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I'm on a similar adventure right now, an ex-software person building a motorized iPhone stand that is Bluetooth controlled. It's been fun to see how with Fusio

I'm on a similar adventure right now, an ex-software person building a motorized iPhone stand that is Bluetooth controlled. It's been fun to see how with Fusion 360, a 3D printer, and JCLPCB you can build all kinds of devices. YouTube and GPT-4 are excellent tutors for hobbyists entering the hardware space. The 2 week wait for custom parts from China makes you realize the advantage they have over there when it comes to the rapid prototyping stage of product development.

wslh 3y ago
What is the cost of your project? Could you share more information? I was looking to do something similar.
- babl-yc 3y ago
  The individual builds will be pretty cheap: sub $75 with an Arduino, NEMA stepper motor, PCB, a few other parts, and some plastic enclosures. There's definitely some bootstrapping costs to acquiring tools (3d printer, soldering set up, adjustable power supply, Fusion 360 license). That's around $1k-1500 for a nice hobbyist setup by the time you get everything. The real cost is when you decide to quit your software job to work on a hardware project :)
  - sohex 3y ago
    That strikes me as being a much higher unit cost than I would have anticipated. Are you way overprovisioned on the arduino and the steppers or is there something else fancy going on that's driving costs up?
    - babl-yc 3y ago
      It could certainly be much cheaper than $75, that's just the ceiling. Arduino Nano BLE is $30 and one stepper on Amazon is $15. Plus other small hardware, plastic and assembly.
imtringued 3y ago
The two week wait just tells me you don't value your time during the rapid prototyping stage. Why exactly do you need a manufacturing process during prototyping that is exactly the same as your manufacturing process? Ok the domestic manufacturer charges 50€ more for the same PCB (price at 10 units) but they offer rapid turnaround including shipping in three or even less days.
- malfist 3y ago
  I think he's implying he buys his ICs and components from China instead of Amazon or somewhere local with fast shipping
- anymouse123456 3y ago
  It's not just the fab. Have you found domestic assembly services that will take a hobbyist prototype order, charge less than $2k and turn in under 2 weeks (US or Euro)? For ~100 SKUs and 200-400 placements.
- mips_r4300i 3y ago
  As far as spinning boards goes, you can get bare pcbs back from China in a couple weeks. If you pay extra, that can be 10 days. I use a Korean quickturn when I need the PCB shipped within 3 days, but it costs a pretty penny. Producing PCBs domestically in the US is a sad joke. There are only 3 types of fabs here: 1. Stuck in the 80s and can't do much more than 2 layers and 10/10mil 2. Super high-end govt contractor ITAR jobs programs. Great quality but thousands for a run 3. Other shops that claim to produce pcbs but actually just farm them out to a partner in China and reship. So even for protos China pretty much always wins. As a price comparison, let's take an 8layer board I quoted through Screaming Circuits in the US. $4k. PCBway can do the same board for a bit over $300.
  - jdboyd 3y ago
    Would you mind providing a reference to the Korean quick term service do you use?
    - 3y ago

wslh 3y ago

What is the cost of your project? Could you share more information? I was looking to do something similar.

babl-yc 3y ago
The individual builds will be pretty cheap: sub $75 with an Arduino, NEMA stepper motor, PCB, a few other parts, and some plastic enclosures. There's definitely some bootstrapping costs to acquiring tools (3d printer, soldering set up, adjustable power supply, Fusion 360 license). That's around $1k-1500 for a nice hobbyist setup by the time you get everything. The real cost is when you decide to quit your software job to work on a hardware project :)
- sohex 3y ago
  That strikes me as being a much higher unit cost than I would have anticipated. Are you way overprovisioned on the arduino and the steppers or is there something else fancy going on that's driving costs up?
  - babl-yc 3y ago
    It could certainly be much cheaper than $75, that's just the ceiling. Arduino Nano BLE is $30 and one stepper on Amazon is $15. Plus other small hardware, plastic and assembly.

imtringued 3y ago

The two week wait just tells me you don't value your time during the rapid prototyping stage. Why exactly do you need a manufacturing process during prototyping that is exactly the same as your manufacturing process? Ok the domestic manufacturer charges 50€ more for the same PCB (price at 10 units) but they offer rapid turnaround including shipping in three or even less days.

malfist 3y ago
I think he's implying he buys his ICs and components from China instead of Amazon or somewhere local with fast shipping
anymouse123456 3y ago
It's not just the fab. Have you found domestic assembly services that will take a hobbyist prototype order, charge less than $2k and turn in under 2 weeks (US or Euro)? For ~100 SKUs and 200-400 placements.
mips_r4300i 3y ago
As far as spinning boards goes, you can get bare pcbs back from China in a couple weeks. If you pay extra, that can be 10 days. I use a Korean quickturn when I need the PCB shipped within 3 days, but it costs a pretty penny. Producing PCBs domestically in the US is a sad joke. There are only 3 types of fabs here: 1. Stuck in the 80s and can't do much more than 2 layers and 10/10mil 2. Super high-end govt contractor ITAR jobs programs. Great quality but thousands for a run 3. Other shops that claim to produce pcbs but actually just farm them out to a partner in China and reship. So even for protos China pretty much always wins. As a price comparison, let's take an 8layer board I quoted through Screaming Circuits in the US. $4k. PCBway can do the same board for a bit over $300.
- jdboyd 3y ago
  Would you mind providing a reference to the Korean quick term service do you use?
  - 3y ago