Just wondering if anyone has had experience with JLCPCB, as well as what the pros and cons of their experience was.
Based on a walk-through video on YouTube, they appear to have a huge state-of-the-art facility.
Please be honest ( even brutally honest ) if necessary.
Thanks !
Funny you should ask. I literally just got my first batch of boards from them. I ordered ten of them with a stencil. Here is what I got: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B125qXGF1u0QVj
Two of the ten boards have minor blemishes which appear to be only cosmetic. I’m not complaining given the price point.
Check the album again in a few hours for an update after I build these and hit them with hot air. We’ll see if that white solder mask stays white. 
I got some 2-layer boards from JLCPCB a few weeks ago. They seem fine, but the major advantage was they let me panelize my design to fit 8 boards within their 100mm x 100mm area with no extra charges. So I got 80 boards for a total of $10.88. Shipping time to the US was not bad at around 15 days.
Breaktabs / mousebites or V-Scoring panelization ?
The used v-scoring in the video I watched, but they may very well do all types.
For anyone interested, the title of the YouTube video is:
Inside a Huge PCB Factory - in China
The video is just under 27 minutes long. Just search JLCPCB on YouTube.
Thanks to all that have replied !
Break tabs.
And here’s some more text.
I can confirm that they are very good on price and delivery. Typically 5 days from sending to receiving PCBs.
10 for $2 up to 100x100m makes them far cheaper for prototype boards than anyone in the UK or Europe.
Quality seems to be as good as anything closer to home and if you stick to standard white mask, green resits leaded tin and FR4 1.6mm board they are really good. Unleaded is available but the cost rockets and for a “see if it is OK” type PCB, which will be soldered with good old 60/40 solder anyway, it is fine.
I have used them several times since early 2017 and they have always delivered on time. The carriage costs are horrendous compared with the PCB cost, but they do come on time and are still far cheaper than 1 PCB from our EU supplier
I’ve used them a couple times recently and so far they seem superior to Iteadstudio which couldn’t even align my soldermask accurately… they aligned it to the corner of one of my footprints so it ended up with lopsided clearance.
Also I use the freedfm.com service to check my boards before ordering, also if i need a board really quick I’ll order it from them (Advance Circuits aka 4pcb.com).
So far JLCPCB has been fast, cheap and pretty decent and they didn’t screw up my soldermask. They also include this what seems to be a biodegradable pen in every order I’ve gotten from them so far (perhaps not in the $2 orders). Advanced Circuits usually includes popcorn in their orders… surely this is important information!
It’s YES without hasitations. I’ve made a video, you can see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc314rgNnf8&t=31s
It’s subtitled in English. Nothing to complain about. They have a good ratio quality / price, compared to others.
Looks like a fun project!
You get the unusual pen, even with the $2 orders.
I’ve used JLCPCB three times. All orders were for 10 PCBs 100mm by 100mm with default choices on all options. Final cost, including shipping, per PCB was just under $2 each. I haven’t found any problems with my boards but I am an amature and could have missed something. I received all of my orders within 6 working days, 8 calendar days.
The seem fine for prototype projects, but I doubt for anything more serious.
We’ve used them a couple of times and once a student complained that one of the batches was kind of faulty - the vias would come out when soldering components.
I’ve never seen anything like that before with any of the other manufacturers we’ve used (4pcb, oshpark)
I haven’t used JLC PCB before, the fab seems just began the international market in 2017.
I need times of modification for my design after first trial ,and would prefer to use ALLPCB service.
Due to the shipping discount and fast lead time ,it really helps me to save my design time,Moreover, the qu ality is awesome.
JLCPCB is extremely fast… I’ve ordered on a Friday and had it in hand by Wednesday of the next week for instance. It’s crazy they can even do that.
Had three experiences with JLCPCB.
When it goes well with no problems, it’s fast and cheap. When it goes awry it’s painful.
First one was a personal job for myself, and it was great - everything went OK.
Second time was when I tried to use them for work - they emailed me back to say the Gerbers weren’t in the right format. There seemed to be significant communication difficulties in getting this resolved and we went around in circles, so the order was cancelled and we went with a UK based supplier. Oddly two weeks later the PCBs turned up.
Third time was also for work, and there was a problem with the credit card being charged but the PCBs never showed up and they cancelled the order. From what I could tell it was another issue with file checking. We struggled to get an understanding and a refund.
I’d probably try them again for a non-work related job, but I’d ensure that I pay using a method that has some kind of protection in case it goes wrong.
Andy
I had the same experience, an order got “stuck” in their system, very confusing exchange with customer support. Eventually I had to resubmit the order. Didn’t fill me with confidence.
My understanding is JLCPCB is a major manufacturer but not used to dealing with small/international customers, normally they leave that to resellers. They decided to go direct to the customer and maybe that is a learning experience for them.
I just stumbled across a walk through of a PCB fab house. Turns out it was JLCPCB.
EDIT: I’ve never used JLCPCB, so I’m not advocating for it. I just thought this video, while generally informative of the steps to manufacture a “simple” 4-layer board, also fit well in this thread.