| Hmm. You have a point about RP2040 being a thing that JLCPCB's assembly service benefits from. A singular chip that you "plan to use in most projects", along with pre-loaded pick-and-place machines that have common I2C attachments, makes sense in the scheme of factory design. (While something like Microchip's AVR DA vs AVR DB vs AVR DD vs AVR EA loses out, because SKUs are the enemy of such an assembly line as you'd be forced to manually swap-out reels in between production runs). Still, RP2040 is a compromised part with plenty of downsides that I've listed above. And as far as a "centerpiece jack-of-all-trades" microcontroller goes, I'm not convinced that the RP2040 is the best to keep preloaded in such a configuration yet anyway to be mass produced into many designs. But your point stands. It is a production / prototyping issue that intrigues me and I wasn't thinking about earlier. ------------ > Just a note on soldering: I’m perfectly capable of soldering VQFN at home Well yes. I did say that Hotplate + Reflow Hot Air Gun works. But *soldering iron* is an advantage IMO. Personally speaking, I don't see any of the chips I use on a regular basis on JLCPCB's list, so I've never felt the need to experiment with it. I can see how its advantageous if those preloaded pick-and-place machines have the chips / components you use though. |
I’ve moved to a model of only designing with parts available at JLCPCB (or LCSC, which you can have JLC order internally for you). It requires a change in mindset, but being able to spend $300 on QTY 10 fully assembled complex PCBAs delivered in two weeks is a revelation. No more boxes of components sitting around my lab. No more hours spent doing microscope and tweezer placement. No more orders split across Digikey and Mouser. I order the PCB and everything else from the same place. Hell I got my first CNC machined parts from JLCPCB recently and their quote was 20% cheaper than the other Chinese CNC house I was using.
It’s real nice. I focus on design and testing and not doing assembly.