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0 pointsjrockway13y ago0 comments

And a crystal, header blocks, USB port, voltage regulator, power jack, and some other small components. Not to mention shipping cost, etching the PCBs, drilling the PCBs, the cost to buy the pick-and-place machine and reflow machine, QA, maintaining the website, ...

You can certainly have AVR applications that cost less than $20, but there is a fair amount of cost in producing a development board. (You say $30 but there are plenty of sub-$20 Arduino clones.)

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5 comments · 1 top-level

mbell13y ago· 4 in thread

> etching the PCBs, drilling the PCBs, the cost to buy the pick-and-place machine and reflow machine

Your correct on the cost of the headers/ports being much higher than most would think (certainly higher than the AVR).

However, the arduino products are not even close to being in the ball park of volume needed to purchase their own PCB manufacturing equipment, nor P&P, nor reflow, nor QA systems. Its all outsourced, probably through multiple layers (they list SparkFun as a manufacturer and I can almost guarantee they aren't doing any of the actual manufacturing either).

jrockwayOP13y ago

Somebody bought the equipment and they're probably not letting people use it for free, that's all I'm saying.

Sparkfun owns a pick and place machine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn0EKtLOVx4

Presumably they're doing the reflow there too. No idea about the PCB manufacturing.

Adafruit is even smaller, I think, and they do their own QA:

http://learn.adafruit.com/how-to-make-a-pogo-pin-test-jig

mbell13y ago

That would explain the cost (that is a really slow pick and place). For comparison I designed a board a few years ago that was a 6" by 8", 4 layer PCB, parts on both sides, 163 parts, several orders of magnitude more complex than an Arduino. For 1,000 unit runs the the per unit costs were $2.97 for the PCB and assembly with flying probe test was $3.51, including post processing for several parts that were not reflowable, done in Asia by a contract manufacturer.

1 more reply

mercuryrising13y ago

I think you should look at this blog post:

http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=2407

It's a tour of the Arduino PCB manufacturing facility, with QA systems, and PCB manufacturing equipment.

He alludes to sending the stack of PCBs to the SMT facility, although he doesn't have a tour of that one on his site.

mbell13y ago

Maybe I'm missing something but that blog is a tour of System Electronica, a 3rd party contract PCB manufacturer, not an Arduino owned factory.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

5 comments · 1 top-level

mbell13y ago· 4 in thread

> etching the PCBs, drilling the PCBs, the cost to buy the pick-and-place machine and reflow machine

Your correct on the cost of the headers/ports being much higher than most would think (certainly higher than the AVR).

jrockwayOP13y ago

Somebody bought the equipment and they're probably not letting people use it for free, that's all I'm saying.

Sparkfun owns a pick and place machine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn0EKtLOVx4

Presumably they're doing the reflow there too. No idea about the PCB manufacturing.

Adafruit is even smaller, I think, and they do their own QA:

http://learn.adafruit.com/how-to-make-a-pogo-pin-test-jig

mbell13y ago

1 more reply

mercuryrising13y ago

I think you should look at this blog post:

http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=2407

It's a tour of the Arduino PCB manufacturing facility, with QA systems, and PCB manufacturing equipment.

He alludes to sending the stack of PCBs to the SMT facility, although he doesn't have a tour of that one on his site.

mbell13y ago

Maybe I'm missing something but that blog is a tour of System Electronica, a 3rd party contract PCB manufacturer, not an Arduino owned factory.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse