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Kawaii! Let's Make PCBs! #2: JLCPCB Multi-color Silkscreen
Hi everyone! The color silkscreen printing service that JLCPCB started offering exclusively in China in 2023 was finally launched globally in April 2024! Color silkscreen printing is a service that allows you to print full-color images on printed circuit boards (PCBs). While color expression was limited on conventional PCBs, this service lets you create much more expressive boards!
Left: Traditional PCB, Right: Color Silkscreen PCB
In this article, I've summarized an overview of JLCPCB's Multi-color Silkscreen service, now available globally, and what kind of boards you can create, based on my experience of actually making one.
Sponsored by JLCPCB
You can also check out my story about the color silkscreen boards I ordered in China in 2023 here:
What's in this Article
- Overview, requirements, and ordering method for JLCPCB's Multi-color Silkscreen
- A look at the actual PCBs that arrived
Target Audience
- People interested in color silkscreen printing services or who want to try making them
- People who want to know the latest PCB trends
- People who want to make "Kawaii!" (cute) PCBs!
What is Multi-color Silkscreen?
First, let's talk about what the Multi-color Silkscreen service is. Multi-color Silkscreen is one of the services provided by JLCPCB, a PCB contract manufacturing service based in Shenzhen, China. It is a service for UV printing full-color images onto printed circuit boards.
Check out JLCPCB's PCB manufacturing service here 👇
Conventional Printed Circuit Boards
When you think of a PCB, you probably imagine a green or blue board with white text. Those green or blue colors come from a substance called "solder mask" applied to protect the patterns on the board. Colors include green, blue, red, yellow, purple, white, and black. Also, characters are usually printed for component placement and identification, which is done using a technology called silkscreen printing. Silkscreen colors typically include white, black, and yellow.
UV Printing
The Multi-color Silkscreen service from JLCPCB introduced here uses a technology called UV printing. UV printing is a printing technique that uses special inks that cure with UV (ultraviolet) light. The printing method is similar to an inkjet printer for paper, but in UV printing, the ink is cured instantly by applying ultraviolet light at the same time as the ink is ejected. While paper inkjet printers can only print on paper, UV printing can print on various materials other than paper.
Printing with a UV printer. The bluish-white glow is the ultraviolet light.
JLCPCB Service Introduction
Here is a brief summary of JLCPCB's Multi-color Silkscreen service. For details, please refer to the JLCPCB website.
JLCPCB's Multi-color Silkscreen is a service that UV-prints full-color images onto the surface (both sides possible) of PCBs manufactured with white solder mask. The features of this service are as follows:
Features
- UV ink that can withstand reflow
- Easy to create with EasyEDA
- 6-color UV printer with 1200 dpi
Reflow is the process of heating the board in a machine called a reflow oven to solder components after applying solder paste and placing the components on the PCB. Since solder melts at high temperatures of over 200 degrees Celsius, it means they use UV ink that can withstand that temperature.
EasyEDA is a free circuit and PCB design software provided by JLCPCB. It can be used in a browser, integrates with LCSC component inventory, and allows you to order your designed boards with a single click—it's a very convenient EDA if you're manufacturing boards with JLCPCB. EasyEDA has Standard and Pro versions (both free), but you must use the Pro version to use the Multi-color Silkscreen service.
There are different requirements for using JLCPCB's Multi-color Silkscreen service compared to normal PCB manufacturing, which are summarized below. Please check them before designing your board.
Requirements
- 2 layers, 4 layers
- White solder mask only
- Copper weight: 1oz
- Surface finish: ENIG (Gold plating)
- Gold thickness: 1u
- Via processing (Tented, Untented, Plugged)
- Single PCB / Panel by Customer
The board thickness used to be limited to 1.6mm, but it seems any thickness is OK now. However, note that prices will be higher for thicknesses other than 1.6mm. Perhaps additional engineering costs are required to adjust the UV printer head height for different board thicknesses? Also, while panelization is possible, the auto-panelization feature in EasyEDA Pro doesn't support color silkscreen yet; even if you panelize manually, images might only be printed on one board, so be careful here.
ENIG surface finish is usually quite expensive, but by selecting the color silkscreen printing option, the price decreases, so color silkscreen boards can be made surprisingly cheaply. It's unclear whether this is a limited-time offer or a permanent service.
I Actually Made One
I actually made and ordered a color silkscreen board using EasyEDA, so I’ve summarized the steps from creation to ordering. JLCPCB also has an instruction page on how to design color silkscreen boards with EasyEDA, so feel free to refer to that as well.
Steps
The flow from circuit/PCB design in EasyEDA to ordering from JLCPCB is as follows:
- Design the circuit/PCB in EasyEDA Pro (KiCad data can be imported).
- Enable color silkscreen in the PCB settings (it should be ON by default).
- Paste the PNG/JPG images you want to print.
- Click the order button.
- Select "EasyEDA Multi-color silkscreen" in Advanced Options.
Specific operations within EasyEDA are explained on the following page. The article at the link mentions "JLCEDA," which is the name used in China, but it is exactly the same as EasyEDA.
Parts Printed in Multi-color
The following parts are printed in multi-color with JLCPCB's Multi-color Silkscreen service:
- Pasted images
- Component silkscreen colors
- Text silkscreen colors
Component silkscreen colors can be configured in the properties.
Component silkscreen color
Text silkscreen colors can also be configured in the properties.
Text silkscreen color
What I Made This Time
I created an Arduino UNO-compatible board that can be equipped with an ESP32-S3 module. EasyEDA allows you to paste multiple images for color silkscreen, so you can create images for individual parts and adjust their layout within EasyEDA. For this project, I created a single image using Inkscape and then imported and pasted it into EasyEDA.
The NANANA UNO ESP32-S3 designed for this project
How to Order
I'll explain how to order the Multi-color Silkscreen service after you've finished designing your board. Since you can't select the Multi-color Silkscreen option on the order screen unless the color silkscreen data is included in the Gerber files, ordering directly from EasyEDA is the easiest way.
Select "Order PCB" from the "Order" menu in EasyEDA.
You can order with a single click via Order PCB
A few messages will appear, so please read them and click through. You'll be asked about precautions for surface mounting and whether to perform a design rule check. Finally, the JLCPCB board order screen will be displayed, and your Gerber data will be uploaded automatically.
Once the order screen appears, set the parameters to match the requirements explained in the "Requirements" section, and select "EasyEDA Multi-color silkscreen" under "Silkscreen Technology" in the "Advanced Options." Please note that your board will not be printed in color unless you select this option.
Don't forget this option!
Let's Look at the Finished Boards
Thanks to an arrangement by JLCPCB, I was included in the early access list for the Multi-color Silkscreen service, so I was able to order slightly before the official launch. I placed my order on March 29, 2024, and it arrived on April 4. Manufacturing took three days, and shipping took another three. Since white solder mask boards are typically manufactured in 48 hours, it seems color silkscreen adds about one extra day.
Here is the board actually manufactured using the Multi-color Silkscreen service:
A board manufactured with the Multi-color Silkscreen service
Since UV printing causes the ink to stand out in slight relief, I thought it might look cleaner to color individual parts rather than using a solid fill. However, because I had also requested color silkscreen from other manufacturers, I chose to use an image with a black background for the JLCPCB order to see how it looks when printed across the entire board. My first impression was that it's very beautiful. The high resolution, as expected from a 1200 dpi printer, looks great! I was curious how a primarily black image would look printed over the whole surface, but it's not bad at all.
Also, I felt the colors were very close to the original images I created. The data pasted into EasyEDA is in PNG/JPG (RGB) format, and since it likely converts to CMYK for printing, I expected the colors to look more muted, but that wasn't the case. Perhaps it's because they use a 6-color system (CMYK + 2 colors) that the prints come out so beautifully?
After actually using JLCPCB's Multi-color Silkscreen service, here are the three points I found particularly good:
- Easy to create using EasyEDA
- Affordable
- Beautiful quality
The constraint of only being able to design in EasyEDA is a downside in its own way, but EasyEDA doesn't have particularly idiosyncratic controls, so you can get used to it quickly. Being able to create color silkscreen boards so easily is a major plus. The manufacturing cost this time was 1,018 yen for 5 boards. Surprisingly cheap, isn't it?
If there's anything I'd like to see improved, it would be the ability to use Fusion or KiCad instead of just EasyEDA. However, since Fusion and KiCad themselves don't support color silkscreen, that would require updates on the software side. While KiCad data can be imported into EasyEDA, you need to be careful as some adjustments may be necessary depending on the design. In my case, parts where I had filleted traces in KiCad were disconnected in EasyEDA.
Check out JLCPCB's PCB manufacturing service here 👇
Reference Articles
There are already articles by others who have manufactured boards using JLCPCB's Multi-color Silkscreen service, so be sure to check them out!
Gadget Daisuki!!-san Lang-ship-san
Summary
In this article, I’ve summarized the overview, requirements, and ordering method for the Multi-color Silkscreen service launched by JLCPCB in April 2024, along with my impressions after actually making a color silkscreen board. I hope I’ve shown you how easy it is to create colorful and cute boards! Give this service a try and make lots of cute boards yourself!
Bye for now!
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