*(&^@#!! &*^!!! Futurlec!!! @U*(@!#*(#&#&(@(

[ExpAnonColin]

Colin (and others with outstanding orders)

I emailed them and had a reply fairly quickly (and this at 4AM in California - guess they're responding from Australia). They said that only my Linear IC value pack is currently on hold and they're checking with the manufacturer for future availability.

I'm not sure who manufactures a grab bag of ICs, but the good news is that for anyone who currently has orders for pots out, they seem to be in stock. I ordered about $35 worth of all sorts of values, FYI.

The only IC I ordered was an LM386.  It could be taht I spose...

-Colin

[ExpAnonColin]

In all honesty I think I'm going to suck it up in the future and just go with mouser for absolutely everything... except for stomp switches.

-Colin

[gotdabluz]

I have heard lotsa bad from other's in regards to Futurlec

I had a rather fortunate experience with Futurlec, my order only took 10 days . . . but . . . it was for ready-made stripboard that they must have had in stock and someone must have actually have been doing their job that day . . . guess I got lucky

[bwanasonic]

Regarding Express PCB - The $51 miniboard service (three 3.8" X 2.5" boards) is for 2-sided boards, plated thru holes, with no solder mask or silkscreen layer. If you need solder mask and silkscreen, you would need to order around a dozen of these same size boards to make it cost effective. Your up front costs would then be around $280, but if you get 4-6 layouts on each board, your per board cost would only be about $3-5 dollars. Cutting the boards apart can be a PITA, but the boards themselves are very nice. You also avoid the complicated pricing of places that charge for multiple drill sizes , etc.  ExpressPCB also offers a *ProtoPro* service that is $229 for five 21 square inch (or smaller) boards, including solder mask and silkscreen.

Kerry M

[ExpAnonColin]

ExpressPCB does sound sort of attractive, but I'm not buying a PC and relearning how to do PCB layouts in another program just to get a so-so deal on circuit boards.

-Colin

[object88]

Colin, what are you currently using for your PCB artwork?  I'm curious about non-Windows alternatives.

[Dragonfly]

ExpressPCB does sound sort of attractive, but I'm not buying a PC and relearning how to do PCB layouts in another program just to get a so-so deal on circuit boards.

-Colin

it depends on the size of the circuit youre working on, and how many you need...in my earlier example of silicon FF's, three mini boards yielded 18 boards for a total cost of $59 ....thats just over $3 each.....

the same layout, in a PRODUCTION run of 50 boards (with plated thru holes, solder mask, and silkscreen) would be $286.48 ....thats a bit over $5 per board, but is of SUPER high quality....probably the best you'll find.

as far as the layout program, you'd be hard pressed to find an easier program to use....

my $.02,
 andy

[Dan N]

Colin, what are you currently using for your PCB artwork?  I'm curious about non-Windows alternatives.

http://www.swcp.com/~jchavez/osmond.html

Good for you Colin if you have this sussed. It drove me crazy.

[object88]

Ah-hah!  That's what "Osmond" was.  Thanks!  

[troubledtom]

I have heard lotsa bad from other's in regards to Futurlec

I had a rather fortunate experience with Futurlec, my order only took 10 days . . . but . . . it was for ready-made stripboard that they must have had in stock and someone must have actually have been doing their job that day . . . guess I got lucky

yeh, bro .
   mouser :!:  :!:  :!:  :!:  :!:  :!:  :!:  :!:  :!:
        peace to you ,
               - tom

[mrsage]

I asked Dave about making me some boards, and he said he only does design.

autopilot makes boards for reasonable prices. They're probably not quite the same quality as the Futurlec ones, but they're definitely functional.

He's the guy who's done them for me in the past.  Great guy, but I like solder mask (I'm rhyming).  Once he forgot to drill a hole.

-Colin

Sounds about right...

Out of maybe 10 boards from him (total) I've had to add 3 or 4 holes. That wasn't a problem once I had the right drill bit, though.

I like that guitar you made, by the way. Very sweet looking. How does it sound?

[El Caballo]

Mouser and Digikey have always done well for me.  Both ship partial orders if something is out of stock.

Here is a page of links to quickturn low-quantity PCB manufacturers.  Note: I have not personally used any of these, but the author of the page has.

http://www.tinymicros.com/embedded/pcbs.html

[ExpAnonColin]

ExpressPCB does sound sort of attractive, but I'm not buying a PC and relearning how to do PCB layouts in another program just to get a so-so deal on circuit boards.

-Colin

it depends on the size of the circuit youre working on, and how many you need...in my earlier example of silicon FF's, three mini boards yielded 18 boards for a total cost of $59 ....thats just over $3 each.....

the same layout, in a PRODUCTION run of 50 boards (with plated thru holes, solder mask, and silkscreen) would be $286.48 ....thats a bit over $5 per board, but is of SUPER high quality....probably the best you'll find.

as far as the layout program, you'd be hard pressed to find an easier program to use....

my $.02,
 andy

To me, that's still too much, especially when I could make my own (albeit not-super-high-quality) FF boards for something like 50c apiece.  But we're not talking DIY boards here.

-Colin

[ExpAnonColin]

Colin, what are you currently using for your PCB artwork?  I'm curious about non-Windows alternatives.

http://www.swcp.com/~jchavez/osmond.html

Good for you Colin if you have this sussed. It drove me crazy.

Yeah yeah, that's the one.  I simply love it.  Do the tutorial and you'll have it completely down.  Make a simple part library with DIP8-18, make a resistor size part, a cap size part, and a single wire and normal pad for everything else, and just drag and drop for the simplest version... you can also do what I've been doign lately... basically, if you learn a super simple language, you can just describe to Osmond what is going on on a schematic, place the parts, and it will connect all the correct pads and rout them for you.

-Colin

[ExpAnonColin]

I asked Dave about making me some boards, and he said he only does design.

autopilot makes boards for reasonable prices. They're probably not quite the same quality as the Futurlec ones, but they're definitely functional.

He's the guy who's done them for me in the past.  Great guy, but I like solder mask (I'm rhyming).  Once he forgot to drill a hole.

-Colin

Sounds about right...

Out of maybe 10 boards from him (total) I've had to add 3 or 4 holes. That wasn't a problem once I had the right drill bit, though.

I like that guitar you made, by the way. Very sweet looking. How does it sound?

I don't have the right drill bit... everything is too big for these tiny holes.  Time for a trip to the local ace hardware.

Thanks for the nice words... it sounds great, it's actually fairly SG-like, but big and warm like a 335 because it's semi hollow.

-Colin

[ExpAnonColin]

Mouser and Digikey have always done well for me.  Both ship partial orders if something is out of stock.

Here is a page of links to quickturn low-quantity PCB manufacturers.  Note: I have not personally used any of these, but the author of the page has.

http://www.tinymicros.com/embedded/pcbs.html

Thanks for the link, that's exactly what I needed...  advanced circuits sounds great but I would end up getting like 250 boards, and I just don't need that... btu I think I will go with bare bones, even though solder mask is super nice to have.

-Colin