ISO: Affordable vendor for making and assembling PCBs

[Julia Heng]

Kid has finished his PCB for a project and just got a quote for about $150 for making and assembling 2 PCBs on JLCPCB (this includes customs and shipping from China). Given that we are at the prototype stage, I am looking for a more cost-effective solution. 

Do folks have reliable and affordable vendors they can recommend?  This summer we were at Huaqiangbei in Shenzhen and saw so many PCBA vendors but alas his design wasn't ready then. 

The goal is to find a good vendor that can eventually mass produce. 

[Chris Albertson]

JLCPCB is the absolute best in the world, especially when it comes to prices.   

The problem with "Kid" might be that he is somewhat inexperienced and has done his design without thinking about the cost.     This is where real engineers earn their pay, coming up with the lowest-cost design that meets all requirements.   A more experienced engineer knows a lot about manufacturing costs.   Also you have to take that approach upward to the big-picture level and not one PCB at a time.

The trick with JLCPCB is to use parts that are on their “a-list”.  These are the common 100+ parts that are always loaded in the pick and place robot.   Certainly, if you need a passive part, there is one on that list that can work.       Next, try REALLY HARD to put all the SMD parts on one side because they have to charge a lot for flipping the board.     

The other thing about getting the best price from JLCPCB is to never go too large.  Sometimes it is cost-effective to break the design into two PCBs. Sometimes not.

Then, if a prototype, you can hand-solder on the side with no SMD components.     Basically, you make every design decision based on what JLCPCB charges and then maybe solder those through-hole power connections by hand yourself.

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[Tony Pratkanis]

Previously I have used https://www.advancedpcb.com/en-us/. Although that was about 15 years ago. They still have the $33 PCB deal. Fast turn around and good results previously. This might not cover assembly.

[Julia Heng]

Thanks Chris, 

He learnt the “flipping the board” charge the hard way as this is our second redo with the PCB - this time with all the parts on one side. Do you know why that is so? 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hbrobotics/F92231E8-1477-479E-BA9A-712A4A52AD4A%40gmail.com.

[Chris Albertson]

> On Jul 30, 2026, at 11:08 AM, Julia Heng <juli...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks Chris,
>
> He learnt the “flipping the board” charge the hard way as this is our second redo with the PCB - this time with all the parts on one side. Do you know why that is so?

J

Why do they charge more for something? JLCPCB has a massive scale where they batch customer PCBs in huge meter-square PCBs and run these standardized-size boards through a big machine and then at the end they cut the boards apart and stack the parts for shipment. If your design can work in this process, they can make them very cheaply.

What is expensive is custom handling by human workers. This means loading parts into the pick and place machine or adding parts after cutting the PCBs. The basic cost is 20 cents per PCB and then for “basic” parts they will solder them down for only the cost of the parts, which is just pennies. Everything after that adds cost.

LCPCB’s basic charge is $2 for five identical PCBs. If the order cost more then $2 it is because you added expensive features. You can replace the expensive features with cheaper feature or re-think the whole project or both. I usely can find a way to keep the csot to under $1 per PCB. Mostly this means having them dill holes and then I add my own micrrocontroller breakout board as if it were a giant IC. I can buy an ESP32 dev board for $5, then just plug it in.

I could not suggest anything that would reduce cost unless I could see the entire big-picture project.

I remember back in the late 70s as a student, they had us think about the cost of multiple different solutions. An example was a switching power supply and the problem in those days was radiated EMI. Two solutions (1) design the board and circuit so it did not radiate or (2) shield it. Not just tweeks but a different design concept can sometimes cut costs. Today everyone uses the “just don’t radiate” idea and saves the cost of a metal shield box. Then we went over why a robust design should not require precision tolerances. If you need to resort to that, they said, something is wrong and you have a “fragile” design. Basically, we were taught to see a big cost as a red flag that we made a mistake.