Re: General use PCB I too was going to suggest AP having done business with them in the
past, however you have to note that they have a 'high density' drilling
surcharge. This surcharge is 1 cent for every hole over 24 in 1 sq " of
board. Thue "perfboard" (10 x 10 holes in 1 sq") costs $0.76 per square
inch. For a board that has a 3 x 2.5" breadboard area, that is 7.5 sq
inches at an additional board cost of $5.70 per board. Add to that their
"regular" charge of .68/sq in ( the board is 3 x 4 (or 12 sq")) which is
then $8.16 and the absolute minimum cost is about $14/board. This is
simply unacceptable when buying class 'lab supplies.' 

Now a "real" board house (that is one that will tool up for a board run
of 250 - 500 boards) will be able to significantly beat that price. My
guess is that they could do it for about $3 - 8/board. And you would end
up with better boards overall. (In Silicon Valley it seems the bid is
often on quantity rather than price, as in "I'll pay $1,000, how many
boards will I get?" :-) 

Alternatively there are board places that will put your artwork in the
"unused" portion of another customers board. That can be a win because
the board house gets revenue on what would have been waste product but
it is often 'cut yourself' type of deals.

I like the concept behind the PICProto type boards (See JDR
microdevices, Parallax, or the www.robotstore.com web site for a
picture), they are a combination of a simple PIC layout and some
breadboard. For students it might be helpful to have a pre-layed out
voltage regulator circuit or three so that one could build an arbitrary
circuit on them. 

--Chuck

Curt Mills, WE7U wrote:
> 
> On Wed, 5 Aug 1998, ED Spike, E&CE Dept. wrote:
> 
> > We have been using the Radio Shack, Archer board #276-162A.
> 
> > We are in need of 60 boards now.  Since the board is a good general PCB we
> > would like to find a supplier.
> 
> Option #1:  How about making some of your own?  If you need 60, then the
> prices from board houses start getting pretty low.  Check out these
> places:
> 
> http://www.apcircuits.com
> http://www.advancedcircuits.com
> http://www.expresspcb.com
> 
> I made up a small spreadsheet for expresspcb and apcircuits pricing, and
> at quantity 60 you can get boards for about $10 each from ExpressPCB, and
> $9 each from APcircuits (3" x 4" board, single or double-sided,
> plated-through holes). Crank up the quantities or crank down the board
> area and the prices go down.  You also have the option of customizing the
> board for exactly your use.
> 
> ExpressPCB uses their own software (downloadable for free last time I
> looked) to do the layout, while apcircuits accepts standard Gerber files
> and drill files.  I have not used any of these services, but I plan on
> trying out APcircuits in the coming months.
> 
> APcircuits is in Calgary, which might also affect your decision.
> 
> Option #2:  Another thing to check out is "TechAmerica", which is
> apparently another Tandy company?  They are connected to Radio Shack in
> some manner, and you can buy their catalogs at Radio Shack.  They have a
> lot of parts and project kits and such, and may carry the type of board
> that Radio Shack no longer does.
> 
> Good luck,
> 
> Curt Mills, WE7U                         hacker.NO_*SPAM@tc.fluke.com
> Senior Methods Engineer/SysAdmin
> "Lotto:    A tax on people who are bad at math." -- unknown
> "Windows:  Microsoft's tax on computer illiterates." -- WE7U

