PCB Manufacturing From PDF

OW · Joined: Nov 03, 2009 Posts: 122 Location: London

Hi,

Could anyone recommend me a cheap company that can manufacture PCBs, preferably from PDF files?

Thanks!

Psyingo · Joined: Jun 11, 2009 Posts: 248 Location: Canada

usually for pcbs you will have to provide them with a gerber file. there are a lot of different layers and data needed for pcbs and im not sure a pdf would cut it... it certainly isn't standard and im not aware of any that can do it.

diablojoy · Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2013 3:32 pm Post subject:

A reasonably good PCB layout program that outputs files in a gerber format is your best bet.
I recommend FreePCB as it is fairly easy to learn and has very few limitations.
once you have your gerber files , PCB manufacture cost can be very cheap
Itead studio for example will do 10 off 100 x 50 mm boards for under $30 plus shipping.

elmegil · Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2013 9:36 pm Post subject:

marvkaye · Joined: Mar 14, 2011 Posts: 225 Location: Fla

Another cool source for prototypes is oshpark. They do 3 copies of prototype boards amazingly cheaply. I just had two different batches done, the boards were around 2" square, the smaller ones came to $8.90, the larger ones $11.25. Takes awhile because they panelize your design with other customers submissions before sending out for fab, but generally the delay isn't much more than a week or 10 days. The results are very nice, with silkscreens, plated through holes, double sided with solder mask. Highly recommended. As for the OP's original question, no, they don't work from PDFs, only gerbers.

OW · Joined: Nov 03, 2009 Posts: 122 Location: London

Thanks for all the replies!

I'm using a mac, so won't be able to used FreePCB, can anyone recommend something else?

Thanks again!

gdavis · Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 11:00 am Post subject:

Eagle is popular if you can work with the limitations (1 schematic sheet, about 4x3" 2 layer board max).

Kicad is pretty nice also. Not the same standard as Eagle but isn't as limited, you can have multiple sheets, hierarchy and large multi-layered boards.

diablojoy · Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 3:26 am Post subject:

Kicad is good
for MAC there is also OSMOND and gEDA but i have no experiance with either of those.
I cant recommend Eagle at all though many swear by it , far too many limitations in the free version for my use and its not intuitive at all. feels like it was written by a commitee and i do mean that in a bad way.
if you do go with Eagle do not trust any of the libraries - make your own
also autoroute is evil Twisted Evil

never use it.

vtl5c3 · Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 8:59 am Post subject:

Perhaps this:

http://www.cenon.info/

(Thanks to Brian Schweinsburg for making me aware of this app.)

diablojoy · Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 3:07 pm Post subject:

Usedtobe · Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 2:35 pm Post subject:

check out diptrace!

www.diptrace.com

very user friendly, it's the most intuitive I've used (albeit a taaaad buggy, but it works on a mac, and isn't eagle)

amdagan · Joined: Jun 21, 2013 Posts: 9 Location: Iron mountain

From this thread: http://electro-music.com/forum/topic-54700.html

http://platinenbelichter.de/
It says that they accept PDF's.
First time I've ever seen a PCB fabber say this on their site.
Haven't used them myself - may be worth asking in the other thread re. experiences specifically with PDF source files?