Hi all,
This may of particular interest to US members, but I am wondering how others are handling the effect of tariffs (in particular with China) on your PCB fabrication needs. Though I should say, recommendations on reliable, good fabricators is likely information that everyone could use.?
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I have two raiser cards I designed (for Fluke instrumentation/calibrating equipment), and maybe I should just wait for all this to blow over (assuming it settles somewhere different than where we are), but I'd rather plan for tough times. I used to use JLCPCB, but with the additional costs triggered by the tariffs, I may be looking at about two or three times the cost (rather closer to the latter than the former), and that just makes is unfeasible to offer this product. At what hobbyists are willing to pay for something like this (which, myself being one, I fully understand), I'd be losing money on each one I'd make.?
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Are there some good options others have figured out where tariffs are not quite so onerous??
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I looked, for instance, at a place in India, which looks decent enough and not crazy expensive - though distinctly more expensive than JLCPCB - but they don't seem to have some of the capabilities I want, such as beveled card edge and so on. Their features seem to be about half as many as a place like JLCPCB offers.?
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There are some places in the US - and OSH Park need not apply, as these are large and really need volume discounts - but they seem to be very low tech in terms of getting online quotes (=0 capabilities for such at what likely is the most affordable ones) and so it's very hard and time intensive to investigate. But if any of you knows a good, affordable and reliable place, I'd love to hear about it. From what I gather, at this point, offshoring this kind of thing is by far the most affordable and ultimately lucrative option. particularly at hobbyist level.?
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With some places that can price me upon uploading my gerbers, I'm a bit antsy about giving them away. I heard stories where once uploaded, you essentially are giving away your IP and the design may pop up in mass production somewhere.
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Thank you,
Radu.?
