Hi
What is the best way to order PCB from Eurocircuits or Beta layout? I can see at least two methods. You can send the pcb file or you can generate gerber x3 files.
Are there anyone of you who have found a smart way to do this? Please give some details of how you do it.
What do Eurocircuits and Beta layout ask you to do ? It’s the same for all manufacturers and Kicad doesn’t cater for all of them yet, however there are some plugins for the big hitters JLCPCB and PCBWAY. Again what is it the manufacturer needs from you, probably a set of Gerbers and drill files.
Eurocircuits accept native KiCad files. The handle the gerber, drill, and suchlike export themselves.
I recently ordered 4 layer pcbs from OSHPark by uploading my KiCad pcb file. The boards look good, but I had nothing special or difficult. Standard layer stackup.
BTW I INFER that they are actually an intermediary so they do not do the actual fabrication. I wonder if that is true of many of the online pcb fab websites.
OSHPark is in Oregon where there seems to be a concentration of such businesses, although I have not mapped them. Oregon is not a small state. I know that ExpressPCB is also in Oregon, and I also do not think that they actually fabricate.
The dumb ways are not at all onerous. Upload the .kicad_pcb file, or generate gerbers, zip then up and upload the zip file. You could even do the generation and packing from the command line for automated workflows.