Ask HN: Getting custom electronics made
So I am designing this little Arduino based sensor kit and wondering about getting it made as a single board with everything built in.
Any suggestions where to start?
So I am designing this little Arduino based sensor kit and wondering about getting it made as a single board with everything built in.
Any suggestions where to start?
Comments
The solutions run the gamut from laser printing (or handcarving) your own traces and using copper etchant to getting complete boards made.
The happy medium I found was using ExpressPCB's cheapest service which included high-quality (if only small and 2 layer) boards, then buying from Mouser, DigiKey, or similar the components and soldering 'em on personally. Can probably make three identical small boards for <$100 (and 2-3 hours each soldering) as long as you don't have any exotic chips on your device.
As soon as you start drilling more than 3-4 holes (almost impossible _not_ to do) making the stuff at home just isn't fun unless you have high-end production equipment. Doing it the way listed above was actually pretty fun.