Product Manufacture - UK - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: pyrohaz
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2014, 11:35:13 am
content: Hi all,I'm designing a product which I want to sell a small batch of (10-100pcs). The work required will be routing (wood), drilling holes, small amounts of soldering and general construction. The product requires multiple PCB's but I have no problem getting the PCB's manufactured and shipped to the UK as Bittele (http://www.7pcb.ca/) have a quoting system at relatively good prices, along with Itead Studio (http://imall.iteadstudio.com/open-pcb/pcb-prototyping.html) being a potential source of manufacture.What my main question here is: Where can I even get quotes/begin to talk to people about manufacture in UK? What sort of terms should I be searching in google to find these people?Thanks,Harris

author: philpem
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2014, 11:52:39 am
content: These sort of companies are called CEMs -- Contract Electronics Manufacturers. So a search for "uk contract electronics manufacturing" should give you a good starting point.From what I recall, Norcott are the big dog in this arena, but I've never used them. There are at least a half dozen others, all with their own specialties (e.g. military/hi-rel, mass production, small batch production...)

author: 8086
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2014, 01:02:31 pm
content: Feel free to drop me a message - I runhttp://www.circuitology.com.I mainly do PCB assembly but I am no stranger to mechanical assembly as well. Based in Kent.

author: josem
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2014, 01:39:49 pm
content: Talk to Ragworm (the hobbyist branch ofhttp://www.sticklebackuk.co.uk) was well:http://www.ragworm.euThey always seem keen to help out smaller UK projects and perhaps would handle the whole production including the PCBs.Worth a call or an email.

author: sca
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2014, 07:27:16 pm
content: Start your search local - much easier to get something new up and running if you can go in and talk to people face to face and solve problems in person.It may take a bit of searching to find the right company - some will be more adept at hand holding people through their first projects, but will not necessarily be the cheapest. Others simply won't be interested in small volumes, or helping out someone to get started, but may be keener on price.Some will only be interested in PCB assembly, others may help out with mechanical assembly, sourcing etc.Horses for courses!A location might help people point out good suppliers local to you.sca

author: pyrohaz
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2014, 08:14:42 am
content: Hi all,Thank you for all your responses!Quote from: 8086 on July 08, 2014, 01:02:31 pmCool website! You've got some really good prices on there. Unfortunately, my largest PCB is ~600mm which exceeds your maximum PCB size.Quote from: josem on July 08, 2014, 01:39:49 pm

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2014, 08:45:42 am
content: QuotePCBs over about 550mm long will greatly reduce your choice of potential assembly houses for SMD boards, as well as increasing stencil costI only know of 3 UK places than can assemble boards this size, none of which are particularly small-volume friendly.http://www.soumac.co.uk/Up to 600mmhttp://www.printsys.co.uk/up to 1.6mThere's also WPS but they aren't interested in reasonable size batches and IME are a bunch of timewasting dicks.

author: pyrohaz
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2014, 08:56:01 am
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on July 09, 2014, 08:45:42 amI had a fair bit of trouble finding a manufacturer for a board that size when I made my first prototype, hence why I'm using PCBWing (which I'm sure a fair few people wouldn't have heard of). They actually offer relatively good prices, as with most asian based PCB fabricators of ~£130 for single PCB's exc. p+p of 600x70mm which I find quite good. Price dramatically decreases in bulk too. I don't seem to have any major problems getting the PCB's fabricated and assembled in Asia, its more so once I have them here in the UK, how I can assemble them into a final product. Most of the product assembly wouldn't even really be electronics based, merely soldering ribbon cable to connect together my PCB's. I'll drop Soumac and Printsys an email however asking for quotes none the less! Thanks,