How/where are people getting their PCBs manufactured and assembled? Are cheap chinese services reliable? How do you protect your IP when using manufacturing services?
The first thought you should be having is what are you actually protecting? Is the value of your product in the PCB? Keep in mind that even moderately complex PCBs can be reverse engineered relatively easily.
When you open source your hardware IP, you can buy it from Aliexpress few weeks later. That’s why I’ll never put final design on public github repository. For first prototype it’s ok. Final design brings in a cost of few thousand euros for electromagnetic compatibility measurement and I’ll definitely not give away this one.
> When you open source your hardware IP, you can buy it from Aliexpress few weeks later.
Sounds like an easy way to get others to do your work for you for free. Win win. Why go through the hassle of establishing a supply chain. So what's the catch? Why are we still labouring instead of waiting for our products to magically ship themselves through Aliexpress?
Your IP is in more danger when sending your designs to China for cheap fab, but is safer when going with more expensive local options (PCBTrain, for example).
However, they're REALLY prickly about fabricating PCBs with lower tolerances (e.g. drills or cuts too close to PCB edges), and often refuse to fabricate them. I use ALLPCB in those cases.
As my designs are small hobbyist projects just for myself I don't really care about potential IP issues.
1. I use PCBWay, a chinese fab that can manufacture small quantities for like $5 (+$18 shipping if you want them fast) but they arrive in five days.
2. Protecting your IP with your PCB design isn't something you can really do. Any PCB can be reverse engineered very easily. Besides, if you're asking this question on a random internet forum, I have to doubt you have any serious IP to worry about.