We’ve designed a custom PCB layout. Now comes the exciting part: paying someone else to build it for us. In the past, getting custom PCBs made was expensive and reserved for corporations. Today, rapid prototyping houses will ship you beautiful, professional boards from across the globe for less than the cost of a fancy coffee. Let’s order some fiberglass.

1. The Universal Language of PCBs: Gerber Files

Before a factory can build your board, they need to know exactly what it looks like layer by layer. PCB manufacturers don’t usually accept raw project files from EasyEDA, KiCad, or Eagle. Instead, they require Gerber files.

A Gerber file is a 2D vector image format. Your EDA software will generate a separate Gerber file for every single layer of your board, including:

• Top Copper & Bottom Copper: Where the traces and pads are.
• Top & Bottom Solder Mask: The colored protective coating (usually green).
• Top & Bottom Silkscreen: The text, logos, and component outlines.
• Edge Cuts / Board Outline: The physical shape and boundaries of the board.

Alongside the Gerbers, you will also generate an NC Drill File (Excellon file), which tells the manufacturer’s CNC machines exactly where to drill the holes for your through-hole components and vias.

2. Generating Fabrication Files

Generating these files is usually a one-click process in modern EDA tools.

• In EasyEDA: Click on Fabrication -> PCB Fabrication File (Gerber). It will automatically generate a .zip file containing all the necessary layers and drill files.
• In KiCad: Go to File -> Fabrication Outputs -> Gerbers. Be sure to click “Generate Drill Files” as well. Finally, zip all the output files into a single archive.

Tip: Always double-check your generated Gerbers using an online Gerber viewer (like tracespace.io or the manufacturer’s built-in viewer) before ordering to ensure no layers are missing or misaligned.

3. Choosing a Manufacturer

There are dozens of PCB fabrication houses globally. Some of the most popular for hobbyists and makers include:

• JLCPCB: Known for incredibly fast turnaround times and very low prices (often $2 for 5 boards). Great integration with EasyEDA.
• PCBWay: Another giant in rapid prototyping. Excellent quality, great customer service, and a wide variety of advanced options.
• OSH Park: Based in the USA, known for their signature purple solder mask. They charge per square inch, making them fantastic for very small boards.

4. Selecting Manufacturing Parameters

When you upload your .zip file of Gerbers to a site like JLCPCB or PCBWay, you’ll be presented with a wall of manufacturing options. For a standard Arduino shield or hobbyist project, the defaults are almost always correct:

• Layers: 2 (unless you specifically designed a 4-layer board).
• Dimensions: Usually auto-detected from your Edge Cuts layer.
• PCB Thickness: 1.6mm is the industry standard for standard rigid boards.
• PCB Color (Solder Mask): Green is the fastest and cheapest, but you can choose black, white, red, blue, purple, or yellow!
• Silkscreen Color: Usually defaults to white (or black if you chose a white solder mask).
• Surface Finish: HASL (with lead) is the cheapest standard finish. HASL lead-free is slightly more expensive but better for health/environment. ENIG (Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold) looks beautiful (gold pads) and provides a perfectly flat surface, ideal for fine-pitch SMD components, but costs more.
• Copper Weight: 1 oz is standard and handles normal voltages and currents perfectly fine. (You only need 2 oz or more for high-current power distribution boards).

5. PCB Assembly (PCBA) vs. DIY Soldering

Most manufacturers now offer PCBA (Printed Circuit Board Assembly) services. This means they won’t just make the bare board; their pick-and-place machines will actually solder the components onto the board for you!

• DIY Soldering: You order the bare board, buy the components from DigiKey or Mouser, and solder everything yourself using the skills you learned in Lesson 173.
• PCBA: You provide a BOM (Bill of Materials) and a CPL/POS (Component Placement List) file alongside your Gerbers. The factory sources the parts and ships you a fully assembled, ready-to-use board. This is incredibly useful for boards with tiny Surface Mount Devices (SMDs) that are difficult to solder by hand.

6. Placing the Order

Once you’ve double-checked your parameters and previewed the board in their 3D viewer, simply add it to your cart and select shipping. While the boards themselves might only cost $2-$5, express shipping (like DHL or FedEx) usually costs around $15-$25. Even with shipping, getting 5 custom-designed professional boards to your door in about a week for under $30 feels like absolute magic.

Next Steps

Congratulations! You now know how to navigate the entire pipeline from breadboard to a manufactured, professional PCB. In our next lesson, we’ll put everything we’ve learned in this section together for a massive Capstone Project: designing and ordering our own custom Arduino Shield!