BatchPCB Trial Run

[electrosonic]

My home etched PCBs have been the weak point in my builds - so I thought I would try getting a few made  professionally. There are a few places offering this type of service - low cost runs of as few boards as you want. I chose BatchPCB, but there are other companies offering similar services.

For a trial run I chose a simple lm386 amp (I was figuring out how to use Eagle as well).

I entered the schematic into Eagle and made a PCB layout. Then I used Eagle to output Gerber files. These were uploaded to the BatchPCB website and I paid for two copies. The boards are made in China and then shipped to Colorado, from there they are sent to the customers. I ordered two boards, but they sent me four. From what I have read it is not unusual to get an extra board or two - maybe in case one is flawed.

I don't mean to cover too much of the process, that is explained well enough on their website.

I am fairly happy with the results I got exactly what I ordered. I spec'd some holes too small, but that was my fault. The solder mask and plated through holes makes the board very easy to solder, and the end result looks really nice. In all it cost me $28 and it took 4 weeks to get my boards - I am in Canada I think 3 weeks is typical in the US. I did choose the cheapest shipping option, which meant I had no tracking number and probably no recourse if the boards never showed up.

They do offer 4  layer boards as well. (I wonder why pedal makers bother gooping their pedals when they could just obscure the traces inside their PCBs)

Anyone else have any experience with this?

Andrew.

[SteveG]

"I wonder why pedal makers bother gooping their pedals when they could just obscure the traces inside their PCBs"

Almost certainly because they're not imaginative or knowledgeable enough to have thought of that as an option.

[Earthscum]

Probably more to do with cost. A custom board that I can just trace out with a lightbox and an ohm meter, or 10 cents worth of goop. I'd just go for the goop, myself.

[SteveG]

Goop isn't a perfect solution, either. I once picked my way right into a Dumble pre-amp!

[chi_boy]

That is a pretty cool concept.   Doesn't sound inexpensive though.  $14 per board is about par for some of the bigger fabbed boards from some of the DIY guys. 

How big was the board?  And would you mind posting some pics?

Cheers,
George

[electrosonic]

BatchPCB sent me four boards even though I ordered two, so it worked out well ($7 each). The boards are kind of an odd size 0.8 inches by 3.9 inches. On one end is a neutrik jack which holds the board in place in the in enclosure.

I had to drill out the holes for the jack to fit, and I used the default eagle trace width (16 mil) - I would go bigger next time, maybe bump up the size of the pads. I mainly used the library from http://gaussmarkov.net/ . I finally got a handle on how to edit the library parts, so I think next time should work out a bit better.

(I found the eagle tutorials here http://tangentsoft.net/elec/movies/ really useful)

Andrew.

[chi_boy]

Thanks Andrew!  That's pretty cool.  I am feeling inspired!