Hey everyone, we have another workshop in the works. 30 second elevator pitch:
@Liam and I are currently completing Fab Academy 2024 (a fast-paced maker course) and as a part of that we are building some cool projects. We are using this as an opportunity to give a crash course on the maker skills we use along the way to do these projects (3D printing, laser cutting, electrical design, etc), and also share some of our maker-related experiences from the course.
I’m ready to try for my first PCB and I have a simple build that will be perfect.
Just watched this video by @Liam which gave me enough to get started (although I’m sure I’ll have more questions as I go).
I’m thinking of a run of 5 PCBs with dimensions circa 50*40mm.
A lot of the international suppliers, for example JLCPCB, will charge me $30 shipping for $5 bucks worth of boards. Where do I shop for low quantity, one off, simple runs like this?
Thx, Pix 
Hey @Pixmusix,
I tried to get a quote from a few Australian-based companies but the tooling cost always seemed to outweigh the shipping from overseas.
Some of our staff have had good experiences with PCBWay in the past although the estimate I got from them was still $5 for the boards and $20ish for the shipping. Unfortunately, this may be your best bet unless someone else has found a decent alternative.
What are tooling costs? 
Most of the places I could get an easy quote from in Australia charge a ‘tooling cost’. From what I can tell it’s a minimum charge associated with configuring the equipment for each PCB design.
It doesn’t look like this is a thing with larger manufacturers, only with places that deal with a lower volume of production.
‘Minimum manufacturing cost’ would probably be more accurate.
Ahhh Yeah gotcha
Maybe I should prototype all this on perfboard before committing.
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