Byron,

 I can add the following info....

 1) For better price, go with longer turn times.  Logical right?
    Since TT is no longer critical, go for the longest time you
    can achieve vs the price you want to pay for the finished boards.

 2) The tools we (I) use is OrCad Layout Plus.  This is what I started
    out on at TI, and is also what we have at Applied MEMS.  Some people
    don't like OrCad, but to me, it seems just fine.  It is sort of
    buggy and quarky though.   But I've learned to workaround these
    difficulties.

 3) Find a board house that you like that is close to you geographically.
    This makes communication between you and the board house much easier.
    Also, you can hand deliver and pick up rush items.

 4) Take as much time as you can on the initial layout.  And don't try
    to do it all in one sitting.   I have found that if I do a small part
    of it, leave it for awhile, and think about it for awhile, I usually
    come up with the answet to a puzzling question I had about routing,
    or I envision a different (and better) way of routing (or rerouting)
    a portion of the board.   Several times this has save adding an extra
    layer or two. To me, this is the most critical part of the design.

 5) Don't sweat it if you screw up.   Just fix the problem and go on.

 6) Don't be afraid to ask for help or advice from someone more experienced
    in layout than you.

 This is what I have to add to your request for insight.  I hope it helps.
 And good luck on your endeavor.


                                                       Regards,

                                                         Jim






> I'm contemplating my first real PCB production run. I know that the
> topic has been beaten to death in the forum. I realized though that the
> problem isn't a lack of information, but instead a overflowing wealth
> of info. I wanted to get your experiences of a wholistic view of the
> process from design to production.
>
> The situation: I have a prototype design done in wire wrap. For
> production it will need a few items added, so the design isn't yet
> airtight. In the end I'd like to get a moderate production run of say
> 100 boards. The board size is going to be somewhere in the 3 in x 3 in
> to 4 in x 4 in range.
>
> I envision the process in three stages:
>
> 1) Design: finish adding the goodies to the prototype, layout a PCB,
> then test and tweak until a rock solid design and board is complete.
>
> 2) Prototype production run where a handful of boards are done with the
> final design from the board house, which are then tested.
>
> 3) Final run. The actual production run.
>
> The variables are turnaround time (TT), limiting cost (LC), and quality
> (Q). Each of these vary at each stage. Here are my roundabout guesses
> on a 0-10 scale.
>
> Design: TT:10 LC:10 Q:4. This needs to be a quick dirty phase because
> it
>         may iterate over several versions. It needs to be relatively
>         inexpensive due to revisions. The quality only needs to be good
>         enough to test.
>
> Prototype: TT:10 LC:5 Q:10. The prototypes should be the same quality
> as
>            the production boards. Quick turnaround time in order to
>            verify the results. Since this step is done once, cost isn't
>            a significant issue.
>
> Final: TT:3 LC:9 Q:10. For the final run I'd like to see top quality at
> the
>        best price. Since everything has been tested, turnaround time is
>        no longer critical.
>
> What I wanted to see was folks' experiences at each phase. What tools
> did you use? Which house did you choose? Why?
>
> There are numerous choices at every stage. Any assistance in narrowing
> down the field to fit the criteria outlined above would be helpful.
>
> Thanks,
>
> BAJ
>
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