Versions Compared

Old Version 6

changes.mady.by.user Matthew McCauley

Saved on

compared with

New Version Current

changes.mady.by.user Matthew McCauley

Saved on

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.

...

{link to component, project, layout, etc on other pages}

Component & PCB Suppliers

PCB Fab Houses

Expand

Company Name

Pros

Cons

JLCPCB

https://jlcpcb.com/

  • Very fast turn

  • Usually cheap

  • 6+ layer boards have free plug & plate vias

  • Doesn’t do extremely thick copper

PCBWay

https://www.pcbway.com/

  • Good turn, but requires manual review for most boards (adds 1 day)

  • Usually cheap

  • Manual review can cause prices to go wayyy higher than auto quote

  • {}

OSHPark

https://oshpark.com/

  • USA made

  • Ok pricing given it’s USA

  • Good deal on 2oz and on rush (5 day turn) PCBs

  • Very limited selection of layer counts and wieghts

Advanced Circuits (http://4PCB.com )

https://www.4pcb.com/

  • USA made

  • Has student discounts and pizza party specials

  • Can be fast, at a cost

  • Pretty expensive

PCB Unlimited

https://www.pcbunlimited.com/

  • USA made

  • From current research, one of the fastest rapid turn fabs

  • Boards we have gotten have definitely been noticeably lower quality

    • In terms of silks, masking finish, etc

  • Still expensive compared to China

Component Suppliers

Expand

Digikey & Mouser are our core suppliers. Typically Digikey is used as the primary, but given recent events we may use Mouser as our primary.

Company Name

Pros

Cons

Digikey

https://www.digikey.com/

  • Great customer support

  • Usually same day fulfilment by ~6pm

  • The great warehouse meltdown of 2023

  • Not guaranteed fulfilment!

Mouser

https://www.mouser.com/

  • Guaranteed same day fulfillment till 9PM ET

  • Not as good customer support, but ok usually

Newark

https://www.newark.com/

  • Free shipping over $150

  • VERY BAD customer service

  • Sometimes shitty fulfilment (wrong parts sent)

  • Most orders arrive in multiple small separate shipments

  • Sometimes has crazy minimum order quantities

Arrow

https://www.arrow.com/en

  • Fine

  • Has a rewards program

  • Not particularly fast

Future

https://www.futureelectronics.com/

  • Seem to have great stock on everything

  • They are a closed service and we currently don't have an account

    • IIRC we should be able to get a “sponsorship” of being let onto their website

TTI

https://www.tti.com/content/ttiinc/en.html

  • Sometimes is the only supplier of odd TE parts

  • Sometimes has weird minimum order quantities

  • Not particularly fast

Avnet (owner of Newark)

https://www.avnet.com/wps/portal/us

  • Fine

  • Not particularly fast

  • Owns Newark, so the same issues may arise

RS Components (Allied)

https://us.rs-online.com/

  • Fine

  • Not particularly fast

Turn-Key Fabrication (PCB + Assembly)

Expand

Company Name

Pros

Cons

MacroFab

https://www.macrofab.com/

  • Very nice service

  • Have sponsored us previously

  • Typically quite slow turn

  • Expensive without a sponsorship

CircuitHub

https://circuithub.com/

  • Shockingly cheap!

  • Have not used them yet

JLCPCB

  • Cheap

  • Have not used them yet

Helpful Websites

Component Aggregator

Single website that searches effectively all online suppliers for stock

EDA (Footprint Sources)

...

Troubleshooting

License Popup

You do not have any licenses applied

...

You have no license. Just click “License Management” and figure it out. Likely just need to activate one, or log in.

Duplicate Item

Error. Create item failed. Duplicate item HRID: [X]

...

Your client is attempting to create an item with an overlapping “unique” ID. This error seems to occur for some people when making their first ever symbol or footprint.

The fix we’ve identified currently is to just increment manually the Item ID until the error does not occur. In this screenshot it is the “000161,” from which you could try …162, …163, …164, etc and if this doesn’t resolve, move to tens: …174, …184, …194, etc.

Not a valid value for [X]

“[X]” is not a valid value for [X]

...

This is a glitch that occurs where parameters with dropdowns (dictionaries) are swapped from where they should be. This results in values being placed in the wrong parameter fields, causing type errors (a current cannot be text in this example).

To fix, you can click the arrow of the drop down on the parameter field and instead of selecting a value, instead start typing the value you’d like to enter. This should avoid the mis-fill. Restarting often fixes this issue as well, but of course is more annoying…