JLCPCB experience

[soubitos]

I have been using jlcpcb almost exclusively over the past year...
A month or two ago, they scrapped the registered airmail shipping option.. replaced it with ePacket at 2x the cost
Today i noticed they scrapped that too and even EMS so what is left is DHL/UPS/Fedex
Its not these cost 4-5x more and the 2$ pcbs go to 27$ in my case but its that for those 27$ with registered airmail i'd have to pay 15 euros customs clearance fee plus 24% vat.. with ePacket/EMS the same... whith DHL/UPS/Fedex the customs clearance fee is as low as 40 and up to 60-65 EUROS... I dont see how i would be ordering from them anytime soon as i am not aiming at ultra fast service at any cost but to decent service at the lowest possible cost ... and i cant see anybody facing similar treatment at their end prototyping anything out of hobby...
I can honestly see ppl etching their own boards and using TH parts more if this does not change and gets worse....

[TERRA Operative]

I just tried them out for the first time for some small simple boards. I usually use Seeed Studios due to familiarity, but I thought I'd try the boards from JLCPCB as they were a few dollars cheaper.
They came in good time and the quality is fine, internal cutouts and odd shaped boards and all.

I'm interested to give their gold fingers checkbox a try.

[bd139]

@soubitos ... I still get registered airmail option. Just ordered some boards this morning with it.

Regarding your point, I will NEVER go back to TH but I will etch my own boards again mostly because I'm impatient and don't like the fact I've got about 150 odd surplus prototype boards floating around now to dispose of. Most of my designs are one shot and scale down to single sided with ground plane on opposite side so I can turn around a board in a couple of hours at home with minimal kit. In fact I bought a UV box a couple of days ago to do this.

A note on quality: the boards that JLCPCB send out are far better quality than the ones from OSHpark. I did some side by side comparisons. OSHpark you get fucked up mousebites from their panelisation whereas JLCPCB has milled edges. Also the trace definition is clearly better on the JLCPCB boards and the solder mask more consistent and better aligned. Not too bothered with the ENIG finish on OSHpark. Makes no difference to me.

Killer thing for JLCPCB is at prototype stage you can actually see the traces through the solder mask which makes debugging easier and bodge wires easier to tack on.

Purple + gold = suck.

[NorthGuy]

Killer thing for JLCPCB is at prototype stage you can actually see the traces through the solder mask which makes debugging easier and bodge wires easier to tack on.

I can easily see traces on OSHPark boards.

[asmi]

I can easily see traces on OSHPark boards.

Their lead time for 4 layer boards still sucks, and their tolerances are from the past century

[gowithyourself]

I don't think there is much going back. It is just that at this point what JLC have essentially done is become their own reseller. To really "hit it out of the park" they need to adopt their business to the international market.

For example, it is nice with 10 boards but most of us aren't going to use them all because the cost of parts and time to assemble the boards are going to be relatively high in the west. Instead offering 2-3 boards would save on shipping costs. With each order being fewer boards they could batch ship them by air mail to Europe and the US. Not only to save transit time and cost, but to avoid extra fees and delays by clearing customs. Something especially important when both the US and the EU are likely to introduce various measures in the next few years.

If they could also offer assembly of common components for the international market they would have a really compelling product. Today it is all a bit of an experiment. The boards are cheap and of good quality, but the shipping time and customs chargers makes the whole process unreliable. At least for some countries.

[NorthGuy]

Their lead time for 4 layer boards still sucks, and their tolerances are from the past century

Perhaps. But the prices for small boards are very good, they have free shipping, no customs fees or anything of that sort. The quality is excellent. Of course, you wouldn't use them if you needed your board tomorrow, or if your board is bigger. Then you can choose one of the Chinese companies, which also typically provide excellent quality, but you pay shipping, FedEx (or worse, DHL) will slap custom's fee on you. This all makes sense only if your order is relatively big. Otherwise, OSHPark is a way to go for me.

[Bassman59]

Their lead time for 4 layer boards still sucks, and their tolerances are from the past century

Perhaps. But the prices for small boards are very good, they have free shipping, no customs fees or anything of that sort. The quality is excellent. Of course, you wouldn't use them if you needed your board tomorrow, or if your board is bigger. Then you can choose one of the Chinese companies, which also typically provide excellent quality, but you pay shipping, FedEx (or worse, DHL) will slap custom's fee on you. This all makes sense only if your order is relatively big. Otherwise, OSHPark is a way to go for me.

I'd love to use OSHPark but a 160mm x 125mm 4-layer board costs $310 for three and I got ten of that board from Seeed for half cost (incl. shipping).

[NorthGuy]

I'd love to use OSHPark but a 160mm x 125mm 4-layer board costs $310 for three and I got ten of that board from Seeed for half cost (incl. shipping).

Yeap. OSHPark's prices are not competitive for boards bigger than 5-6 square inches.

[firstcolle]

I recently ordered my first 4 layer board and I'm stunned by the final result and the quality of the product. Compared to pcbway the silkscreen is better aligned to the components pads. (although I think that the physical factory is the same for both sellers). Received in 7 days from China to Italy via UPS, to me is a reasonable time compared to the service cost..

[bd139]

PCBway stuff is still hand aligned looking at a video I was watching. The whole process seems very old:

[firstcolle]

Oh! nice to know!! I remember an old post with bills from both manufacturers that report the same billing address and social region..

[bd139]

I think they're probably in the same area. Definitely not the same company.

Here's JLCPCB's factory:

[jhe_electronics]

BTW you can call them, Tel: +86  755 2391 9769  (Working Hours(GMT+8): Mon-Sat 9am-10.30pm.)

As a Chinese engineer who has ordered hundreds of PCBs, I will say QQ will be a much more efficient communication tool for JLC comparing to email.

[bd139]

I don't want Chinese Communist Party board member software on my computer thanks

[ataradov]

I don't want Chinese Communist Party board member software on my computer thanks

Yep. Next thing you know, you've got a social score and can't travel outside your assigned concentration camp

[Bud]

Not sure if QQ tool has to do with qq.cominternet domain, which i have blocked as one of the worst spam originating domain coming from China, together with 123.com