What's the best PCB Prototyping company and software.

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1

Hiya

I am looking for a good PCB prototyping service, does Hackspace
Manchester have a preferred company for PCB manufacture? Also, is there
some preferred schematic and PCB routing design software?

Thanks.

Dan.
Dan Davenport
Laluna Technology
01457 597018
07761 394965
32 Station Road, Hadfield, Glossop. SK13 1BQ
Web: www.laluna.co.uk http://www.laluna.co.uk
Facebook: Laluna Technology http://www.facebook.com/LalunaTechnology
Google+: +LalunaTechnologyHadfield
https://www.google.com/+LalunaTechnologyHadfield
NWB: nwb.co/geekyoyd http://nwb.co/geekyoyd

2

The answer depends a little on what you want to do.

I use elecrow for PCB prototypes as I only tend to do 1-2 layer designs on
less than 10x10cm for myself and don’t mind the default 2-4 weeks for PCBs
to turn up.
Elecrow can go to 4 layers, but i’ve not tried using them for that.

For PCB design, I use the free version of Eagle, but that’s down to it
being free and what i’ve used historically. Now KiCad is becoming a good
choice for new designs.On 1 July 2016 at 12:25, Dan Davenport (LaLuna Technology) < dan2@laluna.co.uk> wrote:

Hiya

I am looking for a good PCB prototyping service, does Hackspace Manchester
have a preferred company for PCB manufacture? Also, is there some preferred
schematic and PCB routing design software?

Thanks.
Dan.

Dan Davenport
Laluna Technology
01457 597018
07761 394965
32 Station Road, Hadfield, Glossop. SK13 1BQ
Web: www.laluna.co.uk
Facebook: Laluna Technology http://www.facebook.com/LalunaTechnology
Google+: +LalunaTechnologyHadfield
https://www.google.com/+LalunaTechnologyHadfield
NWB: nwb.co/geekyoyd

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Ben Dooks, http://www.fluff.org/ben/ bjdooks@googlemail.com

3

I second Elecrow and Eagle. I am looking into Kicad but haven’t started a
design yet. Elecrow provide eagle design rule checks to ensure your board
can be correctly manufactured by them. The price of boards is very good for
two layer. Not tried four layer yet. I haven’t had a requirement.

AlexOn Fri, 1 Jul 2016, 13:03 ‘Ben Dooks’ via Hackspace Manchester, < hacman@googlegroups.com> wrote:

The answer depends a little on what you want to do.

I use elecrow for PCB prototypes as I only tend to do 1-2 layer designs on
less than 10x10cm for myself and don’t mind the default 2-4 weeks for PCBs
to turn up.
Elecrow can go to 4 layers, but i’ve not tried using them for that.

For PCB design, I use the free version of Eagle, but that’s down to it
being free and what i’ve used historically. Now KiCad is becoming a good
choice for new designs.

On 1 July 2016 at 12:25, Dan Davenport (LaLuna Technology) < dan2@laluna.co.uk> wrote:

Hiya

I am looking for a good PCB prototyping service, does Hackspace
Manchester have a preferred company for PCB manufacture? Also, is there
some preferred schematic and PCB routing design software?

Thanks.
Dan.

Dan Davenport
Laluna Technology
01457 597018
07761 394965
32 Station Road, Hadfield, Glossop. SK13 1BQ
Web: www.laluna.co.uk
Facebook: Laluna Technology http://www.facebook.com/LalunaTechnology
Google+: +LalunaTechnologyHadfield
https://www.google.com/+LalunaTechnologyHadfield
NWB: nwb.co/geekyoyd

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Ben Dooks, http://www.fluff.org/ben/ bjdooks@googlemail.com

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4

Thanks for the replies Ben and Alexander. Elecrow certainly are amazingly
low cost.I will try out Eagle and KiCad. RS Components DesignSpark PCB is
free and unrestricted although it does not run on Linux.