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Comment by Xunxi | Hacker News Reader

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Xunxi·

What are some of the reputable "small board-houses"? Any recommendations?

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OSH Park is very cheap and good for bare boards: https://oshpark.com/

If you want somebody to populate the boards for you, I love Macrofab: https://macrofab.com/

First I've heard of Macrofab, have you ever tried circuithub? I've been using the latter and wonder how they compared.

Edit: just checked out Macrofab and they seem to be more expensive than circuithub at least for the couple example projects I threw into the quoting engine.

OSH Park are also beginner friendly. Allowing you to import your design directly from Eagle rather than having to generate individual layer files and also not requiring you to specify copper thickness, board finish, etc.

I'm going to throw in a plug for OSH Stencils. Cheap, high quality PCB stencils. I'm never going back to a syringe full of paste! Had a QFN-64 that I hated doing because of that.

For small personal projects, iTeadStudio[1] is my go-to PCB fab house. If their design constraints fit your needs, I'd def recommend giving them a shot. I've personally spun 10-ish projects with them and have yet to be disappointed...just try not to push an order around Chinese New Year if you're in a rush.

[1] https://www.itead.cc/open-pcb/pcb-prototyping.html

BayAreaCircuits is pretty cheap, in the USA and you can have boards in under a week.

I also like macrofab if you want something assembled.

A few times I have ordered from the board houses on Ebay. Like $20 for 10+ boards and they come in about 2 weeks.

For simpler prototype boards I use oshpark.com, but a big downside is no electrical testing. For more important/complex stuff, I've been very happy with jetpcb.com in Taiwan. Full e-test and I get the boards in about 5 days

I always had good results with Advanced Circuits out in Colorado, but this is over a decade ago now.

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