This is very valuable info, thanks! I’ve worked with PCB Win on a number of projects - they’re very much on the ball and you get nice personal service and intelligent sourcing support.
Yeah, same with PCBWay for me – I send them the design and they run their sourcing comb – they will catch mistakes like the wrong resistor p/n versus part description (somehow a Panasonic 4K7 ended up in the BOM when I wanted 4K7) and let me know a particular part was no longer being made.
This is for a 2016 design that a client asked to re-order with as much “no-touch” as possible…
This takes much less time to handle.
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I’ve never used PCBWay, maybe JLC is worse and I’m just behind the times? I don’t ever have any particular trouble, usually if they ask me a question it’s because I’m doing something wrong. My boards aren’t complex; 4 layers, five or so connectors, maybe 75 placements on the latest one.
I used to use Screaming Circuits, but the cost was 10x what JLC is and it sometimes felt like they deliberately asked simple questions in the middle of the night to delay things… like the polarization of my 0603 inductors.
I like JLC because of their parts catalog; I figure if I source as much as possible from their basic parts then I’ll have no trouble when it comes to mass production. Anything that is low stock or I have to consign is a big warning sign to figure out lead times and supply of that component long before real production.
I have never had significant trouble either. A couple of times I messed up the check of the polarity/rotation of components, but that’s my fault. It takes a while to check and it’s vital to get it right.
I have had good support, they took the time to check a special footprint that had only 2 pins on a 4 pin standard plug (to have greater clearance). They cut the pins of the connector free of charge.
I’ve never used PCBWay, maybe JLC is worse and I’m just behind the times? I don’t ever have any particular trouble, usually if they ask me a question it’s because I’m doing something wrong.
Same here. I’ve pushed a lot of boards through JLC (>2000, dozens of designs, 2 and 4 layer). While it takes time to set up a job with them, it isn’t hard and using KiCAD with the JLCPCB plug-in makes it straight forward. I look at every component I spec (datasheet and often separate eval with actual components). I put their (actually LCSC, I believe) part numbers into my schematic so the BOM is pretty much automatic. I engineer my designs for their basic library. Also, I try to use jelly bean parts (multiple vendors with stock in their library). During chipageddon, I was never shut out though did have to switch to a different package on one design.
Their techs will fix any alignment problems which is good for beginners. I like to get it right on my own but they have caught a couple of mistakes.
My main complaints are a) they keep changing (and breaking) their job intake processing software and b) their parts library search is a complete mess. It’s super easy to miss parts because of their random use of keywords and categories. (Think Mouser or Digikey where the various attributes aren’t filled out.) They don’t seem to include basic parts in the general search - there is a separate category for them so you have to search twice. The most infuriating thing about their parts library search is there was a 3rd party guy that built a really great tool for that but they forced him to stop so we are left with their terrible search system. This is particularly annoying if you want to reorder a job and have to go looking for in-stock alternates.
Does GitHub - yaqwsx/jlcparts: Better parametric search for components available for JLC PCB assembly no longer work?
That’s the one I used for a while. However, when I tried it a couple of months ago, the “scraping” of JLC’s web site never completed so I assumed it was still down.
By the way, I think that github page is a fork of the original one.
No, I don’t think you’re behind the times. If anything, I would say that JLC is exploring the future.
They’ve rather vertically integrated with EasyEDA schematic/layout tools that use component libraries based on data they have been building up against their inventory at LCSC which can drop right into production at JLC PCB.
But if you don’t fit neatly into that vertical integration, that’s when the mismatches start to become potential pain points.
I could decide to embrace the JLC catalog and revamp my libraries to match — but I’ve got a lot of existing designs that weren’t built around their catalog, and I don’t see enough of a benefit to warrant that.
If Digikey or Mouser were to more vertically integrate an EDA tool and offer integrated fab/assembly, I bet a lot of people would be very interested, but I suspect that might also start to raise some eyebrows at the FTC if they did that. I suspect in China, the government is more likely to support such an undertaking.
What is your workflow like, and how long does it take you to order?
I think of it like the “self service kiosk” at restaurants – it’s slower and more work for the customer, but sometimes, it’s actually the fastest way to get your food…
Yeah JLC’s search is useless. I use LCSC which is much better, but still not great. Part numbers are the same.