Questions from Propagate Newbie

Seeed Services Fusion PCB/ PCBA Services
#1

Hi, I’ve never used Seeed’s Propagate service before. I have the design already, but I’m trying to get the per-unit cost down, and I had a few questions that I can’t find answers to on the Wiki…

  1. For the first round of production, do you still provide components out of your component pool?

  2. Which components in your Components pool are free? Do you have rough prices for the others?

  3. Are there Eagle Libraries available for some of your components? Previously I’ve found getting the correct outlines for things like SMD switches and SD card connectors to be a nightmare.

  4. Could I purchase some of the components from the component pool from you directly, so that I can populate prototypes with them and be absolutely sure that everything fits beforehand?

  5. My board contains one RGB LED (not in your component pool). Would it be cheaper for me to use the 3 separate LEDs that you provide than for me to source the part?

  6. The only device on the board that could not come from your component pool is an ARM microcontroller (stm32f103rct6). Is this something that could potentially be purchased by you if only from Mouser/DigiKey/Farnell/etc? I would be happy to take on all risk, but if I buy them in England and send them over, the tax and shipping effectively doubles the price for me!

  7. For testing, I guess it is best if I provide some kind of test jig that can flash the microprocessor and test it? Are there certain types of pogo-pin style connector that you would recommend?

thanks!

#2

Yes, we can help you sourcing you required components. and if you use the components in the OPL, this work would be much easier.

Our manager will quote for you whole project. actully, if you use the components in OPL, such as resistors/capacitors , they will be very cheap. for the other components, especially some expensive IC and components that need customizing , we need to souring and quotes separately.

yes, you can download the eagle libraries for OPL freely at :http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Open_parts_library,we are also designing more libraries.

i suggestion you buy the OPL set. you know, the components in this package is numerous, deal them separately may make a mass.

An RGB LED is easy to sourcing and are frequently used in our project. so, you do not the re-design this. actually, our OPL is just a suggestion for the most frequently used components.

we can help you souring.

yes, you need to provide us your test plan, and we can help you make the testing tools. as the pogo-pin, any type will be ok.

thanks!

#3

Thanks for your help! I hadn’t realised that you could actually buy the OPL before! I’ve just added a link to the Wiki page for it in case others didn’t realise either!

Thanks also for updating the wiki (I guess it was you?) to make the link to the Eagle files more obvious! I totally missed it.

Just a note: I purchased Eagle a year or so ago (it was Eagle 5 then, and I haven’t paid the extra to upgrade to 6). If you do have a library for Eagle 5 available there may others like me who have the same problem. I have now manually converted it (and can supply a copy) but there may be one or two things that aren’t quite right…

I’m just in the process of re-laying out the board using your library, and I’ll submit it soon!