PCB programs and etching companies?

[Harry Bissell]

I use an old program called Hiwire II... (dos)
it works very well but is pricey ($800) of course mine
paid for itself long ago... others use different cad...

The universal format is "Gerber" files... from an early
photoplot format. The drill information is usually in
"Excellon" format, after an early CNC drill.  All
board houses deal with these formats everyday.

Turnaround is what you pay for... a three day turn
may be a premium price at some places, standard
at others.  The more you buy the better the price.
If you think you can sell extra boards its not a bad
idea to get some quantity...

I'd estimate any boards will cost $100 and up... that
might buy 5 boards if they are not too big. You can save money
by not doing funny shapes, slots, silkscreen, soldermasks...
limiting drill sizes to a few...

If you can establish a relationship with a board house, you can
often get better price / delivery / favors...

For instance... IE&E Industries in Ferndale Michigan... photoplotted
the artwork for my CD gratis.  I (OTOH) had sent them a lot of
commercial business in the past...  you see what I mean.  Competitive
quotes are a good idea... but I stop at one round.  I will tell everyone
what the winning bid was... this keeps them all honest.  But I avoid
round after round of "target pricing"... hey XYZ just dropped their
price 5%... will you make it 6%.  This is what major automotive pimps
do... and its just bad CARma.....

H^) harry

leaf at babble.vibrant.org wrote:

> hi...  I've seen numerous people suggest using 3rd party companies to
> create PCB's, and was wondering:
>
> 1)  what program(s) have diy users found to be helpful for creating the
> pcb layouts?
>
> 2)  what company do you send your pcb's to?  what's the timeframe for
> turnaround, the file format needed (do they handle online submissions?)
> and the $$$?
>
> thanks in advance!
> phil