Thought I'd try JCLPCB, maybe not... [update: not yet…] - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: SpacedCowboy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2022, 03:21:05 am
content: So with the new (at least to me) "global sourcing" option at JCLPCB, I thought I'd try and get a board manufactured there. I've always been put off by the "it has to come from our warehouse" thing, but the price is excellent, and the impedance calculator and stack-up information is good, so I thought I'd give it a go.Spent most of today throwing together a board with a couple of RP2040's on it and a USB hub - I wanted to test out the über-cheap SL2.2s USB hub working with the RP2040, and since there was a hub, I thought I'd throw in two of the RP2040's.Just got several emails from them, all of the form:The below parts have been cancelled because they are unable to be assembled. The refund has been returned to your original payment method. It usually takes several days for the money to arrive.Mfr.Part # Order Status RefundRPI Chip RP2040-7-500 Cancelled $35.97Thanks,The JLCPCB Teamand the same for a bunch of 0201 parts. I could probably live without the 0201's this time around, but it was also the test-run for going with a BGA400 design later (with the USB hub and the RP2040s) - I thought I'd try out the process without springing for 5 of the large FPGAs first... So if it can't be done for the cheap one, I doubt I'll be doing it for the expensive one.I could maybe see 0201's causing issues - though I've had lots of other places do them without comment, but ok it's a budget price, maybe their equipment isn't up to it. I've no real problem with that even though it's a disappointment. I'm kind of surprised about the RP2040 chip though, that's a fairly large part, relatively speaking.So I guess I now have a bunch of parts I'll never use in an account on JCLPCB. Oh well. At least I hadn't actually had them buy the FPGAs. Live and learn...[Actually, as I type, a bunch more emails arrived, cancelling other things including pin-headers (!) so perhaps they're just cancelling the whole order (there's a ways to go if that's the case) since they can't do the 0201's or something] So this morning I woke up to an email offering explanation: they’re not doing 0201 until May (which explains most of the cancel/refund emails) and apparently there isn’t online package info for the RP2040-7-500 - I thought all RP2040’s were QFN56 but I appreciate them not being willing to take risk on my behalf.I guess I’ll try again in May

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 12, 2022, 01:09:43 am
content: I think its just the fact that Mouser didn't fill in the package information yet (if they are sourcing from Mouser):https://www.mouser.ca/ProductDetail/Raspberry-Pi/RPI-Chip-RP2040-7-500?qs=QNEnbhJQKvaZH1bqQMV2YA%3D%3DSo it probably automatically pulls that field and checks if its something they can normally assemble.

author: phil from seattle
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2022, 05:34:31 pm
content: I believe your orders got cancelled due to parts shortages. You can remove the parts from the BOM and try again. I much prefer an order to be cancelled.On one of my jobs, they just ran it (50 boards) without 2 ICs and didn't tell me. Note that when I ordered it, they were in stock. I found the problem during incoming inspection. Given that I didn't have the parts and hadn't planned on any rework, it was a huge PITA and unnecessary delay. I'd much rather have the option to resubmit the order without (or find an alternate part). If you run the job without some of the parts, at least you get lead time to order them elsewhere.

author: SpacedCowboy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2022, 06:25:41 pm
content: No, I got several emails from them - there were 2 reasons:1) I use 0201 parts, because I tend to have BGA FPGAs on my PCBs and putting decoupling caps between-the-dots on the reverse side is a lot easier with 0201. I was told they can't do 0201 until May.2) I'd apparently specified a part under export control (a flash chip!) which isn't supposed to leave China. I wasn't heretofore aware of any such restrictions, but duly noted, I'll change the device - my selection process for this sort of thing isn't particularly rigorous - I just search for Active, In Stock, appropriate package, and sort by smallest price per appropriate quantity and look at the top of the list. With a few notable exceptions, there's usually a lot of choice...I do make a point of choosing the parts with thousands of items still in stock before ordering, to avoid the exact situation you're describing - I'm happy to skip over the top 10 or so in the list and pay a few cents more to get a quantity that looks secure for the immediate future.To be clear, here, I think JCLPCB have acted just fine - they couldn't do what I asked, so they refundedallof my orders (their global sourcing website seemed to forget a few things, so I ended up placing a half-dozen requests for parts). I couldn't really ask for any better response, given that they couldn't (yet) fulfill the order.I fully intend to go back in a month or two and try again, hopefully this time they'll be able to do 0201, and I'll choose my parts more carefully