Makerfabs

Makerfabs is a Bao'an open-hardware company with a double life. Most people know it for its web shop of more than 400 maker boards: ESP32 displays, LoRa modules, sensors and STEAM kits. Behind the catalogue there's a turnkey PCB assembly and IoT design service. It takes a maker's or startup's own design from Gerber files to finished, tested boards, and on to a whole product through partner factories.

Makerfabs was set up in Shenzhen in 2015, offering "Fab service for brilliant ideas" to makers and startups. From the start it has acted as a bridge into the city's supply chain. It works with Shenzhen design houses and manufacturers and keeps an eye on quality and lead times for the customer. In early 2024 it moved into new, bigger offices in the Sanwei area of Hangcheng, Bao'an.

The PCBA service is the core. PCB fabrication covers FR4, aluminium, flex, rigid-flex and Rogers, with express prototypes from 48 hours and ten boards from $4.90. Assembly goes down to 0201 parts and 0.35 mm-pitch BGAs, plus through-hole wave soldering, and parts can be turnkey, consigned or mixed. Boards go through AOI, optional X-ray and 100% functional testing, to IPC-A-610 Class 2 and ISO 9001. More than 20 engineers handle DFM checks, programming, testing and costing, and they know ESP32, Arduino, Raspberry Pi and smart-home designs well. The IoT ODM side covers Wi-Fi, LoRa, BLE and 4G. Past projects include an ESP32 UWB and 4G product for a Japanese customer, a LoRa transmitter and a thermal-camera project called Cool Eye.

Beyond electronics, Makerfabs arranges injection molds, CNC parts, 3D printing, packaging, certification and test jigs through partner factories. That way a small team can get a whole product made through one English-speaking contact. Orders run from one prototype board to mass production, shipped worldwide by DHL.

Makerfabs suits makers, IoT startups and small hardware companies, especially those building on ESP32, LoRa or Raspberry Pi, who want someone to make, assemble and test their boards and help with firmware and enclosures too. The mechanical work is subcontracted, so if you have complex tooling needs you may want to deal with a molder directly.