Launch HN: ProvenMetal (YC S26) delivers circuit boards in days instead of weeks • Hacker News Board

Re: Launch HN: ProvenMetal (YC S26) delivers circuit boards in days instead of weeks

#111

Post by willcarkner » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 9:26 PM UTC

hahahaa wrote: post #109

seizethecheese wrote: post #27

I ran a hardware startup for about a decade. We ended up doing all PCB assembly in China. We did try to find this in the USA, but it was indeed too slow and expensive. The bottleneck in assembling a PCB is usually component sourcing. My product was not the most complicated, and even then, to assemble in Shenzhen, China, it often took a few weeks to get all the components. The core issue here is that latency is determ…

Is there an opportunity for the design software to suggest alternatives to avoid those long wait time for certain components. E.g. you could also use that kind of capacitor and it is available in 24h.

Yes we're going to build that into it. In the pipeline definitely.

Re: Launch HN: ProvenMetal (YC S26) delivers circuit boards in days instead of weeks

#112

Post by yitchelle » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 9:41 PM UTC

willcarkner wrote: post #93

cryo32 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

20-40% capacity. Reserve available. Turnaround same day on a board (2 layer). Next day 4 layer. Two days exotic (rogers etc). Pick, place, soldered 2 days or delivered to lab immediately after panel cut. If they had a fast production run in they could extend to 24 hours operation and triple base capacity. They did a fair bit of TH though which was manually stuffed and wave soldered which could slow stuff down conside…

Very interesting, I'm wondering if that low-utilization rate justifies the capex of building a line.

Low utilisation would be a good thing as they would value availability to the line very highly.

Re: Launch HN: ProvenMetal (YC S26) delivers circuit boards in days instead of weeks

#113

Post by Ao7bei3s » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 9:45 PM UTC

paddi91 wrote: post #55

realo wrote: post #4

Nice but the USA are not our global friends anymore. Anything available in the EU?

Disclaimer: CTO & Co-Founder of AISLER here We're trying to make electronic manufacturing (PCB & PCBA) simple, affordable and speedy. A high grade of automation allows prices starting at 12.20 Euros including VAT and shipping. Our software platform is completely built in-house, including state-of-the-art ODB++ integration. Let me know if you've any questions, happy to answer.

Thanks for being open to questions. I always wanted to know this:

3 copies of a simple 50x50mm, 6 layer, board is 184€ and takes 13 days to make as per https://aisler.net/en/products/boards - for comparison, JLC makes five 100x100mm 6-layer PCBs in 11 days, for $2. (And no, it's not only because of the (always available) coupon. Pricing generally gets better at higher quantities.)

So my question is: why is 6 layers so expensive? Are you really truly economically unable to even get close to JLC, or do you just not care about prototyping orders (or the overlap between hobbyists and professionals), or are these smaller boards a too large part of your revenue that you can't compromise, or is it more a case of being stuck in an outdated legacy mindset where 6 layers is "a lot" and must be allocated to "serious business" only, or is it something else? Or am I just completely off about proper market segmentation? (Same for going to 2oz copper.)

Please don't take offense at the way I'm asking; I really really want to be your customer. I'm never going back to unnecessarily constrained shitty 2 or even 4 layer designs, when a simple part/sig, gnd, vcc, sig/gnd, gnd, part/sig stackup makes design soooo much easier even for simple circuits. But I really would love to know why nothing comes close to JLC one level up from novice PCBs.

Re: Launch HN: ProvenMetal (YC S26) delivers circuit boards in days instead of weeks

#114

Post by rcxdude » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 9:47 PM UTC

realo wrote: post #4

Nice but the USA are not our global friends anymore. Anything available in the EU?

Eurocircuits is the closest equivalent I've used. Notionally 2 weeks PCB fab and assembly (but don't always meet this), and they can stock your parts in advance (though I don't know if this improves their lead times at all). They have a good setup for dealing with the most common causes of ordering faff by essentially giving you the tools to match up the BOM and pick and place details as well as good DFM stuff. Generally when I go through it there's no further back and forth.

Re: Launch HN: ProvenMetal (YC S26) delivers circuit boards in days instead of weeks

#115

Post by willcarkner » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 9:48 PM UTC

the__alchemist wrote: post #107

#1: How does this compare in price, parts lib, features etc to JLC? Obviously the price and parts avail will be a challenge. #2: Is this accessible for hobbyists, prototypes, small companies etc, or is it a service for gov/mil stuff that isn't allowed to use China? (Blue UAS etc) I'm excited and would love to order a board.

#1 price is more expensive than China, parts availability is higher.

#2 it is accessible, but more expensive so if cost is your main constraint it's not the right choice.

Re: Launch HN: ProvenMetal (YC S26) delivers circuit boards in days instead of weeks

#116

Post by willcarkner » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 9:54 PM UTC

yitchelle wrote: post #112

willcarkner wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very interesting, I'm wondering if that low-utilization rate justifies the capex of building a line.

Low utilisation would be a good thing as they would value availability to the line very highly.

Yes and no, I could imagine a system where they have on demand capacity with a company like us and pay for that service.

Re: Launch HN: ProvenMetal (YC S26) delivers circuit boards in days instead of weeks

#117

Post by seveibar » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 10:07 PM UTC

We (tscircuit) are trying to develop a PCB fabrication method that's compatible with US regulation (i.e. a dry process without etchants)- we're seeing awesome results using UV lasers [1]. Would love to chat sometime!

[1] https://x.com/seveibar/status/2085438976622780654?s=20

Re: Launch HN: ProvenMetal (YC S26) delivers circuit boards in days instead of weeks

#118

Post by willcarkner » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 10:19 PM UTC

seveibar wrote: post #117

We (tscircuit) are trying to develop a PCB fabrication method that's compatible with US regulation (i.e. a dry process without etchants)- we're seeing awesome results using UV lasers [1]. Would love to chat sometime! [1] https://x.com/seveibar/status/2085438976622780654?s=20

I would be super interested in chatting. Sending a DM.

Re: Launch HN: ProvenMetal (YC S26) delivers circuit boards in days instead of weeks

#119

Post by willcarkner » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 10:22 PM UTC

tgtweak wrote: post #88

Amazing, now if we could just get this for silicon wafers :D All joking aside, would be great to get something like this for shuttle run wafer taping vs the current 6+ month window.

Absolutely. Let's do it for everything

Re: Launch HN: ProvenMetal (YC S26) delivers circuit boards in days instead of weeks

#120

Post by AussieWog93 » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 10:25 PM UTC

I don't know whether you're looking at small-to-medium batch indie stuff, or big customers, but if it's the former I'd reach out to Josh Lifton from Crowd Supply. Surprisingly accessible guy and this would be a great fit for them.