Jlcpcb and tariffs

[LukeFRC]

At that stage, I'm pretty sure I could start up a side business ordering from JLCPCB from Europe and sell to you guys and even with shipping etc on top I would still make a profit and have you save some money.

Problem is if you're just selling on the value and place of origin of the product is still china and then theoretically subject to Chinese tariffs. (there is similar issue with EV built in UK using Chinese batteries as more than 50% of the value is Chinese products.

What you could do is build PCB into full pedals and sell into the US - because then the value added is in the build and your time, not the parts ...

 

[Big Monk]

Going through the biggest inconvenience of moving away from JLC: part selection. JLC makes things easier for us by limiting what we're allowed to put on the board, they only allow things in their library which streamlines quoting, ordering and assembly. But if you try to get a quote from a US board house, they'll typically want manufacturer part numbers, not just values and footprints, especially some of the more specialized stuff out there.

JLC makes it easy to get in, they give you loads of options and help you set up your infrastructure around their system, and it makes it really inconvenient to leave.

Don’t leave!

I kid of course. Luckily for me I’m going 6-8 weeks between every batch so my hope is that the worst of this will blow over between this batch I’m now shipping out and delivery of the next.

I’ll stay the course because as you pointed out, JLCPCB is part of my process now.

 

[Harry Klippton]

 

[vigilante398]

Don’t leave!

I kid of course. Luckily for me I’m going 6-8 weeks between every batch so my hope is that the worst of this will blow over between this batch I’m now shipping out and delivery of the next.

I’ll stay the course because as you pointed out, JLCPCB is part of my process now.

I have enough PCBs in stock that I can sit and wait for a little bit without issue, I'm just worried that if I wait too long and things haven't changed by the time I need to restock that I'll be left with a gap in production, and I would like to avoid that. I would love to get a new supplier all lined up and find out next month that everything is going back to normal and I can keep using JLC, but I am not a gambling man.

 

[Einzeln]

This is gonna stop when people are going to cream out loud that the emperor has no clothes on. But right now we are in waiting for the conclave to call out the emperor to be the new Pope.

 

[Stickman393]

This is gonna stop when people are going to cream out loud that the emperor has no clothes on.

Did it just get a little hot in here for anybody else?

 

[vigilante398]

Just spent 1 1/2 hours talking to potential PCB suppliers. A couple stood out above the others, most notably I found the company that does the Rat boards for ProCo/Rapco/whatever they're called now. But it will probably be a week or so before I start getting estimates for boards and assembly.

I talked to every PCB place I saw at the show except one, because the rep they had there was so engrossed in her phone that they didn't notice me standing there, so I left. I'll go back tomorrow mostly just because the show is really neat and it's a good use of my lunch break.

 

[benny_profane]

Just spent 1 1/2 hours talking to potential PCB suppliers. A couple stood out above the others, most notably I found the company that does the Rat boards for ProCo/Rapco/whatever they're called now. But it will probably be a week or so before I start getting estimates for boards and assembly.

I talked to every PCB place I saw at the show except one, because the rep they had there was so engrossed in her phone that they didn't notice me standing there, so I left. I'll go back tomorrow mostly just because the show is really neat and it's a good use of my lunch break.

Anything looking okay for hobbyist level, or is everything more suited to commercial runs?

 

[vigilante398]

Anything looking okay for hobbyist level, or is everything more suited to commercial runs?

There was one shop, Ninja Circuits, that says prototyping and small runs are their thing. Minimum quantity is one of the first things I ask, and where most of them were in the 100-500 range, Ninja Circuits said their minimum quantity is 1. I don't know what their pricing is, but basically they're trying to be the shop people go to for prototyping and small runs in the US so hopefully they're not absurdly expensive.

I just checked my email and I got my first quote back from Pica Manufacturing. For qty100 boards with assembly, the cost comes to about 10x what I paid at JLC.

 

[Erik S]

Pica Manufacturing. For qty100 boards with assembly, the cost comes to about 10x

Yeah, but they can do floppy PCBs... (I had to look them up since they're not that far from me).

 

[vigilante398]

Yeah, but they can do floppy PCBs... (I had to look them up since they're not that far from me).

Probably? I'm not cool enough to design anything that uses them, but it seems to be a pretty common thing offered by most manufacturers.

 

[Erik S]

Probably? I'm not cool enough to design anything that uses them, but it seems to be a pretty common thing offered by most manufacturers.

Weird! I had never heard of it until I saw it on their website. I assumed it was something obscure.

 

[vigilante398]

Weird! I had never heard of it until I saw it on their website. I assumed it was something obscure.

It's still not incredibly common, but it's a lot more common than it was even 10 years ago. We deal with the occasional flex and rigid-flex designs at my work. I know there are some hobbies like cosplay/costume design where people do flex PCBs to fit in weird form factors and stuff, but frankly an aluminum box is a pretty easy thing to design a rigid board into so we pedal people don't usually have a need for flex boards.

 

[Nostradoomus]

It's still not incredibly common, but it's a lot more common than it was even 10 years ago. We deal with the occasional flex and rigid-flex designs at my work. I know there are some hobbies like cosplay/costume design where people do flex PCBs to fit in weird form factors and stuff, but frankly an aluminum box is a pretty easy thing to design a rigid board into so we pedal people don't usually have a need for flex boards.

brb designing a tubescreamer called ACE UP YOUR SLEEVE that actually goes up your sleeve

 

[jimilee]

There was one shop, Ninja Circuits, that says prototyping and small runs are their thing. Minimum quantity is one of the first things I ask, and where most of them were in the 100-500 range, Ninja Circuits said their minimum quantity is 1. I don't know what their pricing is, but basically they're trying to be the shop people go to for prototyping and small runs in the US so hopefully they're not absurdly expensive.

I just checked my email and I got my first quote back from Pica Manufacturing. For qty100 boards with assembly, the cost comes to about 10x what I paid at JLC.

Ninja sounds ideal. According to their website site, you gotta contact them for a quote, which is just too much for a hobbyist to deal with IMHO. For what you do, it’s reasonable. I don’t like change…

 

[Silver Blues]

Ninja sounds ideal. According to their website site, you gotta contact them for a quote, which is just too much for a hobbyist to deal with IMHO. For what you do, it’s reasonable. I don’t like change…

Honestly same, not that I don't have experience cold-calling companies asking for quotes, but an instant-quote feature like JLC or OSH have would be a gamechanger for this company's reach to hobbyists. No one wants to ask for the price of anything and then have to rescind their interest when they find out it's too expensive for them.

Also, did anyone else notice "Not only will Ninja build your effects prototype, one of our staff Ninja musicians will test it out for you free of charge AND offer you a professional critique of your design"?

 

[Big Monk]

So I did a mockup out ahead of a big batch of 50 Mistress Flangers:





Overall, not bad considering the circumstances. That order basically includes my universal 3PDT breakout board, a pick and place board for the flangers, my I/O board as well as the inner nameplates I use on the lids.

It's a touch less than a doubling of cost, but still best in class given what I have been hearing about what it costs outside of JLCPCB.

 

[lowpitch]

So I did a mockup out ahead of a big batch of 50 Mistress Flangers:

View attachment 95258

View attachment 95259

Overall, not bad considering the circumstances. That order basically includes my universal 3PDT breakout board, a pick and place board for the flangers, my I/O board as well as the inner nameplates I use on the lids.

It's a touch less than a doubling of cost, but still best in class given what I have been hearing about what it costs outside of JLCPCB.

Not too bad for commercial pedal builders considering the cost of the PCB is only one smallish part of what goes into the price calculation, but still kind of a big oof for guys like Robert who mostly just sell PCBs I imagine. Let's see what the future brings.

 

[Big Monk]

Not too bad for commercial pedal builders considering the cost of the PCB is only one smallish part of what goes into the price calculation, but still kind of a big oof for guys like Robert who mostly just sell PCBs I imagine. Let's see what the future brings.

Agreed. It cuts different ways depending on the application.