It often does not make sense to invest in costly production gear if you just want to spin a few prototypes and instead outsource your PCB assembly and prototype manufacturing to a dependable vendor. I will give some ideas as to what to watch out for when looking for a contract manufacturer.
Numerous contract companies will offer an immediate quote mechanism on their site for manufacture of circuit boards and assembly of prototypes. This will save you time when comparing distinct vendors. Make positive that the quote technique enables you to enter all of the information, such as board material, thickness, copper thickness, milling etc. so that you can get an correct quote without having any surprises later on.
Commonly the expense per board will lower as quantity increases. This is due to the pretty higher setup cost of circuit board manufacturing and element assembly. Some vendors will use a technique where they combine boards from several clients. This way the setup cost will be distributed amongst many customers. When spi vs i2c manufacture a solution, you obviously do not want to have to manufacture a big quantity of boards suitable away although you refine your design and style.
1 limitation with compact-quantity prototypes although is that the option of components and material thicknesses will be restricted. If you are making use of a particular material then probabilities are there will not be any other consumers using the same material. In addition, lead time plays a large role in figuring out cost. A longer lead time enables the manufacturer a lot more freedom in slotting your production. This is commonly reflected in decrease expenses which you will see in the quote section. Obviously if you are in a rush and want to be moved to the top of the pile you will need to devote additional funds.
Make sure that your contract manufacturer will support the file format for manufacture that you provide. The most popular format for PCB manufacture is the Gerber format but some vendors will also accept board files from popular PCB application products. Some suppliers also offer you in-residence PCB design. Even if you design and style your board yourself, selecting a vendor with design solutions may well prove helpful in case there is a problem with your files. In this case your vendor can make rapid changes which will stay clear of pricey delays.
When subcontracting PCB assembly, guarantee that your vendor can assemble all of the package sorts that your board makes use of. Some vendors cannot assemble certain kind of IC packages such as BGA, chip-scale packages or quite tiny component kinds. If in doubt be positive to make contact with your vendor ahead of time.
Some contract producers will carry an inventory of typical SMT and via-hole components. You will save time if you can pull from your vendor’s inventory rather than purchasing each element yourself. Make positive to specify which elements you wish to consign yourself when you upload your bill of supplies.
Most vendors will also provide manufacture of the SMT stencil which is needed for PCB assembly. Be positive to order the stencil appropriate away when ordering the circuit boards themselves to stay clear of delays.
