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Discussion (37 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews
pcbway and jlcpcb sponsorships, especially on hobby electronics YT videos, are quite interesting case.
On one hand they seem redundant at this point. Both companies are well known to the target audience to the point of saturation, there isn't really any serious competition (in terms of capabilities, speed and price) and yet they keep sponsoring more projects.
On the other hand, it's probably the sponsorship I tolerate the most. Both are genuine companies unlike all the borderline scams such as all the vpns, brilliant, mobile games, etc.
It’s not a lot of money - but there is an informal commitment that I will try and produce a video a month. It’s also very on brand for my content - hobby electronics with a focus on embedded (ESP32 range of microcontrollers).
I think the videos are entertaining and educational. Actual viewer numbers fluctuate wildly and despite over 50K subscribers - a “successful” video for my channel is around 3000 views (channel is in my profile).
I still find it amazing that I can get PCBs manufactured at such an affordable price. Even SMD assembly is reasonably priced. Short production runs are more than doable at the amateur level.
https://GitHub.com/oro-os/link
It probably wouldn't hold up super well to professional scrutiny but everything on it works.
I would not have been able to do it without companies like JLC. It made an entire industry approachable, which is old fashioned 'good business' IMO.
Have you thought about RISC-V implementations of the kernel as well (iirc you're on ARM and on x64)?
Also, what's that large five pin connector in the bottom left for?
Would be similar to the distributer/producer of a food item sponsoring channels to use their ingredient in recipes.
Makes a lot of sense.
It's interesting perspective and I'm happy to hear it works well for you.
I watch all your videos by the way. By the PCB Way!
New people enter the hobby every day, they are just advertising to "todays lucky 10,000" https://xkcd.com/1053/
Design critique - I would put the mounting holes further from the board edge, for added strength. The screw heads are going to overhang a certain amount anyway.
I suspect more and more hobbyists are using 3.3V microcontrollers like the ESP32, Raspberry Pi Pico, and countless Adafruit offerings. Unless you know your project won't need much processing power, I don't see much reason to use a 5V "ATmega..." -based Arduino these days. Much easier to use a cheap £2 32-bit overkill processor than to deal with running out of RAM, etc. Also, most advanced sensors I've seen have 3.3V logic levels now.
It's not about business (or being bought). It's about my hobby. This is the email they sent me:
--- Your BurgerDisk project is an ingenious way to modernize Apple II storage, showcasing your expertise.
This is Emily from PCBWay. I'd like to sponsor your projects with free PCB prototyping. A brief review would be appreciated in return.
Would you be interested? ---
This is my reply:
--- OK, why not, as long as my review is my own and honest :) What is the budget ? ---
I then published my post without them pre-screening it. It's a honest, factual review about how it goes to have PCBWay make an assembled PCB. They didn't even ask me to share it on any social media.
What I got out of it is a few hours of fun (because this is my hobby) routing a (rather simple) PCB, and a batch of twenty modules that I didn't have to use my pocket money for.
This is all. Don't overthink it.
I do sell my device. It's mostly as a service to the community members who don't have the equipment, time or skill to assemble it themselves, as it is a free software, open hardware project; it's not going to replace my salaried job in any foreseeable timeframe, and it's not the goal.
Hope that clears things up,
Colin
A PCB Way sponsorship pays $100?
You show their logo, talk about them thank them praise them for $100? And it’s not even cash?
All those tech guys getting the PCB Way sponsorship really don’t know business do they.
That is absolutely insane.
And PCBway sponsors a lot of channels.
I'm not in the monetization business yet, but I'm thinking about creating a YT channel and stream some DIY/hardware related things, so I'm genuinely curious on how much such sponsors really pay.
Eh.
For a hobbyist it's pretty neat. I don't expect to be extracting a lot of value from hobbyist PCB designs.
That some PCB manufacturer is willing to do a small batch of my PCB design & I don't have to pay for it, just give them a shout out & write about it, that seems pretty neat.
(I suspect they are more expensive only because they are nonstandard)
Getting a human involved in quoting makes it more expensive and it gives these vendors an opportunity to BOM substitute for cheaper Chinese alternative parts.