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Is this PCBWay challenging JLCPCB and EasyEDA? Looks like it. I welcome it, EasyEDA and the super slick integration with JLCPCB is a killer feature and the reas

Is this PCBWay challenging JLCPCB and EasyEDA? Looks like it. I welcome it, EasyEDA and the super slick integration with JLCPCB is a killer feature and the reason I use JLC exclusively for all my boards. If this works well I might give PCBWay a try.

dbrgn 3y ago
LibrePCB is not developed by PCBWay. They started supporting the project last year: https://librepcb.org/blog/2022-09-08_partnership_with_pcbway/ https://librepcb.org/blog/2022-09-08_partnership_with_pcbway... Other fabs support it too (namely Aisler) by donating a share of the income from orders submitted from LibrePCB.
LeifCarrotson 3y ago
That's really the killer feature for you? I do have the advantage of one lab back in college where a pro spent 90 minutes instructing a bunch of teenagers how to prepare Gerbers for a class project through Advanced Circuits, but beyond that I've had no problems sending files to OSH Park, JLC, PCBWay, Sunstone, or Advanced Circuits whether they were generated in Eagle, Kicad, or Altium. Even at the low-margin providers like JLC and PCBway they still have a human look over your gerbers (and most provide web viewers for you to see what you've uploaded in those files) to make sure you're not going to order the inverse of your board, or make all your vias unplated, or swap your copper and silkscreen layers, or anything goofy like that. If you do screw up the design, that's on you and the tools won't help, but prices are dirt cheap and turnaround times are screaming fast these days, so it shouldn't be too bad. I don't understand why newcomers find plotting to gerbers so intimidating.
- chinabot 3y ago
  integration with LCSC for parts and assembly is a killer feature though. I loved getting my PCBs back but then if you need to solder on dozens of 0603 caps and a BGA package it just became another thing to get wrong. As my eyes and coordination are not as good as they were hitting buy now and having fully assembled boards come back for basically the cost of the parts and the PCB was game changing for me.
  - LeifCarrotson 3y ago
    JLC-LCSC integration is pretty big for small-volume users, I'll agree. But you can do that with Kicad/LibrePCB just as easy as making boards. You could always have fully-assembled boards come back for basically the cost of the parts...as long as you were at quantity 10k units. Hooray for automation!
  - rgoulter 3y ago
    JLCPCB's integration with LCSC for parts is why I've used them for PCBA. I've only done low-volume hobbyist stuff, & prefer KiCad, but I can see that not having to fiddle with BOM/CPL would be a +1 to EasyEDA.
mchannon 3y ago
For the record, I export from EasyEDA to Gerber to PCBWay all the time. PCBWay less likely to run into issues with weird design features and parts specs, but they are slower and more expensive. Elecrow also takes Gerber’s from EasyEDA.
distract8901 3y ago
I'm extremely skeptical of any company that does as much advertising as PCBWay, but they seem to legitimately do a good job. From what I can tell, it seems every single order is reviewed by a human who sends you an email if something is off. Quality is as good as you'd want and the price is reasonable. Their website is an atrocity but I guess that's fine. I've been using them for the last few months and I have no complaints.
- cushychicken 3y ago
  Spoken like someone who’s never actually ordered from them. PCBway is among the better board fabs in the world - certainly in terms of customer service, and very hard to beat in terms of value for money. The fact that they get you quote and acceptance in under an hour (during US working hours!) is incredible. American board fabs could learn a thing or two from PCBway. They set a very high standard in terms of service. I’m very impressed by it. I wouldn’t send a server motherboard or a radar frontend design to them (for a multitude of reasons - ITAR controls likely forefront among them) but most circuit designs aren’t in that league of board design. Most are two to six layers and 300 or fewer parts placed. PCBway does pretty superlative work serving that niche.
  - coder543 3y ago
    > Spoken like someone who’s never actually ordered from them. Spoken like someone who didn’t read the comment they’re replying to? The person you’re replying to said PCBWay was good. Quoting that comment: “they seem to legitimately do a good job” “Quality is as good as you'd want and the price is reasonable.”
  - bogantech 3y ago
    > PCBway is among the better board fabs in the world Last time I used them their process was so stone-aged that they couldn't do solder mask between the pins of a QFP-64 package
- angelgonzales 3y ago
  I use PCBWay professionally for simple fixtures and tooling. I once had parts fabricated from them and on my desk quicker than the time it took our usual domestic supplier to provide a quote - and their quote was more than 10X what PCBWay quoted. I really like their CNC service and I’ve only had one issue where a large part had a bent corner when it arrived due to shipping damage. I quickly removed some material from the fixture and put it in service.

dbrgn 3y ago

LibrePCB is not developed by PCBWay. They started supporting the project last year: https://librepcb.org/blog/2022-09-08_partnership_with_pcbway/ https://librepcb.org/blog/2022-09-08_partnership_with_pcbway... Other fabs support it too (namely Aisler) by donating a share of the income from orders submitted from LibrePCB.

LeifCarrotson 3y ago

That's really the killer feature for you? I do have the advantage of one lab back in college where a pro spent 90 minutes instructing a bunch of teenagers how to prepare Gerbers for a class project through Advanced Circuits, but beyond that I've had no problems sending files to OSH Park, JLC, PCBWay, Sunstone, or Advanced Circuits whether they were generated in Eagle, Kicad, or Altium. Even at the low-margin providers like JLC and PCBway they still have a human look over your gerbers (and most provide web viewers for you to see what you've uploaded in those files) to make sure you're not going to order the inverse of your board, or make all your vias unplated, or swap your copper and silkscreen layers, or anything goofy like that. If you do screw up the design, that's on you and the tools won't help, but prices are dirt cheap and turnaround times are screaming fast these days, so it shouldn't be too bad. I don't understand why newcomers find plotting to gerbers so intimidating.

chinabot 3y ago
integration with LCSC for parts and assembly is a killer feature though. I loved getting my PCBs back but then if you need to solder on dozens of 0603 caps and a BGA package it just became another thing to get wrong. As my eyes and coordination are not as good as they were hitting buy now and having fully assembled boards come back for basically the cost of the parts and the PCB was game changing for me.
- LeifCarrotson 3y ago
  JLC-LCSC integration is pretty big for small-volume users, I'll agree. But you can do that with Kicad/LibrePCB just as easy as making boards. You could always have fully-assembled boards come back for basically the cost of the parts...as long as you were at quantity 10k units. Hooray for automation!
- rgoulter 3y ago
  JLCPCB's integration with LCSC for parts is why I've used them for PCBA. I've only done low-volume hobbyist stuff, & prefer KiCad, but I can see that not having to fiddle with BOM/CPL would be a +1 to EasyEDA.

mchannon 3y ago

For the record, I export from EasyEDA to Gerber to PCBWay all the time. PCBWay less likely to run into issues with weird design features and parts specs, but they are slower and more expensive. Elecrow also takes Gerber’s from EasyEDA.

distract8901 3y ago

I'm extremely skeptical of any company that does as much advertising as PCBWay, but they seem to legitimately do a good job. From what I can tell, it seems every single order is reviewed by a human who sends you an email if something is off. Quality is as good as you'd want and the price is reasonable. Their website is an atrocity but I guess that's fine. I've been using them for the last few months and I have no complaints.

cushychicken 3y ago
Spoken like someone who’s never actually ordered from them. PCBway is among the better board fabs in the world - certainly in terms of customer service, and very hard to beat in terms of value for money. The fact that they get you quote and acceptance in under an hour (during US working hours!) is incredible. American board fabs could learn a thing or two from PCBway. They set a very high standard in terms of service. I’m very impressed by it. I wouldn’t send a server motherboard or a radar frontend design to them (for a multitude of reasons - ITAR controls likely forefront among them) but most circuit designs aren’t in that league of board design. Most are two to six layers and 300 or fewer parts placed. PCBway does pretty superlative work serving that niche.
- coder543 3y ago
  > Spoken like someone who’s never actually ordered from them. Spoken like someone who didn’t read the comment they’re replying to? The person you’re replying to said PCBWay was good. Quoting that comment: “they seem to legitimately do a good job” “Quality is as good as you'd want and the price is reasonable.”
- bogantech 3y ago
  > PCBway is among the better board fabs in the world Last time I used them their process was so stone-aged that they couldn't do solder mask between the pins of a QFP-64 package
angelgonzales 3y ago
I use PCBWay professionally for simple fixtures and tooling. I once had parts fabricated from them and on my desk quicker than the time it took our usual domestic supplier to provide a quote - and their quote was more than 10X what PCBWay quoted. I really like their CNC service and I’ve only had one issue where a large part had a bent corner when it arrived due to shipping damage. I quickly removed some material from the fixture and put it in service.