[N8VEM: 17001] Re: [N8VEM-S100:2151] Re: S-100 existing board pre-order requests

[Tom Lafleur]

I use two proto firms in China for making 2 and 4 layers board (they are
agents to a board house, both use the same PWB shop) Takes about 5-7 day
for a 4 layer board and 3 days (DHL) to 12 days (China Post) for
shipping...
(just finish a 4 layer board 3x5in, 6mil trace, board back in 11 day for
$125 for 10 boards)

You may want to send them the Gerbers and get a price.... make sure you ask
for gold on the connector...

http://imall.iteadstudio.com/open-pcb/pcb-prototyping.html

http://www.seeedstudio.com/blog/tag/fusion-pcb/

this is another firm that will do a two layer board of anything that fits
on a 100sq in for $100 with FedEx shipping, and they will send as many
copies that will fit on board, but gold add more cost!
(this is the firm SparkFun was using)

http://www.goldphoenixpcb.com/singlepage.php?tg=specialprice<http://www.goldphoenixpcb.com/>

In Europe...

http://www.pcb-overseas.com/npus/index.html?PHPSESSID=9kb8rsufbe64m7amo1j4pdfms2


some other firms that have reasonable prices..

http://store.bayareacircuits.com/

http://www.4pcb.com/
<--- firm that Andrew is using I believe....


so, if you need a few boards and can't wait, try some of these firms...
Getting quotes is free!

good luck, tom lafleur

Hi Josh,
I take your point about more people coming along over time to make another
full order viable,
I guess I'm testing the water, my thinking was that all these boards go
through a number of prototyping iterations where a small number of boards
are purchased by Andrew & John at higher unit cost for the purpose of
hammering out a final production design, so it would seem to follow that
the PCB production house being used must be happy to produce small
prototyping runs with maybe the hope of larger runs to follow.
I am not suggesting that all PCB's should be offered this way but maybe a
once in a while adhoc fulfilment of lower demand boards (ones that have had
several re runs) to fill the gaps in builders systems where the waiting
time may turn out to be lengthy.
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Andrew again because
organising group buys and distribution must soak up a huge amount of his
time, as an ebay seller myself I can appreciate the organisation that goes
into keeping track of order.
regards
David Fry

...

I would welcome feedback on this posting from other S-100 builders out

there as to what the general consensus is on smaller >batches/higher cost
for the *lower demand* PCB’s, of course the final decision is yours but
it would help out and encourage the newbies J
Hi David, You have the right idea of how pcb manufacturers require a
minimum quantity. I've toured two local manufacturers and I can say that
there is a lot of set up or a lot of expense. One plant uses relatively
inexpensive equipment but the boards are put through one panel at a time.
The other plant uses some high tech automated equipment that must have cost
in the millions. Don't even waste your time going to plant B for a small
order. Plant A are more likely to welcome any business. But they have
limitations too. They will get tired and annoyed if you request a lot of
little jobs and you will see the price creep up. For example, requesting 5
boards every 6 months is worse than requesting 10 boards every 12 months.
I am more into the old computers, as such I have learned to just be
patient for the right deals to come along.
What I think would help is to get more customers. I think John said it
recently that most new comers are pleased to have found this group. I'm
guessing there are a lot of people out there that would enjoy playing on
the S-100 bus, but they just don't know about it.
I have been meaning to make a visit to my local colleges and talk with
the electronics teachers there. I'm sure there's at least a couple of
bright students in each school that would like to go beyond the text book.
I wonder if they still teach Digital Electronics with 74xxx series? Or do
the students learn about 74xxx in their Electronics History class?
Cheers,
Josh
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Tom Lafleur
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