The PCB development life cycle is long and complex. However, one of the major phases in this development life cycle is known as the PCB design phase. During this phase, you will have to develop a blueprint that has all the information required to create your printed circuit board. That means you’ll have to bring out the board’s circuitry, the materials to generate the board, the number of layers that the circuit board will have, and so much more. Though mostly overlooked, this phase is usually crucial to the development life cycle of the circuit board. If you mess up at this stage, you might end up generating a faulty circuit board at the end of the manufacturing process.
However, to avoid this situation, some people choose to work with a professional with impeccable experience in generating circuit board designs. These experts use their resources and expertise to produce high-quality, optimized printed circuit board designs. However, to work with these experts, you have to first fill up a PCB design quote for them to utilize. The PCB design quote will provide the necessary information regarding your project’s cost and time requirements. However, the quote entails more than just this information. So what exactly is a printed circuit board design quote? What does it contain? And why should you take it seriously?
PCB Design Quote in a Nutshell
A printed circuit board design quotation is a rough estimation of the time, cost, and capability of your manufacturer in terms of developing your PCB design. Moreover, quotes are not only crucial for the designing phase, but they are also ideal for the manufacturing and assembly phases.
However, the PCB design quote doesn’t only favor the client. It also helps the PCB designer in terms of generating accurate designs that meet user expectations. Therefore, when filling up design quotations, you should ensure that you fill in all the necessary information in an accurate manner.
The details you provide in a PCB design quote are paramount to your board’s design process. Your PCB designer will only be able to generate an impeccable and functional design if you provide them with accurate information that isn’t ambiguous.
To get a printed circuit board design quotation online, you must visit the website of a renowned printed circuit board designer or manufacturer. They usually post their quotation forms online for clients to fill out and send.
What can you expect to fill in a PCB Design Quote?
Printed circuit board design quotations will ask for crucial information such as:
Information about the Client
Printed circuit board design quotes will typically ask you to fill up some personal details, which will include:
- Your full name
- Your email
Moreover, the form will also ask you to fill up some details regarding your company. These details will include the following:
- The name of the company
- The current location of the company
- A phone number that the manufacturer can utilize to contact the company or you in particular
Information regarding the Project
A printed circuit board design quote will also ask you to fill in the information regarding the project you want done. Here you will find a field that will ask you to select the service required, and under this, you will find options such as:
- Designing a new PCB from scratch
- ECO of an existing printed circuit board layout
- Consultation regarding DFM of a current PCB
- Auto routing of an existing PCB
- Panel design
- Schematic entry
You can select the service you want done for you under these options. Moreover, you will also find another field asking you to state the desired turn-around time for your project. In this field, you must fill in the time you want your project completed.
Another required field you will find is the “type of design” field, often in options forms. The main options that you will find are the following:
- PCI Card
- DDR Module
- VME BUS style PCB
- CPCU 6U style PCB
- CPCI 3U style PCB
- Flexible PCB
- RF PCB
- Microprocessor PCB
- Low-level analog PCB
- Standard PCB having mixed circuitry
Under this field, you must choose the type of circuit board design you want your PCB designer to utilize. After selecting the design type, you then have to move on to the next option field, which will ask you to choose the kind of schematic that you want utilized on your PCB design. Then under this, you will find schematic options that include:
- ASCII Netlist
- PDF Schematic
- Protel Schematic
- P-CAD schematic
- PADS schematic
- OrCAD capture
- Hand Drawn
- None
After this option, you might then find another options field labeled “printed circuit board footprint to be made by your designing company.” Under this options field, you will find options such as:
- Most printed circuit board footprints have to be created – which indicates 50% and more
- Minimal Printed circuit board footprints have to be created – which implies a 5%
- Some printed circuit board footprints have to be created – which means 15%
- All printed circuit board footprints are common, and therefore none should be created
- A file or library containing all printed circuit board footprints will be provided later
Components
Under the “total number of electrical components on your circuit board design” options field, you must select the number of electrical components you want on your design. Here you can choose anything between 1 to over 1250 components.
Moreover, these forms will also ask you to indicate whether or not your PCB design will require special components, for example:
- Buried resistors
- High current component
- Buried capacitors and much more
It will also ask you to fill in details regarding any special routing on your PCB design.
Other Crucial Details
Other than the crucial information specified above, a PCB design quote will also ask you to fill in the following:
- The Printed circuit board’s overall thickness
- The layer count
- Units
- The overall X and Y dimensions of the board
These are the main details you must fill in a PCB design quote.
Conclusion
A printed circuit board design quote is vital to the successful designing of a printed circuit board by a PCB designer. The information you provide in this form offers crucial details that the designer utilizes to generate the PCB design according to your needs. Therefore, you should fill this form with much care and attention.
