Put me on the list for two sets!Hello everyone!
I took some time to check things over last night, as well as to look into cost. It looks like I'll be able to do a set of boards (a single channel involves a main board and three auxiliary pcbs) for $20 USD, and that could even come down a bit depending on how many folks join in. To keep the cost down, I will only have the main board manufactured with the ENIG gold plated finish (essential for the 500-series backplane connector), but will have the aux boards done with HASL, which is less expensive and likely what you're already accustomed to seeing on your PCBs. Otherwise the cost nearly doubles, rather needlessly in my humble opinion.
I will need to get shipping estimates once I have a sense of where I will be sending boards. For reference, the cost to ship boards to Ian in the UK and Herbert in Austria came out to ~$45 USD in each case. Shipping within the States will obviously be less, and shipping elsewhere in the world might be the same or more. This was the least expensive option I could find, but since I know we have members here who have more experience shipping things internationally, I'd be open to any pearls of wisdom you might have!
So I guess this is it! I will start taking names of those who would like to purchase PCBs. For now, I'm going to limit this to a single run of boards. I do not know if this is something I will do more than once, so if you have the interest and the means, please heed that disclaimer. Send me a PM or leave a post below expressing your interest and how many sets of boards you'd like to have. I'll keep it open for two weeks (ending April 10th), at which point I'll finalize the list and we can move forward with next steps!
Thanks John. I've never done this before, so I'm in new territory.OK, be aware of forum rule #3. Topics involving the exchange of money should be kept only to the Black Market or White Market.
Sales of goods or services should be done in the black market, or white market.
JR
https://groupdiy.com/threads/groupdiy-rules-read-before-posting-in-any-of-the-forums.6650/
Sure!Can I get a list of the UTM parts required so I can inquire about a quantity purchase from them for a potential group US purchase?
Thanks!
Either provide me with these mechanical dimensions or point me in a direction with a link that has them and I could easily create these 3 items myself, along with low-cost sheet metal shops to have them fabricated here in the U.S. There should be no reason to have to purchase something as simple as these items are from a foreign country 4- or 5,000-miles away!!!The only other parts that would come from outside the US would be the front panel, L bracket, and small 90° angle bracket from Frank.
I should have been clearer in what I said earlier. I'll have the main board done in ENIG *with* gold fingers. The manufacturer can't do gold plating over HASL (I'm sure there is a technical reason that is over my head), which is why I made that distinction. But yes, thank you for pointing out that clarification -- the main PCB that connects to the backplane of the 500 chassis will have gold plating.One thing to keep in mind is that edge connector fingers are typically hard gold, not enig which is too soft for repeated plugging and unplugging.
Hard gold can add significant cost, it's perhaps debatable whether the cost is worth it for a diy project. But just thought I'd mention it.
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