[time-nuts] OCXO Support Board

[Bob kb8tq]

Hi

Some of the Chinese outfits flip that model around the other way.
You get to use the parts they have in stock. Setup *appears* to be
dirt cheap, as well as the basic parts costs. 

One of many examples:

https://jlcpcb.com <https://jlcpcb.com/>

I haven’t used them for assembly, but the do make ok boards. 

Since the parts range is limited, you will be putting a few things on 
yourself. I’d guess that 90% of the parts on a typical board will be 
things they can supply. Is there another gotcha? Not at all clear (yet). 

The outfit above has two categories of parts (basic and extended). It
appears that when you go into the extended group, there may be some
minimum order gotchas ….

Bob

> On May 13, 2020, at 9:17 AM, jimlux <jimlux at earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
> On 5/13/20 5:56 AM, Bob kb8tq wrote:
>> Hi
>> There are a number of free ( = there is no license fee ) pcb layout programs out there.
>> One of the many is KiCad. It’s not that hard to use. It is very popular. There are a lot
>> of YouTube videos and blogs detailing how to do this or that with it. Laying out a board
>> to mount an OCXO on is a pretty good starter project.
>> Once you get going, a board is a weekend project. Indeed, a simple board might be an
>> evening project. There’s not a lot involved.
>> Once you have your layout, it goes off to any of a number of outfits. Seeed Studio is
>> one that many people use. WellPCB is another that comes with a lot of recommendations.
>> As long as you stick with < 100 mm x < 100 mm parts a number of places will sell you
>> boards for 50 cents each.
>> Shipping does cost $20 to $30, so doing more than one board at a time is a pretty good
>> idea. If you are laying out five boards a week, batching them up isn’t the hard part :)
>> While most don’t seem to use it, many board houses also offer assembly / pick and place
>> services. On a board that uses simple parts, that might take out the whole assembly
>> process. No idea (yet) how well that part goes ….
> 
> 
> I've used several assembly services (in Oregon, as it happens) for small boards at work (<100mm square, although that's not a requirement for the service) and had relatively good luck. One of the nice things is that some services will actually order and kit the parts for you - you send them a board design, with a parts list from digikey, and a couple weeks later, you get your boards back.
> 
> It's not super cheap, but it sure is convenient.
> 
> 
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