Wouter van Ooijen wrote:
>> Price is $5US per square inch of board size.  For that price, you get
>> three copies (i.e., a board 1 inch (25mm) to a side costs $5, and
>> you get three of them).  Shipping inside the US is included, and he
>> does a flat rate to foreign addresses.
>>    =20
>
> Compare to Olimex: E 30 gets you one 100x160 mm (160 cm^2), panelized as=
=20
> you specify.
mmm, there are a lot of issues with olimex though

1: they insist on a particular panel size. if your designs fit thier=20
panels nicely then great, if not you could end up with a lot of wastage.
2: thier design rules aren't great, in particular the minimum drill size=20
is large which leads to relatively large vias. To add insult to injury=20
the smallest drill size they offer (which is twice as big as the=20
smallest one our onsite PCB facility at uni can do!) isn't part of thier=20
standard drill selection.
3: they charge extra if you use drill sizes out of a very limited set.
4: they only have metric drills which means if you have a design that=20
was originally done with everything in imperial you have to re-check=20
everything manually to make sure it will still meet design rules after=20
they have applied thier rounding. Adding insult to injury thier design=20
rules are given as round imperial sizes which (thanks to the inch being=20
2.54mm) puts them just over a round metric size. Would thier yeild=20
really hurt that much if they allowed the round metric size that is=20
marginally below the round imperial size they allow?
5: afaict (haven't used them myself) they interpret the hole sizes from=20
your design as drill size where most places interpret them as finished=20
hole size. This means unless you are very carefull you can end up with=20
componenets not fitting (our uni PCB facility does this too and it's=20
bloody annoying when you use say a standard header footprint only to=20
find your header has to be fitted with the assistance of a hammer=20
because of the delta between drill size and finished hole size).

Basically if you want your PCB to be able to be made by olimex it has to=20
be designed specifically for olimex.

Still I agree dorkbot isn't that cheap for larger boards. What they do=20
seem good for is when you are in the US (outside of the US the shipping=20
is a killer) and want a few of a very small board.

Olimex are probablly the cheapest option i've seen if you wan't one or=20
two of a moderate sized board and either your board is already designed=20
for them or you consider your time to convert it to be of low value.

If you want a large board, multiple copies of a moderate sized board or=20
a lot of copies of a few designs GP seem to be a good bet but thier base=20
price is rather high. They also seem to be the cheapest place i've found=20
(though it's still bloody expensive compared to normal boards) to get=20
boards with properly shaped gold plated edge connectors.
--=20
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