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Comment by ge96 | Hacker News Reader

It is unfortunate hope local companies like OSH Park get love too. The marketing of companies like JLC or pcbway whenever I post a hardware project on a website like Hackaday or Hackster always reach out to me to use em. Not that it would matter so many big makers on YT use em.

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Osh makes pretty good boards but the customer service for the Chinese fabs are on another level.

I got a few small simple boards made through OSH to test their services and their user portal basically left me in the dark for 1-2 weeks.

I'd still use them again but JLC and PCBWay are operating at another level.

I can vouch for OSH Park. Wonderful company, nice people, and really good quality boards. Pads lift so much easier on the cheap Chinese boards that I think it alone makes it worth it to choose local manufacturers. The price is a bit steep for bigger boards but if you're working on a project that they are interested in, they provided financial support every so often. I've gotten a few boards sponsored by them!

I rarely have problems with lifted pads or traces on Chinese boards. And if I do it is usually my own fault.

Pad lift is mainly an issue with base material and there are only a hand full of copper clad suppliers

Almost everyone is using King Board, and they are high quality

The problem with OSH Park is that they're in the US, so they're prohibitively expensive for shipping and there's no guarantee your boards will even make it to you.

I've also got concerns about the quality of American electrical products.

In the past if you didn't live in the US, OSHPark was a great option. Local fabs were very expensive, had big setup fees and even the "maker" places charged more and you'd only get HASL. Meanwhile OSH gave you 3 with ENIG and the quality has always been excellent. They nailed the automation to make group buys cost effective.

If you live in the US, it's free shipping and for breakout boards or smaller work, still a great option. Unless you're a student, I think most side projects aren't make or break if the boards cost $5 vs $2. Even $20-25 I would consider fair for a one-off side project and they also do $1/sqin medium runs if you need > 10.

Right now it's several hundred dollars to get anything electronic out of the US and into the UK, unless you're a big enough company to be able to lawyer your way out of it.

We'll see what 2026 brings, I suppose.

The UK has de minimis for a while yet, and PCBs are 0% import duty. The only thing you might get shafted by is Royal Mail's handling fee if it gets checked by customs. We're talking about hobbyist PCBs here, not production runs.

> I've also got concerns about the quality of American electrical products.

American PCB fabs are far higher quality/capability than most Chinese quick-turn fabs, but good luck getting Advanced Circuits or similar to talk to you for under $5k.

That isn't to say that the products JLC and PCBWay produce aren't high-quality: they are - for what they are, but you aren't using JLC boards in your $100mm satellite.

I'll have to try OSH Park.

They don't do assembly, just the bare PCBs—and my last projects required assembly.

Is the cost and quality comparable to the Chinese options?

OshPark's quality is high, but their prices are certainly higher too. Good to support them though if you live in the States, since that's where they manufacture the boards.

That's kind of the problem though. jlc/pcbway aren't just "cheaper", for anything 2 or 4 layer that doesn't require special coatings, thickness, or finish such as gold fingers, it's just so cheap and fast that it makes no financial sense to buy locally. You'd pay several hundred percents more to get the boards maybe 1-2 business days earlier.

In addition, china is where all the world's pcbs are made, even for commercial stuff, it's not unreasonable to expect them to deliver higher and more consistent quality than home fabs.

The gap only begins to slightly close at more complex boards, but not that much.

OSHPark is more comparable to JLC if you squeeze your design down to the absolute smallest footprint. They market to hobbyists but only in the sense that you're doing this as a side project to your regular hardware engineering job and have access to a rework station to install 0402s and BGAs (i.e. you have the skills and tools to actually design and build a tiny board). I wouldn't use OSHPark to make something the size of a conference badge unless I specifically needed it to be domestically produced or I was selling it. JLC offers purple and black soldermask too.

But, holyshit, the tariffs when ordering from JLCPCB from the U.S. this year have been astronomical.

It's interesting to me because it tries to protect American options, but for Americans only. It creates an opportunity for the rest of the world to be able to get boards printed far cheaper than the Americans can.

Maybe I'm just catching up to what people already know, but it feels like the tariffs are especially bad for parts and not just products where the U.S. market is the final stop.

> You'd pay several hundred percents more

Sounds impressive in relative terms but not quite so in absolute terms, because PCB is dirty cheap so 100% is just $10-$20.

> it's not unreasonable to expect them to deliver higher and more consistent quality than home fabs.

Actually it is the opposite, OshPark quality is consistently higher than JLC for years. Chinese manufacturers can do Apple products but also Temu craps, so don't get your hopes high. The only reasonable expectation is being cheap reduces quality.

While we're at it, anyone here aware of a PCB supplier and (ideally) assembly provider that is available for Europeans?

https://aisler.net/

Eurocircuits

(disclaimer: have no experience with them)

I have, only PCBs, no assembly though.

I have been ordering from them since last century and they are excellent, great customer service too.

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