It's finally here. I've been requested close to about 5,000 units of a small circuit I designed, and now I need to delegate its PCB production and assembly. My plan is to have the supplier partially assemble the circuit and then adding myself a few through hole parts and finishing touches to try to keep the price down and things as confidential as possible.

For this purpose I've chosen PCBWay, but right now I'm open to suggestions as to other suppliers.

Here's the thing, I've always designed my circuits using AutoCAD and manually put them together in-house, and I've produced my own PCB's using a transfer technique of my own creation.

But now I need to learn to use a software capable of producing the Gerber files requested by PCBWay so I can get a quote and put things in motion.

Any suggestion as to which software (preferably freeware, or as inexpensive as possible) would be best for my venture? My boards will only be using two layers, and measure about 2" x 1-1/2"

Edit: red alert... paging @MaxHeadRoom, @nsaspook, @ericgibbs, et al ... HELP!

 

I am an Eagle user but KiCad is a favorite among users here.

 

Eagle would be fine for a commercial product with a monthly sub for a single board design.
https://www.autodesk.com/products/eagle/overview

 

I use Diptrace for simple board designs. It includes an autorouter as well. Free version is limited to 300 "pins"
I've sent Gerber files from Diptrace to those off shore PCB houses, no issues.

 

It's finally here. I've been requested close to about 5,000 units of a small circuit I designed, and now I need to delegate its PCB production and assembly. My plan is to have the supplier partially assemble the circuit and then adding myself a few through hole parts and finishing touches to try to keep the price down and things as confidential as possible.

Congratulations, amigo. Great work.

 

I have Eagle version 7.6.x, and it was freeware. when did they start charging?

The installation file is 55 MB. If you have Dropbox of some other large file holder, I'm happy to send it to you.

ak

 

It's finally here. I've been requested close to about 5,000 units of a small circuit I designed, and now I need to delegate its PCB production and assembly. My plan is to have the supplier partially assemble the circuit and then adding myself a few through hole parts and finishing touches to try to keep the price down and things as confidential as possible.

For this purpose I've chosen PCBWay, but right now I'm open to suggestions as to other suppliers.

Here's the thing, I've always designed my circuits using AutoCAD and manually put them together in-house, and I've produced my own PCB's using a transfer technique of my own creation.

But now I need to learn to use a software capable of producing the Gerber files requested by PCBWay so I can get a quote and put things in motion.

Any suggestion as to which software (preferably freeware, or as inexpensive as possible) would be best for my venture? My boards will only be using two layers, and measure about 2" x 1-1/2"

Edit: red alert... paging @MaxHeadRoom, @nsaspook, @ericgibbs, et al ... HELP!

Your choice of PCB software should consider the type of circuit to be laid out. Is it mixed analog/digital? RF? etc..
Will you be exchanging design files with a third party? How many layers? Max components?
Many freeware versions of PCB software has limits on #layers and/or #components.

 

I have Eagle version 7.6.x, and it was freeware. when did they start charging?

The installation file is 55 MB. If you have Dropbox of some other large file holder, I'm happy to send it to you.

ak

There is still a freeware 'hobby' "Trial for non-commercial use only" edition that will likely handle this project if it was a not for profit design.
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-install-and-setup-eagle/all

 

I have used FREE Kicad since ver4.00 and find it super,
The new ver 6 has just been released
If new to it, there is a bit of a learning curve.
I have some very good video's I posted a while back , a search should uncover if needed. They are for the ver 4. but it explains some of the operations that are very similar in the new edition.

 

Thanks, guys! ... I've just gone through the proposed options, and I think that Kicad is the better choice, since it's not only about graphics but it also has simulation capabilities and 3D viewing of the finished assembly. And those are features that might come in handy in the future.

I just hope that the learning curve that Max mentioned doesn't prove to be too steep.

 

BTW, there is a large Kicad forum where you can seek and obtain answers if needed.

 

You might consider EasyEDA offered by JLCPCB. It truly is easy to learn and use, and unlike some vendor-offered software, your files are private, and it generates standard Gerber files that can be used by any vendor at no cost.

The component library is huge, covering most parts supplied by their sister company LCSC (Chinese equivalent of Digikey) and most western components also.

It's simple to generate the needed assembly files and BOMs needed for assembly.

JLC offers a nearly free assembly service for SMT components in their assembly library. Many commonly used components are in their "basic" library; less commonly used parts are in their "extended" library, which incur an additional $3 setup charge per order. The service is intended for orders of 5 or 10 boards, but it's worth a look and some discussion for your larger project

 

I have designed boards using Autocad and dealt with board houses able to convery to gerber format somehow. BUT LAYERS MATTER a whole lot. And the learning curve between Eagle and Autocad is long and steep.

 

You might consider EasyEDA offered by JLCPCB. It truly is easy to learn and use, and unlike some vendor-offered software, your files are private, and it generates standard Gerber files that can be used by any vendor at no cost.

The component library is huge, covering most parts supplied by their sister company LCSC (Chinese equivalent of Digikey) and most western components also.

It's simple to generate the needed assembly files and BOMs needed for assembly.

JLC offers a nearly free assembly service for SMT components in their assembly library. Many commonly used components are in their "basic" library; less commonly used parts are in their "extended" library, which incur an additional $3 setup charge per order. The service is intended for orders of 5 or 10 boards, but it's worth a look and some discussion for your larger project

But JLCPCB have been limiting PCb assembly to 50 boards.

 

Congrats on the revenue - not a trivial accomplishment! As an entrepreneur of hardware-based systems, myself, I know how difficult this milestone can be to achieve... whether it came easily or simply, it's quite an accomplishment!

I'd use KiCad for where it sounds like you are... it's free and is reasonably equipped for pretty complex PCB's... as you advance, I'd suggest Altium Designer... it is expensive, but will be a reasonable expense as your company becomes more successful and is the status-quo for startups.

 

Thanks, guys! ... I've just gone through the proposed options, and I think that Kicad is the better choice, since it's not only about graphics but it also has simulation capabilities and 3D viewing of the finished assembly. And those are features that might come in handy in the future.

I just hope that the learning curve that Max mentioned doesn't prove to be too steep.

OK, now a question: how much does KICad cost??

 

It's finally here. I've been requested close to about 5,000 units of a small circuit I designed, and now I need to delegate its PCB production and assembly.

Otherwise known as a good problem to have. Congratulations and Godspeed!

Nothing more satisfying than to see your work replicated over and over.

I'm so curious about the board itself. I'd sign an NDA to get as peek (and offer better suggestions).

OK, now a question: how much does KICad cost??

Why ask us when you can ask Google?

 

Otherwise known as a good problem to have. Congratulations and Godspeed!

Nothing more satisfying than to see your work replicated over and over.

I'm so curious about the board itself. I'd sign an NDA to get as peek (and offer better suggestions).

Why ask us when you can ask Google?

I ask people because I much prefer people over computers.

 

OK, now a question: how much does KICad cost??

Zilch !
It started out 30yrs ago when a univ professor came up with the program for his students.
It is open source software.
Since then there have been alot of very skilled programmers working on it. A couple of years ago CERN got involved which pushed it along a bit.
I found it equal to Orcad
Autocad is not a suitable schematic capture for circuit boards, IMO.

 

I ask people because I much prefer people over computers.

Then walk next door and ask your neighbor to Google it.