So I tried OSH Park for the first time. If I knew having boards made was that easy, I never would have fooled with etching.
Of course, I don't have the boards back yet, so I may sing a different tune later.
Now, I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but is OSH Park also good for short / medium runs? I read about the 150sq inch thing, but minimum order is 1500 square inches ("as long as each is ordered in a multiple of 10 boards"). I'm just not clear if that would cost $150 or $1500.
Regardless, who do you guys use to make boards for group buys and that sort of "production"?
Thanks,
George
It's $150, and that only works in batches of 10, so a 1.5 square inch board would get you 100 copies for $150.
Jacob
The "batches of 10" part is screwing me up. I think I'm understanding though.
Say my board is 10 square inches exactly. I would have to order 20 boards (2 batches of 10) to meet the 150 sq-in minimum. Those boards would cost $1 per sq-in, or $200 total for 20 boards.
The normal pricing is $5 per sq-in for 3 copies, so that equates to $1.66 per sq-in of board. The other deal is $1 per sq-in, so you save $0.66 per sq-in by ordering in quantity.
Makes me wonder more what other services are out there.
There are other services, and in some cases they're a better deal. However, if you're prototyping, chances are high that you don't NEED more than 10 copies of something because there's a risk that it won't work as anticipated. So, if you KNOW something works, there are better services depending on your need.
Really, the question is - how many do you want and for what purpose?
Jacob
The only purpose would be to sell a few copies here. Just to make use of all the effort to make a nice board. I mean, it can take several evenings of fiddling and polishing to come up with a nice board. Seems like a waste of time to only make 1 copy for myself.
After doing some more reading, it sounds like $1/sq-in is actually pretty good considering the reported high quality from OSH Park. I don't plan to open a business selling PCB's, so considering the minimal effort required to have a board fabbed and the benefits, OSH Park is looking like a nice option.
As a guy who's doing it, I recommend one of two things for you...
1. Get the 3 copy run from Oshpark, and sell the two copies you don't need. You can easily recoup ALL the cost from people who are willing to try. Try recruiting BEFORE you order if you'd like. Because of the 150 square inch minimum for the 10+ copies, it makes it a little challenging.
2. Get a 10 copy run from Seeed Studio or iTead or other such place. Usually it's cheaper per PCB. Going this route, you'll end up with more copies, so be sure that either they will sell, or you can sell a few for the cost of ordering all of them.
Keep in mind that it's MUCH easier and MUCH faster to get PCBs from Oshpark, especially in the states. Free shipping, fairly quick turn around (for PCBs) and reasonable rates from a place that only needs you to upload a .brd file - bonehead simple to make an order in minutes. Other places require gerbers, and more time, take longer to get you PCBs in your hands, and often cost for shipping.
Jacob
Jacob,
Thanks for your help. I have some more reading to do, but his was exactly what I was looking for.
George
OSH park boards are the bees knees! I just got my first order through, and the turn around time on them was way shorter than I expected. It's also nice that Sunstone is local ;D
Bob
OSH has really got their shit together. The efficiency is amazing...turn-around times seem a bit quicker now than they were a year or so ago. madbeanpedals would not have nearly as many projects if it were not for cheap prototyping!!
OSH boards are also lead free, and are ENIG (gold plated) finished. And are actually manufactured in the US
Just got my relay board protos back yesterday, and was impressed as always. 10 days from eagle files to boards in hand.
I wish the government could be that efficient ;D
Bob
Do you guys know of any board fab house where I could just get one prototype board? Even if OSH Park is a better deal for 3 boards, I would feel like I am wasting boards if the project doesn't end up working out on the first go.
If you get the three and it works, offer to sell the other two and get your money back?
Quote from: pk1802 on October 20, 2012, 07:38:14 PM
Do you guys know of any board fab house where I could just get one prototype board? Even if OSH Park is a better deal for 3 boards, I would feel like I am wasting boards if the project doesn't end up working out on the first go.
There are plenty of places out there that will do a single prototype board, but generally you will pay more for that one board than you will pay for 3 boards from OSH Park. Part of what has made places like Batch PCB and OSH Park successful is that prototyping through them is so much cheaper than through most standard board houses.
Quote from: pickdropper on October 20, 2012, 08:08:33 PM
Quote from: pk1802 on October 20, 2012, 07:38:14 PM
Do you guys know of any board fab house where I could just get one prototype board? Even if OSH Park is a better deal for 3 boards, I would feel like I am wasting boards if the project doesn't end up working out on the first go.
There are plenty of places out there that will do a single prototype board, but generally you will pay more for that one board than you will pay for 3 boards from OSH Park. Part of what has made places like Batch PCB and OSH Park successful is that prototyping through them is so much cheaper than through most standard board houses.
You guys are probably right. Hopefully my boards would be good enough to offload to anyone interested.
Anyone else have any problems with osh park recently? I put in two orders last time and when I received them I only got one board per order not three copies like usual. One of them didn't have the silkscreen on the top either.
Josh
just got my OSHpark order (placed November 30th) and its as expected.
I've had a problem with em in the past but they made it right and then some. I don't have a whole lot of experience with different fab houses (aaaannndd by that I mean zero experience) but I have pulled apart TONS of electronics and I like their style. That and boneheads like me can make orders and save a database of previous boards for re-ordering. ;D ;D ;D
The medium run is pretty legit IMO, as long as you don't need them by any particular time (which in my case has been less than a month every time).
The only times I've had trouble with OSHpark boards I've brought it on myself with bad design. My dumb mistakes... (expensive ones!)
One time I got an order that only had one board. But there was a big slit in the bottom of the mailer, so I assume the other two fell out in transit.
I did get my other boards a week later so I'm guessing they got misplaced.
None of my orders with custom imported graphics ever arrive with a top silkscreen, it's the only place I have this problem. I've tried to contact them about it but I never get a reply. I'm not sure if maybe my message is just going to the spam bin. :D
Yes, it seems like custom graphics cause problems. Sometimes they work right at OSHP, and sometimes not. But on mine, the rest of the silkscreen is still there, just not the graphics. I also recently did a Seeed Studio order that came back with no top silkscreen.
I've started using a gerber viewer app to take a look at the silkscreen before I send them off. Sometimes I think Eagle just flubbs the gerber creation process when there are wacky graphics.
I always check with a gerber viewer first, I just won't submit the version with a graphic anymore.
Has anyone else found the oshpark website to not accept .brd and .zip files anymore?
It would not work at all in Opera 12.10, and when I fired up Safari, it did, quite annoying.
I placed orders with Laen many years ago, before OSHPark was setup, and while it was a great service, BatchPCB was easier, and a bit faster.
Now that he set up OSHPark though, all my orders go there, the turnaround is just amazing, and all my boards have shown up as expected, even if I make a mistake ;)
OSHPark purple is pretty awesome too.
Everyone always raves about how good OSHpark is. It's just a shame the postage takes so long to the UK otherwise I would use them for boards.
Sent from my thumbs using Tapatalk!
Quote from: culturejam on December 23, 2012, 07:51:30 PM
Yes, it seems like custom graphics cause problems. Sometimes they work right at OSHP, and sometimes not. But on mine, the rest of the silkscreen is still there, just not the graphics. I also recently did a Seeed Studio order that came back with no top silkscreen.
I've started using a gerber viewer app to take a look at the silkscreen before I send them off. Sometimes I think Eagle just flubbs the gerber creation process when there are wacky graphics.
Sorry to necro a thread - but there is an answer to the custom graphics issue very recently on OshPark -
AND this thread shows up (first) in google results when searching the problem.
Answer is here:
http://support.oshpark.com/support/solutions/articles/107640-problems-with-import-bmp-logos-on-silkscreen