neiljadman
Senior Member
I have been talking with Teddy about offering a group buy on professionally made pcbs. Teddy has kindly agreed to the group buy under a kind of open source basis, on the condition they are purchased for personal use only & strictly for non-commercial use.
Feasibility depends entirely on demand. And to make it work I figure that it would need an order for a minimum of 40 strips (see next para below), in which case the cost per regulator board could drop to ~$1.75 - $2.00 a piece, plus shipping etc...less if demand is really high. (at 100 boards for instance the price drops to around $1 a regulator)
To make it economical I have to produce them in strips of 8 and mix positive and -ve regs on one strip. - so 8 (one strip) will be the minimum order quantity. And since I have no idea of the ratio of +ve to -ve regulators needed, my initial proposal is to put 6 +ve and 2 -ve regulators per strip. But it could change to 7 + 1 if demand supports it.
I can also do PowerReg boards - but only as a +ve/-ve pair priced per pair. And will do so if there is sufficient demand. At a starting point of 20 pairs costs coudl be as high as $20 per board, but they'll come down quickly as quantities increase, e.g., at 40 pairs they come down to about $10 per board.
Teddy has vetted the board layout and they are arranged such that the TO220 packages can be heat sinked against an enclosure wall or floor. If you want to see the board layout a jpg with 8 +ve regulators is here: http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c114/neiljadman/Strip.jpg. but the easiest way is to drop me an email and I'll send one back ASAP. The boards will be 2 layer with the ground plane on the top layer, through hole plated, silk screened and with solder mask. But you will have to split them yourself. They will also be marked for 3/32 drill holes should you wish to mount them on standoffs - though you'll have to drill the holes yourself.
I'll be shipping from the US, but Mus has kindly offered to receive a bulk shipment and split and distribute and UK/EU orders. I hope that will help keep shipping in check for EU buyers and allows me to handle the import issues with VAT and Duty - so you'll get no hidden surprises there. I'll ship other international orders from here (California) at a cost of $11 per order.
Since the cost of the bulk shipment will be amortized across the entire EU order I have no way of telling the exact cost of a an order as yet. And I aim to make a (very) small margin which will be donated to the upkeep costs of PFM.
But if you are interested in making it happen, send me an email (NO PMs please) to: neiljadman (at) comcast (dot) net and let me know:
Once I have a better idea for the demand, I can firm up on the pricing and ask for your final commitments. Please help spread the word - it's to everyone's advantage.
My thanks to Teddy for sharing the circuit design, vetting the boards, his advice on optimizing the layout and for making this group buy possible.
Feasibility depends entirely on demand. And to make it work I figure that it would need an order for a minimum of 40 strips (see next para below), in which case the cost per regulator board could drop to ~$1.75 - $2.00 a piece, plus shipping etc...less if demand is really high. (at 100 boards for instance the price drops to around $1 a regulator)
To make it economical I have to produce them in strips of 8 and mix positive and -ve regs on one strip. - so 8 (one strip) will be the minimum order quantity. And since I have no idea of the ratio of +ve to -ve regulators needed, my initial proposal is to put 6 +ve and 2 -ve regulators per strip. But it could change to 7 + 1 if demand supports it.
I can also do PowerReg boards - but only as a +ve/-ve pair priced per pair. And will do so if there is sufficient demand. At a starting point of 20 pairs costs coudl be as high as $20 per board, but they'll come down quickly as quantities increase, e.g., at 40 pairs they come down to about $10 per board.
Teddy has vetted the board layout and they are arranged such that the TO220 packages can be heat sinked against an enclosure wall or floor. If you want to see the board layout a jpg with 8 +ve regulators is here: http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c114/neiljadman/Strip.jpg. but the easiest way is to drop me an email and I'll send one back ASAP. The boards will be 2 layer with the ground plane on the top layer, through hole plated, silk screened and with solder mask. But you will have to split them yourself. They will also be marked for 3/32 drill holes should you wish to mount them on standoffs - though you'll have to drill the holes yourself.
I'll be shipping from the US, but Mus has kindly offered to receive a bulk shipment and split and distribute and UK/EU orders. I hope that will help keep shipping in check for EU buyers and allows me to handle the import issues with VAT and Duty - so you'll get no hidden surprises there. I'll ship other international orders from here (California) at a cost of $11 per order.
Since the cost of the bulk shipment will be amortized across the entire EU order I have no way of telling the exact cost of a an order as yet. And I aim to make a (very) small margin which will be donated to the upkeep costs of PFM.
But if you are interested in making it happen, send me an email (NO PMs please) to: neiljadman (at) comcast (dot) net and let me know:
- Name
- Quantity of +ve regulators you would buy
- Quantity of -ve regulators you would buy
- Quantity of PowerReg boards you would buy
- The maximum price you'd be prepared to pay per strip of 8 bare boards.
- Your PFM ID
- The country to ship to
Once I have a better idea for the demand, I can firm up on the pricing and ask for your final commitments. Please help spread the word - it's to everyone's advantage.
My thanks to Teddy for sharing the circuit design, vetting the boards, his advice on optimizing the layout and for making this group buy possible.
