I think that is the real definition of engineering.
Math has a definitive answer, I thought I liked that. Turns out the puzzle is the better part of it all.
3 Likes
Iād like to call my next witness, Mr. Kurt Gƶdel, whoās got something to say about that. 
2 Likes
Thatās always been my experience.
1 Like
3 Likes
If you want another fun way to add a little bit of flair to the board, try putting your logo on the solder mask layer over some copper plane. Thatās what I do with a lot of my personal/consultancy boards and it looks pretty snazzy. I think itād work best as just the graphic part, not the text.
Well, I tried to by 5ā¦way too expensive because of the setup fee. So I bought 50. Really hope they work or I just lost my a$$.
Came out to $11 each, I am hoping they drop that price a bit. They are charging me as a two sided job when I have never been charged for that just on the rails. That drops the price significantly if they change it.
1 Like
I have seen that. I should have done it with the little one on the top.
Oh, now that I look at it, there are lots of spots that would have worked. Now I have a reason to make more!!
Yeah, thatās definitely the downside of full service prototyping like that and why I end up assembling most stuff here by hand, at least for the first couple.
Worst case, drill holes in them, add a keychain and sell them as ālimited edition supporters pendantsā. I think theyāll be fine, theyāre pretty simple. Worst case if they need rework, I donāt mind offering a hand for the price of shipping.
The double-sided board is due to the headers, most likely.
1 Like
Also, not to keep harping on about the scenario, Iād strongly recommend doing reviews at the following stages, at least:
Schematic completion
Component placement and initial routing
Final routing/before ordering
Even with simple boards, I would still never submit something that hasnāt been looked at by someone else after fixing issues/modifying layouts etc.
2 Likes
I emailed, fingers crossed. Yup just the headers. I was temped to solder them myself by last time I did that it took 3 week to get the components, boards came in a few days. Weird.
I like the way you think!
I know but I am not getting anything done. I had to order them so I will stop. Literally obsessed.
I promise to do it for the drivers, next. 
3 Likes
Yeah, thatās the approach I take on 2 of my other products where I have to get the connectors and PCBs separately and itās too time/cost prohibitive to have my CM source the connectors directly. Last one was an order of 200 boards, each with 4x 4 pin headers and the next will be an order of 250 boards with 2x 16 pin headers. Iāve used an entire 500g roll of solder on this product line, which is notableā¦
1 Like
When you get them in, Iāll take a few- whether they work properly out of the box or not.
yep.
Heck, Iād take a couple without headersā¦ I have loads of those and solder them up all the time. The last set of ESP32s I bought just came with the pin headers in a separate bag as it was.
Got some ideas to use more of them on.
1 Like
Couldnāt you incorporate the ESP into the jackpot?
1 Like
That would be a good option and could cost reduce a jackpot. I bet itās somewhere in the roadmap.
I happen to like the idea of being able eventually to upgrade my jackpots with faster ESP32s or swap to one with a dual antenna, or whatever.
I also like being able to swap out to a USB-C variant of dev board as Iāve done on one of my jackpots.
I also love the idea of a V1 ESP32 Dev board as a stand alone product. Iād buy those for other applications just to use a board of known pedigree for other projects. I suspect others might as well, since itās such a crap shoot with the $3 boards and their build quality.
2 Likes
Now we know why. That second side is a huge cost.
I agree, it would also probably make the Jackpot a little bigger, if not it would take a significant rework to make it fit. For the near future, being able to replace a single bad component is a good idea until we are sure everything is rock solid.
It only makes sense if I can get the cost down without buying 1k at a time. At that point the crazy import tax of 30-40% kicks in and then they get expensive again. Importing is a fine balance. Small under ~$2k packages typically avoid this cost.
The Jackpot has a lot of room, I am going to try and build these with the headers on the other side. Although that is going to take a significant rework as wellā¦Dam.
Well, They added a $1.58 charge for āextra tinā on the USB plug, that is funny but also awesome that they have this system so dialed they know that it costs another $1.58 in solder for 50 PCBās. More importantly this gives me an opportunity to cancel.
I set it up as a paneled job and that saved $2 per board! Now we are getting somewhere That brought the second side cost down significantly.
For 50 individual boards - ~$11 each and some change
for 50 panalized boards - $9 each
for 100 panalized - $7.78
from there is drops a lot slower.
1 Like
This also gives an opportunity for review.
@jono035, would you mind taking a look at my work before I submit this job? Pretty please.
2 Likes
Thatās a really nice reduction in cost.
Thatās a bummer.
If you do end up doing a smaller batch size as initial prototypes, Iām still willing to commit to buying a few - both to offset costs but also to provide debug/development feedback on those initial builds.
2 Likes
As long as I can get them under $10 it makes a bit more sense. I can put them in the shop individually for the same as genuine (because they are genuine (with added USB GPIOā¦Thanks guys). In terms of the jackpot kits, getting them for under $8 means the added cost will be less, and I will have better piece of mind knowing we have good boards. That is kinda the whole point of making the Jackpots in the first place. I want to offer a solid product. Adding the questionable espās is undermining that.
This is a whole new world for me but I enjoy the learning. I appreciate you guys helping, and I appreciate the offers to jump in and buy them!!!
3 Likes