UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum - View Single Post

Craig Sawyers · 16th Jul 2019, 1:31 pm

I too used to faff around making my own boards, from age 14 through to quite recently (around five years ago). I even bought a UV light box, printing on special film to make a mask.

But using free layout software (KiCAD) and a Chinese board house in Shenzhen (PCBWay). Five off each of two different smallish boards 100mm square, double sided, plated holes, solder resist and silk screened - USD1 each. I pay extra for fast shipment using DHL which gives a total of USD39 for a total of ten boards. From sending the Gerbers to China to them hitting the doormat in the UK is four days. Ridiculously cheap, superb quality and five star service.

The nearest I could get to this in the UK was £400 on a ten day schedule for a single board design. Which is not even remotely close to the Chinese price.

Craig

16th Jul 2019, 1:31 pm	#14
Craig Sawyers Dekatron Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Oxford, UK. Posts: 4,982	Re: PCB production using toner transfer I too used to faff around making my own boards, from age 14 through to quite recently (around five years ago). I even bought a UV light box, printing on special film to make a mask. But using free layout software (KiCAD) and a Chinese board house in Shenzhen (PCBWay). Five off each of two different smallish boards 100mm square, double sided, plated holes, solder resist and silk screened - USD1 each. I pay extra for fast shipment using DHL which gives a total of USD39 for a total of ten boards. From sending the Gerbers to China to them hitting the doormat in the UK is four days. Ridiculously cheap, superb quality and five star service. The nearest I could get to this in the UK was £400 on a ten day schedule for a single board design. Which is not even remotely close to the Chinese price. Craig