BatchPCB is a low-cost PCB manufacturing service run by retailer SparkFun in cooperation with Gold Phoenix. Using them, you can get your design prototyped for as little as $2.50 a sqin. We used the service in our “How-to: Prepare your Eagle designs for manufacture“. The service collects orders until they have enough to manufacture an entire panel. It may take time to get the boards back, but they’re high quality. BatchPCB just added a brand new feature: Now anyone can list their verfied design files on the ‘products‘ page for other hobbyists to order runs of. Yes, people could always upload free designs themselves, but this makes it much easier to order a board even if the designer has no plans of making a kit of it.
Nice!
anyone wanna make Ladyada’s scrambler?
;p
if so,keep me informed!
jordan2_delta@hotmail.com
You mean the wave bubble? I would definately get in on that.
Go Sparkfun. I support this motion, I’m trying to get some of my smaller projects off perfboard and looking cleaned up.
yea, ive been meaning to make the wave bubble…just need time (lots of it) and money…
I’d like to see one for the desulfator that was on here a while ago.
I dont like wave bubble, it was designed by a woman and it shows, 3 IC power switches instead of 2 mechanical ones, usb, charging circuit, thers just too much gadgetery on the board
btw BatchPCB guys decided to use ajax for everything, result is you cant link to designs, you cant use browser froward/back buttons, if you decide to open big image BACK button stops working and whole page is unusable – you have to reloadm it just sucks
as little as “$2.50 a sqin” + >$15 for shipping :D
@ rasz
wow…you succesfully provided no real reason for not liking it.
The problem with BatchPCB is that their 4-Layer service takes forever! By the time you add everything up and include the extra time, do you really save all that much?
I’ve got a 4-layer board going to Advanced Circuits this week. If anyone is interested in sharing an order email me.
rob at incredilution dot com
I haven’t used this service, but I did just order my first ever PCB i designed today, and i did order it from them. Wish me luck!
It’s an XBEE to RS-232 bridge i designed. I know sparkfun now carries one but they just started selling it and i was already designing mine so i figured I’d finish since I’d never done this before. I hope it works!
-Taylor
Does anyone know something simular in Germany?
@ andres
try to show me a direct link to batchpcb page for “PSP Joystick Breakout”
what? you cant cos its all ajaxed? right
anyway if 4 layer boards take so much time they propably just order from China. How much did you pay? I was looking for something that could hold Cyclone 2 (484-pin) and lowest I could find was 120 Euro :(
@ sodoku
you can try
http://www.eurocircuits.de/
funny thing is prices are Country dependent :/ its 20 Euro more expensive from Poland, heh
@ rasz
Thanks for the fast answer, i will check that!
Does anyone know of someone like batchpcb in the UK? Great though they are, shipping over here would be a killer :-/
@raz does not like batchpcb because he dont have 2 twenties to rub together.
I refuse to etch my own boards because it’s not worth it. if I can design a 2″ square board and get it for $35.00 ready to go. that is an order of magnitude cheaper than me etching and drilling it. the time I spend doing that if all tools and resources were free is twice that cost.
Only the really poor people who’s time is worth nothing etch their own boards anymore.
Or if you really really have to have that project done in 2 hours and your ADD or ADHD is kicking in hard.
@fartface
WHAT, i’m etching my board and i doesn’t cost THIS MUCH, are you insane.
each time i want to each i need to consume 4€ of chemical (who can allow me to do 5 panel of 200x300mm)
wich is A LOT of sqin
and a 100x100mm raw panel is like 1-2€
is true, you’ll need an exposure unit, a driller, but it’s really worth it.
if i want to do a 2 sqin board, i will get it in less than one hour for less than 10€ (but i won’t do only one)
“poor people” but i agree on this, i’m a electronic student with no job =D
@rasz
Can you please elaborate on your comment ” it was designed by a woman and it shows”. I mean, I happen to agree with you. It does show….it’s awesomeness could only have been designed by a woman.
We need more women in engineering, and attitudes like yours hurt the entire community, both men an women. Nice going.
@nonHater
thats what I meant, its too good for what it does. If you go to ladyada forum you will see a lot of ppl asking what can they not solder to make it simplier, and it turns out half of crap on pcb is not required to function :)
first, yes, WTF is up with rasz comment? are you a Taliban woman hater or something? “it was designed by a woman” seriously, and that’s an issue? I hope you meant something else.
second, I print a lot of my own boards. $5 worth of chemical in an etching tank does me about 4x 8.5x11inch sheets. I get an 8.5×11 sheet for $1 here in canada.
if I use some surface mount parts then there’s less drilling. it’s simply not worth it for small jobs to spend $35 on a tiny pcb. that seems silly.
it’s only worth it for larger batch orders when producing something for sale. printing 100 boards yourself, now that seems silly!
in my opinion anyways.
I think people who complain about self printing perhaps never learned to do it well.
it has it’s uses.
@si1entdave – BatchPCB shipping to EU is only a few dollars ($2.80 on my last order). They do hit you with a $10 setup fee, so it’s best if you can send a few designs at once (only one fee per order).
@rasz
OK, then you should have said “it has too many features which makes it difficult for someone with little – no experience like me to create.” or “I wish there was a simpler way to create one”
Then we could argue that point. But to say it is gender related is just plain stupid, and stupid people suck. Not dumb people, dumb people are just fine.
Good luck with your education and future employment…maybe you could send your resume to LadyAda? You might learn something…..even though she’s a woman! *gasp*!
@rasz
Wait a minute….
“thats what i meant, its too good for what it does.”
And somehow it came out as “it was designed by a woman and it shows”
Oh, OK, that makes sense.
@si1entdave – adding…my last order being the boards in the photo…
Not to downplay BatchPCB’s service. But have you looked at protoexpress.com You can get their no-touch boards (2 or 4 layer) for about the same price with a guaranteed turn time.
I have no relation to them other then being a 100+ board happy customer.
@nonHater
Say what you want. I wouldnt question the design if I didnt know how it works. It is overdesigned for what it is.
oh sorry, i just assumed by your blatantly sexist comment that you weren’t educated. my bad.
if you are so familiar with how it works, design it better and share what you have learned. we would all appreciate it….even the ladies.
@rasz – when you say “I dont like wave bubble, it was designed by a woman and it shows” … you’re really just confirming what a lot of people think about the tech community, it’s too bad this entire discussion is now about your woman issues and not batchpcb.
but here’s a thought for you.. if you’re an expert, please post something you’ve made that’s even close to the wavebubble.
you won’t of course, you’ll continue to be some anonymous woman hating troll that keeps everyone from advancing and participation solely “male” on most sites.
you clearly did not read the site, if you don’t want charging via USB, great – you can remove it, or use AAA batteries… if you have a spectrum analyzer, great, you can remove the PLL. the modular design -was- the design. the point is that the PCB costs the same amount, if you look at product PCBs this is very common, but you know that since you’re obviously the smartest person here (and have testicles?).
disclosure, i helped test this project (wavebubble) have assembled them.
pt & nonhater-
“you’ll continue to be some anonymous woman hating troll that keeps everyone from advancing and participation solely “male” on most sites.”
And you’ll continue to be pulled reflexively into embarrassing arguments with the troll.
damn, you’re predictable and boring.
—
I’ve been very happy with batchpcb. If I order the boards first thing when i start a project, then by the time the other parts arive, the board shows up not long after.
So far, I haven’t seen any bad pours or shorts, which did surprise me. It’s not sleep-deprived Chinese child prison labor. And they can still do it and ship it across the ocean for less money than any american outfit i’ve seen.
@jimmys – unless someone starting telling these folks what they’re doing is wrong it’s unlikely to change. the only person here who should be embarrassed is @rasz
pt-
yeah, you’re doing a heckuva job there with rasz. he’s practically Helen Reddy now.
rasz-
It’s not clear if you’re looking for a scaled down version or just commenting on this one but I think there are some http://www.dealextreme.com jammers that are probably low parts – no frills.
@jimmys – i’m pretty happy most folks here are not willing to listen to someone like rasz, perhaps he’ll reconsider his point of view.
Just to sidetrack the arguments here somewhat… Why would you want to build the wave-bubble?? Who here seriously feels the need to have a R/F or cellphone jammer?? I am sure this is a great bit of RF design, and you would learn a lot from the build – I am guessing the primary purpose of ladyada’s project was as an R&D/proof of concept – without real intention of actual use… I am all for people learning more about RF design and discovering the pitfalls of applying RF theory to physical projects – so design your own RF jammer if you must. Either way you are il-advised and quite possibly naive to actually use one…
@jimmys allowing rasz comments is almost as bad as saying them in my oppinion, trolling or not that sort of behavior should not be tolerated.
geoff: It sounds like what you are really trying to say is that no one should use a rf/cell-phone jammer.
We’ve had this argument about 1,000 times before. There are plenty of legitimate uses and plenty of non-legitimate ones. I would hope anyone that is intelligent enough to figure out how to build it, would use it appropriately.
But to pretend that ladyada thought no one would use the device as it was intended is a joke.
@rasz: Did you want a link to the PSP breakout? http://www.batchpcb.com/index.php/Products/18877
(They now put product links directly on every design made public, and even before that, they have also given the links that allow you to share said pcb privately with friends. (the old way of allowing others to order what you designed.))
Im not sure that link was there when I was complaining
I was wondering if anyone would post a bus pirate for easy ordering.
Very Nice but I haven’t seen any bad pours or shorts, which did surprise me.