Cheap PCB manufacture + Assembly for 10 pieces needed - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: VEGETA
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 24, 2021, 07:31:57 pm
content: Hello,I finished a good design of mine and I am certain it will work, as this is version 2 which is enhanced from a working version 1.Anyway, first time I went with AllPCB special offer which doesn't charge for assembly, I got 5 boards. Now they charge for assembly which will make getting just 10 boards not viable and expensive. total would be 300$ without shipping but I aim at half that... even if I have to cut it to just 5 boards.I sent request for PCBWay and PCBCart and still waiting.anyone here can help me?design is:- 50x50mm.- has small components like 0402 and one 2x2mm IC (x2 of it).- very crowded design but within any manufacturer's specs.- it has 20 components to be assembled (well, 19 since one is just a mounting hole in the PCB) and 2 components to be just bought and attached with the package.- all part numbers and suppliers are clear and in stock. no dodgy stuff or hard to get components.- soldermask needed is black with white silkscreen. on side assembly only.- mostly has smt components but has very few through hole ones that can be easily soldered by hand.I hope you guys help me since this will be final test before making a small production batch. I want to use these 10 boards to get to know how to sell online, bank stuff, etc... plus to make sure it is 100% as I want.in case you wonder, design is a power supply replacement for sega dreamcast.thanks

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 24, 2021, 08:41:56 pm
content: So only 20 components but crowded board, or do you mean 20 BOM items?JLCPCB?Can you assemble it yourself?

author: VEGETA
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 24, 2021, 08:55:32 pm
content: Quote from: thm_w on June 24, 2021, 08:41:56 pmI meant bom items.JLCPCB requires you to use their items which it is not the case for me, I need regular PCBA.I cannot by any means do it myself.trust me, for production I can pay any assembly cost. in fact allpcb offer was great for big quantities but now i only need 5-10 quantities which should be very cheap without any extra cost.allpcb said that pcb assembly cost is nearly the same or will slightly increase when doing 100 pieces compared to mere 10... thus per item cost is significantly less.

author: Jackster
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 24, 2021, 11:53:45 pm
content: QuoteCosts mostly come from setup. If they run this on a machine, it costs the same to setup that machine for 1000 as for 10. Machine hours make up very little of the cost of PCBA. Even being assembled by hand, setup takes a decent amount of time for each job.PCBway should only charge around $50—100 for something like this unless if you have any special components or requirements.

author: VEGETA
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 26, 2021, 04:57:05 pm
content: Quote from: Jackster on June 24, 2021, 11:53:45 pmThey bumped PCB price from 8$ to 58$ due to changing minimum hole size from 0.3 to 0.2. Components price is expensive since they insist on getting them from mouser and digikey despite me keep reminding them to buy these components from LCSC and that I bought them previously and they work fine. about +50$ savings will happen just there. Assembly is 88$ for 10 boards and maybe 30$ for 5.I need better. We'll see if they reduce it. they still didn't respond to my latest emails. allpcb support is much better.others like pcbnext, 7pcb, pcbcart didn't respond yet.