A Good PCB Manufacture for Hobby PCB

[bostonman]

I'm finding most PCB companies want an account created before they provide a quote.

In the past I remember uploading the gerber files without an account and it would report any errors along with a quote.

PCBway is the same, but they also seem expensive. My board is appox. 120mm x 60mm and (unfortunately) four-layers. They are stating around $80, but they want an account created to continue along with most other companies.

Does anyone know a better source for PCBs that may be cheaper?

[retiredfeline]

Quite a few of the usual suspects will provide an estimate on their website without logging in. The error checking is usually after you have made an order. In the past I've found pcbshopper.com useful for comparing prices.

[bostonman]

Quite a few of the usual suspects will provide an estimate on their website without logging in. The error checking is usually after you have made an order.

Not the end of the world, but still, somewhat annoying because creating accounts results in emails which results in having to "opt" out.

I'm on their site now and they are listing "transparent" PCBs.

This sounds cool, have you or anyone tried these (or are these for flex PCBs)?

[retiredfeline]

I don't get that many messages from PCB fabs, and I have accounts with a few, only the special offer now and then, so it doesn't bother me..

[abeyer]

I'm on their site now and they are listing "transparent" PCBs.

This sounds cool, have you or anyone tried these (or are these for flex PCBs)?

To be clear (har har), I think that's transparent soldermask, not the whole pcb. On normal boards it's not that impressive... just kinda looks like a board without soldermask where the fr4 core shows through. It can be nice on a board with a lot of copper pours where there isn't as much core showing or if you do a colored core material (eg https://www.eevblog.com/forum/manufacture/clear-soldermask-and-black-core-pcb/)

[Kim Christensen]

JLCPCB shows $38 for x5 120mm x 60mm 4 layer PCBs without logging in. (Canadian $)
If a log in, it's the same price. As a 1st time customer, you may get a coupon that significantly lowers that price.
JLCPCB rarely, if ever, bothered me with spam emails.

[bostonman]

This is all a big help.

I didn't want to create an account only to find out the price is outrageous before needing to move onto another company.

Maybe the higher cost is due to four-layers, but I remember a time when PCB companies were advertising dirt cheap prices for a quantity of maybe five.

[retiredfeline]

The cheap offers are usually for under 100x100 mm. In the past I've even partitioned designs with wire stitched boards to stay under that size.

[Kim Christensen]

Maybe the higher cost is due to four-layers, but I remember a time when PCB companies were advertising dirt cheap prices for a quantity of maybe five.

It depends... If I change the PCB dimensions to 100mm x 100mm 4 layer then the price drops to $9.55 for 5 PCBs even though the total PCB area is more than the 60mm x 120mm option.
Maybe change the dimensions of your design to save a few $$ if you can.
x5 100mm x 100mm 2 layer PCBs are only $2.73 + $2 shipping if I'm not in a hurry. Last two orders were here in less than 2 weeks time after upload.

Be aware that if you switch back and forth between PCB build options sometimes the price will seem to stick higher. This is usually because the via covering options (Maybe others too) don't go back to the default when switching between layer options. But if you manually reset them, all is OK again.

[Smokey]

https://pcbshopper.com/

...and you are making too big of a deal about making an account.  That doesn't lock you into anything. 

[johnboxall]

I'm finding most PCB companies want an account created before they provide a quote.

In the past I remember uploading the gerber files without an account and it would report any errors along with a quote.

PCBway is the same, but they also seem expensive. My board is appox. 120mm x 60mm and (unfortunately) four-layers. They are stating around $80, but they want an account created to continue along with most other companies.

Does anyone know a better source for PCBs that may be cheaper?

Always have a garbage gmail account. You use that for places that want an account. Life's too short.

[bostonman]

JLCPCB looks like a good suggestion.

My board is four-layers, however, when I upload the gerber files, they are "detecting" two-layers. I tried uploading gerber files from another board that has multiple layers and was built years ago, and it's also "detecting" only two-layers.

Am I doing something wrong or is this the way the website is and the additional layers will be recognized in the gerber files when it's built?

[retiredfeline]

If you are using X2 attributes, the inner layers will be identified as such in the metadata. If not pay attention to the naming of the layers, you might want to check JLCPCB's preferred scheme. And of course make sure you have included those inner layers in the .zip or .rar file.

[bostonman]

If you are using X2 attributes, the inner layers will be identified as such in the metadata.

Not sure what this is, but I made the inner layers a 'signal layer' and added them to the signal layer stack up. Initially I only had top and bottom in the stack up, so I realized this error and added "all" signal layers.

As for naming, I'll check the website as this would make sense. I named them INT1 and INT2 (for internal) which is the naming convention I took from my previous job.

INT1 and INT2 are in the gerber .ZIP file and follow all the same parameters as 'top' and 'bottom'.

Update: you may have been correct.

https://jlcpcb.com/help/article/592-gerber-files-preparation

Looks like 'top' and 'bottom' should actually be GTL and GBL, while inner layers are G2L, G3L, etc..

I assume the first inner layer isn't actually G1L?

So I should name them GTL, G2L, G3L, and GBL (i.e. top, inner 1, inner 2, and bottom)?

[retiredfeline]

Do whatever you need to for your fabricator to recognise the files.

[bostonman]

Do whatever you need to for your fabricator to recognise the files.

I agree.

I changed the file names and the website recognized all four-layers. My order has been placed, paid, and now I'm waiting on them to "review" it (about 10-60min).

The suggestion to use JLCPCB was great. The other site was good too, and looked more like they did a price and availability search - thanks for both suggestions.

[aeberbach]

I was surprised recently to compare prices between JLCPCB and PCBWAY. I guess all the cash for YouTube sponsorship has to come from somewhere, because PCBWAY is now surprisingly expensive compared to JLCPCB!

[retiredfeline]

What's made jlcpcb cheap for me of late is the low low shipping price of USD1.50 for 5 boards. How can the courier make any money? Maybe they do lots of Temu and Shein deliveries. This brings the cost to just over AUD1 per board delivered.

[stretchyman]

SIMPLE ANSWER

         JLC

[newto]

I was surprised recently to compare prices between JLCPCB and PCBWAY. I guess all the cash for YouTube sponsorship has to come from somewhere, because PCBWAY is now surprisingly expensive compared to JLCPCB!

I think it's because JLCPCB focuses more on basic PCBs, while PCBWAY has more advanced features. For flex PCBs for example, JLCPCB only offers 1 or 2 layer, while PCBWAY will do multilayer stackups and rigid-flex. But on the other hand, JLC will cost you less than 10% the price for 5x 2-layer flex PCBs up to 100x100mm compared to PCBWAY. They also have way fewer thickness options, surface finish options, copper thickness, even basic silkscreen colour options.

[wraper]

The cheapest should be allpcb with their $1 promo for the first order.

[retiredfeline]

Elecrow also does $1 batches for all customers but shipping kills it.

It's impossible to generalise and say one is always the cheapest, it depends on the count, size, layers, material, options, assembly or not, shipping method, intro offers, and so forth. Pcbshopper can give a starting point but one has to put the info into their web forms to get a quote. But there are a few already mentioned that tend to be cheap for hobbyists.

[wraper]

^allpcb should be $13 total with promo and the cheapest shipping to US, and $42 total without promo and the cheapest substrate selected.

[johnboxall]

The cheapest should be allpcb with their $1 promo for the first order.

https://www.nextpcb.com/free-pcb-prototype

[Smokey]

Elecrow also does $1 batches for all customers but shipping kills it.

...

I've got global direct shipping from elecrow for super cheap before.