Fabricators

Explanation of Quilter’s fabricator profiles, including stack-ups, fabrication rules, compile targets, filtering options, and pre-supported manufacturers.

Quilter gives you the ability to generate layouts that utilize stack-ups and fabrication rules sourced directly from fabricators.

Fabricator profiles

A fabricator profile contains information about the stack-ups and fabrication rules that a PCB manufacturer supports and that Quilter will use when exploring layouts intended for that fabricator.

Fabricator profiles consist of:

Stack-ups, which define the physical parameters of your board, such as layer count, copper weight, and key material properties impacting physics calculations.
Fabrication rules, which determine the geometric limitations of the particular fabrication service that the fabricator will use to manufacture your layout. Examples include minimum copper trace width and clearances.

Each candidate that Quilter explores references a stack-up and fabrication rule set supported by the fabricator, as defined by the fabrication profile. We refer to this intersection of stack-up and fabrication rulesets as a "compile target."

Example: OSH Park

Here's an example "Fabrication Profile" for JLCPCB, one of our Pre-supported fabricators, that specifies 12 unique Oshpark compile targets that align against OSH Park's fabrication service capabilities and can be explored in parallel each time Quilter generates layout candidates.

Fabrication Rules

Stackup: 2 Layer Standard

Stackup: 4-Layer Standard

Stackup: 6-Layer Standard

Common_10_mil

• 10 mil trace/space • 12 mil drill

✅

Common_8_mil

• 8 mil trace/space • 12 mil drill

✅

Oshpark_2_Layer

• 6 mil trace/space • 10 mil drill

✅

Oshpark_4_Layer

• 5 mil trace/space • 10 mil drill

🔴 Not supported by fabricator

✅

Oshpark_6_Layer

• 5 mil trace/space • 8 mil drill

🔴 Not supported by fabricator

✅

Custom fabrication profiles

Quilter offers fabrication profile customization and implementation as a service to all paid customers. Customers can work with Quilter to define one or more custom fabrication profiles that utilize the stack-ups and fabrication rules that match the capabilities of their typical fabrication partners.

How to specify

As a preference

You can easily filter the candidates that Quilter presents to view only those compatible with your target fabricator. On the design parameters page, select the fabricators you wish to prioritize in the candidate review, and Quilter will apply them as filters during the review process, which can be updated or removed.

As a requirement

Currently, the only way to specify that Quilter targets a specific fabricator profile (stack-ups plus fabrication rules) as a requirement is to become a Quilter customer. As mentioned earlier, we offer customized fabricator profiles to all paid customers.