It often does not make sense to invest in costly production gear if you just want to spin a couple of prototypes and as an alternative outsource your PCB assembly and prototype manufacturing to a trustworthy vendor. ball grid array will give some guidelines as to what to watch out for when hunting for a contract manufacturer.
A lot of contract makers will supply an immediate quote mechanism on their web page for manufacture of circuit boards and assembly of prototypes. This will save you time when comparing different vendors. Make confident that the quote method allows you to enter all of the details, such as board material, thickness, copper thickness, milling and so on. so that you can get an accurate quote without any surprises later on.
Typically the price per board will reduce as quantity increases. This is due to the relatively higher setup expense of circuit board manufacturing and component assembly. Some vendors will use a technique exactly where they combine boards from numerous shoppers. This way the setup price will be distributed amongst numerous shoppers. When you manufacture a solution, you naturally do not want to have to manufacture a significant quantity of boards correct away though you refine your design.
A single limitation with little-quantity prototypes though is that the selection of supplies and material thicknesses will be limited. If you are applying a special material then probabilities are there will not be any other consumers making use of the very same material. In addition, lead time plays a big part in figuring out price. A longer lead time allows the manufacturer additional freedom in slotting your production. This is ordinarily reflected in decrease charges which you will see in the quote section. Clearly if you are in a rush and want to be moved to the top rated of the pile you will have to have to devote much more dollars.
Make confident that your contract manufacturer will support the file format for manufacture that you provide. The most typical format for PCB manufacture is the Gerber format but some vendors will also accept board files from prevalent PCB software goods. Some suppliers also provide in-house PCB design and style. Even if you style your board oneself, picking a vendor with design services may perhaps prove helpful in case there is a problem with your files. In this case your vendor can make fast alterations which will steer clear of expensive delays.
When subcontracting PCB assembly, assure that your vendor can assemble all of the package sorts that your board uses. Some vendors can’t assemble certain variety of IC packages such as BGA, chip-scale packages or pretty compact element sorts. If in doubt be certain to make contact with your vendor ahead of time.
Some contract manufacturers will carry an inventory of typical SMT and by way of-hole components. You will save time if you can pull from your vendor’s inventory rather than buying every single component your self. Make positive to specify which elements you want to consign your self when you upload your bill of components.
Most vendors will also offer manufacture of the SMT stencil which is essential for PCB assembly. Be confident to order the stencil proper away when ordering the circuit boards themselves to avoid delays.