Just got my first PCBs back from DorkbotPDX.org on Friday. Looks like top quality stuff. Love the purple mask and the gold pads.
Here is my finished FT232 USB/TTL serial breakout.
they look awesome.
What was the overall size of each of your designs, because you have 3 separate designs there, correct? What about cost (if you don’t mind) and turnaround? I notice that there’s ~weekly boards filling up at the moment, so I guess that would have helped the wait.
must refrain from opening Eagle and making boards - protoboard is working fine for the moment…
I did post here with more details.
Basically $5 per sqr inch with shipping included and you get 3 of each for same price. And you get to help a good guy (Lean) that does this for about nothing.
The net cost is like $1.67/SqrIn to your door. Time depends on how long a board takes to fill up (~2 weeks) and when you submit it inside the cycle.
A proto board runs like 0.85/sqr plus what ever shipping is. So the cost delta is not a real factor as much as weighing the other pros-cons of each. In my case, I wanted to learn to PCB.
It does look top quality. I would like to try their service. Did you solder FT chip yourself?
“Did you solder FT chip yourself?”
Thank you. Yes, it was my first SMT chip. Actually, I was shocked it worked at all because my surface mount job was not very pretty. I did use Gus’s SMD solder videos on YouTube for moral support. After getting everything soldered, it did not work (as halfway expected). After some debugging and luck, I found my design issue with a Cap between GND. So I bypassed cap with a solder bridge and after plugging in to PC, I got the Installing driver window. Was coolness.
I do have a question for Gus. In your SMD video, you talk about bending your solder tip to give it a curve. I am a bit worried about breaking it off. What method do you use to do that slight bend? tia
I never seen a tip made of super solid material so bending the tip shouldn’t be a big deal. This is a very slight bend anyways
You can place the tip on an angle instead of bending the tip.
But how to bend? Do you do it heated (i.e. 500+F) so it bends easier. And naturally don’t want to grab it with pliers and mark it. So what you bend it with? Just press on it? tia
I more meant about the total cost for your boards - I honestly couldn’t figure out if the square inches are of one board or the total of all three; so if you have a 1" square board and you get 3x copies, does that mean $5 or $15. I am glad you have been able to confirm in practice 
$5 per sqr in total to do a board. However you get 3 copies (or 2 for free). So netted out, it is like $1.67/si == 5/3.
For example:
The FT232 breakout was $9.75 (or 3.25 each) @ 1.95si
The larger board was 44.25 (or 14.75 each) @ 8.85si
hth
“awesome”
That looks pretty damn sweet! I love the FTDI break out! How much did that cost you including components?
Something like $16.50. From SF, the chip is like $3.95, Usb plug $1.50. Caps and resistors I had in stock and board was 9.75. You can buy a complete board for like 14.50+SH at SF. So you are, almost never, going to do a board like that and save money. Learning, customize, or doing something new would we my drivers to a next board.