Non Chinese PCB fab and assembly - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: sauerwald
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 06, 2021, 04:32:21 pm
content: I have a small business where we use small quantities of boards. Currently we have about 15 boards that we use, and each one runs in quantities of low hundreds of boards per year. Most of them we assemble ourselves, but some we have assembled for us. The boards are not too fancy - smallest components are mostly 0805, although we have a couple with fine pitch ICs on them (our smallest now is in a 20 pin TSSOP with 0.4mm pitch). We do have a few single side, aluminum boards which are used in higher power applications.We have been going to a couple of different Chinese houses for PCB fab and assembly. I have been happy with the lead times, prices, and quality of what we have received. For non-technical reasons, I am trying back away from Chinese suppliers, but with PCB fab and assembly, the prices seem to be much higher outside of China. My typical board is 2"x4", 2 sides, 6 mil min line width - PCB shopper shows a variety of chinese suppliers who will build these including shipping for between $100 and $150 total for a batch of 100pcs. The least expensive domestic (US) vendor is $550.Question for the community is if anybody has suggestions for reasonably priced, non chinese PCB vendors. - PCBShopper shows Lion Circuits in India - does anybody have experience with them? - Are there PCB fabricators in Mexico, Canada or the US, where I can get 2 layer PCBs < ~$0.25/sq inch (approx 100% higher than I am currently paying for chinese boards.)Thank you

author: richnormand
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 06, 2021, 04:40:47 pm
content: I have used Bay Area Circuits in the past with excellent results :https://bayareacircuits.com/(No relations, just a customer)

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 06, 2021, 05:59:38 pm
content: There are several assembly houses in Montreal and surroundings. I have had great results withhttp://meatecinc.com/

author: gnuarm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 06, 2021, 10:57:22 pm
content: I'm using an assembly house in North Carolina. The main office is in Frederick, MD which is where I found out about them. NC is their lower cost assembly. They turnkey assemble my boards and perform testing that I provide a test fixture for along with burn in.I had used the same outfit for some years to make this board before we had an issue where I parted ways with them. I tried several others before settling on ACDI with manufacturing in NC. While I was paying between $80 and $110 per unit (depending on quantity) these guys got the price down to $60. I always spend a day or two with the CM on a new order and these guys picked up operation of the test fixture easily. The only problem I had was the idea of giving me a date by when they would ship. CMs think in terms of giving a date they could have product if everything goes well. I need a deadline by which they will definitely ship.That's why I parted ways with the first CM. For years they had a guy in charge of production who would, when all else failed, make sure they met my delivery day give or take a day. A new guy who was full of himself didn't feel any obligation at all. Now with ACDI thy understand what I need and I give them a PO, they handle it all, I show up the first day of testing and they continue to test and ship product directly to my customer. Easy peasy.

author: GodIsRealUnless DefinedInt
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 16, 2021, 04:40:51 am
content: Depending on how simple the design is Basic PCB might be another to look at for domestic manufacturinghttps://blog.basicpcb.com/category/basicpcb-customer-projects/