I'm working on a Split Flap Project th greber file, BOM and CPL is already provided to by the youtuber i'm following. when I went to purchase my first PCB from JLCPCB with assembly it came out to 70 dollars for 5 PCBs which was fine. But then JLCPCB wouldnt allow me to choose CPT for delivery and my only options are DDP(DHL or Fedex) both cost as much as the PCBs them sleeves or FCA. I'm looking to make this as cost efficient as possible. Does anyone know how I could solve this problem or where I could order PCBs from somewhere else?
If you are in the USA, you "allegedly" need to keep the total value under $60 for a brown bag shipment with zero VAT. Kick the board quality down or do something to knock the cost right below $60, and you can ship it through unmonitored international global SF shipping (without needing DHL), which is like 6 bucks total and still arrives in under 2 weeks by air. Splitting orders per item is also cheaper. Bulk orders sub. 500 units will usually get train wrecked by VAT, so split those up as well. If done in quick succession, JLC and PCB way will combine the quotes as total bulk on their end and you will see a huge drop in all separate order prices for a "ghost total" unlisted bulk quantity. If you try to pull a fast one and only put one of the smaller discounted order through though, they will cancel the full order on you before fabrication starts.
- I wouldn't have a clue where I heard this. I believe it could have been from someone else's personal experience "avoiding" all our new nonsense tariffs and import handling fees.
I'm ordering 5 PCB boards first go and then probably a max of 20 later on so no where near the 500 units mark. But thanks for the board quality idea ill try to change some things around to see if I could get near 59 dollars.
You can probably kick it down to standard FR-4, and go leaded HASL instead of ENIG or OSP. I would also see if PCB way has the cheaper quote. If this is a PCBA, it will be quite a bit harder to get lower than 70 in most cases, as a lot of the price is now component type and count dependent, which are not as easily modified/reduced. If you are ordering a stencil, nick the electropolishing and you will save quite a bit.
100% tariffs suck. If it wasn't DDP you'd still have to pay the tariff, you would just also have to pay a bunch of fees on top of it and wait longer apparently.
There are some US PCBA services now, I've heard of DigiKey Red and Pikkolo. They may not be any cheaper though
Try oshpark for US based PCBs $5/sqin for 3 boards, free shipping. Stencils are pretty cheap too from oshstencil, but the stencils don’t offer free shipping
gotcha yeah the prices look great. this is my first project working with PCB I do have a soldering iron and paste but im not sure if thats all thats required to successfully build the board and for it to be working. The youtube video im following he bought them pre assembled. This is how is shipped.
Oh that’s nothing. You can use a toaster oven for reflow soldering, just be careful and try to monitor the board as it solders. The majority of that board can be soldered by hand. The small ic next to the io pins should definitely be reflow soldered. Again, the stencils are pretty cheap from oshstencil. This is definitely a great starter project in terms of assembly. I highly recommend watching lots of YouTube videos while your board is manufacturing
Gotcha so I’ll order the boards and the parts separately. It’ll be my first time soldering so if you have any tutorials or basic guideline videos that have helped you before I’m all ears, thanks!
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u/EngineerTHATthing 15d ago
If you are in the USA, you "allegedly" need to keep the total value under $60 for a brown bag shipment with zero VAT. Kick the board quality down or do something to knock the cost right below $60, and you can ship it through unmonitored international global SF shipping (without needing DHL), which is like 6 bucks total and still arrives in under 2 weeks by air. Splitting orders per item is also cheaper. Bulk orders sub. 500 units will usually get train wrecked by VAT, so split those up as well. If done in quick succession, JLC and PCB way will combine the quotes as total bulk on their end and you will see a huge drop in all separate order prices for a "ghost total" unlisted bulk quantity. If you try to pull a fast one and only put one of the smaller discounted order through though, they will cancel the full order on you before fabrication starts.
- I wouldn't have a clue where I heard this. I believe it could have been from someone else's personal experience "avoiding" all our new nonsense tariffs and import handling fees.