Good SMT prototype assembler, West Coast?

[Joerg]

Hello Folks,

One of my clients is looking for a good prototype assembly house,
preferably western US but could also be elsewhere, just not outside the
US. Intricate stuff, I had to put lots of 0402 in there plus some TSSOP.
No lead-free soldering. Main concerns are that they do not mis-stuff
parts (no lettering on resistors) and soldering has to be excellent.

If you had really good results with a company could you let me know?

 

[Tim Wescott]

Hello Folks,

One of my clients is looking for a good prototype assembly house,
preferably western US but could also be elsewhere, just not outside the
US. Intricate stuff, I had to put lots of 0402 in there plus some TSSOP.
No lead-free soldering. Main concerns are that they do not mis-stuff
parts (no lettering on resistors) and soldering has to be excellent.

If you had really good results with a company could you let me know?

Silicon Forest in Vancouver, WA. "Does well with intricate stuff"
certainly describes them.

One of their lead people used to be the assembler for an engineering
group I worked for. She could be the most obnoxious person on earth,
but she knew how to harness that for the good of her customers so it was
no bad thing.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Posting from Google? See http://cfaj.freeshell.org/google/

"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" came out in April.
See details at http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html

 

[Joerg]

Hello Tim,

Silicon Forest in Vancouver, WA. "Does well with intricate stuff"
certainly describes them.

One of their lead people used to be the assembler for an engineering
group I worked for. She could be the most obnoxious person on earth,
but she knew how to harness that for the good of her customers so it was
no bad thing.

Thanks, have forwarded it. In case others are looking as well:
http://www.si-forest.com/

 

[Fritz Schlunder]

Hello Folks,

One of my clients is looking for a good prototype assembly house,
preferably western US but could also be elsewhere, just not outside the
US. Intricate stuff, I had to put lots of 0402 in there plus some TSSOP.
No lead-free soldering. Main concerns are that they do not mis-stuff parts
(no lettering on resistors) and soldering has to be excellent.

I used to work at a company called MJS Designs, located in Phoenix Arizona.

Their primary service is doing the type of stuff you have described. Based
on my experience working there and knowing Dawn Visser (my former boss, who
appears to be the company president now), I wouldn't hesistate to recommend
them or to use them for my own board manufacturing needs now that I've moved
on to engineering.

http://www.mjsdesigns.com/index.asp

 

[Largo]

Hello Folks,

One of my clients is looking for a good prototype assembly house,
preferably western US but could also be elsewhere, just not outside the
US. Intricate stuff, I had to put lots of 0402 in there plus some TSSOP.
No lead-free soldering. Main concerns are that they do not mis-stuff
parts (no lettering on resistors) and soldering has to be excellent.

If you had really good results with a company could you let me know?

http://www.e-teknet.com/

I got boards done here quick and low cost--and without the fuss that
the "notouch" house did, for a two sided board with a separate ground
plane (composite). They also offer PCB assembly.
Largo

 

[Joel Kolstad]

Largo,

I got boards done here quick and low cost--and without the fuss that
the "notouch" house did, for a two sided board with a separate ground
plane (composite). They also offer PCB assembly.

So they made one 2-sided board that was signal & ground, and then a
single-sided board that was laminated with the 1st board to get S-G-S?

Interesting...

Their web site is a little primitive, and if I had to guess it looks like the
boards are actually built in China, but the prices certainly are cheap.

---Joel Kolstad

 

[Largo]

Largo,



So they made one 2-sided board that was signal & ground, and then a
single-sided board that was laminated with the 1st board to get S-G-S?

"Express" called it composite. Effectively I had four gerber files,
ground plane, circuit, solder and mask. The ground plane was created
by using the tracks & pads on the comp side but increasing the
aperture list by 30 thou. "express" et al. had no way to deal with in
their no-touch category offerings. Had to go into the full service
spins.

Interesting...

Their web site is a little primitive, and if I had to guess it looks like the
boards are actually built in China, but the prices certainly are cheap.

Yes. Strangely enough the boards had Chinese script on the packing. I
had four smallish boards done for $92. This was my first experience
with pcb fabrications.

Largo

 

[Joerg]

Hello Fritz,

I used to work at a company called MJS Designs, located in Phoenix Arizona.

Their primary service is doing the type of stuff you have described. Based
on my experience working there and knowing Dawn Visser (my former boss, who
appears to be the company president now), I wouldn't hesistate to recommend
them or to use them for my own board manufacturing needs now that I've moved
on to engineering.

http://www.mjsdesigns.com/index.asp

Thanks! That is a great endorsement, I will let my client know (and also
add it to my own list).

 

[Joerg]

Hello Largo,

http://www.e-teknet.com/

I got boards done here quick and low cost--and without the fuss that
the "notouch" house did, for a two sided board with a separate ground
plane (composite). They also offer PCB assembly.

Thanks for the hint. This could be a great place if time is very critical.

 

[JeffM]

MJS Designs, located in Phoenix Arizona.

http://www.mjsdesigns.com/index.asp
Fritz Schlunder

I will [...] add it to my own list
Joerg

Have you seen this list?
http://www.google.com/search?q=PCB....to.Type+Low.Production+Production+Sheet.Metal
(I clicked on the View as HTML link.)
Some really interesting stuff is way to the right.

There is no date on it, but it was done by these guys:
http://www.google.com/search?q=inurl:edanet.com+DNA_FAQ&num=100&filter=0
(Design Network Associates, Inc.)

 

[Joerg]

Hello Jeff,

Have you seen this list?
http://www.google.com/search?q=PCB....to.Type+Low.Production+Production+Sheet.Metal
(I clicked on the View as HTML link.)
Some really interesting stuff is way to the right.

There is no date on it, but it was done by these guys:
http://www.google.com/search?q=inurl:edanet.com+DNA_FAQ&num=100&filter=0
(Design Network Associates, Inc.)

Yes, there are lots of companies. However, I wanted to find some where
the folks on this forum had personally had a good experience. When it
comes to stuff such as 0402 and TSSOP things can go horribly wrong on
small prototype runs. Not just from a workmanship point of view but also
by mis-stuffing. 0402 resistors will often have no labeling. Once it's
on the board you cannot see (and often cannot measure) whether they put
in the right value.

 

[Tim]

Joerg wrote

One of my clients is looking for a good prototype assembly house,
preferably western US but could also be elsewhere, just not outside the
US. Intricate stuff, I had to put lots of 0402 in there plus some TSSOP.
No lead-free soldering. Main concerns are that they do not mis-stuff parts
(no lettering on resistors) and soldering has to be excellent.

If you had really good results with a company could you let me know?

Which is exactly my question, but for the UK. Accuracy and responsiveness
rather than rock-bottom pricing. Volumes are pre-production - for us that
means up to around 50 fairly small units.

Any suggestions?

 

[Paul Burke]

Accuracy and responsiveness
rather than rock-bottom pricing. Volumes are pre-production - for us that
means up to around 50 fairly small units.

I had good service from these people a few years ago, before I learned
to do SMT myself:

http://www.allgoodtechnology.com/pages/Frameset top.htm

Paul Burke

 

[Leon]

Joerg wrote


Which is exactly my question, but for the UK. Accuracy and responsiveness
rather than rock-bottom pricing. Volumes are pre-production - for us that
means up to around 50 fairly small units.

Any suggestions?

I can recommend Active-PCB in Reading.

Leon

 

[Joerg]

Hello Leon,

I can recommend Active-PCB in Reading.

Ain't that in Pennsylvania?

http://www.readingpublicmuseum.org/

< ducking for cover... >

 

[Tim]

Which is exactly my question, but for the UK. Accuracy and responsiveness
rather than rock-bottom pricing. Volumes are pre-production - for us that
means up to around 50 fairly small units.

Any suggestions?

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.