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When hardware Kickstarters ship

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Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#21

Post by steven_pack »

pgrote wrote: post #16

How would someone begin the process of finding electronic manufacturers?

For us, it started on OpenWRT blogs, scouring Alibaba and seeing who got back to us. Later it was email lists and the network of our accelerator.

If I was going to custom design, i'd be going to maker meetups in your city, or applying to something like Hxlr8. There are also supplier/customer places that do matchmaking with additional services for a fee (HWTrek for example). I didn't use any.

Also, if you can find a Kickstarter of someone who did something at all related, ask who they used. Lots of creators are very happy to tell you!

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#22

Post by JoshTriplett »

noonespecial wrote: post #20
polar8 wrote: post #12

I've shipped one hardware product on Kickstarter [1] and I'm in the process of fulfilling the second [2]. Lessons I've learned are: 1. Design with your factory. Finding a good supplier is important but the real work starts once you've shaken hands. Your factory is your greatest resource as a presumably inexperienced hardware designer. It's like having an expert-level consultant work on your project for free, so take…

The Lexan inlays are laser cut to a precise, water resistant fit (from Rideye campaign page) A little off topic but the Epilog guy told us never cut Lexan or any polycarbonate plastic because it makes a chloride gas thats dangerous to humans and destructive to the laser. But lexan rocks as a building material... So FUD? or does it require special considerations?

Sounds like you might be mixing two bits of advice. There are many materials you never cut with a laser cutter, such as PVC or vinyl (makes chlorine gas) or ABS plastic (makes cyanide and melts). Thick Lexan shouldn't be cut with an infrared laser, not necessarily because it produces harmful materials but because it will scorch and burn rather than cut. You might be able to cut it with a different type of laser cutter. And some other forms of polycarbonate may cut better (materials informally called "Lexan" sometimes aren't). You would need some detailed knowledge of the exact material and laser cutter, and thus some expertise.

See http://atxhackerspace.org/wiki/Laser_Cutter_Materials for some details.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#23

Post by noonespecial »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #22
noonespecial wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Lexan inlays are laser cut to a precise, water resistant fit (from Rideye campaign page) A little off topic but the Epilog guy told us never cut Lexan or any polycarbonate plastic because it makes a chloride gas thats dangerous to humans and destructive to the laser. But lexan rocks as a building material... So FUD? or does it require special considerations?

Sounds like you might be mixing two bits of advice. There are many materials you never cut with a laser cutter, such as PVC or vinyl (makes chlorine gas) or ABS plastic (makes cyanide and melts). Thick Lexan shouldn't be cut with an infrared laser, not necessarily because it produces harmful materials but because it will scorch and burn rather than cut. You might be able to cut it with a different type of laser cutte…

I'm literally going to print that page and hang it over the cutter. Thanks.

Note: That page does say in the second paragraph: "It is not always obvious which materials will work - for example: Polycarbonate/Lexan produces flames and lethal chlorine gas which will rapidly corrode this $40,000 machine into uselessness and which is extremely hazardous to the health of people nearby." That sounds like its in shouting distance of the Epilog guy's warning.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#24

Post by hkmurakami »

polar8 wrote: post #12

I've shipped one hardware product on Kickstarter [1] and I'm in the process of fulfilling the second [2]. Lessons I've learned are: 1. Design with your factory. Finding a good supplier is important but the real work starts once you've shaken hands. Your factory is your greatest resource as a presumably inexperienced hardware designer. It's like having an expert-level consultant work on your project for free, so take…

>1. Design with your factory. Finding a good supplier is important but the real work starts once you've shaken hands. Your factory is your greatest resource as a presumably inexperienced hardware designer. It's like having an expert-level consultant work on your project for free, so take advantage of it.

Your first lesson applies not only to small teams launching on Kickstarter, but also to the best and biggest manufacturing companies in the world. The feedback loop between the production team and the design team was the most important step in the design process at Denso.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#25

Post by JoshTriplett »

noonespecial wrote: post #23
JoshTriplett wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like you might be mixing two bits of advice. There are many materials you never cut with a laser cutter, such as PVC or vinyl (makes chlorine gas) or ABS plastic (makes cyanide and melts). Thick Lexan shouldn't be cut with an infrared laser, not necessarily because it produces harmful materials but because it will scorch and burn rather than cut. You might be able to cut it with a different type of laser cutte…

I'm literally going to print that page and hang it over the cutter. Thanks. Note: That page does say in the second paragraph: "It is not always obvious which materials will work - for example: Polycarbonate/Lexan produces flames and lethal chlorine gas which will rapidly corrode this $40,000 machine into uselessness and which is extremely hazardous to the health of people nearby." That sounds like its in shouting dis…

Which is exactly why I ended with "You would need some detailed knowledge of the exact material and laser cutter, and thus some expertise."; cutting any kind of polycarbonate sounds like a bad idea if you don't know exactly what you're doing.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#26

Post by tesseract »

noonespecial wrote: post #23
JoshTriplett wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like you might be mixing two bits of advice. There are many materials you never cut with a laser cutter, such as PVC or vinyl (makes chlorine gas) or ABS plastic (makes cyanide and melts). Thick Lexan shouldn't be cut with an infrared laser, not necessarily because it produces harmful materials but because it will scorch and burn rather than cut. You might be able to cut it with a different type of laser cutte…

I'm literally going to print that page and hang it over the cutter. Thanks. Note: That page does say in the second paragraph: "It is not always obvious which materials will work - for example: Polycarbonate/Lexan produces flames and lethal chlorine gas which will rapidly corrode this $40,000 machine into uselessness and which is extremely hazardous to the health of people nearby." That sounds like its in shouting dis…

Polycarbonate doesn't have any chlorine at all in its chemical formula. Maybe the usual types of Lexan contain plasticizers/flame retardants/other additives that contain chlorine?

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#28

Post by logicallee »

Hardware fulfillment has improved considerably since kickstarter became a preorder store for established companies[1] with lots of money[2], rather than a place to support individuals with project ideas at the prototype stage.

[1] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-time-a...

[2] https://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/technology?r...

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#29

Post by starky »

listic wrote: post #14
zrgiu_ wrote: post #3

As a hardware maker on Kickstarter who is about to ship [1], I can sort-of agree with what the article is saying. Yes, one of the most important things is to find THE right partner in China, as that can easily make or break your product. However, if you're afraid to build your own hardware (or at least drastically modify something pre-existent), you're severely limiting your flexibility and the areas where you can in…

I remember reading a postmortem about a failed hardware Kickstarter campaign (some photographic accessory: a flash remote?) and they said they contacted a professional manager from the industry who told them he wouldn't even try developing new hardware without a few million in funding, tens of millions being more common. So there, turns out making new hardware is really expensive.

Yup, it is amazing how quickly a few $10k tools, $3k tooling modifications, and sample shipping costs quickly adds up.

I laugh at most hardware Kickstarters because what they are trying to do is impossible with the funding levels you are going to get, so if it is going to be successful they should already have investors in which case they Kickstarter is just a cheap marketing campaign.

Re: When hardware Kickstarters ship

#30

Post by Too »

Nice clickbait title for advertising their own product concealed as a 3 sentence "retrospective", good thing HN allows submitters to change titles to something more descriptive and less clickbaity than the original...

On the postitive side, the product itself looks quite sleek. I could use some of the features myself to limit my own time on HN, or the time my wife spends on facebook.

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