Make a PCB for college project - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: rogerray
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 25, 2011, 02:22:07 am
content: Hi allWe are going to make a small solar powered ship for the college tech contest of this summer. I'm designing the controlling system. The layout is almost done. There's a small STC12C5A60S2-TQFP44 microcontrller on the board so it's not possible to etching the board in the lab. We send the file to sunstone but the price is out of budget. Do your guys know some shop that can make PCB at relative low price? We need only 3 to 5 pcs.Ray

author: Jon Chandler
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2011, 02:34:57 am
content: Here's a link to an article that compares some low-cost alternatives.PCB Fabrication SourcesITead Studio and Seeed Studio are by far the cheapest option if your boards are smaller than 5cm x 5cm or 10cm x 10 cm. Depending on your time frame, shipping time may be an issue. Both of these Chinese sources had priority shipping for a higher price (but still cheaper in total than most of the alternatives).A US alternative is DorkBOT. Boards received by Monday usually arrive within 12 days.

author: rogerray
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 25, 2011, 03:14:05 am
content: Thanks Jon. Have you ever tried Chinese manufacturers? My partner said some of them are quite good.

author: dearyln
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 25, 2011, 03:24:25 am
content: Have a look here:http://www.ezpcb.com/ezpcbweb3/customerservices/sponsor.phpEzPCB is also a highly recommended low cost pcb fabricater. They has sponsorship for college projects. You may try to appy it. Not sure you can get it. I tried last year but they didn't offer me a free pcb fab. I got 20% discount prototyping plus a lot of free components instead.

author: Jon Chandler
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2011, 03:35:33 am
content: Quote from: rogerray on May 25, 2011, 03:14:05 amI've used ITead, PCBGeeks and PCBCART, all with good results. I have a batch of boards on the way from Seeed, so hopefully they will be here by next week.I have not used DorkBOT but I've heard nothing but good things about them.Just to clarify, I've used most of the sources in the PCB Fab article except as noted, and they've all made good boards. They are many Chinese vendors these days and I've heard many of them do excellent work but I only included places I've had experience with.

author: rogerray
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 25, 2011, 03:46:43 am
content: Thanks Jon. I will send files to several supplier to get quotes.EzPCB's sponsorships looks interesting. I will also try to apply for a free service. I think our project should be the target of their sponsorship. Their ez-proto service seems to be nice for me even if can't get it for free. Let me send email first.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2011, 05:59:34 pm
content: Quote from: rogerray on May 25, 2011, 02:22:07 amI don't see any reason why you can't make the board yourself.The LQFP-44 isn't that tiny and is probably worth trying to etch. What process do you use? It should be possible with the photo process?It's also available in a big chunky PDIP.http://www.stcmicro.com/datasheet/stc12c5a60s2-en.pdf

author: Zad
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2011, 06:03:26 pm
content: TQFP is no problem with conventional and cheap UV pre-sensitised board. I have even used the sun as a UV source, with perfectly acceptable results.