First I would like to thank all of those who have actively participated in his thread and contributed toward making the FY6600 great (sometime, maybe). So far, it has been a great learning experience enabling my cheapskate self to possess a bargain signal generator.
The last time eBay offered a 15% off coupon, I sprung for a US warehoused 60 MHz that had the latest firmware. I had been eyeing them for some time, thanks to this thread.
I’ll have to post pictures when I get it back together after installing the THS3095 op amps and a better heat sink. I managed to get everything in the case in a layout similar to the picture Dave posted including a 40mm 12v fan driven off the second 9v transformer winding.
Parts & Cost list:
$87.46 FY6600-60 eBay (with 15% off coupon) US stock V3.2.1
$21.08 30va R-core 18v 18v 9v 9v Transformer eBay (with 15% off coupon)
$6.99 LM317 LM337 ac to dc regulator kit eBay
$1.58 LM317 ac to dc regulator kit eBay
$7.66 two THS3095 op-amps eBay
$124.77 Total
40mm fan and rectifier, capacitor, resistor from my stock
C14 power inlet, fuse holder and fuse from my stock
Fasteners, stand offs, wire, etc. all from my stock
Time: 10 hours at $130 per hour = $1,300.00
Shipping for all the above (est) = $50.00
Cost of parts = $127.44
Total = $1,477.44
That $130/h depends on where one lives, what one does for work (or if one even has a work), etc., and is the price one would perhaps pay to some company to do it, less than that if it was someone being paid personally. When one does it by oneself, the cost of time should be the amount one would get less income, considering taxes and all.. Typically closer to $15/h
If I'd do just the main recommended changes as is, without more thinking, the total time would be somewhere between 3-5 hours (+perhaps 1 hour for cleaning up). And of course, can you really put a "cost" on free time, especially if what needs to be done is the same stuff you'd do anyway as a hobby. But, lets give it a rounded $75 worth (of my time).
E.g. a typical student hobbyist with no work, that "work time cost" would be zero.
Shipping for parts, in my case (on the competing product, but basically corresponding changes), has so far been zero. I even had to order another shipment after realizing a mistake in my first design, and none of the orders were from ebay with its flood of free shipping parts (mostly digikey, couple local stores). Still zero... Of course, the shipment costs are baked into the part costs, but the part costs listed already are close enough what I have been paying, so I'd assume those prices also include shipping, or at least could include. Granted, I did order other stuff at the same time, pushing the order totals above the free shipment limit, but I'd think most hobbyist can and would do so, too. (Third order/shipment is possibly on the works, but I have to test some things with the already acquired parts before choosing what (or if anything) I will still need. I have so much other parts in my "to buy"-queue that all my digikey orders will be free for the foreseeable future.)
So, for me, the total would be around $200 even with the "work cost" (though I would really consider it a hobby project, so that $125 is better, with zero shipping cost). As it would be for large share of students and all unemployed people, even if they would not consider it a hobby.
That nearly $1.500 estimate is just nonsense. The only case where it would apply is if one is doing just one unit in a company, spending workers' time for it. No sane company would do that, so it would be nonsense either way
. And even then, it is actually not the "cost", but "cost + less potential income" - a difference, which, it seems, 99% of company leaders do not understand.