Where to have electronic boards made

[lazer]

Does anyone know of a company or place that makes those little green boards that you can then solder really small electronic parts to? I think the parts are called sd or sm parts or something.

 

[lasersbee]

First... do you have a PCB Design program that can output Gerber Files...

Any PCB manufacturer needs Gerber files to produce your PCB...
which means that you have to first design your Printed Circuit Board
using your PCB Design Software... and then produce the Gerber files
of your PCB to give to a manufacturer to be able to produce your design....

Jerry

 

[pseudolobster]

I keep hearing good things about http://www.batchpcb.com/

Of course, you'll have to design the board yourself, and submit it in a format they can print, but yeah, I hear they're very good and very reasonably priced.

 

[lazer]

I dont have a gerber program but I will use pseudolobster's batchpcb. I heard about that program a couple days ago in the laser chat. Is there a way to make a gerber file of a fully built pcb I already have? Where can I find the little parts that you put on the boards?

 

[lasersbee]

You can get electronic parts at DigiKey...

Jerry
(2600-894-11)

 

[k1kb0t]

Lazer you can use EAGLE Layout Editor to create gerber files.

 

[maxh]

I use ExpressPCB and like them. They have their own software that's free and easy to learn. I think the files it generates are only usable with their service, though. As lasersbee mentioned, Gerber files are the standard for PCB manufacturers. Eagle is one of the best software packages, and they have a freeware version for non-commercial users. It's more complex than expresspcb's software, so if you're looking to just draw up one board real quick and don't have a desire to learn the better software, expresspcb might be up your alley.

 

[erdabyz]

I do them myself for my own projects. I can achieve very high resolutions, such as 10 mil traces and things like that with no professional equipment (a glass - PCB sandwich and inkjet transparent films immediately coated with talcum powder after printing).


This is a small sample of my work, that is an easy PCB for me:


But i also made boards for accelerometers in the past, with leadless QFN packages.

If there's popular demand i will post a tutorial showing how I make them. There are two PCB brands to buy the material that outperform the others, one is Bungard for those who live in europe, and the other is Injectorall from those living in the USA.

 

[maxh]

Do you have any methods for doing vias/holes with plating on the walls?

 

[erdabyz]

Do you have any methods for doing vias/holes with plating on the walls?

Nope, that still has to be developed. I just create vias with some wire or the legs of a component, soldering both sides.