Ordering From JLCPCB

WORK IN PROGRESS!

Topics:

Short-ish discussion of project philosophy

WHY build your own boards at all??? This sounds hard to me, and I'm writing a guide on it! In the words of Damien, "the number one goal has and is to help YOU build YOUR car on YOUR budget." So whether you purchase a kit from one of the webshops (see end of this doc for links,) which directly financially supports the projects (and the main contributors ability to keep contributing,) or manufacture your own boards from scratch in your bathtub or something in between, it's OK. You DO have to support yourself via this wiki and the openinverter forums, as well as some YouTube content. Like any community, folks get tired of answering the same questions repeatedly, so please dig THEN ask. Please find a way to share what you've learned either with the community or someone else. Both Damien (aka evbmw) and Johannes (aka openinverter) have Patreon accounts where you can also contribute financially. As an immediate return on your support, you can gain access to designs that are otherwise only available from the webshops if you still want to do this JLC thing. Think hard about what you really need, because particularly if it's just one board, you're not going to save much/any money by the time you buy and ship everything that's collected in the webshop kits. Some parts are VERY difficult to find and shipping will cost far more than the part you're ordering. That said...

Can I even do this?

With enough time, effort, frustration tolerance and a modest amount of money, this is within anyone's grasp. There's some fiddly soldering involved, and with the current level of documentation, usually some research, some guessing, some finger crossing. Damien has done YouTube videos showing how to assemble some things with BASIC tools such as a soldering iron, solder, some de-solder braid, and flux. Unless your eyes are GREAT, you probably also want some magnification. Will you learn a lot from building your own boards? Not a ton, honestly, but there are basic concepts and skills involved that are good to know and serve as a foundation for other things. But it's good to just show yourself every now and then that you have hidden depths, right?

What else do I need to order?

<insert and comment on additional component BOM and needed programmers. mention on out-of-stock components>

Getting the files to send to JLCPCB

<insert step-by-step for downloading or cloning repos. insert links to examples>

Placing your JLC order

<insert link to videos> <insert step-by-step of uploading design files, BOM and CPL, and answering wizard questions>

Stack-up

On the JLC order page, there is a (maybe normally collapsed) section for specifying the stack-up, aka layer order. The correct order for any known 4-layer designs we're concerned with is:

1. "top"
2. vcc or power or 5v
3. ground
4. "bottom"

Finally...

After uploading the CPL file, JLC will do some processing and give you a long-ish list of components that they do and do not have in stock. Some you may already know about and have prepared for, others will feel like a cruel blow to your quest to build a really cheap invertery-related thing! It's far from the end of the road, just a new part of the adventure. JLC will let you know that anything not on that list will not be assembled onto your board, which is fair and reasonable. Take note of all the missing compnents, their manufacturer's part #s, and maybe also their component label (like D1) so you don't have to guess later. Once you've done that it's up to you whether to proceed with your order. Either way, skip ahead to the next section now.

Wait, what? I need to order more stuff now???

Components can and do go out-of-stock at JLC. As should be mentioned above, JLC shows you which components they do not stock or are out of stock. You have three options. First, don't order boards until the component is in stock. You should verify that the component is actually goint to be restocked! Second,

<insert link to known and/or proposed component substitutions>

if there is stocked component that can be substituted (at your own risk, see link above) you need only change the component during the order process in the previous step.

Finally, if for your own reasons you still want to keep going, you have a shot at finding the missing part by just plain old googling it and handing over money to digikey, mouser, or whomever. There's nothing on the board that will be harder to solder than the 50-way connector to the IGBT driver board. <insert brief guide on how to search for components by manufacturer part#

Notes and useful links regarding assembly.

<step-by-step assemble--of what board tho?>

<insert links to damien (and...?) assembly videos, refer to "What else do I need to order" for useful extras like the techspray solder wick)>

Oh yeah...programming :)

<insert programming step-by-step including the wifi board>

Oh yeah...testing :/

<insert testing step-by-step --same q as above, testing of what board? better to link to board specific pages?>

Um, I guess I'll just buy a kit then?

That's great too! See openinverter webshop and evbmw webshop