[USA] Gen 6 bare boards

I am looking at the possibility of having a batch run of the Gen 6 electronics boards and wanted to see if there is going to be any interest in them. The larger the batch the cheaper they get on a per unit basis. I am located in the US and I have noticed that there is a pretty big lack of Gen 6 boards in the US and I have yet to see one that is unpopulated.

These would be professionally manufactured boards but would be ONLY the bare board. No way I am going to try and get them populated on any kind of scale. I am comfortable with hand soldering surface mount for my own board. (Might do a couple for others but ya better talk REALLY nice to me...)

Unit cost would be around $18/board. Possible to get lower cost than this but requires a huge number of boards and more than I have to spend right now. Please respond quickly. I would like to get these run so I can make my printer and I REALLY don't want to get stuck with a pile of boards no one wants! I have the money for the initial outlay but would really like to see some of it back!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2011 06:17AM by caster66.

I'm also attempting to find a bare pcb of Gen 6 in the US. What I would really like is a 2 layer layout instead of the 4 layer design that is being used, effectively cutting small run costs in half. I, myself, don't feel comfortable making that conversion having not the time nor money should it fail miserably. In the end, 2 layer or 4 I just need the board. In what quantities and through what pcb houses were you looking at?

I have used a couple different sources when ordering boards. It really depends on what I am needing to order. ExpressPCB is one that most people have heard of and they are able to do 4 layer boards, however the inner layers are only able to be solid planes with vias connecting to it so they are out of the question for the gen6 board as is unless it was redesigned for 2 layers. The other option I generally use is Sunstone. They accept Gerber files and they have their own free design software you can use if you so choose. They are able to do up to 10 layers with and support numerous board materials. Problem with them is the initial cost. Cost for 4 boards is $400. Cost for 25 boards is $525. They have a minimum cost involved but it becomes economical with larger orders. On the Gen6 board it becomes more economical with an order of 50 boards (~$650) with a 3 week lead time. With an order of 1000 boards it drops as low as $4.50 each. Of course that's $4500 which I do NOT have laying around. 1000 boards would take quite some time to sell as well so even with the upfront money it would take quite a while to earn it back. Lets face it while there is demand for these it ain't THAT high.

Most outfits I have looked into the price difference between a 4 layer and a 2 layer board was no where near half. The initial setup costs are generally similar. Sunstone for example the difference between a 2 layer and a 4 layer is maybe a 20% increase in cost going from 2 to 4 layers.

I am able to redesign the boards myself was just hoping to avoid that if possible. The time investment necessary is quite substantial. I have noticed most of these boards have an RS485 connection on board. How often are they actually used?

I can make the boards for you. here is an example of my pricing with ~8 day lead time.

20 boards@15.00 each
10 boards@24.00 each
100 boards@7.00 each

Material: FR-4;
Layers: 4;
Board Type: Individual or panel
Board Size: 4 X 6 inches;
Quantity: 20 pcs
Thickness: 1.6mm/0.063";
Surface Finish: HASL;
Finished Copper: 0.5 oz;
Solder Mask Color: Red;
Silk Screen Color: White
Min Hole size: >= 0.3 mm;
Min Trace/Space: >= 6 mil;
Gold Fingers: 0; I
nternal Cutting off/Slots: 0
Impedance Control: No;
Blind/buried Vias: No;
Electrical test: Yes

Hello,

I'm new to the boards here. I was curious if anyone was still following up on these boards? I was hoping to put one of these machines together.

Thank you in advance,
Chris

just posted it a couple days ago. Am trying to see if anyone would be interested before I drop a considerable sum to build the boards.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/2011 03:54PM by P_Zilla.