How much would you pay for a kit you had to solder yourself?
$45 roughly
How much for a ready-to-use already soldered piece?
$50
How much for a kit if it did not have the DC-DC converter?
$40
How much for a ready-to-use piece without the DC-DC converter?
$50
How many of each would you expect to buy?
maybe 1 because I already have jap optical stick.
quick question to you toodles. how about selling the DC-DC converter by itself? it would greatly help those that want p360. I know I would get one. right now I have a p360 that I tried wiring up to agetec PCB but it still won’t hit corners AT ALL because the agetec PCB direction on the pad is ~4.11 V and the blue wire is 4.81 V. now I don’t know what to do. anyone able to help is greatly appreciated?
If you need just a DC-DC converter, paypal me $15 to toodlesdc@yahoo.com and I’ll send you one when the parts get here. Really, its dead simple. 3 parts. The MAX631 can be sampled from Maxim for free (http://maxim-ic.com) and the inductor and capacitor you need are hella common and cheap. Put them together on a little board and you’re done. Check the datasheet for the MAX631 and look at the first schematic (‘typical application’) and you’ll see.
If there ends up being room on the large pcb boards I can’t use for flash, I’ll use it up with separate DC-DC converters. I was wondering if any p360 users would want it.
Wow, a lot of people are willing to pay $40+ for a DIY kit?
I don’t have a flash but I do have some P360s and from seing what the PCB in those look like, I’m guessing the components on the flash PCBs costs around 5-10 dollars. Are you really willing to pay 4x more than what it’s worth?
Ya see, that’s why I love capitalism. Wanna make some money Burning Vigor? Get off the sofa and beat me to it! Do it better. Do it cheaper. If you could make these for the 5-10 dollars you quoted, you could sell them easily for $20 and be making 100-300% profit. Hell, if you do, I’ll be your first customer. PLEASE do so. Paying you for a tested design with professionaly etched/silkscreened/soldermasked PCB, and custom molded top so that it fits snugly in my JLF, and exact same 5 and 3 pin header the original used so no modding is needed to use it, would be a serious load off of my mind and save my ass a ton of work.
As soon as kits are printed and up for sale, the full schematics and layout and build of materials will be put up for anyone to use. You’ll be free to use those and make your own without paying me a dime.
Labor is another story, what I’m talking about is the DIY kit which is only the components and instructions.
I thought this guy was doing this because he’s a fan of the sanwa flash sticks but now it seems like he’s gotten greedy and wants to make big bucks and retire off of this.
Good luck with that. I’ll just stick with regular sanwas.
Anyone have any CAD experience? I need to get the plastic piece modeled and saved as an STL file for getting quotes from fab houses. The part’s easy to describe and I have everything measured out, hell I even have it modelled out in eMachineShop’s software ( http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/8215/ouchid8.jpg ) but I need some help making an STL.
So, can anyone help me with a quick CAD project, or point me towards a software that I can easy create this in? Im not a stupid person, just ignorant of CAD stuff.
I’m alright paying $40, so long as there are bulk discounts. For example, I would like 5 kits, and I’m not about $160 for $60 in parts. But yeah, the time required to pull this together and make it work, your time isn’t worthless.
Green, unless you’ve ever run your own business, be quiet. Seriously. I bill out at $125/hour typically. I don’t know how much time he’s put into this, but if he makes a working product, I say he deserves to reap some profit from it. If you can’t afford that price point, you could always try asking nicely rather than flaming.
BTW, if you’re goint to do this, I suggest you use Blinksale for it. Makes for managing this kinda stuff easier. Wouldn’t mind getting a referral for it either.
Everyone be cool, I’m not worried about Burning Vigor or anyone else. If they don’t think it’s worth it, that’s cool by me. Before I started, I wouldn’t have had a clue how much work was involved; I can’t fault him because he doesn’t have a clue either. Don’t worry about it.
The funny part is being called greedy. I hadn’t stated anything about a price expect it will likely be more than the original HS-ASSY kit sold for.
Numbski, I’ll look into BlinkSale, but I dont have a clue what they do or why I’d need them. Send me your referral info and I’ll use it if I end up using them. Please keep in mind, this is still at LEAST two plus months out, likely more.
toodles, don’t most consoles output 5v? All you’d need then is a cap to smooth out the DC if anything at all. I think it’d be better if you just went without the DC DC converter.
edit: stupid me, I didn’t finish reading your post. Okay nvm, scratch that.
But anyways, toodles, how much did that stuff cost you? The components (minus the DC-DC chip) shoudn’t cost much more than a dollar if you order more than… 50 of them at once, so I’d assume the rest of the cost comes from etching the PCB and making the mount.
Well either way, toodles, could I buy the FLASH parts from you along with the schematics? (I actually went online and bought some myself but I bought the wrong type–I got photo transistors instead of diodes which have slower response and I got orange narrow beam LEDs which don’t trigger the transistors [the specs said it would, but they were bad specs], but oh well, time to make a blinding orange LED flashlight) I want to make one myself (to use) and see what alternatives I can find for a plastic mount and heck even the etched pcb. I was thinking just screwing on some cheap piece of wood/acrylic on standoffs straight onto the custom flash PCB which would be a lot cheaper than having plastic custom milled/cut. As for the PCB, I wanted to try just stock perf board though I’m betting you already tried that.
PM with Taiki for others that may have the same questions:
The optic parts are straight out of the mouser catalog; the specific part numbers will be in the build of materials when I release the schematics and all; even if everything falls apart and I decide not to get a bunch manufactured, I’ll still be releasing everything I’ve done so far. Schematic, the pcb layout, build of materials, plastic piece (in STL if/when I get that done, and the emachineshop part I already have done) etc. But I don’t want to do that until I have at least one tested prototype done.
I DO want it be a project anyone can do; if someone wants to take the information I put together and make one without sending me a penny, they are welcome to; it would actually make me happy to see someone make another batch to sell a couple of years from now, or improve on the design. If it were easy and cheap to do individually, I wouldn’t be bothering trying to get a batch made; Id make a few for me and release everything and not bother. The problem is the economics. The board measures 50.7 mm x 57mm, or what would amount to 6 square inches. The cheapest I could have a single board made for is from batchPCB.com, for 2.50 per sq. in. and about $20 for setup and shipping. $35 just for the little pcb. The complex shape if it hurts the cost a bunch, but Im hoping with a run of 1000, I can get it below $2 each, maybe $1. The plastic housing is the real kicker, and the one that has the best chance of biting me in the ass. Single piece using ABS plastic from a rapid prototype 3-D printer: $105 Using injection molding makes them cheap for a decent size run, but the initial mold creation is looking ot be AT LEAST $3000, and $5-10,000 would not surprise me. The 5 pin sanwa connector and the matching 3 pin connector? The single place in the U.S. I can find that part; required minimum of 1000 pieces. Per part number.
Believe me, I’ve been trying to figure out ways to make it cheaper, especially in low number. I HAVE to have some sort of housing, something to make the whole thing the right height so it wont rattle. If it does, things could line up wrong and make the controls all screwy, plus all of the weight of the board would rest on the restrictor plate by the tallest components: the optics. Bad idea. Plus, it gives me a chance to put dividers between the optics to prevent a receiver from getting the signal from the wrong transmitter. The chip on the board, the HC14, is required; phototransistors are analog, and we need the shmitt inverter to clean the signal to a clear High or Low and debounce the signal. The DC-DC converter is mostly a perk added to make it easier for installation in my HRAP, and also provide a constant, consistent voltage to help increase the life of the parts. The one chosen, the MAX631, was chosen specifically because it requires the least amount of extra components to work.
Im looking at a picture of the JLF-TM, and it looks like a normal JLF, except microswitches were put in directly, with no pcb connecting them. I dont see how optics could be used in that fashion at all. The geometry is all wrong. I need a receiver or transmitter exactly in those spaces between the microswitches.
Please, if you have specific ideas on how these things might be made cheaper, I’m all for hearing it. If you can think of ways a single one could be done well for less than $200, please say so; Ill be the guinea pig and test it out.
I gonna post this is the thread in hopes it will help others.
The pcb and plastic piece are going to end up being AT LEAST 80% of the cost.
As for how much it’ll cost, look at my previous post. A prototype is prolly gonna set me back $200 for just one, and that’s without the connectors.
That’s been the idea all along; schematics and details would be released for free as soon as either 1) I have a working prototype and decide not get a bunch manufactured or 2) Bunch has been manufactured and ready to ship.
If you want to play with it yourself, please do; just about any IR LED and phototransister should work just fine. I’ll tell everyone the ones I’m using as soon as #1 or #2 happens.
Good for you. I’ve though about using some sort of standoff, but ran into a couple of problems. There are ‘pins’ in the restrictor plate that are made to go into the microswitch holes and help stabilize the whole thing. Any standoff in that area would need a matching hole drilled in it, on both sides. I thought about getting a same sized microswitch to put in, since it’d be the perfect height and had the holes (top and bottom) needed. Problem: Im low on PCB real estate,and the switch would be EXACTLY where one of the IR pair needed to be. Using a perfboard is cool, but you should measuer out where the IR pair should be; I think you’ll find the holes to force the LED’s to be either too close or too far by about 50 mills. It’s a fun project though. Please do and post up how it went; some people seem to think this is easy.
For example, I would like 5 kits, and I’m not about $160 for $60 in parts. 
But yeah, the time required to pull this together and make it work, your time isn’t worthless.