Prototype is done - now what?

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mmathur
 
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Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2011 9:52 pm

Prototype is done - now what?

Post by mmathur »

After my prototype is done and I've refined my code, how do I get my prototype into an assembled board with all the components soldered on as a finished prototype for an end product? Where would one start and which companies/vendors would be recommended to work with? Thanks.

adafruit
 
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Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:21 pm

Re: Prototype is done - now what?

Post by adafruit »

mmathur wrote:After my prototype is done and I've refined my code, how do I get my prototype into an assembled board with all the components soldered on as a finished prototype for an end product? Where would one start and which companies/vendors would be recommended to work with? Thanks.
if it's open source hardware, drop us a note - [email protected] !

cheers,
adafruit

mmathur
 
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Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2011 9:52 pm

Re: Prototype is done - now what?

Post by mmathur »

That sounds like a plan. I'll be in touch...

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ryochiji
 
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Joined: Thu Jun 30, 2011 7:25 pm

Re: Prototype is done - now what?

Post by ryochiji »

Adafruit - Do you provide a secret assembly service for Open Source boards?

In any case, hopefully Adafruit will help you out, but here are some things I've learned about cheaply assembling prototype boards:

Prototype PCB printing:
Dorkbot PDX's PCB service is both cheap, reasonably fast, and high quality.
http://dorkbotpdx.org/wiki/pcb_order

Of course, there's also http://batchpcb.com, which costs a little more, but is pretty good (and has DRC + a visual way to check your gerber files).

I also used SeeedStudio's PCB service which is really cheap, if you don't mind waiting 2-4 weeks in shipping (from China). If you pay for faster shipping, it ends up being not-so-cheap, and still takes about as long as BatchPCB.

Prototype Assembly:
Professional assembly services are super expensive (generally at least $200, even for 1 board). Of the vendors I talked to, Advanced Circuits (http://4pcb.com) was the cheapest.
However, the cheapest solution is to do it yourself by hand. All you need is a good iron, flux, solder wick, faith, and determination. I'm a n00b, but was able to hand-solder MSOP chips and 0603 components with zero problems (well, except for the bug in the actual circuit design *sigh*). There are some good resources online for soldering SMD components (like this Sparkfun tutorial).

Anyway, hope this information helps someone.

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imaginerobots
 
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Re: Prototype is done - now what?

Post by imaginerobots »

Seeedstudio also has a manufacturing service called Propagate:

http://www.seeedstudio.com/propagate/

I haven't used this yet.

Danh

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