Ben,

I build a lot of PCB prototypes in my business and I use a board shop that gives me good value and results. I find that using real PCB fab saves lots of money and time than using acid etch systems. And the finished result looks great.

Some board shops specialize in quick turnaround prototypes as opposed to production volumes. A prototype run costs us about $420 and I get about 12 to 24 boards of roughly 24sq inches each returned in about 2 weeks. These are Surface Mount Technology (SMT) boards with silkscreen, soldermask and complex edge cutouts - our PCBs have to fit inside a strange shell which makes for odd shapes.

I use PADs Power-PCB and Power-Logic for PCB and Schematic generation. Its definately an expensive software package, my configuration is about $15K with 15% yearly maintenance fees.

Its a nice package because it uses the schematic file to assist in laying out the PCB - it KNOWS which pins need to be connected and prevents me from hooking up pins wrong.

Tell me about your project and if its not too time critical, not a threat to mankind, and it doesn't require me to generate too many new parts, I might do schmatic and PCB layout pro-bono as the lawyers say.

You'd have to get the boards fabricated and assembled elsewhere, obviously.

Contact me via email if you're interested. Don't send any innovative schematics until we've come to terms - for yours and my legal protection. If your design is very generic, that would probably work out best.

-Jay C. Box