China based, sorry.

FWIW

3,042 posts

96 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
I wouldn't be so set on China, especially for a new product.
There are companies who specialise in small quantities for prototyping e.g. http://www.alncircuits.co.uk/
Do you just want the boards for building up by hand or do you want full assembly?

Aquarius909

Original Poster:

99 posts

164 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
FWIW said:
I wouldn't be so set on China, especially for a new product.
There are companies who specialise in small quantities for prototyping e.g. http://www.alncircuits.co.uk/
Do you just want the boards for building up by hand or do you want full assembly?
As mentioned, I;m out of my depth here. We use a few thousand of these boards every year and whether they are made by hand or assembled, I do not know. I just know they are made. Sorry!

BigBen

11,610 posts

229 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
Aquarius909 said:
FWIW said:
I wouldn't be so set on China, especially for a new product.
There are companies who specialise in small quantities for prototyping e.g. http://www.alncircuits.co.uk/
Do you just want the boards for building up by hand or do you want full assembly?
As mentioned, I;m out of my depth here. We use a few thousand of these boards every year and whether they are made by hand or assembled, I do not know. I just know they are made. Sorry!
PM me and I will talk you through it. PCB train (www.pcbtrain.co.uk) are good for quick and low cost prototypes and can if you wish buy all the bits and assemble the PCBs.

We use a variety of PCB suppliers here although mostly for prototype volumes. For the volumes you mention China may or may not make sense

Ben

Aquarius909

Original Poster:

99 posts

164 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
Update on this from my more technically literate colleague: we need PCB assembly, hence why China makes sense.

FWIW

3,042 posts

96 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
Aquarius909 said:
Update on this from my more technically literate colleague: we need PCB assembly, hence why China makes sense.
China is *probably* a mistake unless you already have a supply chain in place.

brman

1,233 posts

108 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
surely your PCB designer should be able to sort it out with your supplier?

What specifically is the supplier saying is missing from the board package?

btw. in case it helps, Gerber is a file format that basically describes the copper tracks on each layer of the board. So a set of pcb gerber files is really just pictures of the tracks on each layer.
That is a start, but the manufacturer also needs to know things like copper and board thickness, drill sizes etc.

So, an example of a board package I have includes:
.gbr files for board outline
.gbr files for component placement
.gbr files for paste mask
.gbr files for solder resist
.gbr files for each copper layer
.gbr files for silk screen
PCB definition spec (pdf file) includes board type, type (eg 4 layer, no blind or buried vias, plated through holes), finish etc etc.
.csv file with component xy coordinates
.drl file with drilling information

Different board makers need different info in different formats but you pcb designer should be able produce what every they need pretty simply.

spikeyhead

17,224 posts

196 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
FWIW said:
Aquarius909 said:
Update on this from my more technically literate colleague: we need PCB assembly, hence why China makes sense.
China is *definitely* a mistake unless you already have a supply chain in place.
EFA

Give Jaltek in Luton a call if you want product made properly.

If you don't already have a tie up with China, then count on sending someone who understands pcb assembly out there for a couple of months to supervise things, otherwise you'll get a pile of rubbish.

mini95

241 posts

244 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
As previously mentioned for that sort of volume China will be a waste of time and not really any cheaper when you look at the overall cost.

There are lots of manufacturers geared up for this in the UK, from proto boards up to full volume, some specialise in different fields (such as medical, military etc).

Are the boards quite complex?

-Pete-

2,892 posts

175 months

Wednesday 28th September 2016
quotequote all
Use a UK company unless you want more than 50K boards assembled per year.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pcb+assembly+uk&...


hab1966

1,094 posts

211 months

Thursday 29th September 2016
quotequote all
Aquarius909, Ive sent you a PM

mel

10,168 posts

274 months

Thursday 29th September 2016
quotequote all
Spirit Circuits. UK & China manufacturing so you can decide when the time is right to move manufacturing off shore,

FWIW

3,042 posts

96 months

Thursday 29th September 2016
quotequote all
spikeyhead said:
FWIW said:
Aquarius909 said:
Update on this from my more technically literate colleague: we need PCB assembly, hence why China makes sense.
China is *definitely* a mistake unless you already have a supply chain in place.
EFA

Give Jaltek in Luton a call if you want product made properly.

If you don't already have a tie up with China, then count on sending someone who understands pcb assembly out there for a couple of months to supervise things, otherwise you'll get a pile of rubbish.
100% this. From bitter (and very expensive) experience.

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 29th September 2016
quotequote all
Well don't forget RoHS 2, lead free solder and all that extra wonderful stuff...

E31Shrew

5,920 posts

191 months

Thursday 29th September 2016
quotequote all
As others have mentioned above, feel free to drop me a PM. We run a Contract Electronic manufacturer, based in Cirencester and assemble both Surface mount and Through hole assemblies.
If you download Viewmate you should be able to import the Gerbers and view the board layout. If one of the layers mentions ' paste' then you'll be looking at Surface mount. If you see a few rows of ' holes' they'll probably be connectors or Other ' Through ' hole components!
Good luck!

hidetheelephants

23,772 posts

192 months

Friday 30th September 2016
quotequote all
gottans said:
Well don't forget RoHS 2, lead free solder and all that extra wonderful stuff...
Is this the massive pain in the arse I've read it is? As if there aren't enough things trying to make the smoke escape from electronics we have to go and add another way for it to happen. The shortened lifespan and increased waste must be far worse economically and environmentally than the cost of dealing responsibly with lead and electronic waste generally.

louiebaby

10,651 posts

190 months

Friday 30th September 2016
quotequote all
I've got a pal who I think works for http://www.graphic.plc.uk/.

They're based in Crediton in Devon, and there are benefits of going UK, at least for the prototype stage I'd have thought.

Dunno much about what they do, but I can put a call in for you...