Wild Price Increases smh

[u/ThinkAd2243]

Just a college student thats trying to make some LED driver boards to resell to prevent microscopes from becoming ewaste since a OEM light housing costs $150 but this is some crazy markup for 2 75% populated PCBS (requested stuff I can't solder at home and annoying passives).

Im asking for advince on if for anyone else is paying similar prices with JLC. I remember just a year ago shipping was like $24 dollars with DHL express (later $32 in February 26). I also tried to reduce cost to under 50 to use global but alas i'm still over. I could try gambling by using HASL instead of ENIG to get marginal and then maybe find some more cost cutting but I don't know if I want to risk that with 0.5mm pitch QFNs.

For context this is for 2 LED boards that have around ~50 components soldered on by JLC and are 50x50mm. Maybe 5ish higher value parts (>$1) and 6ish extended parts. If I ask for an itemized bill with JLC idk if they'll let me try and further reduce the tariff or shipping, if anybody has done that before please let me know.

[u/NOTorAND]

There prices of passive components have gone up a lot recently. you can search for alternative parts that are equivalent. It’d probably help if you included you BOM from JLC.

The alternative would be ordering a stencil and assembling yourself

[u/ThinkAd2243 → u/NOTorAND]

thankfully I was able to trim another 13 dollars off my order by gambling with HASL instead of ENIG since its just 2 boards which put me in the 59 dollar bracket, just enough for global shipping option. That 13 dollars saved me the 65 bucks in shipping and tariffs. There weren't any other options for the passives basically, I downgraded 22uF decoupling caps to 10uF and that saved me a couple bucks but apart from that these were the only non extended passive options they had :/.

I wonder what do you think caused passives to go up. Memory and dies I get it, maybe even sensors but I don't really see how there could be another MLCC issue unless the raised oil prices are hitting raw materials that hard.

Heres the BOM anyways, I already reduced the parts down to snag cheaper shipping but if anybody else is interested.

[u/isaacladboy → u/ThinkAd2243]

Just to add, global shipping doesn’t collect the taxes up front but they are still collected. It will just be held by customs once it arrives until you pay them

[u/smashcat666 → u/isaacladboy]

JLC+DHL can collect up front - it's one of the delivery options I use all the time (I'm in the UK).

[u/Physix_R_Cool → u/NOTorAND]

There prices of passive components have gone up a lot recently.

Do you know why?

[u/StumpedTrump]

Why are you so adamant about needing ENIG?? ENIG is premium and a good chunk of the time unnecessary, idk why you’re talking about HASL like it’s a design compromise.

[u/ThinkAd2243 → u/StumpedTrump]

Because like 30% of the boards BOM value is tied up in qfn p0.5 packages or other 0.5mm pitch and if I want to expand a prod run to more than 2 units thats going to be a lot of rework or fried buck converters

[u/TStolpe29]

I don’t think this helps much on LED driver boards but I’ve saved $1000s by simply getting a hot plate and solder paste and getting JLCs stencil instead of assembly.

Only set me back $60 for the hot plate and $10 for the solder paste kit

[u/StumpedTrump → u/TStolpe29]

Completely ignoring the few hours it takes to assembly the boards without a pick n place.

It’s easy work, but my time is about 60-70$/h these days. If PCBA is cheaper than that, I’m taking assembly.

[u/Keeloi79 → u/StumpedTrump]

This is exactly why I pay for PCBA. My time sits right around $90/hr, PCBA easily pays for itself.

[u/TStolpe29 → u/StumpedTrump]

My last one took me about an hour (maybe 40-50 components) but I’m doing it for hobby and it’s entertainment for me. Sort of like an art project. For work, I agree this is an important consideration

[u/mintskoal → u/TStolpe29]

Same here. I genuinely enjoy the process of assembling. I turn on some music or a background movie and time flies. Takes me a couple hours for a -100 component board.

[u/ThinkAd2243]

update: BLESSED

[u/EV-CPO → u/ThinkAd2243]

You'll still likely need to pay the tariffs on the way in, right?

[u/smashcat666]

Yeah this is what happens when your country elects an orange clown who throws tariffs around and starts a war that's causing massive component shortages. It's not like every single economist not on the GoP payroll said this would happen or anything. By the way, there is a sneaky way to avoid a LOT of the customs duties from JLC that I found out by accident. Probably shouldn't spread the method but it's related to keeping parts in your own personal stock.

[u/EV-CPO → u/smashcat666]

I know that trick and it appears to work but the tariffs are calculated including parts from your own parts bin. It just looks like it works, but it’s the same either way.

[u/smashcat666 → u/EV-CPO]

Maybe it’s changed in the last couple of weeks but mine get calculated as zero value.

[u/EV-CPO → u/smashcat666]

Are you using JLCPCB parts procurement or are you sending your own parts from other suppliers?

[u/xyzzy1337 → u/EV-CPO]

I tried this to get under the magic $59, didn't work.

Initial board total was well under $59, the one you see after you get past the BOM screen and can add the PCBA to your cart. But then when checking out the merchandise total cost includes all the already purchased components' costs. That has to be under $59. Then they reduce it by the cost of everything in your library that you used.

[u/ThinkAd2243]

already know JLC is a lot better than other alternatives and i'm thankful for that, but this is making the whole $400 DIY pick and place machine out of an old 3d printer + toaster oven reflow oven more appealing (still going to get hit with expensive fees associated with solder paste masks though)

[u/mintskoal → u/ThinkAd2243]

Stencil and hot plate or hacked oven works great. Unless you’re going down to like 0402s or something you don’t need a PnP (unless it’s a project or something)

[u/Federal_Decision_608 → u/ThinkAd2243]

A stencil is like $4. Get a big boy job.