5 ms·
You're not paying for the raw components... given the incredibly niche audience for this product and the development effort involved it's really cheap (and it l
by janekm 6y ago
You're not paying for the raw components... given the incredibly niche audience for this product and the development effort involved it's really cheap (and it looks like they are even hand soldered).
- TonyTrapp 6y agoCan confirm. Small-scale electronics projects (hundreds or thousands of sold boards) are really expensive compared to mass-manufactured stuff sold in the millions. Even if you just charge for the raw component prices, it will still be much more expensive than something that sells at a much higher volume. Source: Personal experience from making and selling a few hundred units of self-made retrofit PCBs.
- mattowen_uk 6y agoI'd happily pay less for an unpopulated board and do it my self, but I don't have the eyesight or steady hand for SMD soldering - a lot of these new 'retro' hardware releases are designed in such a way that a hobbyist has no hope building themselves, and nor can they afford the pre-builts. :( -- Off-topic: Another couple of downvotes for simply expressing an opinion... HN's echo-chamber tendencies are in full-force these days (again... my opinion).
- TonyTrapp 6y agoFrom my experience (see sister comment), I don't think the board will be much cheaper that way. Even at this low volume they will probably not hand-solder anything but rather rely on a company offering pick&place services, and that will not add much to the costs. If you want to try it yourself and prove that it can be done much more cheaply, you can maybe try building one yourself: https://github.com/fhgwright/SCSI2SD/tree/master/hardware https://github.com/fhgwright/SCSI2SD/tree/master/hardware
- mattowen_uk 6y agoActually I might! I've starred the repo for later reference.