JLCPCB Prototype Inspection

A look at the 4 layer prototype PCB's from JLCPCB, for the Gigatron TLL Computer.

BTW, you can hide the manufacturer ID using this instruction:

[Liam-bscu]

You can put some text in the design "JLJLJL..." And they will place the customer number in that position apparently. So you could hide it under a chip or something. Don't know if you can remove it completely though.

[azmrblack]

5 years on, and they are still a great company. Every board I've ordered from them i've been more than happy with. Truly a good company to deal with and they care about quality. Prices are still excellent.

[TheRussianhippie]

as an electrical engineering student who does a lot of personal projects because making things is also a hobby, JLC pcb is amazing. like, my design capability went from "whatever i can hand solder" to "whatever i can fit on a pcb" which was a massive upgrade, plus 2 layer boards are always $20 delivered and arrive within 7 days everytime. Seriously it's difficult to not talk about JLCPCB without sounding like a shill.

[jasonmhite]

It's worth noting, JLCPCB has garnered a lot of goodwill in the hobbyist community. They sponsor like 90% of the small YouTube electronics channels. That might seem shady if they weren't good, but they genuinely offer a pretty great product and good service as well.

[StreuB]

Economy of scale with a world class dedicated manufacturer operating in a country where labor is extremely low and the processes are all still nearly completely automated. There are a few videos inside JLC doing a complete job and their facilities are impressive to say the least. No expense spared and thats saying a lot for a Chinese mega-manufacturer.

Thanks for the video Dave!

[tpjs]

Scotty from Strange Parts did a factorytour at JLC-PCB. Can really recommend that :)

[bigclivedotcom]

The slight tracking of the screenprint looks like the disk-roller marks when you use a non absorbent medium in an inkjet printer. I wonder if it's been printed in a dedicated inkjet style system

[azbesthu]

Stranger Parts visited the factory and made a video about the whole manufacturing process. They showed there are two different method for putting the writings to the pcb, for bigger volumes they use the silkscreen method with stencil, but for small volumes they are using inkjet printing indeed.

[Not-Only-Reaper-Tutorials]

5 years after this video, they improved enormously. they are excellent. you can omit the order number, silkscreen is very improved, and tons of other things. Indeed you pointed out a very true in the start of the video: with such quality and prices, it doesn't make ANY sense to make PCBs home. Great stuff for great prices.

[kjur]

You can even make more boards. I managed to make 80 small boards for 2$! They were small enough to put 8 of them on single board within 10cm by 10cm. And 10 boards of these. Great deal!

[jortz]

yeah, that price is insane. 12$ a piece or something for a 4 layer board of that size, done in a couple of days. You really can't complain.

[KX]

It really is amazing what you can get for your money. I was impressed with PCBway a year ago, but JLCPCB blows them out of the water when you consider the standard tolerances for JLC are apparently 5/5 thou (I'll be testing that soon), PCB thickness down to 0.6mm is the same price as standard 1.6mm, 0.3mm min drill is standard. The silkscreen may not be up to Dave's standards, but PCBway was very obviously dot matrix, whereas with JLC it's hard to tell without zooming right in, and even then you could put the jaggies down to the surface profile of the fibreglass.

[ourplesoop]

I was actually comparing PCB manufacturers to get some large PCBs made when this video popped up in my feed. Looks like they're getting my business now.

[sergeantseven]

Also, The customer ID they slap on the board can be placed optionally anywhere you want by putting "JLCJLCJLCJLC" somewhere in the silkscreen layer. They will make it fit. Or if you have it panalized you can put it on the strip.

[deltapparo]

They rejected one of my boards. I gave up trying to fix something that wasn't broke and just sent it to PCBWay. They made it, no problem. Use them all the time now.
Glad to see that at least one EE YouTuber isn't being sponsored by them.

[MkmeOrg]

Looks great Dave. I've found the same with my orders from them. Can't justify even messing around trying to make a few cm board for what they charge and how quick they turn around. Great time to be in the electronics world :) Cheers

[mikeselectricstuff]

I use them sometimes but they will regularly reject designs with a lot of routing, with no option to pay more to get it done. sometimes they don't even email to tell you - this totally hosed me on one job.
IME Allpcb email you for additional payment, and have a lot more options. Costs aren't much different.

[rutgerdejong]

I think they are the best for the money, I had a mistake on 2 vias, I saw this on the their online board viewer (great feature and you can zoom in), I emailed them right but because they put board in production so fast, I though for sure they would not catch it. The board arrived within 1 week here in the USA and they had corrected the issue, so happy with there quality and price. As far as them putting their tracking number on the board, they usually pick a spot under a large component, but not always. I prefer no numbers on the board, but for the price and service I will live with it.

[annaoaulinovna]

jlcpcb is a great company. its a time saving pcb producer. some companies lives with their cheap prototyping solution.

[movaxh]

There are still benefits to making own PCBs. Weird shapes, single layer board with just dozens of components done in single day and quickly move over. Sometimes you just do PCBs by hand, on a piece of paper, pen and pencil, or even directly on PCB copper layer, and you can eliminate all the software / CAD / gerber / routing complexities, waiting times, custom fees and taxes headaches, failed prototypes, etc. It is not always about the price, but about flexibility and extreme rapid prototyping. If I want I can go through 6 different revision / variants of ideas of a PCB in a single day easily at home.