39c3: In-house electronics manufacturing from scratch: How hard can it be? [video] • Hacker News Board

Post by micw » Sat, Jan 24, 2026, 11:27 AM UTC

rcxdude wrote: post #26

micw wrote: post #23

What I really would love is a JLCPCB equivalent in Europe. Slightly higher prices are OK, but I want to have the the Same amount of process automation and flexibility. Should be good for a scale of a few thousend per year.

Have you looked at Eurocircuits? Not quite as big, but similar kind of thing.

Thank you for the hint. I tried but the pricing is a bit disappointing. I started with an LTE modem mini-PCIe card that contains a modem module and some simple components (coils, a voltage regulator, U.FL connector).

The offer from JLC for 1500 pieces (without the modem module) was 2000€ + Tax + Shipping, so way less than 3000€.

The comparable best offer from Eurocircuits was 11000€, so a factor of 4.

JLC can even be optimized further (e.g. panelizing, daves another 500€).

I hoped that I can produce here in europe with a maximum price factor of 2 in comparison to JLC which seems not be possible. It's cheaper for us to employ someone who manages JLC than producing in europe - especially when going to mass production.