A new PCB manufacturer, Breadboardkiller.com.au, 3 PCBs @ $5/sq-inch - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: techydude
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 20, 2014, 08:18:34 am
content: http://www.breadboardkiller.com.au/3 PCBs (or multiples of 3 - weird) for AU $5 per square inch - & that includes free shipping within Australia!is this who Dave was referring to in a recent AmpHour? anyone know if they're mfg'ing locally, or shipping off to China/wherever?so for example, 3 Arduino-Shield-sized PCBs = $30.what's the catch? 2.5 week lead time... :-("We aim to have them delivered to you within two and a half weeks of submitting your order. This is however, a group-PCB order and so occasionally longer delays will be incurred. "but if you can cope with the long lead-time, that's less than a third of the price of somewhere like PCBzone.com in NZ, which was already considered fairly cheap.Anthony.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2014, 08:44:33 am
content: $35 at Elecrow would get you 10x two layer boards (maximum 100mm in both dimension) and EMS shipping.($5 more and you can add DHL)($10 less if you dont care about the shipping and are happy with standard airmail 7-25 days)You can even get 10x 4 layer (50mm max X and Y) for like $35 including slow shippingBoth times i've used them they have sent the PCB's within a week of ordering.Shipping is a week or so, less than a week for DHL.Last time i used their cheap airmail shipping and it arrived 8 days after being sent. For a total time from button click to PCBs in hand of 11 days. (this was a bit faster than usual)I wouldn't call PCBzone cheap. I asked for a quote and got the "im sorry, your order is too professional for our pcbzone service, here's a quote from our industrial PCBlabs service. Quote was about 4-6 times more than PCBcart which isn't exactly the cheapest to start with.

author: ovnr
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2014, 09:42:22 am
content: Eeeh. As Psi said, Elecrow is cheaper, and if their time estimate is correct, faster - I ordered a couple boards from Elecrow, and they were delivered 12 days later (incl. weekends, and to Norway at that). Very reasonable prices too, the $14 10x10cm service is wonderful. The same would cost $77 from Breadboard Killer, and that's for three pieces.I think it's pretty clear that you can't compete with China on price, and if you can't offer faster and/or better services, don't even bother.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 20, 2014, 10:03:06 am
content: Quote from: techydude on August 20, 2014, 08:18:34 amYes it is them. China manufacture of course.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2014, 11:52:54 am
content: It's a similar deal tohttp://oshpark.com. Competitive for small quantities of very small boards. For larger you boards you want to search onhttp://pcbshopper.com.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 20, 2014, 11:59:04 am
content: Quote from: zapta on August 20, 2014, 11:52:54 amYes, the whole idea of it is to match OSHpark pricing locally.I'm told that leads times are better than OSHpark for Australian customers.

author: rea5245
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2014, 02:53:46 pm
content: Quote from: techydude on August 20, 2014, 08:18:34 amIt looks like it would be easy for me to add them toPCBShopper.com's PCB price comparison calculator. One thing I find strange: they price their boards in square inches. Isn't Australia on the metric system?- Bob Alexander

author: techydude
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 21, 2014, 03:19:21 am
content: Quote from: rea5245 on August 20, 2014, 02:53:46 pmlol, Australia is, but the PCB design industry still keeps a foot in each camp

author: rea5245
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 21, 2014, 12:42:24 pm
content: Quote from: techydude on August 21, 2014, 03:19:21 amYou mean they keep a third of a meter in each camp?- Bob

author: idpromnut
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 21, 2014, 02:03:10 pm
content: Remember to check the design rules; my co worker and i were looking at dirtypcb.com and comparinng against iteadstudio, and the min drill and via sizes were no where near comparable (itead can go down much smaller).

author: chicken
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 21, 2014, 06:51:31 pm
content: Quote from: ovnr on August 20, 2014, 09:42:22 amThis!OSHPark delivers great quality, but time and cost wise they are getting very close to losing my business to Elecrow.For me it typically takes 2-3 weeks from submission to the PCBs landing in my mailbox. My last order was quicker (5 business days click-to-door). "Great!" I thought.. until I found the flyer advertizing that this was a test run for a new 5-day express service, which will cost $89 extra per orderOSHPark's own part is very fast (2-3 business days incl. USPS shipping), but it takes seemingly forever for their fab partners to produce the PCBs and ship them to OSHPark. That's where Elecrow and other Chinese vendors close their shipping-times handicap. IMHO OSHPark should try to do their end-customer shipping at or very close to the fab, that alone should save 2-3 business days without any express charges.And while I'm armchair quarterbacking: They should consider charging separately for shipping, or a "service charge" per order, or discounted prices for standard sizes (5x5, 10x10..). With the current flat pricing I'm pretty sure they lose money on anything below 2 in2, while being non-competitive for anything above 5 in2. 3 PCBs per design is fine, I don't need 10 of each for prototyping.

author: janekm
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 21, 2014, 10:18:43 pm
content: I recently noticed that HQPCB (one of the most popular Chinese prototype PCB factories, very likely the one used by Seeed / iTead / Elecrow etc) have started offering a service in English of their own:http://pcb.hqew.net(shipping isn't very cheap yet, I guess they need to work on their logistics a bit)I think it works out a bit more expensive than going through one of the resellers, but you have access to all the options (like many layers, ENIG, colours, thickness, buried vias, impedance control, 4/4 design rules). Their English isn't perfect either, "Via Plugged" doesn't mean plugged vias as you might think but rather solder mask tentingimmersion gold = ENIG, half hole = plated hole cut in half on side of PCB (for surface mount module PCBs)

author: techydude
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 22, 2014, 12:48:45 am
content: Quote from: janekm on August 21, 2014, 10:18:43 pmlol, did you learn "Via plugged" actually meant tented The Hard Way?good to know, thanks.

author: SirNick
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2014, 01:18:44 am
content: Quote from: janekm on August 21, 2014, 10:18:43 pm"CASTELLATIONS" (I learned a new word recently.)

author: LukeW
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2014, 10:19:26 pm
content: Has anyone actually spun up some boards from BreadboardKiller yet?

author: briselec
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2014, 12:26:14 am
content: Just tried placing an order on their website -"We are not currently taking orders. Please check back in a few days."

author: techydude
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 23, 2014, 02:59:49 am
content: someone on the Robots & Dinosoars (Sydney hackspace) forum posted this write-up:http://brettpound.wordpress.com/2014/10/13/new-pcb-panel-pooling-service-breadboardkiller-com/