[sdiy] Does anyone here use JLCPCB for SMD assembly ?

[Mike Beauchamp]

On 10/27/21 5:43 AM, Mike Bryant via Synth-diy wrote:
> When SMD assembly was a new service at JLCPCB there were obviously teething problems.  For example parts shown as rotated online and so on but the PCBs always came back fine as they spent time fixing everything.
> 
> But it seems like their DFM analysis is getting worse, not better.  DFM for my latest PCB had pages of errors, many marked 'unknown'.  Every electrolytic throws a problem, and one particular value of 0805 resistor, using the same pad as every other 0805 resistor value, throws up lots of times as 'Soldering area is too small'.
> 
> Talked to their support people this morning and they said they just ignore the DFM analysis and load the components anyway, but this tells me nothing on how to make the PCB more production friendly and hence reliable in mass production.
> 
> Anyone else seeing this ?  Their PCBs are far better than anything one can get in Europe at a reasonable price, and the SMD loading does seem well under control with no failed joints so never need rework, but they do seem to add to the stress of wondering what's going to come back each time.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Mike
>


Hey Mike, yes the online preview when you first upload it is VERY 
broken. I don't remember it always being that way, but it seems to get 
diodes and IC's wrong consistently. Some will be in the proper place, 
but rotated wrong or some will be offset in their position.

But after a few hours of uploading this does get updated and corrected 
and you can view that when you go into your history.

FWIW, I've done about 250 various boards from JLCPCB with SMT assembly 
without any issues. Almost all of them had garbled previews on uploading.

Maybe someone with more knowledge can explain better, but I think there 
are several "standards" for how things are expressed in the placement 
and rotation file so depending on your software it will usually require 
some manual intervention and conversion to be correct.


Mike