[sdiy] My frustration as a technician..

[Karl Ekdahl]

There's the direct cost of PCB houses charging by the number of holes. But a bigger issue would be the design time involved in doing this and the fact that SMD only requires single-layer traces while through-hole is always two-layer, this could complicate designs and thus add even more design time to what's already added. Also, mirroring each footprint in a CAD software as a "double" (one SMD, one through-hole) could be a real hassle, either requiring redrawing of entire footprint libraries or require odd changes in schematic to keep the schematic->pcb correlation intact. 

Without really going to deeply into this thought-process i'm going to say that keeping it cheap and doing almost twice the work (not really, but you get the point) isn't really gonna go hand in hand. If customers would all be up for paying an extra 10-15% for a product because it was layed out as SMD/Through-hole dual, then i'm sure a lot of (the smaller) manufacturers would go for it. Sadly we can't just have a democratic vote and see whether we should go this route or not .. :)

In reference to the whole repair discussion, it still feels like a lot of products that aren't just made for "consumption" but that actually have some higher value (whether monetary or psychological) tries to keep "repairability" in mind. When i was doing repairs of music gear, amps etc. i quickly noticed what was made to be repaired and what wasn't; shit that people love and identifies with (nicer synths, most guitar amps etc.) was made to be able to get repaired. But consumer / some studio / some live sound stuff (porta studios, turntables, cheaper PAs, stompboxes) would never have proper documentation. That's how i learned to love Peavey - you call 'em up and ask for schematics and parts for say, a powered mixer from '78? Sure, they'll immediately send you schematics for free over e-mail and still have a stock pile of parts for sale!

Karl



----- Ursprungligt meddelande ----
Från: cheater00 . <cheater00 at gmail.com>
Till: John Speth <jspeth at avnera.com>
Kopia: synth-diy <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Skickat: fredag, 10 maj 2013 18:01
Ämne: Re: [sdiy] My frustration as a technician..

John,

On Fri, May 10, 2013 at 11:33 PM, John Speth <jspeth at avnera.com> wrote:
>> Rob, Dave, John, what do you guys say: does it really cost that much
> more to
>> put holes in your PCBs? Serious question.
>
> Yes, it really does.  Every little thing contributes to cost.  Generally,
> the smaller the better (lower product weight, less material, lower
> shipping cost, etc).  Pennies count in a world where customers demand low
> prices and capitalists demand high return on investment.
>
> If the maker of a product could see a higher profit in making products
> with thru hole, it'd be on the street in no time.  It'll probably never
> happen though.
>
> JJS

Not really the answer I had been hoping for. Given 100 holes, how much
does it cost to do:

a) a hole, through-plated
b) a hole, non-plated
c) a pad which is a space for a hole

at amounts of 100 PCBs, 10 000 PCBs, 100 000 PCBs?

That's 10 000 holes, 1 000 000 holes, 10 000 000 holes.

Cheers,
D.
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