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I've made a circuit board for myself which does something for my cnc plasma cutting table. There seems to be some sparks of interest for it but not at the cost at which I'd "knock one together" for them. I'd therefore have to look at getting them made in quantity at a professional circuit board manufacturer, but have no idea how they work.
Example, when I design a board for myself, I look at what components are available at the right price, then I design my board to suit.
I'm a bit confused though about how the PCB manufacturer chooses the components. They might not have that brand available, or the package is a slightly different size, etc. The board is the easy bit but I don't know how it works with component choice. How do you specify components when you don't know what the manufacturer has available to them, what brand, what quality, etc.
Am I making sense.
Keith.
In order of costs (and hassle) it’s bare PCB, kits, then assembled boards.
If it’s just the PCB then the manufacturer doesn’t care what the parts are. They make it and send it back. You then send the PCB to people with a list of parts they need to buy.
Usually saying “R1 1k .25W” for generics is enough, or you can supply seller part numbers, eg digiKey or Mouser.
Something like an inductor where the footprint might change or an LED with particular brightness is different; there you need to tell people exactly what part. Again for just getting the PCB made it doesn’t matter.
The next step up is you supplying a kit, in that case you’d buy the parts. That’s possibly the best option, though it’s a bit of an up-front cost to you. Buyers are happy they don’t have to chase down all the bits, especially if there’s an odd-ball part in there.
If you want the PCB maker to also add the parts (stuffing) then you need to supply the part numbers (BOM), they’ll tell you if there’s a problem. They’ll rarely change the layout, more common is substituting a cheaper part, eg lower voltage rating for capacitors.
That also drives up the cost which can be a large up-front cost.
Tony