在 2000年1月25日星期二 UTC+8下午4:00:00，David Knaack(spam blocked email)写道：

Greetings,

I recently had a PCB prototype made and I thought I would share the experience, so that others might avoid the same mistakes.

I shopped around for a while and was initially discouraged by the setup fees boardhouses charge, which is typically $40 or more. I finally found a place that charged a flat $21 fee per board (single sided 100x160mm FR-4, 1.5mm, 1oz copper, with solder mask and component mark, $2.60 extra if over 500 holes). They are Olimex, in Bulgaria (http://www.olimex.com/pcb.html). No problem, I thought, US post office only changes about $5 for a letter to Bulgaria, so it ought to be about the same coming back.

I used CadSofts Eagle software to do my board design, which ended up being about 1.5 x 2 cm. I duplicated the board so that I had 42 copies for output and sent it off (actually Olimex duplicated the design for me, since the
free version of Eagle limits you to the board dimensions).

After the board was finished, they emailed me and informed me that since the text I had placed in my component mark to indicate which way was up (so they would not mistakenly mirror it) was less than 12mils and had not come out,
so they had mistakenly mirrored it (apparently they did not notice that 'C1' and 'U1' labels, which are visible, were mirrored too). No big deal, there are only 3 parts on the board anyway, it just won't have a version number
and my email address.

In the same email they inform me that TNT (the local postal service??) refused to 'ship with freight collect to US ', so they had sent it UPS. A few days later UPS shows up and wants $75.25 before they will give me the package (which is a very large manila envelope filled with bubble wrap
around this little fiberglass board).
Fortunately I happened to have $75 I could pay them with, and was able to
get the package.

Apparently the $75 was customs fees for getting this thing into the US.
This is truly an insane amount to charge for bringing 40 grams of fiberglass costing $20 into the country. Anyone know if simply putting it in an envelope with no packing material would avoid the fees?

On examining the board, I found that the copper and solder mask was perfect. The only problem is that the component mark for the single IC (which was centered on the board and so was still in the right place) was on top of the solder pads.

The component mark for the parts in Eagles libraries includes little lines where the pins will be, and so the pads all get covered in white component mark ink (whatever that is). Fortunately, since the pads are tinned, it is easy to scrape off, but cleaning 336 tiny SMD pads was not how I wanted to spend my time.

I've posted a question to the Eagle forum to see if I made a mistake on the component mark, but I don't see how I could have gotten around it without modifying the mark itself.

So, I've spent $100 for a single 100x160 board. I'm fortunate that since it contains multiple copies of my PCB the cost is distributed down to about $2 each, or I'd never make my money back (they are part of a kit I am selling). Over all I am satisfied with the board, although it cost me 5 times what I was expecting to pay. If you can get around the customs fees in the US (its not a problem if you are in Europe), and you make sure your stuff is clearly marked so it doesn't get mirrored, Olimex really is a bargain, I give 'em a thumbs up, hooray for no setup fees!

The next step is to cut the little guys apart and try my hand at soldering SSOP chips with a regular iron. :)

DK
--
It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you
live near him. -- J. R. R. Tolkein

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