Electronic – Launching a new product as a student

pcb-assemblypcb-fabrication

I'm a student living in the UK.

I have this great idea for a product that fills a niche market and it interests me. It's a powerful on screen display module with datalogging capabilities, and it's open source hardware and software. See http://code.google.com/p/super-osd/.

I want to start selling these modules. I have PCB designs and I'm ready to order the components, but what route should I take for manufacturing the modules? I see three main possibilities:

  • Etch my own PCBs and solder components on – pretty much a no go as I'm dealing with double sided surface mount boards.
  • Order PCBs cheap from China and solder all 40 odd (0603, TQFP44 etc.) components on myself. (Probably the cheapest option but lots of manual labour.)
  • Get a quote for PCB+assembly.

Any ideas?

Best Answer

I would say there are three major factors that would need to be considered before making a decision.

  1. How many products are you planning on selling yearly? If it is a lot, say more than a hundred, you probably don't want to be doing much assembly. You need to save your time for future product development!
  2. How many surface mount components are on the board and can you reduce that number more. Yes you can solder surface mount chips in your house and there are tons of cool methods for simplifying that process but still, nothing beats the speed and precision of a machine. (If you want some tips on how to solder surface mount chips ask that in another question. I have found some very good techniques) Anyways, thru-hole components are obviously way easier to solder by hand and if you are going to be doing more than a few boards and actually selling them to customers they are a lot easier do not screw up.
  3. Do you enjoy circuit assembly. You need to consider what you like doing. If soldering boards all day gives you jollies and you have the time then maybe you should go for it. But if you are also interested in design and development of new stuff than you may not want to be tied down with your soldering iron all day.

Whatever you end up with, Good luck!