4PCB
Advanced Circuits, Inc. (ACI)

Prototyping Board

Advanced Circuits is Here to Help With Your Prototyping Board Needs

At Advanced Circuits, we pride ourselves on the quality of our prototyping boards and how they can help your next technological project. Weunderstand that being able to effectively test your prototype with a circuit board can help you and your team save time, energy, and money, asyou can quickly spot any changes that need to be made.
That's why we offer affordable prices and the highest quality of materials on all of our boards.

 

BareBones™ PCB Prototypes (1 Day Turn/Low-Cost Option) 

BareBones™ is a cost-saving option for single or double sided prototyping boards. This option skips the solder mask and silk screen (bare FR-4) and incudes 1oz. copper with Tin finish. BareBones™ship in just 1 day, so they are a great low-cost quickturn option (no min. order required).

2 & 4 Layer Prototyping Specials (3-5 Day Turn/Low-Cost Option)​

There are two very popular options for low-cost quickturn PCB prototypes that are        shipped in just 3-5 days for only $33 each for 2 layer boards and $66 each for 4 layer    boards. Your prototyping boards can be as large as 60 square inches for the 2 layer option  or up to 30 square inches for the 4 layer option. They are manufactured using the same high-tech equipment as our production runs.

Standard & Custom Spec Printed Circuit Boards                              

Our Standard & Custom Spec are our full-service PCB manufacturing options. When      prototyping, designers may want to stay within the standard spec parameters to keep costs low. However, both options can be made on a quick-turn basis (shipped as quick as the same day). For prototyping boards with more advanced requirements, such as over 10 layers, heavy copper up to 20 oz., microvias, and other advanced               features, the custom spec option is required.

* Standard Spec pricing assumes lead-free HAL. Alternatively, board finish may be upgraded to ENIG or Silver at no additional cost in the rare event lead-free HAL becomes temporarily unavailable. ¹If overall height or length is less than 1 inch, board will be increased to 1 inch and routed as a rectangle.


Advanced Circuits Offers Tools to Help With Prototyping Boards

Prototyping boards can help ensure the circuit boards in your project are correct and will work without malfunctioning. However, to get to that point, you will first need to design your PCBs. Also, you'll want to check for as many errors as possible before your PCBs are manufactured. Advanced Circuits has software that can help you design and check your prototyping PCBs.

PCB Artist

All circuit board designs have to start from somewhere. While designing PCBs can be complicated, PCB Artist makes it easy, and it's free to download and use. It offers many features other free and paid software don't offer, including: up to 28 layers, over 500,000 parts, a controlled autorouter, multi-page schematics, native eagle import and more. It makes designing PCBs so easy, even those who have no experience, can make the perfect PCB. This is the best software to help you start building your prototype PCBs and eventually even your finished product. Find out more and download it HERE.

FreeDFM

Advanced Circuits can help you save time and money, with our gerber file              check software, FreeDFM. You can upload your gerber files to FreeDFM and it will        check for errors and will email a report within minutes, detailing the potential errors,    and errors the software may have corrected for you. Instead of sending your files to    the PCB manufacturer hoping they are correct, this software will check your errors,      so you don't have to keep ordering and wasting money from unforeseen errors.            Ultimately, this software helps limit the number of tests you have to make with your    prototype PCBs. The best part is  this software is also free to download and use; in fact we'll give you $100 off your order if you use it. Learn more and download              FreeDFM HERE.


While made for many different reasons, prototyping boards are useful to many engineers, hobbyists, and enthusiasts, especially when projects are early in development. Engineers designing PCBs often generate a prototype board prior to full-scale manufacturing of boards for end products. Prototypes may be developed for limited-function boards to test proof-of-concept of single functions, before production of a more complex finished product.

Prototypes fall into several categories:

  • Proof-of-concept – this may include some of the intended functionality to prove a circuit design concept is feasible and reliable, but may not include all functionality planned for the final product.
  • Working prototype – includes all intended functionality, but could be refined in the final design.
  • Visual model – adheres to the final physical design for illustrative purposes, but is not a working prototype.
  • Functioning prototype – this stage should include all functionality and characteristics of the final production board. The possible difference is that manufacturing may be performed on different equipment or can even include slightly different materials. This is generally due to differences in facilities at a given fabricator. Some manufacturers may have separate areas where prototypes are developed on a quick-turn basis as opposed to high-volume manufacturing lines that are be more automated or utilize different fabrication processes.

Engineers Committed to Your Needs


When you register online or contact us for a quote, you can have the assurance that our team of engineers is ready to provide you with the tools you need to succeed with our prototyping boards. We offer 24-hour technical support and expert-level knowledge that can help your project get started on the right foot.

Contact us today at 1.800.979.4722 to learn more. We look forward to providing you with quality items that you can rely on time and time again.