In what cases will there be charged extra?

Basically, all the prices are based on the online calculator, but there are some exceptions. For different designs and some special processes, there might be extra costs that occur during the file review process, which can not be calculated online. Here are the cases that might bring you extra cost.

1. Extra Cost for Different Designs in One Gerber File

If there is more than 1 design in your file, there will be an extra cost for it, and you can calculate the cost on our website by choosing the number of designs accordingly. (Note: if your order needs to do with SMT, then the SMT panel will also be charged with different designs fees)

What Will Be Regarded as Different Designs?

Basically, if the traces/ silkscreen/ solder mask in your PCB is different, as long as it can be separated, no matter by v-cut, millings, or drill holes, it will be regarded as different designs even there are traces between the boards.
If the PCB does not need to be separated, that is, it does not need to be V-cut and there are no slots or stamp holes for separation, but on condition that the number of designs is more than 5, it still needs to be charged as different designs as well, and the number of the designs shall not exceed 10 designs on one board.
One more thing, sometimes, even all your PCBs look the same, but if there is no connection to make them into one panel, and it needs to be sent as a single piece, it will be also considered as different designs. So please panel the board properly in order to proceed efficiently.

2. Charges for V-Cut on Small-Sized Board

For sample order( The order quantity is less or equal to 50pcs), if it is made with panel（panelised by v-cut lines or millings）, as long as the size for single PCB is smaller than 15 mm per side(or equal to 15mm), then it will be charged $15.2 for per design.

3. Milling Fee (no matter what shape it is):

No extra milling charges for orders less than 1000pcs, but an extra fee of $15 will be charged if it is between 1000-2000 pcs since it will take a very long time to get it finished during the milling process. For order less than 1000  pcs, if there are too many slots, we might also charge you a milling fee.

Routing Fee

If there are too many slots to be milled, it will take a very long time to get it finished during the CNC routing process. For an extra fee, it depends on how many cutouts are on the board. To reduce customers' cost, we won't charge extra cost for slots if they are round and the size is smaller than 5mm. But for the slots that meet any of the five situations as below, an extra cost will be charged. If it is an order for 5 pcs single board, the extra cost is $7.5 for each order. If it is an order for 5 panels or more than 5 pcs, the extra cost is $15.2 per design for each order. For batch orders, it is charged by its dimension, generally, 7.5$ per square meter.

1. Slots which are not round;
2. Slots which are round but the size is larger than 5 mm;
3. Slots whose size is larger than 5mm;
4. Slots more than 50 in each board;
5. Slots distribute throughout no less than 2/3 of the board.

4. ENIG for the Whole Board

To cover the whole pcb/ all the surface with ENIG, the cost for it will be much higher than to cover it with the pads only. For an extra fee, it depends on the dimension of the board. Basically, for SAMPLE orders, it will be not more than $15.2 per design. For batch order, it is charged by its dimension, generally 30$ per square meter.

5. Extra Cost for Removing the Bur and Round the Corner etc:

For an individual PCB of very small size, it is hard to make it with a very smooth edge, so we need to remove the bur and round the corner so that it will look better. But since the size of it is very small, and the quantity of it is large, it will take a very long time to do that.

An extra cost will occur when the PCB has a quantity of over 30/50 pieces.
1/4/6 layer board is over 50 pieces and 2 layer board is over 30 pieces.
For the board with a size of 1.5x1.5cm-3x3cm, the extra fee is 0.03$/pcs.
For the board with a size smaller than 1.5x1.5cm, the extra fee is 0.05$/pcs.

6. Board Fee

Basically, the basic cost for the PCB is consist of engineering fee+board fee, for the single PCB that is within or equals to 102*102mm, there is an engineering fee charged only (special price), but when it is panelized (i.e. PCB has V-Cuts or routed online with mouse bites between boards), it will turn into its original cost of Engineering fee+board fee. So we may ask you to pay for the extra cost for the board fee when it falls into this category.

7. Extra Cost for Orders with Special Process

Basically, for some PCB, if it is not with the standard options and not the ones that people commonly choose, for example,1 layer,1.6 thickness, Red, HASL(with lead),1 oz copper, then it will take a longer time to get enough such orders to combine onto the same panel, and there will be an extra charge for it. If your orders belong to this special process, there will be a warning for it when you place your order, and the extra cost will also be calculated automatically.

8. Extra Cost for Too Many Drilling Holes

There is no extra cost for less than 100,000 holes per square meter when you place small batch order. But if it exceeds that, for 1/2 layer, $0.4638 per 10,000 holes will be charged, while $0.6184 per 10,000 holes will be charged for 4/6 layer. And for the extra fee of exceeding holes less than 10,000 will be charged as 10,000.

The minimum charge for drilling holes in small batch order is $15.46, that is, for the fees less than $15.46 will be charged $15.46.

If there are more than 4000 holes in every piece/set in a sample order, an additional drilling fee of $15.46 will be charged per design. Note that there is no expedited service for boards with too many drilling holes.

Additional Cost Specification for Stencils

Generally, the stencil price is calculated by the stencil size. For instance, a stencil with a size of 37x47cm is $8.86, but here  are several situations which will cost you an extra fee:

1. Polishing Process

Grinding polish is for free, but electro-polishing will cost you an extra $7.25 per stencil.

2. Thickness

Standard thickness like 0.1mm, 0.12mm,  0.15mm, 0.18mm, 0.2mm are for free.

The none-standard thickness will cost you:

    Extra $4.5/stencil for 0.3mm no matter how big the stencil is.

    Extra $1.5 /stencil for 0.08mm with the sizes of 30*40, 34*47, 42*42, 45*55.

    Extra $3.0 /stencil for 0.08mm with the sizes of 58.4*58.4, 55*65, 73.6*73.6

    Extra $4.5/stencil for 0.06mm with sizes of  30*40, 34*47, 42*42, 45*55.

    Extra $7.5/stencil for 0.06mm with sizes of  58.4*58.4, 55*65, 73.6*73.6

3. Extensive Apertures

For standard thickness stencil: We will charge you an extra fee when there are more than 4000 spots on your stencil. It will cost you an extra $4.5 per 1000 spots more than 4000 spots, see the following examples for reference:

Extra $4.5 for a stencil with 4000~5000 spots.

Extra $9 for a stencil with 5000~6000 spots.

Extra $13.5 for a stencil with 6000~7000 spots.

etc.

For 0.3mm thickness stencil: We will charge you an extra fee when there are more than 500 spots on your stencil. It will cost you an extra $4.5 per 500 spots more than 500 spots, see the following examples for reference:

Extra $4.5 for a stencil with 500~1000 spots.

Extra $9 for a stencil with 1000~1500 spots.

Extra $10.5 for a stencil with 1500~2000 spots.

4. Irregular Apertures

There will be an extra fee for the stencil with irregular apertures like irregular polygons and other strange shapes. Since it is more difficult to produce and has a higher scrap rate, we will charge you extra fee according to your design complexity. Generally, it is higher or equal to $7.5 per stencil.

5. Stencil Cutting

For the stencil with a size of smaller than 28*38cm and need to be cut into several sheets. It will cost you extra fee to cut the stencil, the price is calculated by the size of your small sheets. For example, it is $1 per 5X5cm sheet, $2 per 10x10cm sheet, $3 /PCS for the stencil size of bigger than 10x10cm.

6. Too Many Cutting Points on One Stencil

Basically, there is no extra cost to make the stencil, but if there are too many cutting points, it will take a very long time to cut, so there will be extra cost for it. The charges are as follows:

No extra cost for cutting points up to 4000 points.

There will be $4.3 per 1000 points when it exceeds 4000, if the additional points are fewer than 1000, they will be rounded up to 1000.

For example, 4800 points in total, an extra cost of $4.3 will be charged.

7. Stencil Panelization

If there are several files included in one zip file and need to be added onto one stencil, then there will be an extra cost of $4.2 for per design, for example, if there are 2 designs in total, then an extra cost of 4.2$ will be charged, if 3 designs, 8.4$ will be charged, etc.