Author Topic: JLCPCB experience  (Read 13588 times)

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Offline bfrigonTopic starter

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JLCPCB experience
« on: October 12, 2018, 01:21:53 pm »
Hi,

I know i should not expect much for such a cheap pcb manufacturer...

Anyway, i decided to try JLCPCB for the first time and i wanted to share my experience with them so far.

If you do use them, make bloody sure your gerber files are correct before you upload. Because, once you do, even if it's been 10 seconds after you upload, you're f**cked...

I made a mistake, not a significant one, but one that could have been avoided if i paid more attention |O. There is no way to re-upload once you upload the files. So, i tried to email them, yeah...... Their communication skills are not their strongest point by far... here's the reply i got from them (almost a day after i sent it) :

Quote
Hi Sir ,
Sorry to tell you that it's late to cancel . Your pcb is in production .
Besides ,we don't support to update or replace gerber once you uploaded ,sorry to tell you that i have canceled and refunded .

Would you like to choose the combination and make new order ?
Sorry for the inconvenience .

Thank you so much .
Nicole

Now which is it??? It's too late or you cancelled the order??

They never did cancel it, It took another day to get a reply clarifying. By that time, the pcb was already in production and there was nothing to do...

We'll see about the quality once the board arrive...
 

Offline rea5245

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2018, 01:26:20 pm »
It's tough... on the one hand, we want companies to start work promptly once we submit an order, and on the other hand, we want to be able to fix mistakes that we've submitted to them.

- Bob
 

Offline NorthGuy

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2018, 03:04:51 pm »
If I made a mistake and submitted an order, it would never occur to me to blame someone else for that.
 
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Offline bfrigonTopic starter

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2018, 03:12:41 pm »
If I made a mistake and submitted an order, it would never occur to me to blame someone else for that.

I never said i blamed them for my mistake...

It's the way they handle customer support... It led me to believe that even if the pcb was not sent to fab yet, they would not have corrected the mistake even then.

 

Offline wraper

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #4 on: October 12, 2018, 03:12:51 pm »
Well, you should cancel the order as soon as you realized this. It's clearly said during ordering process that you cannot cancel once production is started. Once they started a first production step, there is no reasonable possibility to change anything. Your PCBs are placed together with other designs on big panels, so changing anything would mean throwing out all other designs as well. And with email, you should not expect they'll it read immediately, especially considering different time zones.
« Last Edit: October 12, 2018, 03:14:51 pm by wraper »
 

Offline bfrigonTopic starter

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2018, 03:16:24 pm »
Well, you should cancel the order as soon as you realized this. It's clearly said during ordering process that you cannot cancel once production is started. Once they started a first production step, there is no reasonable possibility to change anything. Your PCBs are placed together with other designs on big panels, so changing anything would mean throwing out all other designs as well. And with email, you should not expect they'll it read immediately, especially considering different time zones.

Yes, I tried to do exactly that. I sent an email about 5 minutes after submitting... There is no way to cancel an order yourself on their site. 

The amount of time they took to reply, then it was too late...
 

Offline wraper

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #6 on: October 12, 2018, 03:19:24 pm »
There is no way to cancel an order yourself on their site. 
I thought there was.
 

Offline wraper

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #7 on: October 12, 2018, 03:23:05 pm »
But anyway, that's why I double check, including online gerber viewer before ordering PCB. Also as someone on the forum said: "you should take a sleep before ordering". If you order a fresh design at evening, it's much easier to miss some issue than if you checked in next day.
 

Offline cgroen

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #8 on: October 12, 2018, 03:24:41 pm »
The world is indeed cruel, you make errors and they have consequences, go figure  :palm:
I for one, have nothing but positive experience with JLCPCB, I have had thousands of boards made by them (more than 50 projects so far) and not a single error from them. They run a pretty much automatic business, things needs to be streamlined for them to achieve the proces they do.
Get over it.
 

Offline wraper

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #9 on: October 12, 2018, 03:25:44 pm »
BTW you can call them, Tel: +86  755 2391 9769  (Working Hours(GMT+8): Mon-Sat 9am-10.30pm.)
 

Offline bfrigonTopic starter

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #10 on: October 12, 2018, 03:42:43 pm »
The world is indeed cruel, you make errors and they have consequences, go figure  :palm:
I for one, have nothing but positive experience with JLCPCB, I have had thousands of boards made by them (more than 50 projects so far) and not a single error from them. They run a pretty much automatic business, things needs to be streamlined for them to achieve the proces they do.
Get over it.

Congratulations for a perfect score...
 

Offline asmi

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #11 on: October 12, 2018, 03:47:18 pm »
I have been a victim of a "go-go" fever way too many times, so I've since instituted a rule that I never submit anything for production the day I've made *ANY* change in the board design ("any" means just that - even simple silkscreen change). I always let a design "mature" so to speak until the next day, and I always review it right before sending it in, and if that review uncovered anything that needs to be changed, I defer the order until the following day, when the process repeats.

Offline bfrigonTopic starter

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #12 on: October 12, 2018, 03:54:33 pm »
Something got screwed up when i panelized the boards... I have two design on this panel.  First one was perfect, but the other one had some issues... Nothing that a bodge wire can't fix though.

I reviewed them individually very carefully, but did not checked them after panelizing with the same level of scrutiny ... I assumed it would be fine... Critical mistake...

That's how you learn...

And yes, did submit the file late at night... second mistake...
« Last Edit: October 12, 2018, 04:12:49 pm by bfrigon »
 

Online ataradov

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #13 on: October 12, 2018, 04:44:16 pm »
Not sure how this will be resolved, but it looks like it would be fair to refund the shipping cost, but still manufacture and scrap the board without shipping.
Alex
 

Offline bd139

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #14 on: October 12, 2018, 04:47:45 pm »
I realised I fucked up two boards in a road that got shipped to them.

What did I take away from this?

1. Write down your mistakes on the computer.
2. On the next board, read that list of mistakes and make sure you don't do them again.
3. Order some more boards.
4. Hang the failed ones up on your bench in view to remind you what happens if you don't check the list on the computer.

It's important to receive the failed ones for this to work.

JLCPCB just do what you tell them to.
 

Offline bfrigonTopic starter

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #15 on: October 12, 2018, 05:03:42 pm »
4. Hang the failed ones up on your bench in view to remind you what happens if you don't check the list on the computer.

I already have a box of shame where i put my failed prototypes... Would that work too?
 

Offline SMdude

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #16 on: October 13, 2018, 10:02:33 am »
I have a box of "shame" too! Well not really shame, probably more a box of "optimism"! When I submit a design I used to order how ever many I thought I would need, but then would discover some small(or large) errors need to make changes, make the changes and scrap fairly much an entire order  :palm:

I also try to sit on a finished design for about a week now before I call it mature enough to submit, just in case I forgot to add something or realized I needed to change something around. And now I always order the least amount(normally 5 or 10 panels) so at least if there was something not quite right, they can go into my junk pcb box and live there forever more without having cost too much.
Then the next challenge is to fix the mistakes without moving (or adding)any of the parts so the stencil is still usable.

I also have a text file in my manufacturing directory named "Reminders before hitting submit"

Fiducials on panel boarders and pcb's
2mm mounting holes on panel boarders
Everything on panel boarders set to "do not panelise"
Turn ratlines for gnd back on and check!
Do DRC to make sure everything is right.
Check any components that were ungrouped.
Specify laser through fids on panel boarders only.
Specify order number to be printed on top/bottom of pcb

Cheers
 

Offline pvint

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #17 on: October 18, 2018, 02:06:55 am »
I have these "Oh WAIT!" moments too, but my experience with JLC wan't one of those, but in their favour I want to share this:

I ordered some large boards that were panels - simple black one-sided boards and the "bottom" was actually my "front", but when I got the boards they were only coloured on the back side (technically the front by the gerbers). I contacted support, and after a couple emails they said it was an issue on their end and they would re-fab... but I had changes I wanted to make... I asked "Can I update the gerbers? I have a couple changes to make anyway...", they said "Sure", and I got my updates in. The new boards came in and they were great.

Just wanted to share this - my experience with their support was great. Also, I suspect they meant they will cancel and refund so you can re-order, but the language issue is a bit challenging sometimes.

Cheers
 
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Offline Reckless

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #18 on: October 18, 2018, 04:15:08 am »
I have seen their vcuts on pcbs not be within tolerance. 
 

Offline firstcolle

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #19 on: October 18, 2018, 07:27:51 am »
I just ordered 4 boards from JLCPCB today.. I also have the rule to check everything and order only the day after 0 error found. finger crossed for my first 4 layer board!
 

Offline Dubbie

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JLCPCB experience
« Reply #20 on: October 18, 2018, 07:37:30 am »
I have had plenty of errors with boards from JLC. Sadly they were all my errors though. [emoji20]

They are my current provider of choice. I have done maybe a dozen through them about 1/2 4 layer, the rest 2 layer, most of them at the capability limits and every single one has been perfect.

If only I could get all my board layouts perfect first time every time [emoji3]
 
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Offline mrpackethead

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #21 on: October 18, 2018, 08:23:17 am »
If only I could get all my board layouts perfect first time every time [emoji3]

If only.
On a quest to find increasingly complicated ways to blink things
 

Offline SMTech

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #22 on: October 18, 2018, 10:22:24 am »
I have seen their vcuts on pcbs not be within tolerance.
Happens with some regularity with all of them, its a tool and it wears out and all of these people do crazy workrates. Overscore, underscore  & forget to score are things we have seen probably form every supplier we have ever used, but it is probably more frequent now PCB manufacturing is so very china centric.
 

Offline bd139

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #23 on: October 18, 2018, 10:26:08 am »
If you complain about it they will improve. I've noticed that about all Chinese companies. They actually always improve instead of start squirting bullshit out.
 

Offline gowithyourself

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Re: JLCPCB experience
« Reply #24 on: October 22, 2018, 12:07:18 pm »
I haven't ordered from the international site, but the Chinese one will have them approve the order before you pay. This of course doesn't work as well with the time zone difference to the west, but if I recall correctly the option is available on the international site as well.

It is a large quick prototype pcb manufacturer where every second counts. Once you put your order in they may start preparing it at any time. Even if they had a cancel function people would instead get annoyed when the option suddenly disappears and you'll have other problems instead, like with payments. You should take it as a lesson learned, just because it says $2 doesn't mean it won't also cost you time. Even when being in China where you can order pcbs for cheap in 12 hours - 3 days it is super annoying to get a board just to realize that you made a mistake or forgot something.
 


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