Outsourcing PCB assembly. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: GK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 08, 2016, 05:47:33 am
content: I have a design:2 layer PCB measuring 2.5" x 1.5"Components loaded on one side only3 x 8-pin SOIC2 x DPAK SMD regulatorsA few SOT-23About twenty 1206 mixed passives.A through-hole Molex connector.Could someone with experience here in Oz recommend an assembly house and perhaps give a ball park figure on price?A minimum batch order would be 300 units.On something like this I would expect to supply the boards myself, but what is a typical arrangement for component procurement and what kind of price premium does that entail?Would a stab in the dark guess of $50 per unit (not including the cost of parts) for a batch of 300 be in the ball park?Thanks.

author: AlfBaz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 08, 2016, 06:00:24 am
content: Quote from: GK on June 08, 2016, 05:47:33 amJeepers, for that price I'd do them by hand... Seriously!

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 08, 2016, 06:16:47 am
content: I usually populate batches of 30 boards for my own products every few weeks. Probably around double the complexity of yoursI'd totally assemble your boards for $15ki'm in NZ too, so shipping would be fast.Cant be right now though, i'm currently busy trying to find a house to live in before current accommodation ends.Maybe in 2 months time.PS, i think you'd find China would be $10-20 a board, but that's just a guess.

author: digsys
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 08, 2016, 06:21:14 am
content: Yeah agreed. That's way too much. I've just calculated a VERY SIMILAR job. 300x PCBs of similar size, app 20 parts, all leaded though at $10 max.I have a worker who I set up for assembly privately. You can calculate a ball-park. Assume $60 hr for a reasonable business. I doubt it'd take 30 mins forwhat you describe, maybe 20 mins tops.

author: Richard Head
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 08, 2016, 06:31:49 am
content: GKMost assembly firms charge a fixed setup and stencil cost. Once that's paid the assembly cost per board is microscopic in comparison.You will also have to have the board panelized to the particular assemblers spec. ie suitable fiducials and robber strips along the edge with V-scored boards. This is machine specific so depends on each manufacturer.Personally, I'll hand populate the first 10-20 boards and then I'll have all future boards machine assembled.

author: janekm
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 08, 2016, 06:52:23 am
content: I've just stuck your values into a Chinese factory's online calculator and came up with ballpark quotes of 500RMB for the PCBs and 3700RMB for the assembly, for 300 boards, assuming 30 components per PCB. Your components are all really simple (compared to say .5mm QFN, 0402 etc) so a realistic quote would be less. So around 880 Australian $, apparently, or around $3 per board. This is for a low-volume service, so the price is actually quite high for your volume (300 is right in the awkward zone between low-volume and high-volume...). I have in the past paid less than that for 1000 units of a much more complex PCB...Add shipping costs, agent fees, taxes, import duties (both ways if you want to ship the components into China), testing fees (those can be high for your first set of boards if you need a bed of nails tester, if you can come up with a simple test procedure it can just be the hourly cost of labour).

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 08, 2016, 07:39:31 am
content: For small jobs the main thing is to find an assembler with the right attitude.Questionable whether it would be worth the risk of going to China, and if you did you'd want them to source parts as that's where much of the cost savings are.DIYing it only makes sense if you need it quickly, otherwise it's a poor use of your time. Hand-building introduces lots of potential quality issues.As a first step I'd send an RFQ to all the local Aus/NZ assemblers & see what comes back.

author: GK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2016, 01:41:54 am
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on June 08, 2016, 07:39:31 amYes, which is why I thought I'd ask here for recommendations.Now particularly enamoured with hand assembly due to QC issues. I'm happy to get my boards manufactured in China, but wouldn't like the potential hassles (genuine parts procurement, etc) of having a low-volume job like this done over there.My main concern with procuring the parts myself is getting them in low volumes in packaging that a PnP house would be happy with. I don't need typical reel quantities and ordering low volume "cut tape" normally gets me an assortment of offcuts.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 09, 2016, 06:45:40 am
content: I recommend MyroPCB. I've used them before and had good success.Their price is $0.0125 per SMD pad, so if your PCB has 100 pads, it would be $1.25/ea for assembly. They do have a tooling fee but it's minimal. The through-hole cost is $0.025 per pin.I've sent them components and I have had them source components. Nowadays I always provide my own components. I have had stuff like fake 7805 regulators that had a 50% failure rate because the plating on the legs failed causing the solder connections to fail over time. So if I ever have components sourced, it's only things like passives. But they are so cheap anyway that it's not worth it, IMO.With Myro, you can tell them ONLY to buy name brand components, and I have found that they do indeed do that as instructed - but I worry that there's so much fake stuff there that maybe the assembler is getting cheated, even if they genuinely think they are buying real parts.One other positive experience with Myro is they will take reels and partial reels, and they store the components that I send them for future orders and keep me up to date with inventory on unused parts.

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2016, 12:51:14 pm
content: Quote from: GK on June 09, 2016, 01:41:54 amThat's interesting, I don't believe I've ever gotten anything other than a single continuous piece when ordering cut tape. Generally passives are cheap enough to just round up to the nearest full reel. It sounds like the BOM is pretty small, so you could probably just order partial reels from your supplier for the rest. A proper re-reeling will have sufficient leader and cover tape to go straight into a reel feeder, just be sure to talk to your assembler about how much overage they require. If you send the exact number of components required they may opt to hand place those which may incur extra cost.It doesn't hurt to ask your assembler to quote kitted and turnkey pricing, even domestic assemblers may be able to save you money by handling the procurement if they move enough parts.As far as PCBs, I usually just let the assembler handle that, in my experience that's their preference, and it saves me some logistics trouble. It also means I don't have to get in the middle of finger pointing if something goes wrong.

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2016, 04:45:58 am
content: Quote from: ajb on June 09, 2016, 12:51:14 pmI have received all sorts of interesting packaging combination from digikey (and the other majors) cut tape orders sometimes get split into several units of their prepacked price break quantities i.e. 750 coming as 3x250 and very occasionally you might get an otherwise round price break such as 100 coming in 10x10 or something equally silly.The $7 digikey fee for partial reels is usually cheaper than getting a local house to hand feed or add header tape.

author: dakiller
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2016, 04:50:59 am
content: I've used these guy's for small runs of boards in the 15-30 quantities range, but my boards have been much more involved with ~200 components and they have been quite good on pricewww.invisionelectronicsolutions.com.au

author: ludzinc
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 10, 2016, 05:33:08 am
content: I've used Rapier Electronics here in Adelaide.Tome Rae is fantastic and very flexible to your needs.http://www.rapier.com.au/Tell him Simon sent you.