JLCPCB rotation viewer broken.

[phil from seattle]

Going through the assembly submission process, I get the Review Parts Placement screen with the gerber view but no parts actually placed. The JLCPCB tech sent me a screen shot of his with parts properly placed/rotate so I know the data is correct. They say "we will fix" which I believe.

I placed the order with their assurances but really would prefer to be able to see it for myself and make a correct CPL file to give them.

[edit] FYI, I have placed around 20 assembly orders from JLCPCB over the last year and never had this problem before.

[DIYGUY Chris]

I got an info that they are up to a new feature release for the Assembly viewer to make it a bit handy in terms of placement editing, so probably this is caused by the temporary maintenance 

[gnuarm]

I was following a thread where an old timer, new to getting boards built, was having trouble figuring out JLC conventions for the placement file.  It seems they do not observe standard convention and use their own convention for this file. 

It seems to me it is essential to have a viewer for component placement with this outfit.  It is also essential to have pin 1/cathode/inductor ref pin marked very clearly on the PCB so the parts orientation can be visually verified by the operators.  They aren't looking to make your boards wrong, but you need to work with them.

As an aside, I'm pretty sure IPC has relatively clear standards for pin 1 location, but I can't find anything definitive indicating direction of rotation although some web pages say positive is clockwise.  I especially can't find anything indicating how rotations on the underside of a board should be handled.  That's not a problem with JLC as they only do single sided assembly.

[phil from seattle]

The whole rotation thing has been done to death.  The upshot is they don't have a way for us users to know the correct rotation.  So, they have a viewer that shows the rotation of components for your layout.  You then use that to modify the CPL file and review the corrected rotations.  Rinse and repeat until you get it right. 

With their viewer broken (I haven't checked recently), you have to rely on their techs doing it for you.  They send you a gerber screen shot of their proposed rotations that you can review. In my most recent case, it was correct.  This is also why you want to have VERY clear pin 1 and polarity indicators on your board. The Kicad approach with one side having a longer line on it seems a bit too subtle.  I put a big pin one dot for ICs and a + for the anode of polarized devices. It may be ugly but their techs will probably get it right.

[gnuarm]

Has anyone verified their viewer is working yet?

[up8051]

JLCPCB now have similar problem with " Review Parts Placement " if parts are mounted on the bottom side of PCB.
In the viewer:
 PCB is show from Bottom side
 Elements are show from Top side

Example:

Which makes it difficult to assess the correctness of the project.
Until recently, the preview was still working properly

When I tried to chat with the technical staff, I always get a response to place an order and they will check the correct positioning of the elements.

Does anyone have a similar problem and how did they solve it?

Regards
up8051

[phil from seattle]

They are always making changes to their software.  Sometimes they break it but eventually it seems to get fixed.  The latest one - I was getting a format error from either CPL or BOM files (wish they would be clear on which). On the suggestion of a CSR, I switched from XLS to CSV and it bought the files.  Then later that same day, CSV didn't work but XLSX did.  Ugh. Amateur hour.

I do trust them to correct any rotation problems on a placed order.  They aren't going to spend time on it if you haven't ordered though. Also, they will send a preview for your approval.