Small run Chineese assembly houses. Experience? Recommendations?  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: iampoor
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 04, 2015, 08:15:01 am
content: HiDoes anyone have any recommendations on a small run Chinese PCB assembler? I am planning on trying elecrow, but would like to try others. Any experience, advice or stories would be welcome. I have not seen much about this on the internet!All of my designs are mixed through hole, and SMT (Nothing smaller then 0805 and SOIC packages). Nothing particularly demanding.I am also looking for a factory to make small cable assemblies an/or add wires/connectors to switches/jacks. But it might just be cheaper to do it in house...

author: DerekG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 04, 2015, 10:51:36 am
content: Quote from: iampoor on October 04, 2015, 08:15:01 amCheck outwww.pcbshopper.com

author: iampoor
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 04, 2015, 09:03:56 pm
content: Quote from: blueskull on October 04, 2015, 08:28:54 amInitially I am hoping to do runs of about 50. Elecrow doesnt have an initial NRE cost (actually I think its 10$ for less than 50 PCBs), they just place SMD parts at 2c a part and through hole parts at 3c a pad. I think for short runs this is a relatively cheap option, but I am wondering at what point it would be cheaper to pay a NRE if the actual part assembly is cheaper.Thanks, I will reach out to seedstudio!Quote from: DerekG on October 04, 2015, 10:51:36 amI dont see any PCB assembly quotes, only the price for actual manufactured PC boards.

author: IconicPCB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 04, 2015, 10:09:07 pm
content: iampoor,where are you located?

author: iampoor
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 04, 2015, 11:27:28 pm
content: Quote from: IconicPCB on October 04, 2015, 10:09:07 pmI am in the United States. I will add that to my profile!

author: jwm_
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 04, 2015, 11:38:33 pm
content: I have been looking for an excuse to use these guys.https://www.circuithub.comThe site is super slick, I uploaded a test board and bom/assembly instructions and for a single board it was 179 dollars, for 10 it dropped to 25 dollars a board, and when I got to a hundred it was 8 bucks or so. The site is cool, you just have a slider you can use to change the quantity and you see the component and assembly costs updated in real time.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 05, 2015, 02:44:32 am
content: Quote from: iampoor on October 04, 2015, 11:27:28 pmSomebody mentioned once Sierra in Mountain View California.

author: iampoor
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 05, 2015, 08:05:17 am
content: Quote from: jwm_ on October 04, 2015, 11:38:33 pmI will sign up and try them out towmorrow. Awesome looking website!Quote from: zapta on October 05, 2015, 02:44:32 amI was hoping to use them (got a goo recommendation), but they were over 1000% more expensive then I could pay without raising my product cost....great service and support altho!

author: snoopy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2015, 03:58:25 am
content: Quote from: jwm_ on October 04, 2015, 11:38:33 pmHow does it tie in with the BOM from Altium ?Is there supplier live links that link with their own internal parts database ?cheers

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 04, 2015, 05:28:56 am
content: Hi elecrow2012. Do you guys use pick-n-place for large assembly orders. On average how many boards would I need to order to get them machine placed? 200 etc?Also, do your source the parts yourself?Thanks

author: seddona
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 07, 2015, 12:10:53 am
content: Quote from: snoopy on November 04, 2015, 03:58:25 amHi,We have our own internal database that you can add to really easily. We also pull data from Octopart for parts we don't have.Hope that helps!Thanks,Andrew @ CircuitHub

author: snoopy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 07, 2015, 01:03:02 am
content: Quote from: seddona on November 07, 2015, 12:10:53 amIs the parts catalog you have on your website for the parts you have in stock or for parts that you have access too ? Also how do we determine the prices ?cheers

author: timofonic
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2015, 06:52:45 pm
content: Quote from: elecrow2012 on November 16, 2015, 09:57:31 amI'm a student and interested in making some projects for me and my classroom. We are less than 15 people.We aren't interesting on totally assembled PCBs, but have the difficult ones assembled and we continue the rest.Could that be possible and what can be the cost of it?We will put a logo of your company on the PCBs, just provide a nice vectorized logo in the SVG. It could be be even better if providing libraries with them that areready to use in at least KiCad, OrCAD 9.2, Altium Designer, Multisim and Eagle.Kind regards.