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Looks absolutely amazing, just the pricetag of 500$ seems a bit steep. To be fair though, people buying this probably assemble/sell a ton of PCBs so they can re

Looks absolutely amazing, just the pricetag of 500$ seems a bit steep. To be fair though, people buying this probably assemble/sell a ton of PCBs so they can recoup that cost fairly easily. As a hobbyist it's sadly too expensive.

iamflimflam1 3y ago
Yep, way out of my budget and I would probably get quite a bit of use out of it. It is probably a very fair price for what you are getting and the work that's gone into the R&D. Looks like I'll be investigating DIY options...
joshvm 3y ago
You can make it yourself - all the parts and boards are on GitHub (so also a group buy for assembled boards is an option). I couldn't find a BOM cost estimate though and I guess it'd be $1-200 from scratch, plus things like custom buttons.
- squarefoot 3y ago
  Probably a lot less. One can effectively use a small aquarium blowing pump by connecting the sucking tube to the air intake instead of the output, and they're cheap, like 10 bucks each. The electronics would be trivial, and the switch could either act on a solenoid valve (less than 10 quid) or be a small hole in the side of the tube so that closing it with a finger would let all air in through the end of the tube.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- IIsi50MHz 3y ago
  > $1-200 This means "$1 to $200 dollars" to me, which is why the next comment, starting with "probably a lot less", surprised me at first.
  - jagged-chisel 3y ago
    American English gets so vague when it comes to thing like this. I would write it: One- to two-hundred dollars Using the hyphens to indicate that “one” and “two” modify “hundred”
ilyt 3y ago
That's what professional one costs, and there are cheaper ones. Kinda pointless project considering all it is is some basic controls over a pump.
systems_glitch 3y ago
Heh, looks better built than our "pyramid of power" professional SMT vacuum pick! I forget what the new price is but it had to have been close. To make it worse, when you order replacement tips there's a minimum of $100 on the order!

iamflimflam1 3y ago

Yep, way out of my budget and I would probably get quite a bit of use out of it. It is probably a very fair price for what you are getting and the work that's gone into the R&D. Looks like I'll be investigating DIY options...

joshvm 3y ago

You can make it yourself - all the parts and boards are on GitHub (so also a group buy for assembled boards is an option). I couldn't find a BOM cost estimate though and I guess it'd be $1-200 from scratch, plus things like custom buttons.

squarefoot 3y ago
Probably a lot less. One can effectively use a small aquarium blowing pump by connecting the sucking tube to the air intake instead of the output, and they're cheap, like 10 bucks each. The electronics would be trivial, and the switch could either act on a solenoid valve (less than 10 quid) or be a small hole in the side of the tube so that closing it with a finger would let all air in through the end of the tube.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
IIsi50MHz 3y ago
> $1-200 This means "$1 to $200 dollars" to me, which is why the next comment, starting with "probably a lot less", surprised me at first.
- jagged-chisel 3y ago
  American English gets so vague when it comes to thing like this. I would write it: One- to two-hundred dollars Using the hyphens to indicate that “one” and “two” modify “hundred”

ilyt 3y ago

That's what professional one costs, and there are cheaper ones. Kinda pointless project considering all it is is some basic controls over a pump.

systems_glitch 3y ago

Heh, looks better built than our "pyramid of power" professional SMT vacuum pick! I forget what the new price is but it had to have been close. To make it worse, when you order replacement tips there's a minimum of $100 on the order!