where to get Eagle boards made

[andywatson]

I've got some Eagle board files that I want to have fabricated. But it seems like all of the cheaper places require you to use their own software. Can someone recommend a reliable PCB supplier that accepts Eagle files with decent prices and no more than a 1-week turnaround?

[westfw]

it seems like all of the cheaper places require you to use their own software.

That seems unlikely, athough accepting EAGLE files is relatively rare. Almost every where will accept files in the standard formats.

Learn to generate gerbers from your EAGLE files, and you'll be able to get them made nearly anywhere.
(not to mention having more control over exactly what the boards look like.)
"inexpensive" and "less than one week turnaround" tend not to go together. How big are your boards, how many do you need, what features do you need, and what do you consider "inexpensive" ?

Seeed and ITead are looking really good, lately, but one-week turnaround is unlikely.
Dorkbot and BatchPCB are especially nice for small boards, but again turnaround is less predictable.
After those, I think you start hitting a bunch of places that are $50-100 for several moderate sized boards, with restrictions on panelization, or missing soldermask/silkscreen, or other oddness. www.pcbgeek.com , Gold Pheonix, and PCBCart are among the places I've seen favorable reviews for.)

[Agent24]

Unless it's a highly complex design with many vias under SMD ICs etc it will probably be cheaper making it yourself, assuming you only want one or two of the boards.

I once looked at some prices... costs for one board + shipping was about the same it cost me to buy a laminator and laser printer.

And now that I have those, I can make as many boards as I like without spending a huge amount of money each time.

[robodude666]

I've heard very good things about DorkBotPDX's PCB Order service. You get 3 PCBs made without any setup fee, for a relatively low amount. The ITead Studio offer is also well priced, but appears to be of lower quality. The EEVBlog commented on a little goof up he had with his PCB order from ITeadStudio. Frankly, it's not something to worry about unless you actually do need to be that close to ITeadStudio's minimum requirements.

There is also the good ol' BatchPCB option. The setup fee is a bit much, if you only need a few boards made, but the quality is great. DorkBotPDX has a better overall deal for small orders, but BatchPCB is another great alternative.

Making your own PCBs is another alternative. It's something that I hope to learn soon, as it makes making prototype revision very cheap and fast. No need to wait a week+ for your PCBs to come in. You're limited with what you can do with DIY PCBs. Silkscreen is possible, but requires extra work. Double-sided PCBs are doable but more difficult, etc.

[dbc]

I've used PCB Express and AP Circuits for quick turn boards and they both give great, high quality results. There are other places, but if you want boards in a few days, try them. You will be happy with what you get back. They both have on-line quoting. If you can get by without mask and silk, you will save significant money. I *think* they take Eagle files directly -- I think Eagle files are just gerbers with funny file extensions. I use gEDA, so I'm not too familiar with Eagle.

gerbv, the gerber viewer that is part of the gEDA suite is a good stand-alone gerber viewer if you want to double check your files. If gerbv likes them, either of these guys (and almost *any* good PCB fab house) will have no problem with them.

http://apcircuits.com/
http://www.pcbexpress.com/

Other options:
Olimex - One of my friends sends a lot of work to them and is happy with what comes back. It will be 3 or so weeks, though. I've never used them.
batchpcb -- SparkFun runs this one. You wait for a month. And to be frank, the board quality is at best so-so, and I've gotten bad boards -- random shorted nets -- on too many designs. The price looks cheap until you subtract the scrap. I'm pretty sure they use Gold Phoenix as a fab house. In their defense, I haven't used them in two years, so they might have cleaned up their act.

FWIW, I quit making my own PCBs sometime in the 1970's. It's fun a couple of times, then it's just a hassle. My workshop space & time is at too much of a premium to mess with the soup, working around unplated vias, and doing without mask and silk.

[Agent24]

FWIW, I quit making my own PCBs sometime in the 1970's. It's fun a couple of times, then it's just a hassle. My workshop space & time is at too much of a premium to mess with the soup, working around unplated vias, and doing without mask and silk.

I played around with a Dalo pen when I was a kid.. made a couple of boards, all worked OK but of course the tracks didn't look that nice. Worst part was drilling by hand with a pin vice...

In the past year or so I have been seriously getting into the Toner Transfer with laminator method, have made several boards, the most recent with down to 0.3mm tracks and 0.4mm clearance - and it etched perfectly (haven't actually used it yet, but I see no problems!)

Drilling is also much easier now that I have a Proxxon rotary tool and stand\press.

I will continue pushing my process and see just how thin I can get my tracks and how little clearance I can get away with


I see a lot of people complain that you can't get silkscreens etc, you can, but yes it is more trouble so I don't bother. I don't need them anyway.
I have my laptop open with the design when I solder it, and I'll do the same if I need to troubleshoot. I coat my boards in CPL so I don't need a soldermask either.

The first double-sided board I designed I had made for me, I got around the via problem by just using wire. Of course this means I couldn't use PTH on pins but some parts I just soldered on both sides (had to make sure it was parts that this was physically possible - designing was fun- but it worked just fine)


I will soon be attempting my first double-sided PCB with toner transfer method... again, vias\PTH will be done with wire or solder both sides. It's not as nice but it works.

Yes it's more time consuming than just uploading a gerber to a board house but I find it a small price to pay for much cheaper cost, and a guarantee that the board will come out without defects.

[asleepinverona]

I agree with westfw, you need to learn to create gerber files with Eagle.

Here is a link to a youtube video that will show you how to do that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_SbQeF83XU

I've used Sunstone (google "sunstone pcb") multiple times and have never been let down, you get a decent price, but it takes some time for the low end service. I've never used their mid-grade service, which sometimes is actually cheaper than the low end service.

[rpcelectronics]

Learn to generate gerbers from your EAGLE files

Part of my EagleCAD Tutorial series, covering Gerber generation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tna0XNjHkrw

[bob332]

http://www.dorkbotpdx.org/wiki/pcb_order

[Shaos]

http://pcbexpress.com has Eagle as one of their supported formats
I tried it once and it worked then I started to use their job files to produce gerbers

P.S.

I think Eagle files are just gerbers with funny file extensions.

No, you are wrong. Eagle files are proprietary binaries. You need to apply CAM jobs to get gerbers/excellons.