Wagner,

You should be able to find someone willing to do automated assembly
of 500 boards no problems. Here in NZ I get boards produced by a
manufacturer that does both manual and automated assembly. They will
do small runs manually at a cost. My gut feeling is that one-off run
of a board like you descibe they would assemble entirely by hand if
the quantity was 50 or so, anything more than that it would be
worthwhile automating. The fact that you may or may not get them to
make any more boards in the future complicates things, but that is a
consideration for the assembler when quoting on the work. Perhaps
they can separate the setup costs for you so you can forecast what
the next 500 will cost.

A regular board I get produced measures 4.5" x 5.0" and has about 160
components, 16 of them through hole. The very first batch was only 50
units, with a view to repeat runs every 2-3 months. Now orders have
increased a little I get batches of 100 at a time. Right from the
start the assembly company did these by machine (except through hole
components which are placed by hand).

Like you say, the hard part is finding the right sized company - but
they should be out there.

--
Brent Brown, Electronic Design Solutions
16 English Street, Hamilton, New Zealand
Ph/fax: +64 7 849 0069
Mobile/txt: 025 334 069
eMail:  brent.brown@clear.net.nz

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