We have these in the UK, but they are prohibitively expensive. Like you are looking at £500 for a simple board overnight. For something more complex could easily be multiplies of that.
Even if you are not in the rush, most are stuck in the 90s when it comes to ordering, so before you agree everything, you'll probably get your boards delivered from China at a fraction of the price.
There used to be a great PCB manufacturer in the EU that had very short lead times, although still expensive, it was a good alternative if you were in a rush.
Now often you get your PCBs quicker in the UK from China than from the EU.
It's a shame such (one would think) crucial services are so underdeveloped locally.
I'd say one thing is that equipment is very expensive, the other is that nobody believes in engineering culture anymore here. Engineering has become just another blue collar profession and people's attitude has become hostile - population see an engineer as someone who sits by the computer all day (meaning not actually "working"), makes "a lot" of money and engages in tax avoidance.
> It's a shame such (one would think) crucial services are so underdeveloped locally.
Well, the domestic PCB shops are in a catch-22 local minimum. They don't move enough volume which means they can't optimize and automate every step which then means that they can't move the same volume as China which means ... This one infuriates me as it could be fixed but nobody does.
However ... PCBs have a lot of toxic glop and emissions. How do you contain and dispose of it all? How do you prevent people from breathing it? China doesn't really care all that much about those considerations and that adds quite a bit to prices.
It's a shame such (one would think) crucial services are so underdeveloped locally.
I'd say one thing is that equipment is very expensive, the other is that nobody believes in engineering culture anymore here. Engineering has become just another blue collar profession and people's attitude has become hostile - population see an engineer as someone who sits by the computer all day (meaning not actually "working"), makes "a lot" of money and engages in tax avoidance.
Something is very broken in Britain.