How To Get Your PCB Manufactured & Assembled - Phil's Lab #94

Data needed to get a PCB manufactured and assembled, how to generate that information and those files. PCBs by PCBWay www.pcbway.com
Gerber files, stack-up/controlled impedance information, bill of materials (BOM), pick and place file (CPL), as well as assembly drawings.
Including walkthrough of the PCB ordering process.
[SUPPORT]
Free trial of Altium Designer: www.altium.com/yt/philslab
Patreon: / phils94
Mixed-signal hardware design course: phils-lab-shop.fedevel.education
Advanced Hardware Design Course Survey
forms.gle/X4jwvtZeJ1jTXh7r9
[GIT]
github.com/pms67
[LINKS]
Instagram: / philslabyt
[TIMESTAMPS]
00:00 Introduction
01:00 Altium Designer Free Trial
01:28 PCBWay
01:47 Example PCBs
02:28 Checks
03:07 Make Sure You Have Inventory Stock
03:47 Choice & Capabilities of Manufacturer/Assembler
07:29 Gerber Files
10:49 Checking Gerber Files (CAM Viewer)
12:54 Additional Manufacturing Info (e.g. Controlled Impedance, Stack-Up)
18:17 Manufacturer Feedback (Adjusted Trace Widths, Adjusted Stack-Up)
19:40 Bill of Materials (BOM)
22:37 Pick and Place File (CPL)
24:22 Eurocircuits Assembly Checker Tool
25:38 Assembly Drawings
28:51 Create Assembly Drawings with Altium Designer Draftsman
31:45 Placing an Order with Assembly
34:28 Outro

[@thedrunknmunky6571]

My ESP32 based board will be sent for manufacturing this month and video #90 was helpful on designing it and now video #94 will help me send it for manufacturing. I'm grateful for the free information that you continue to provide to us who are relatively new to electronics. BTW there's quite a few colleagues from my workplace that are your fans. How cool!

[@PhilsLab]

That's awesome, I'm very glad go hear that! I hope all goes well with your boards when you get them back :)

[@Helal_Tech]

You are the best pcb design instructor I've ever seen. Your language is very simple and understandable. You explain step by step and you take me from my hand to show me everything I need. Thanks,Phill.

[@MatthewHoworko]

Thanks for the great video, Phil! One tip to help with some of the exports is to use an Output Job File which can make a standard set of directories and file names for the project outputs. It also ensures that you always use the same BoM columns, gerber settings, etc., and it can be copied from project to project easily.

[@Freakingsstein]

I watch this video every time I need to get something fabricated. It is very thorough and very well put together. Thanks a bunch

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you, glad it's helpful!

[@tylergeneharrison3594]

"1 to 2 weeks of checking", I was so glad to hear this! It brought back some aspect of humanity from an otherwise perfectly executed design process. Another great video. Our Altium release process at work is currently noisy, and makes this video highly applicable. Thanks again mate!

[@PhilsLab]

Awesome, glad to hear that - thank you, Tyler :)

[@geraldmbuthia8780]

Great work Phil, I am currently interning as a Electronics and Printed Circuit Board Engineer and your Videos are quite helpful. I would like to request a similar video regarding JLCPCB fabrication. Keep up the good work.

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks, Gerald - you'll find info on the JLC process in the 3hr KiCad video on this channel.

[@AndruShows]

1) I use the .outjob file to point and manage all my files for production. 2) I use Drasftman to create PCB requirements (layer stackup, dimensions and special attention points) instead of a text document like the video author. The second document is an assembly drawing. It is best to avoid realistic images in this document if manual assembly or installation is involved. They turn into black squares if the document is printed on a black and white laser printer. It is also advisable not to scale the drawing randomly, but to specify the standard (1:1 1:2 1:4) scale.

[@k0j2x9]

Great video 👍

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks!

[@deangreenhough3479]

Superb Video. I also use Euro Circuits for manufacturing and their system for checking, is second to none. Once you master their system, you know exactly what you will receive . 10 out of 10 for customer service too.

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks, Dean! I've used EC a few times as well and they've always been great. As you said, the online checker system is incredibly helpful.

[@huynhngocthienvuong541]

Thanks Phil

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks for watching!

[@Squire3555]

Can't thank you enough for all the quality content, Phill! If I can add an observation, I would avoid rar archives and always use zips. Rar archives are just a pain to work with, especially in *nix environments and can break real quick with non-backwards compatible updates, such as with the new rar5. Zip files just usually works everywhere and support comes preloaded in all OS's. It just adds convenience to the receiver!

[@oreovios306]

very helpful !

[@PhilsLab]

Glad to hear that, thanks!

[@skmer4704]

Nice video :D

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks! :)

[@dmitrynuzhdin]

Oh wow, that price... That is so much more expensive compared to simple boards like 4 layers, 0.25 min vias no blind/buried, leaded HASL. I have some delivered today and it was like 8$ per 5 pcs (just PCBs). The delivery actually costs me more than the boards themselves. But THIS price is ... YIKES... Great video as always.

[@PhilsLab]

Yeah, these boards are considerably more costly to manufacture, given the pretty advanced technology they're using. However, as usual, in volume the price per board does drop significantly.

[@andymouse]

Cracking video with no stone unturned. I think on my next board I will 'dip my toe in' and start by getting all the SMD resistors placed and see how much that costs and how easy it is, lots of good advice here and I noticed you're going with matte black and yellow silk, I guess you think it looks great then ?....cheers.

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks, Andy - hope all goes well with your next SMD board. Yes, I quite like the look of matte black soldermask in any case, but the addition of yellow silkscreen makes it quite unique I think!

[@ahbushnell1]

good job

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks, Andy!

[@s_i_m_o_n_e_n_g_e_l]

Thanks

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks for watching, Simon :)

[@billyjoe3309]

You are a true pro. I'd love to pay you to design my board.

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you!

[@TheVideoVolcano]

Can you do a video on buried vias and blind voas and micro vias in kicad (or altium I guess) because I have had difficulty with these

[@blaqsmyth]

Great

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Have you had experience sending parts for assembly to PCBway ? I've heard that there can be customs issues getting parts into China.

[@PhilsLab]

I've done it once but will never do it again - as you said, customs is a bit of a nightmare. Whole thing ended up being delayed by 1-2 months because of that.

[@SirHarrisonPhillips]

@Philslab have you ever thought about exploring AC-DC converters, or do you have any recommendations for channels that take your in-depth approach to these types of converters? Most stuff I find is theory focused.

[@elec_source]

Thank you for sharing these important informations can you send me the link of the manufacture txt file I wanted to get it as a sample file to send the manufacture for each of my pcbs order

[@666alikat]

if you have alternate/optional components you don't want populated during assembly, do you just disinclude them from the CPL file or the CPL and BOM both or is there an additional step?

[@BigJonYT]

Drink a shot every time he says PCB way 🤣

[@CuriousMaker609]

A couple of weeks ago, you did an ESP32 board design. You had to match the impedance between the LNA pin and the antenna. Did you have to provide controlled impedance information to the manufacturer for those gerbers?

[@geraldmbuthia8780]

Hello, I am no expert at all but what I understand from Controlled impedance is that you get to vary the tracks width along with adding some components such as capacitors to achieve the required impedance. Therefore the manufacturers just have to fabricate as designed to achieve the impedance so no need for extra data.

[@mateuszm8877]

I know nothing about Altium so forgive me if it's obvious. All your components have nice 3D models which are later useful for rendering various views of PCB. When you add a new component to your library, do you 3d-model it yourself? Or are libraries for these components available for download somewhere?

[@skmer4704]

Can you make a board that will receive poe ethernet and draw 12V power at the output? I'm very interested in this topic but I don't know how to go about it.

[@r_be]

Another great video Phil! Are you planning on sharing ZettBrett PCB project on your git?

[@PhilsLab]

Thank you! I'm afraid the design files will (to start) only be shared with participants of the upcoming course.

[@r_be]

@@PhilsLab this is totally understandable! 👍

[@ravikik4135]

Please make a big big microcontroller with 140 digital pins and 30 analog inputs and 10 analog outs

[@Pippo.Langstrumpf]

Phil, do you use Autorouting sometimes? Myself I dont use it.

[@PhilsLab]

I've tried it out on a few subsections but never got good results. I do everything manually.

[@abderrahmanemehenni1769]

✨❤️👏

[@tamaseduard5145]

👍🙏❤

[@KingdomChablo]

From your experience, how does jlc pcb and pcbway differ?

[@AndruShows]

For simple prototypes i'm using jlcpcb because they has almost all popular components in stock. For advanced one only local assembly houses because of the price of the mistake and customs questions.

[@KingdomChablo]

​@tip_ ok what exactly did that answer

[@mspeir]

Why did you switch from JLCPCB?

[@PhilsLab]

I needed more advanced PCBs + assembly capabilities for the channel's hardware.

[@camerononan9356]

is this type of board pretty far out of the scope of KiCAD's capabilities?

[@dmitrynuzhdin]

I never designed something that complicated, but I think that you can do this in KiCad. It has everything you really need.

[@PhilsLab]

For the most part, the software is pretty irrelevant, as all can do essentially the same. Regardless of sponsorship, I do prefer Altium as it speeds up my workflow, reduces design time with some neat tools, etc.

[@terlumunjoseph6779]

can you please make more kicad videos

[@DustinWill]

Comment for the sake of comment, and thanks for a lovely vid.

[@PhilsLab]

Thanks, Dustin!