Some SMD packages aren't practical to remove without a hot-air rework station, and other parts are difficult to remove intact. I've used pulls in my projects - but usually it's because the part is expensive, hard to get, or I need to fix something now and don't have the part in stock except as a pullĭesoldering components is unpleasant and has a high rate of damaging the part in question, even for parts that are easy to remove. Most parts you'll be using are really cheap, typically. So yeah - IMO it's hard to justify reusing parts instead of just buying new. If a part turns out to have failed during this time, you could waste even more time debugging to find out what recycled part was bad. You should not rely on desoldering components to reuse them except in unusual circumstances - it's time consuming to get the parts off, and then you're using parts that have been used and been through additional stresses. Those are the ones I've done business with.ĭesoldering components is unpleasant and has a high rate of damaging the part in question, even for parts that are easy to remove.

If you pay for DHL, they're almost as fast as OSH if you don't, of course, they're very slow. Other cheapo chinese board houses are in the same ballpark. DirtyPCBs is $14 for approx 10 copies 2'x2', $25 for same 4'x4' - but you need to put in an extra $20 or so for shipping if you want it fast. OSH is $5/sqin for 3 copies of a 2-layer board. A lot of people like OSHPark (USA), but they're a little pricey compared to the chinese board houses like DirtyPCBs (among other). Price for fab services - some places charge by the square inch, others have a fixed price for certain ranges of board size.

Some people prefer KiCad (which is free), though I found the interface to be less pleasant.Įither way, you can expect a serious learning curve (like with any CAD software) - it can get very frustrating when you're first learning it. I use Eagle for board design (free for non-commercial use with limits, and a hobby version isn't that expensive. A custom PCB is the correct 'final version' for many projects.

Diptrace free 300 pins