Board stuffing and test for protos--cost estimate?

Question

Hi, all,

I have an interesting gig designing a high-linearity photomultiplier module for a biomed application. It's sort of an optical version of a block downconverter, so it lives and dies by its IMD3 performance.

The customer is working on a SBIR grant, so the budget doesn't have much room for nasty surprises.

I've never used a contract assembly place myself, and I need a ballpark estimate of how much it would cost to stuff 10 boards, probably 3.5 x

4.5 inches, with about 80 parts or thereabouts, all SMT except for 11 press-fit pin receptacles.

A few hundred bucks apiece, maybe?

Thanks

Phil Hobbs

Klaus Kragelund · Accepted Answer

There's a bunch of different possibilities at:

formatting link

For cheap stuff, I sometimes use Alibaba, post the job, and the quotes return quickly. It will invariably be of low quality

Alternatively, order the PCB, and let a youngster mount the parts

Cheers

Klaus

John Larkin · Answer

That sounds awfully high to me.  Ping Vital Systems in Reno maybe.

Spehro Pefhany · Answer

That should cover it. We have a guy who does small quantities without making stencils (except for some SMT connectors and BGAs).

It's always about the amount where I'm tempted to do it myself for 10 pieces or less but decide not to. ;-) Setup is bundled into the cost, reasonable since he only gets prototype-y quantities.

For larger quantities, I send it offshore- time consuming, shipping charges and quite cheap.

Quality is excellent in all cases with the current crop of suppliers.

--sp

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

George Herold · Answer

That seems about right. We order in larger quantities 50- 100. I can look up a quote on Thursday. We ask for the NRE costs to be quoted separately, stencil and stuff, which should give you some idea.

George H.

krw · Answer

Shouldn't cost that much. I'm just about ready to send one to our CM. The board is something like 120x140mm, with something like 1000 components with ~150 part numbers (two thru-hole multi-pin connectors). The quote is just under $300 each for 25 boards. That's assembly only, not including the components. There is a couple of hundred NRE, as well.

TTman · Answer

I do small batch(100) SMT hand asembly for 12p per  to 603  and 64tqpf --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.

Board stuffing and test for protos--cost estimate?

Join the Discussion

Didn't find your answer?