I'm opening this new topic to discuss crowdfunding related things connected to the open source project that is active for some time
here and that is shaped to the great extend by valuable comments and ideas from many members of this forum. I'd like to thanks to all of them once again.
The project is "positioned" to bridge the gap between the DIY and professional worlds, and have a great potential to disappear in that gap or become an example how to combine the best practice from both worlds
.
The campaign will be conducted on the
CrowdSupply and I'd like to hear your opinions about pledge levels. First please note that I'm not going to offer a completed solution. The reason for that is CE/FCC certification that is very costly and for 100 units that is campaign goal it could make a whole calculation completely unattractive.
Also please note the campaign is conceived as group buy to achieve few goals:
- Manufacture assembled modules (combined they have almost 800 items and that is far too much for many DIYers/makers despite the fact that DIY-friendly SMD packages are solely used)
- Manufacture compact metal enclosure to mount safely all parts and
- Decrease the cost per unit
Again, this is a group buy,
not a new product production kick start, because it's not a profit driven (I have another source of money for living). Therefore prices of all pledges will be set to cover without loss the cost of manufacturing, transportation cost, crowdfunding platform (12%) and payment gateway fees (2.9%).
I was thinking about the following pledge levels (the final number and contents will be set in accordance with your wishes):
- Set of bare PCBs only (4 of them, 2 layer)
- As above + metal enclosure (with other metal parts such as TFT display support, AC/DC modules support, channel's heatsinks)
- Set of assembled PCBs only
- As above + metal enclosure set + wire harness
- As above + TFT display + AC/DC modules (2 of them)
- As above + Arduino Due
The latest one include all what is needed to assembly a fully functional unit that can be ready to run after firmware is
uploaded. In essence you'll need a screwdriver for that operation and PC with Arduino IDE for uploading. Of course, you also need multimeter to calibrate it using built-in calibration wizard.
Thanks in advance for your valuable inputs.