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Starting a Hardware Company with $60K

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Re: Starting a Hardware Company with $60K

#41

Post by gadgetoid »

vpontis wrote: post #14
gadgetoid wrote: post #13

I was surprised your step 1 wasn't "build a working (but ugly) prototype out of pre-existing breakout boards and components." I might have a pencil sketch or two, but I wouldn't be doing anything in CAD until I knew my idea was feasible and had some grasp of exactly how it might fit into a finished design. What stages did you go through for the conceptualisation and prototyping of the idea? As someone in the hardware…

Yea, that's actually a great point! I glossed over that pre-CAD prototyping in the post since we built those first "duct-tape prototypes" a long, long time ago. So we don't have pictures readily accessible and it was harder to remember the exact process. To start with, I think we modified another battery case and basically stuck batteries on the back to try out swapping. I'll think about how to incorporate that step…

Would love to see that, thank you.

Re: Starting a Hardware Company with $60K

#42

Post by htima »

vpontis wrote: post #22
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything. The case looks like a giraffe's tongue, and giraffes suck. Just kidding. The case looks fine. I'd briefly wonder whether dropping it on the metal connector at the bottom would damage it, and I'd prefer the battery color match the case, but those are just nitpicks.

What!? Giraffes are awesome... We have found the metal connector to be pretty resistant. But we have one year full warranty, so if anything breaks for any reason we will send you a replacement immediately. :)

Can you write more about how you provide a warranty? Is it simply guessing x% of the products will fail within the warranty period and set aside some money to cover those failures. Or is it more complicated?

Re: Starting a Hardware Company with $60K

#44

Post by joshvm »

jwr wrote: post #34
vpontis wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey jwr! We found that buying a 3D printer was essential . They only cost a few hundred dollars and instead of getting a piece for $50 in a couple days, we can print something for a couple dollars in a few hours. For testing the final design, we still use 3D print services to get really nice prints. But for the initial iteration it's nice to do it as quickly and as cheaply as possible. Sidenote: We also rigged up a s…

Interesting — I found that given the amount of stuff that I actually needed printed, I am still below the cost of a decent-quality 3D printer. Also, I would not be able to print what I needed with a desktop FDM anyway, and I figured I will save time by not having to fiddle with 3D printers myself (usually the cheaper the printer, the more fiddling is required). So, that's interesting that you found otherwise! Please…

Another perspective here. At work we use a mixture of desktop (Form 1) and SLA printing (outsourcced). They have pros and cons. The resin printer is probably better resolution, but the SLA printers can do things like support-free printing which is really really useful for clean designs.

One problem with using printing companies is that they charge by volume, whereas most makers are concerned with the amount of filament they use up. This is cool if you can pack your volume with lots of designs, but it means that even a slight height increment on a big model adds a lot of the price. Then you have order minimums: 3DPrintUK, for instance, has a starting order of £40 which adds up fast.

Time isn't immediately obvious. We can rush an order online to around 3-4 days regardless of size. For small parts it's a no-brainer doing it in the lab, but for big prints there are print reliability issues, it still takes ages at high resolution and requires a ton of cleanup. And yes, fiddling is a pain, I don't mind doing it, but it can take hours to get repeatable prints.

Re: Starting a Hardware Company with $60K

#46

Post by Negative1 »

vpontis wrote: post #20
ShirsenduK wrote: post #15

The Da Vinci is _not_ a Makerbot knockoff. Its a printer based on open source designs of Reprap. Makerbot should never get credit for it after they chose to leave the community. Markerbot is actually a Reprap ripoff! That said, I will be waiting for the next set of articles. This is good! :)

Ha you are clearly more knowledgeable about 3D printers than I am :). Reprap for anyone reading this is totally awesome. I didn't include it in my post but Reprap is an open source 3D-printer that can make itself... It's basically the hardware version of the singularity: http://reprap.org/

Not to be overly pedantic but the Singularity is defined as the point at which AI has reached runaway growth during which it would improve itself beyond anything imaginable by humans.

I think you're just talking about a self-replicating machine like a Von Neumann Probe. (check out the show Lexx if you want to see the hilarious end result of this)

Re: Starting a Hardware Company with $60K

#47

Post by cr0sh »

vpontis wrote: post #45
joshvm wrote: post #43

No love for FreeCad? It's certainly comparable to other desktop software for simple designs. The constraint solver is actually better than several I've used.

I haven't tried it, but it definitely looks cool!

I played with an older version of it a few years back - it has a bit of a learning curve, but well worth the effort.

If you are into coding - there is an interesting tool out there for creating 3D CAD files using a software-based paradigm (that is, you "code" your object):

http://www.openscad.org/

If you prefer something browser based:

https://openjscad.org/

Also:

http://www.implicitcad.org/

Finally - if you want something closer to freecad (mouse/gui) but browser based:

http://shapesmith.net/

There are a few other solutions out there as well that are open source (and note - not all of the above can really be considered "CAD" in the strictest sense of the work - freecad is really the only one, honestly) - but these are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Re: Starting a Hardware Company with $60K

#48

Post by marianov »

marcosdumay wrote: post #24
vpontis wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha you are clearly more knowledgeable about 3D printers than I am :). Reprap for anyone reading this is totally awesome. I didn't include it in my post but Reprap is an open source 3D-printer that can make itself... It's basically the hardware version of the singularity: http://reprap.org/

Well, it can kinda "make itself". Electronics and strong materials (steel mostly) are not included, and it takes quite a bit of assembly. But yes, it awesome.

Lathes had been making themselves for ages before 3D printers.

Re: Starting a Hardware Company with $60K

#49

Post by marianov »

marcosdumay wrote: post #24
vpontis wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha you are clearly more knowledgeable about 3D printers than I am :). Reprap for anyone reading this is totally awesome. I didn't include it in my post but Reprap is an open source 3D-printer that can make itself... It's basically the hardware version of the singularity: http://reprap.org/

Well, it can kinda "make itself". Electronics and strong materials (steel mostly) are not included, and it takes quite a bit of assembly. But yes, it awesome.

Lathes had been making themselves for ages before 3D printers.

Re: Starting a Hardware Company with $60K

#50

Post by vpontis »

marianov wrote: post #48
marcosdumay wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it can kinda "make itself". Electronics and strong materials (steel mostly) are not included, and it takes quite a bit of assembly. But yes, it awesome.

Lathes had been making themselves for ages before 3D printers.

That's a good point! I guess the iteration cycle has gotten an order of magnitude quicker and cheaper with 3D printers.
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