PCB

Some valuable information and lessons learned for ordering the boards.

Gerber files
Gerber files of Open-BLDC V0.1 can be found here.

Quote settings
Settings used for ordering the Open-BLDC V0.1 boards at pcbcard:


 * Material: FR4
 * Material Details: Standard Tg 140C
 * Layers: 2
 * Board Size: 94.488mm x 59.7154mm
 * Different Designs in Panel: 3
 * Route Process: Tab Route
 * Thikness: 1.6mm
 * Surface Finish: ENIG - Electroless Nickle/Immersion Gold - RoHS(1)
 * Copper Weight: 35um
 * Min. Tracing/Spacing: 0.2mm
 * Min. Annular Ring: 0.1mm(2)
 * Smallest Holes: 0.4mm
 * Holes Numbers: Under 300
 * Surface Mount: 2 sides
 * Soldermask: Both Sides
 * Peelable Soldermask: None
 * Soldermask Color: Any
 * Matt Color: If applicable
 * Silkscreen Legend: None
 * Silkscreen Legend Color: None
 * Gold Fingers: No
 * Gold Fingers Chamfer: No
 * Slots in Board: No Slot in Board
 * Testing: Yes(3)
 * UL Marking: No
 * Date Code Marking: No

(1) You want to take ENIG as finish and not "Hot air solder leveling" because the Solderstop tends to go off when using HASL. (2) The annular rings on Open-BLDC V0.1 are 0.2mm but pcbcart does not have that option. (3) You really really really want to do that. In any pcb's order you do to avoid problems and headaches afterwords.

Lessons learned

 * Do not send gerber files for layers that are not stated in the quote (when you say that you don't want silkscreen don't send the gerber file)
 * The gerber files currently generated by the makefiles in Open-BLDC, don't have tab routing information, they can be added by the manufacturer but it takes time.

Price
When calculating price of PCB order at PCBCART you should consider:
 * Quote price
 * Shipping costs
 * Import turnover tax (In Germany 19%)

Todo's for future

 * Find a way to add tab routing information to gerber files using a makefile
 * Consider if really all holes have to be plated through. If not remove that information from the text on the fab layer.