Printed circuit boards come with a large range of price, complexity, reliability, and quality price points. The circuit board usually costs from around 50 cents to around $300 dollars to be able to produce. This usually depends on what your needs are.
The printed circuit board price has different factors. Also, it may have to do with the complexity, number of layers, quantity, as well as the components that are added onto the circuit board. One expensive circuit board is known as the 32 layer printed circuit board. These printed circuit boards are very complex and producing them will cost about hundreds of dollars.
What are the Important Factors Determining PCB Cost?
Below are the significant factors that determine the costs of a printed circuit board.
Type of assembly
The printed circuit boards come assembled in any of three accurate ways. One is surface mount, through hole, or the combination of the two. It is usually less expensive when you use the surface mount method to assembly the printed circuit board. It is also faster to produce than the through hole method of soldering.
This holds because through hole assembly needs drilling of the empty or bare circuit board, which may need hand soldering. Furthermore, people usually prefer to work with through hole assembly due to the fact that it can create a stronger and more effective connection to the components.
There are assemblies that mix both the through hole and the surface mount PCB assembly process. In this case, the former is useful for important transformers, capacitors, and connectors, which may require a connection that is much more durable.
Component Placement
How you place your components can also increase the PCB cost. You can reduce costs by the reevaluation of the location where your components are placed in your design.
Number of Components in Total (DIP and SMD)
The number of components in the printed circuit board design can impact the manufacturing costs directly. When you make sure that the PCB design is very efficient, then you can minimize as well as low cost.
The Components’ Package Size
Making use of package sizes for components complying with the industry standards help in reducing costs.
Processes Required and Components Packages
Every component package has to be attached or added onto the circuit board via a unique process. Purchasing circuit boards having delicate, complicated, or many components packages, then there will be a significant increase in the manufacturing costs.
Batch Size and Quantity
The amount or number of printed circuit board ordered and the batch size requested can affect the total costs. When you order a larger amount of circuit boards, you are intelligently reducing your costs (low cost). However, the varying costs as a result of batch size are most times overlooked.
Though a lot of companies want to manufacture their circuit boards in batch sizes that are smaller, you have to contact your PCB manufacturer regarding your gerber file to help you see the most appropriate batch size that will balance turnaround and quality with productivity properly.
Special Part Processing Requirements
Some parts may need special processing or preparation like odd spacing, maximum or minimum height, or unique length of leads. For this case, there will be an increase in costs. You can save money and bring more money if you redesign the printed circuit board to make use of standard processing requirements and components.
Total BOM Cost
This is a very good place to tell you what’s making you pat more than usual. Wirth the bill of materials, you will be able to see components that can be replaced with other cheaper alternatives.
Coating
If there’s a need to coat the printed circuit board, there are some options. Also, you can choose one that is cheap or less expensive. Consider if you’ll require these boards to be repaired or reworked.
Shipping
Shipping the printed circuit boards could add more to your usual cost. Similar to the process of manufacturing, when you order more at once, you are reducing the delivery and shipping costs for each unit.
Test Requirements
The tests for quality control may require the checking of different components. Also, this could cause an increase in costs. You can choose from different options. This depends on the circuit type you hope to build. Contact your PCB manufacturer to get the best options for testing.
Ways of Reducing the Cost of PCB and Save Some Money on Your Printed Circuit Board
The PCB Design is a very effective way of starting the process in reducing the cost of the printed circuit board is to comprehend the way the designing of the circuit boards take place. Some significant factors that help to determine the costs of the PCB are shape and size, surface type, and layers needed.
Furthermore, consider redesigning the printed circuit board for cases having complex shape or the board is unnecessarily large. You will decrease costs significantly, if you keep the board sizes and shapes standard for the manufacturer.
Materials
The choice of material is another important aspect of PCB manufacturing. This helps in determining the durability and performance of the board. Also, the packaging is also important in reducing the cost, and this could vary. This variation depends on the components and its uses.
Quantity
Large quantity manufacturing leads to low assembly costs. This is as a result of the economies of scale. Whenever there is product manufacturing at a larger scale, each unit’s price drops the cost of the printed circuit board significantly.
Quality Control and Testing
In avoiding diminishing costs, there is a need to inspect and test the printed circuit boards. This will help in reducing or minimizing the number of flex rigid PCBs making their way to the hand of the consumer. Make sure your testing is consistent to avoid reduced profits and additional costs as a result of losing the customer’s trust and refunds.
Conclusion
To summarize, we can boldly say that the price or total cost of a printed circuit board depends on some important factors. Checking out these factors will go a long way in cutting down additional cost.
