A Good PCB Manufacture for Hobby PCB

[wraper]

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

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

^$18.50 with PCB and shipping promotions.

[retiredfeline]

It's very hard to beat jlcpcb's $1.5 shipping. Even if I order 10 for $1 from Elecrow, the shipping comes to about $9 so per board it costs more.

[bostonman]

Sadly I've been having issues with them stating my "drill" file is missing.

Not sure what I'm doing wrong because I'm going through all the same steps as before. The ask for an XLN extension, and added it within the gerber, but also there is a N/C Drill option which I also generated and provided.

[retiredfeline]

Perhaps you should start a new thread under the appropriate ECAD subforum, e.g. Eagle, Altium, KiCad etc, explaining what you've done to generate the manufacturing files.

[bostonman]

Unfortunately I doubt anyone knows this software and/or can assist. I'm using PCAD 2006 and the components are designed around layers designed from my old company.

They upgraded the software and gave me this entire registered package many years ago.

[retiredfeline]

You might be surprised, there are a lot of old-timers here. I don't know that software, but my guess is that there is a step to generate drill files you missed.

I think XLN means Excellon format drill files. It's quite common.

[Kim Christensen]

Don't know PCAD 2006, but KiCad requires me to click "Generate Drill File" in addition to "Plot" when creating the gerber files. Otherwise no drill files are generated.
Example of KiCad's drill file parameters. Maybe you can adjust your PCAD 2006 parameters to use a similar format:

[fourfathom]

KiCad requires me to click "Generate Drill File" in addition to "Plot" when creating the gerber files. Otherwise no drill files are generated.

Probably not going to help the OP, but I use the KiCad external plugin "Fabrication Toolkit" to create all the files needed for JLCPCB fabrication and assembly.  Of course you need your components (Symbol Editor) to include the JLCPCB or LCSC catalog numbers, which I have added to my library.  You still want to check everything, but that toolkit is pretty handy.

[Rafiki]

Unfortunately I doubt anyone knows this software and/or can assist. I'm using PCAD 2006 and the components are designed around layers designed from my old company.

I'm here f.i. ;-)

File - Export - N/C drill - N/C Drill format - I use Millimeters, ASCII None, Format 4:2, Zero Suppression Leading - IIRC. ASCII NONE was the culprit once as otherwise I couldn't made any sense of the output file in a text editor (seems JLCPCB had the same problem). Check the output file in a text editor. With a bit searching the net it's really easy to understand this file.

Btw. in Tools I usually Auto assign the holes and being there I usually clean up my parts to use only a limited number of drill sizes.

For your reference I attach the .xln (renamed) from my latest very simple board.

[bostonman]

Unfortunately I doubt anyone knows this software and/or can assist. I'm using PCAD 2006 and the components are designed around layers designed from my old company.

I shouldn't have made this statement. First off, EEVblog has been amazing with helping with answering questions. Secondly, this site is comprised of people who have decades of experience.

Minutes after I sent that message, someone sent a private message who knows PCAD and helped me.

The libraries I have for PCAD have unique layers, so my mindset was that I can't be helped due to (technically) being unable to share any of the libraries since they were at one time designed for my old job (even though they are just basic components).

So I felt that if I can't share the libraries, I certainly can't ask for anyone to guess at trying to solve issues.

Having said all this, it appears I finally got a successful acceptance of my design and it's being fabricated.

I asked these questions to the person who sent a private message, but I'll ask here too for others to benefit (I'm still waiting for a reply from the person, but know I'll get a response).

Attached is the options for N/C Drill. My design was done in mm. If I select 'inches' (which seems to have been the selection accepted by JLCPCB), will that cause conflicting information between gerbers and drills?

Also, the rest of the options I don't know what they mean. In the past I may have left them as is and never had an issue, but now I did and don't know what these mean. So if I have issues in the future, I won't know why they need to be changed.

Last question is: if these settings were wrong, why was it reported that I was "missing" drill files? Did their software just overlook the file because it wasn't formatted properly?

[bostonman]

I'm curious, how does JLCPCB ship so fast?

Due to them needing a phone number that delayed delivery, they shipped my boards early this week, maybe Monday, and the tracking code states I'll have the package by Friday (from Hong Kong to Boston).

Aliexpress orders take a few weeks to go arrive due to customs and stuff.

[rich t]

Are you doing PCBA (with turnkey assembly) or just blank PCBs?

if you are doing PCBA, I have some notes: https://rtestardi.github.io/usbte/pcbafd.pdf

Pcbway does not require an account for a quote, but you want to go to a slightly different page than default to just upload gerbers and have it figure out everything for you:

https://www.pcbway.com/QuickOrderOnline.aspx

They were the best at hand-holding for PCBA, but a bit more expensive (I used 4 different companies).

By far the cheapest (and the only one that will do fulfillment after PCBA) was: https://www.elecrow.com/

[bostonman]

Blank PCBs.

Thanks for the information.

So far I've been impressed with JLCPCB. The N/C Drill stuff was a bit annoying and doubt I would have resolved the issue if not for the help of feedback from this thread (and the person who sent a private message).

I don't remember having such issues in the past, but maybe companies (or the company I dealt with back then) was more lenient on the N/C Drill stuff.

[fourfathom]

I'm curious, how does JLCPCB ship so fast?

All I can say is that they really can ship fast.  I generally use their "DHL Express Worldwide" option, which isn't the cheapest.  For example, I just ordered 25 ea assembled boards plus another 25 bare boards of a different design.  The assembly included a hand-soldered SMA connector, and a small number of surface-mount components on a very small 2-layer PCB, all components in JLCPCB stock. 

Design files submitted July 12.  Delivered to San Francisco July 16.  That's four days!

This is probably the fastest turn-around I've seen from them -- usually it's about ten days or so -- but it's really pretty amazing.  The shipping cost $23, the boards + assembly cost $57, so the shipping is a significant fraction.  I truly wish I could get the same price and service locally, or at least not 10x or 20x the price.  But I can't.

[bostonman]

Wow, that's an amazing turn around time and shipping.

The nice thing about fast shipping is that if the design is wrong, needs to be tweaked, a new revision, etc... you're not waiting a month or two for another revision board.

One or two issues with gerbers were absolutely my fault. I forgot to add the internal layers to the gerbers and noticed they saw two-layers, yet, my design was four-layers. That was an easy fix, but the N/C Drill stuff I would have never resolved; and not sure I could in the future.

[Rafiki]

but the N/C Drill stuff I would have never resolved; and not sure I could in the future

Why do you think so? Sending a new file and waiting for another complaint works. So trial and error with a few trials worked for me. And heh, there are not so many options for generating the N/C file. I bit searching the net worked for me too with my first order. Additionally they have a direct chat (not a stupid bot TTBOMK!) and they email you back. So nicely asking and a bit thinking about the problem ever worked for me so I'm sure it would for you too.

Btw I think it would be polite to post the solution to your problem here in the forum. Curious what you changed to make it work.

[bostonman]

They kept informing me that I didn't "include" the N/C Drill file, so I was focusing on the file not being present; not the settings. Most likely I would have kept sending the N/C Drill file as a separate ZIP, combine with the gerbers, etc... and continued such combinations.

For the N/C Drill settings, I changed the units to 'inches', 2:4 Format, ASCII None Type, and None Zero Suppression.

My design was done in mm, so originally I left the gerbers and N/C Drill in mm. As for all those settings, I'm uncertain what they all mean or how they affect the N/C Drill file, but once changed to these, they were able to locate the N/C Drill file.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Aliexpress orders take a few weeks to go arrive due to customs and stuff.

Depending on country, sometimes Aliexpress combine orders into a single shipment that then gets split up and redistributed in the destination country.
Also, you useally pay rather more for shipping with JLC than Ali

[newto]

I think the easiest solution is to switch to Kicad for future projects.

We switched from an ancient PADS VX license to kicad and it's way easier to design and less finicky. And less issues with fab shops since it uses more modern gerbers

 And by "we" I mean me, since I'm the only one developing anything here, so all the collaborative features are were useless.

[themadhippy]

I think the easiest solution is to switch to Kicad for future projects

even easier if using jlcpcb for your boards is  easyeda,jlcpcb's  own software.

[Kim Christensen]

For the N/C Drill settings, I changed the units to 'inches', 2:4 Format, ASCII None Type, and None Zero Suppression.

JLCPCB does have instructions on how to generate drill files and gerbers for different software.
While they don't list your software, you could deduce what's need from this info.
When you had these issues, did you try their online Gerber viewer with the faulty zip file?

Some more info about common drill file errors at JLCPCB

[bostonman]

When you had these issues, did you try their online Gerber viewer with the faulty zip file?

Yes, but I didn't see any issue nor did I really know what to look for.

The previous advice on scrapping PCAD and going with something like KiCAD is certainly good advice. My game plan was to familiarize myself with Altium since that's used more in industry and learning it would be beneficial. Unfortunately I found myself taking too long to figure out Altium and I wanted to get my board laid out (especially since it's just jumper wires and two IC sockets).

Being honest... it took me so long to familiarize myself with PCAD 2006 and painstakingly creating tutorials for future reference that I'm having a hard time jumping ship. As I've mentioned, Altium would (in my opinion) more beneficial to learn since it's used widely in industry, but KiCAD is popular among hobbyists; both offer lots of support. Also, seldom do I create PCBs, so each time I get involved in creating one (last one was nine-years-ago) I go with what I know to save time.

Also, everyone is correct that using current software would offer current gerber versions. I actually expected issues with the gerber files and/or companies to accept some new format that PCAD wouldn't have; or be outdated.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Just noticed the mention of PCAD2006 - I use this and have no issues exporting files using the default settings.
(If you are inheriting existing files, the defaults may have been changed).
These settings are inches,ASCII None, leading 2:4

Inch/mm shouldn't matter as the units are embedded in the drill file.

If you have more than 2 layers, you need to ensure all layers are selected in the drill output file setup

[bostonman]

If you have more than 2 layers, you need to ensure all layers are selected in the drill output file setup

Hmmmm I'll need to check this. With the inner two layers, I just copied the existing setup for top and bottom when generating the gerbers.

Actually, I did include all the layers because the 'signal' layers were all listed, and then I just did auto for whatever other stuff I needed.

The main focus I had was trying to figure out why the report kept stating my drill file wasn't present. if the report stated the drill file didn't meet their specifications, then I would have been focused on setting.

For what it's worth, using PCB layout software that doesn't have 3D does have limitations. In the case of my current board, it needs to fit nicely onto the back of an existing board to repair a piece of equipment, so being able to export a STEP file and print it would have been nice.

The PCBs are scheduled to arrive today, so I'll have a better idea if I made any drill file errors. I'm assuming the obvious would be the holes wouldn't go all the way through.

[Kim Christensen]

The PCBs are scheduled to arrive today, so I'll have a better idea if I made any drill file errors. I'm assuming the obvious would be the holes wouldn't go all the way through.

Blind or buried vias would have drill holes that don't go all the way through the PCB. So not necessarily an error, but usually the PCB will cost more.