How To Reduce The Cost Of Printed Circuit Board

How Can I reduce the cost of a Printed Circuit Board?’ – This is a question that crosses the mind of several manufacturers. While the simplest of answers to this would be to make the board as simple as possible and to ship large batch quantity, yet, there are few other things that should be taken into consideration while designing a Printed Circuit Board.

Understanding Printed Circuit Boards

Printed Circuit Boards or PCBs are commonly used to electrically connect and support the electronic components using conductive tracks, pathway or signal trace. They are made of insulating layer or multiple copper conductor patterns. Also known as printed wiring board, they are a commonly used component in electronic devices.

Some common alternatives to PCB include point to point construction and wraps. Since they are used in a variety of different electrical applications, PCB boards should be properly designed and laid out. This is what makes them expensive, when made individually. The best way to ensure lower cost is to manufacture in large quantities. Usually the design and quality of materials used in a Printed Circuit Board also play an important role in determining the overall cost.

• Board Size: Try to keep the board size or the area of the Printed Circuit Board to a minimum. Cost of the board tends to go up when the board is big in size. The thumb rule here is to reduce the Board Size to achieve cost effectiveness.
• Board Shape: Unless absolutely necessary, try avoiding the use of any irregular shapes. Shapes other than square and rectangles involve extra costs. Always try to avoid slots unless necessary for mounting purpose.
• Copper Objects and Spacing: Usually for printing smaller objects on copper, you need precision machines that come with extremely small tolerances. More precision here means more cost and this increase could be important for low quantities and prototypes. To reduce the cost, the spacing should be reduced.
• Annular Ring: When it comes to placing Annular Rings on a Printed Circuit Board, the word of advice would be to keep the diameter of the annular ring as big as possible. Fabricating smaller rings increase the cost in more than one way.

With an excellent track record in manufacturing high quality products, RSP Inc has emerged as a well-recognized name in the Electronic & Engineering Industry. Involved in the designing and manufacturing of Membrane Switches, Printed Graphics, Silicone Keypads, Plastic Moldings, Rubber Molds, Touch Screens, Precision Injection Molding and Circuit Boards, RSP Inc. believes in providing high quality product at extremely affordable costs. For more information, please feel free to visit: http://www.rspinc.mobi/

Author is representing this article on behalf of RSP Inc., RSP Inc. is a manufacturer & supplier of products like custom membrane switch.