I tried to post this message last week, there were thunderstorms in the area and the power went out (and so did my UPS!) just as I hit the submit button and the post didn't show up here. Either the post didn't get out, or I got edited/deleted. I'm not quite sure if this is in accordance with the forums rules, I don't mean to be doing anything against the rules, but here goes...

I've got half a dozen projects or so that I like to get off the breadboard and onto a decent PCB. I want to send out and have made up at www.pcbexpress.com. I've had PCBs made by this company before with good results. The problem is that when you make a small order, the cost per square inch is pretty high. Compare about $3/sq.in. for a 10sq.in. board vs. 20 boards of 168sq.in. at about $.11/sq.in., almost 28 times cheaper in bulk. The largest order I've ever made is a 20 board order of 102sq.in. boards, all panelized to get a total of 960 individual PCBs (48 individual PCBs per 102sq.in. board) for something like $360. I've got access to a foot shear, so cutting the bigger boards into smaller boards isn't a problem. The boards came out great and all of them worked (except the ones I messed up personally!). I usually use the E1 service from pcbexpress, but if enough people hop on board, I wouldn't be opposed to using the E2 or even higher services if need be.

I'm looking to see if there's anybody else out there that's in the same boat as I am...have a project, want it on a real PCB. I'm looking to save myself, and maybe a few other people some cash. I'm all about splitting it up on a 'per square inch basis' and splitting the shipping evenly amongst the buyers.

Also, I'm relatively good at PCB design. Have a look at a few of my projects at my webpage www.srt.com/~jdgrotte and click a few of the links on the left for some pictures. If you've got a schematic drawing, but no PCB designed out, send me the schematic, I'll see what I can do.

I'm not going to send off for these boards for at least another few weeks (figure maybe the week after the July 4th weekend), and at the very latest, I want to send off for a bunch of boards by the end of July whether I've got others in on the deal or not. So, send me what you've got or what you want, maybe we can help each other out here.

Let me know if anybody wants in on this... Check my webpage listed above for an email address or reply here.
JDG