[sdiy] Where to have PCBs made in the US?

[The Old Crow]

On Tue, 13 Nov 2001, Jim Patchell wrote:

>     The best place I know of that I have used is Advanced Circuits, BUT!
> you may have a problem.
>
>     Most PCB places require the following:
>
>     Gerber Files
>     Drill Files
>
>     The drill files might be your biggest headache.  Everything must
> match perfectly for them to make boards.

  www.zoompcb.com is also good for quick-turn, low board quantity service.
I've used their 5 boards for $150 in 5 days many times with 100%
satisfaction.

  As Jim said, though, understand that these board houses expect
machine-readable board description files in the EIA 'Gerber' format for
photoplotting and Excellon format for CNC drill programming.  This almost
mandates the use of a PCB CAD program, although I've seen a few places
offer CAD conversion of bitmap or photographic (paper) artwork.  This
would very likely double or triple the cost, however.  Pre-production
engineering time is expensive, automated production floor activites are
much cheaper.

Crow

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