Hey David, www.expresspcb.com has been great for me. You probably won't beat them by much for small boards & low quantity orders. They do both silkscreens and solder masks. Also, you will save some money if you cut the boards yourself. I have a jig I made & with my dremel I can cut my boards out pretty quickly. You can download their software, draw your boards and it will give you an instant & accurate quote. Using their software will simplify things if you don't do this often, that way you won't have to create any Gerber files, etc.. If you can find some other people who need some boards made and order with them you will save some money, as the biggest factor is the tooling charge, not board area. HTH, Steve ----- Original Message ----- From: "David P. Harris" To: "Steve Ruse" Sent: Monday, December 10, 2001 7:50 PM Subject: Re: [OT]:How successful has your garage bussiness been? > Steve- > I want to get some pc boards made -- I was thinking of APCircuits. Double > sided, 3x4 inches. Soldermask and legends would be nice. Any pointers? > David > PS -- this would probably be appreciated by a lot of the Piclist, too. > > > Steve Ruse wrote: > > > Hey Traveler, > > > > My little web business has been great for me. I think there are two main > > factors that have helped make it a success. First, the "plug and play" > > ability of your product will affect you greatly. When my customers have a > > problem with a product, I go to great lengths to keep them happy. Normally > > if someone has a problem, the first thing I do is call them. That really > > helps customer satisfaction, which is a big factor as most of my sales > > result from "word of mouth". Luckily, the PNP capability of my product is > > pretty high, so I don't have to do this often. > > > > Second, you need to have high enough profit margins that you will want to > > keep doing it. I draw the line at about $30/HR because there are always > > going to be little unexpected expenses & issues which take time for you to > > address. I do know of people who have started a garage business & sold their > > product with very low profit margins, and quickly got into trouble. In one > > case, sales went crazy, but profit margins weren't enough to keep the guy > > going. He had to shut down the business and spend three months filling > > backorders. He still isn't very popular on the net. I'm now looking at > > tapping that market, using a design that costs much less but sells for a > > little more. :-) > > > > Volume is pretty low, just a few units a week, but it is enough to make it > > worth it. I haven't had any major problems with supply, Outpost.com once > > delayed shipment of some of my parts for two months which caused some > > headaches, but I worked it out. Needless to say I don't order anything from > > them anymore. Overall, I've loved doing it. I'm a student (graduate in May! > > Anyone hiring? :-) ), and the extra cash has been great. This year for > > Christmas break I'm going skiing instead of getting a job for three weeks. > > :-) Which brings up another issue you'll have to address, how do you ship > > when you are out of town..... > > > > If you have any questions feel free to e-mail, I'd be glad to answer > > anything I can. I've done a pretty good amount of research on PCB > > manufacturers, etc., etc., so maybe I can help you. > > > > HTH, > > Steve Ruse > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Traveler Hauptman > > To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU > > Date: Monday, December 10, 2001 8:45 AM > > Subject: [OT]:How successful has your garage bussiness been? > > > > >Hi all, > > > > > >I'm considering starting a business selling some > > electronics/microcontroller > > >modules I'm developing as a side venture. Does anyone have stories of their > > >own successes/failures they could share so I can get a better idea of what > > >I'm getting myself into? What kind of volume do you get with your niche > > >product? Nightmares with suppliers or product support? Anything that might > > >bring me to my senses and make me return to being a slave to the Man? > > > > > >Regards, > > > > > >Traveler Hauptman > > > > -- > > http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different > > ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details. > > > -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.