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Re: Uzebox Portable Kit Poll

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 5:14 pm
by nicksen782
How's it going? I'm looking forward to an Uzebox Portable. I've been working with Uzenet to learn how to use it and the ESP8266. Looking forward to it all!

Re: Uzebox Portable Kit Poll

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 10:41 pm
by L4rry
nicksen782 wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 5:14 pm How's it going? I'm looking forward to an Uzebox Portable. I've been working with Uzenet to learn how to use it and the ESP8266. Looking forward to it all!
I hear you man. I also feel like a kid early Christmas morning waiting for my parents to wake up and open the presents! :lol:

Re: Uzebox Portable Kit Poll

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 2:49 pm
by nicksen782
Will this be put up for sale as a kit to the public or at least to interested forum members? I would be happy to pay someone to 3D print it (I'm in the U.S.) As for the parts, it'll be around $100 US. How many full parts lists must you actually buy to save money? 5? 10?

Re: Uzebox Portable Kit Poll

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 12:44 am
by uze6666
Hey Guys, sorry for the lack of news. I have been swamped by work. But I also was trying the silkscreen technique for the text, but the results were alas deceiving. Letters were sharp but the ink doesn't adhere or resist well on the plastic. So I will let this go for now.

I ran the numbers for 10 units and the price drops is not very significant because the big ticket items (LCD, battery, powerboost, 644) don't change much for +1 qty. When accounting for the parts I already have in bulk, price is 95$USD without the enclosure.

Now for the kits.
Will this be put up for sale as a kit to the public or at least to interested forum members?
Definitely not to the public. I wont have time or resources in the foreseable future to make full kits and make all the required tutorials plus all the support and troubleshooting to go along. :(

At the same time, I don't want all this work go nowhere. So I have two options:
  • I create "base kits" with all the parts I have at hand. So that would be most parts in the BOM except the LCD, battery, powerboost and some other parts available at digikey). It would include the PCB though, buttons, screws and optional enclosure. You would have to source the rest from Aliexpress and Adafruit. Support would be best effort, but as you have seen in the past months, don't expect too much. :? So, for the experienced electronics hobbyist.
  • I build and sell fully assembled and tested units. Even though it's a bit more work for me, if I don't have to write extensive docs on how to build and troubleshoot, plus trying to help on all that could go wrong, that would make me do it...this kit is much more complex than the plain Uzebox! Though, keep in mind, I won't be able to procure and make more than one or two a month with my current schedule. At 150$ you understand I don't make any money, bubt that's never been the point either. Quite frankly I enjoy soldering and building things...gives me some zen moments away from the little monster. :lol:
What do you think? I have 9 pcbs left of the final revision. So for those interested, I say PM me what you want with an email I can reach you when done and I will build/ship on on a first arrived first served base. I wont ask for a deposit, only full payment before I ship. If I get no news when ready to ship, I'll pass it to the next in line!!

For the enclosure material, I have Ultimaker white and black PLA which is very good quality. Maybe i'll add another color if you can convince me (translucent maybe) ! ;)

Re: Uzebox Portable Kit Poll

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 2:22 am
by nicksen782
PM sent! I'll be asking for two.

Re: Uzebox Portable Kit Poll

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 4:18 am
by L4rry
As I told nicksen. No doubt uze will pop out of the woodwork right after I order the components myself :lol:

All good though. I prefer to assemble this myself. Soldering is a relaxing experience for me too so I'll just continue on my merry way and build a couple of units. My components should start arriving in bits and pieces over the next week or so. Already have my PCBs.

Uze, perhaps you could just assemble a short 'Tips & Tricks' post to help us avoid any assembly pitfalls and maybe also a couple if high res photo's of the front and back of an assembled PCB if you can spare the time.

Thank you for checking in!

Re: Uzebox Portable Kit Poll

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 4:32 am
by nicksen782
I also offer to do a step-by-step build with pictures. It will help to make the project more accessible to others.

Re: Uzebox Portable Kit Poll

Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2019 12:45 am
by uze6666
Uze, perhaps you could just assemble a short 'Tips & Tricks' post to help us avoid any assembly pitfalls and maybe also a couple if high res photo's of the front and back of an assembled PCB if you can spare the time.
Sure, I can take pics of the steps used to assemble the next unit. There's indeed a couple pitfalls or tricks that will come in handy. :)
PM sent! I'll be asking for two.
Are you sure? I didn't see any PM in my inbox...

Re: Uzebox Portable Kit Poll

Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2019 4:24 am
by nicksen782
I dunno what happened. I clicked "back" in my browser enough times to get back to the message. It is sent now.

Re: Uzebox Portable Kit Poll

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2019 1:18 am
by uze6666
L4rry wrote: Tue Apr 16, 2019 4:18 am Uze, perhaps you could just assemble a short 'Tips & Tricks' post to help us avoid any assembly pitfalls and maybe also a couple if high res photo's of the front and back of an assembled PCB if you can spare the time.
There you go. It's a draft and a bit rough, but I've put all the steps along important bits and pitfalls and pictures where I think it helps the understanding. I'll will try to add all the pics and details of what parts to assemble when. Hope that helps! :)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/16h_ ... KZi5w/edit