Hello All,

(Actually I think this is mostly for Rick since I think he gets quite a few
boards produced, but ALL ideas would be helpful.)

NORMALLY, I don't really have a need for multiple boards or boards that are
more than just functional. (By "more than just functional" I am mostly
referring to "boards the look professional and nice". ;) )

In the near future this may change, and I may have need of a greater number
of identical board designs that look nice/professional.

I have been using Eagle for years. Mostly because it seemed to be the
first "decent layout program" that had a free option and was generally well
supported.

After the background now the question.

What are good options/companies to get boards made that have been layed out
with Eagle that are cheap in cost, still look nice, and are easily
compatible with the Layout Files Produced by Eagle? (I would want
front/back solder masks and top silkscreening as well.)

Thanks...

oshpark

The minimum order is 3 which means I usually populate one, figure out where I messed up and use the other two as Christmas ornaments.

They have there design rules laid out.

They will do 2 or 4 layered boars, with top and bottom silk screen.

They batch boards then have them made in china and sent over so I have gotten some boards very fast; I must have been one of that last boards to make a full panel. Other times its slow (~2-3 weeks)

The part I love is I can just drag eagle files into the browser and it loads them then shows me what each layer will look like and the cost.

Here is an example, Its taped to a breaker bar I'm truing into a digital torque wrench

I used a LPKF machine at school that I seemed to crash every other board because I never got any training. Then I messed around with trying to etch my own, not worth it.

I use Itead Studio's PCB Service in China. I have had great results from them with the only problems being one's I created and didn't catch in my own layout. You can get 10 green lacquered boards with soldermask top & bottom silk for $19.90 plus shipping which I think is less than $10. They 100% etest the boards to make sure they are good prior to shipment. Here is a LINK to their service. You essentially create the files they need in Eagle, submit them to them, and wait. That is the only hard part as it does take a month or so typically. But for the price, I feel it's worth it. They will do other colors of lacquer but at a surcharge.

Rick