Cost effective European bare PCB manufacture

[Holger]

I can recommend Aisler too.
PCBs delivered five days after placing order.
Quality is good. They have a very good browser based previev tool.
Again, recommended.

 

[Brian Roth]

What about the USA? All I do anymore are tiny projects and use OshPark. Not all that fast (a few weeks) but has great tech support AND I'm not in a hurry. AFAIK they do fab here in the USA vs. farming it out to China.

NOTHING AGAINST OshPark here!

 

[JohnRoberts]

It would be impractical to order PCB for use in the UK from US.... Regarding inexpensive PCBs, that horse has already left the barn and swum to China. Paying more to buy PCBs from some non-Chinese manufacturer may make one feel better but is not punishing China with any significance. A more effective strategy would be to support local businesses that still have a chance of surviving the economic onslaught.

JR

PS: I agree whole heartedly with the sentiment, as I shared earlier I tried to buy a batch of PCBs from a Canadian vendor years ago that arrived from China.

 

[Winston OBoogie]

I'm about to order minimum qty. of a pcb as an add-on fix to another person's main layout. I'll give the job to Aisler so, thanks for the recommendation chaps.

 

[ruffrecords]

What about the USA? All I do anymore are tiny projects and use OshPark. Not all that fast (a few weeks) but has great tech support AND I'm not in a hurry. AFAIK they do fab here in the USA vs. farming it out to China.

NOTHING AGAINST OshPark here!

I have nothing against them either. I have used them for a small board once, but their pricing is high; $5 per square inch for three boards. I just got three double Eurocard sized boards (233.4mm by 160mm) made by Aisler for 53 Euros. The board is 57 square inches which would have cost $285 from OSH.

Cheers

Ian

 

[Banzai]

Been very happy with quality of eurocircuits.com
Made in Hungary.

Also tried european-circuits.co.uk
Made in Glasgow.

Great quality, but they charge for tooling. They offer assembly and production though:

https://european-circuits.co.uk/european-circuits-manufacturer-starlight-microphone/

 

[Heikki]

Yesterday I logged in to jlcpcb to do some price comparison between Aisler and jlcpcb. At some point I was no longer logged in to my account at jlcpcb but in some Italian guys account. I don't know how or why it happened but it could be bug that somebody might exploit. Not a big deal for hobbyists if somebody gets into your account and reorders some of your past projects for himself but could be problem for any commercial enterprises using jlcpcb. Just a word of warning.

 

[ralphw]

Aren't these heavily automated operations? (Isn't that the point of uploading a gerber file?)

 

[JohnRoberts]

Aren't these heavily automated operations? (Isn't that the point of uploading a gerber file?)

Yes, and that's why they are so cheap. Drilling and routing are under machine control, but there are still manual labor steps involved. Then there is the raw material suppliers who gravitate to where the PC makers are. Etching PCBs is not a very clean process.

PCB used to cost more years ago.

JR

 

[ruffrecords]

Aren't these heavily automated operations? (Isn't that the point of uploading a gerber file?)

Both the cheap and the expensive ones expect you to upload a Gerber file. But the processes have certainly changed over the years. In the old days the copper layers were rendered as actual photographs and the silk screen layer used an actual silk screen and ink . Today the copper layers are printed directly onto film and silk screens are printed directly onto the PCBs using a big printer. Drilling automation has been around for many years to. Flying probe electrical testing also eliminates another expensive tooling step.

Cheers

Ian

 

[zamproject]

Just receive my first order from aisler
Seem good

I have time on this project so I don't pick express shipping but free shipping
Ordered the 6, received today the 23.
Cost me approx 10€/pce for 3 pce 100x160 eurocard, that's it !
I find the price very competitive, and my boards don't take plane or cargo to travel 10000km
Component not received yet so can't say about working on it, this is a mixed TH/SMD so a good test, especially as I'll also test lead free solder for this project. I need to practice for a way bigger project .

As Ian say they obviously only use cnc router for cutout and holes, so there is mouse bite everywhere, my design is a railed eurocard so I probably need small rework, but I won't complain as I knew this issue before ordering.

the second pcb in this batch is a smal 20*30, a small additional fet mute for stereo module of my console (without mute...)
cost me 1€pce for 12 pces, but here they don't take the time to break the panel

Cheers
Zam