PCB costs

Around 2010 I started developing my first ATMEGA decoders for the DCC system. At that time I ordered my Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) from several European manufacturers, such as for example Leiton.

In 2010 the costs for PCBs depended very much on the number of boards ordered. The figure below gives an indication of such costs, as function of the number of PCBs (PCB size was 80x80mm). The costs for a single PCB was around 45 Euro. If 20 PCBs were ordered, the total costs were around 180 Euro (blue line), which means that the costs per PCB dropped to around 9 Euro (green line). Note, however, that at such quantities, the costs of each additional PCB would have been below 6 Euro.

The figure also shows the costs of ordering 100x160mm boards, which could combine multiple PCBs (yellow dots). Whatever board size was ordered, costs were substantial!

Around 2015 Chinese PCB manufacturers, such as SEEED, became attractive to designers outside China. At that time I paid around 18 Euro for 5 boards of 80x80mm; the additional shipping costs were around 7 Euro. In 2018 I needed to pay only 5 Euro for 10 PCBs, and nowadays (2020) many Chinese board manufacturers offer board for that price (or less). So in ten years time, the costs for 10 boards deminished from around 125 Euro to 5 Euro.

Assembly of components

In 2010 is was virtualy impossible for hobbyist to order assembled boards, since the costs to assembly a few boards could easily exceed 1000 Euro. Costs were high, also since the production of a stencil and the set-up of equipment was expensive. For a few boards these costs would never materialized. Therefore all the boards that I designed around that time were intended for "Through Hole Technology" (THT); soldering small SMD components was not something I enjoyed.

Around 2017 SEEED was one of the first Chinese companies that offered component assembly at a reasonable price. In 2018 I paid for the assembly of 75 RS-Bus prints around 300 Euro, thus 4 Euro per board. Ordering a lower number of PCBs wouldn't have made much sense, since costs were relative fixed, thus independent of the number of PCBs. At that time nearly all costs were for assembly, operation, shipment and tax; component costs (for the RS-Bus print) were neglectable. The details are provided in the figure below.

Around the end of 2019 JLCPCB started to offer PCB assembly at just a fraction of these costs. The price for set-up, assembly and stencil of 10 PCBs dropped to (roughly) 14 Euro, independent of the number of PCBs ordered. JLCPCB buys all components at a sister company called LCSC. Interestingly, component costs at LCSC are generally much lower than what hobbyist would have to pay for small quantities.

In summer 2020 I ordered at JLCPCB 5 boards of 100x100mm with an ATMEGA2560 (Arduino MEGA), ATMEGA328 (Arduino UNO), buck-down power converter, DCC interface, RS-Bus feedback, RS485 interface as well as 2 ULN2803 drivers for LEDs and other loads. Details of this board can be found on my EasyEda page. The total costs for all 5 boards, including components, assembly, shipment and tax, were well below 100 Euro. In fact these costs are lower than what I would have to pay for the components only myself.

Conclusion

Whereas 10 years ago the costs for bare Printed Ciruit Boards (PCBs) were substantial, 10 years later such costs are virtually neglectable. In fact the shipping costs from China are higher than the PCB costs.

Interestingly the costs of PCB assembly went dramatically down as well. Noweadays it is cheaper to get completey assembled boards from China , than to order small amounts of components yourself. As a consequence, new designs should better embrace SMD technology from the start, instead of using Through Hole Technology (THT). It is cheaper to get your boards assembled in China, than to solder your (THT) components yourself.