Jlc pcb
![jlc pcb jlc pcb](http://www.chriselison.uk/img/IMG_20180512_035438-jlcpcb-led-controller-boards.jpg)
They are owned by the same company as LCSC, the biggest electronic component distributor in China, so that’s how they can get such an extensive library of components. They have a bunch of pick and place machines already set up with 600+ common components, and they can also load up new components for you at $3/component type, from their 30k+ components library. I was very excited when JLC started offering just that recently. It didn’t seem like we would get high quality assembly until someone starts offering automatic pick-and-place for low quantity boards.
![jlc pcb jlc pcb](https://jlcpcb.com/images/SMT/big/4.8c9a3b88.png)
I believe Seeedstudio was again one of the first to offer this service, but they assemble low quantity PCBs by hand, and reviews were scathing – bad solder joints, missed parts, parts installed in wrong orientation, etc. Wouldn’t it be great if we can get someone to do the soldering as well? As hobbyists we have already given up making PCBs at home. PCB prototyping is now a commodity, so now they are looking for other ways to differentiate, and assembly seems to be one such area. I have tried most of them at least once, and they are largely interchangeable unless you want very specific options. flex or aluminium for high power applications), different copper thicknesses, and 4+ layers for reasonable prices. Very interesting options have also become available – ENIG finish, different substrates (eg. They offered about the same specs as the fabs we have been using, but for $10-$20 per 10 boards, though they still had the problem of long lead time (and high shipping cost from China if you want your boards fast).įast forward a few years to 2019, and now there are many similar services out there, offering even lower prices (as low as $2 for 10 boards!), very fast turnaround (24-72 hours), and very high specs (5/5 mils or even 3.5/3.5 mils). If my memory serves, Seeedstudio was the first with their Fusion PCB service, and ITeadStudio was, as always, the first copycat. Of course, most production PCBs had been made in China for at least a decade at this point, but I believe this is the first time Chinese companies started targeting the low quantity prototyping market. Great if you are very patient, but not very useful if you have any deadline.Īnd then the Chinese prototyping services popped up, I think around 2012, and started getting popular.
![jlc pcb jlc pcb](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/kLsqTdvAFLc/maxresdefault.jpg)
There were services like Sparkfun’s BatchPCB and OSH Park that were quite a bit cheaper, but generally took about a month to deliver, as they batched together designs from many customers on each panel to amortise the cost. I remember when I first started making PCBs in ~2010, our low spec (8 mil min traces / 8 mil min spacing) 2-layer boards costed $133 for 4 copies.