Experience with Manufacturing..

[Tazzi]

it maybe more worth your while to design your board to fit in an ebay obd2 plug

Yeah, I did think of that. But if designing a custom cable.. I figured Id also design a custom case which can suit my exact needs.

Iv got a few manufacturers saying they can do smaller quantities, just waiting to see the numbers now.

[The1]

just need a custom bank balance as well then

With Sub $200 3d printers around now it maybe worth getting 3 or 4 and just que them up lol

[Tazzi]

just need a custom bank balance as well then

With Sub $200 3d printers around now it maybe worth getting 3 or 4 and just que them up lol

Ahahaha.. my old man literally just suggested that.
We made room in the garage.. lined it up with some fold out tables. Could fit a good 10 along the wall now haha. Going to use it as the assembly line now.

10x 3D printers at $200 will be $2k. To be honest I was expecting the mold to be around $500-1000, then $2-$6 per case.
One of the places Iv dealt with alot is requesting special permission from management to do a once off small quantity (100 units).. sooo hopefully theyll agree on that.

[Tazzi]

Well.. Iv found the cheapest option.. well in the long run.

Technically its ideal.. but.. f**k me... that mold cost.

Figured this might be interesting to others that ever look into it.. as theres not alot of info out there about it.

So.. $4200usd.. is about $5558aud. So the initial 1000 cases will be about $5.50aud each

Going to have to go with 3D printing for the time being I think. Simply too much outlay straight up.

[vlad01]

yep and I doubt you'll ever sell 1000 of them, certainly not anytime soon.

[vlad01]

you could ask these guys, they have a number or prototyping/manufacturing technologies for small to large volumes runs.

http://www.3dprototyping.com.au/

[Tazzi]

yep and I doubt you'll ever sell 1000 of them, certainly not anytime soon.

I try to think of everything in the long run, eventually want a nice clean case to go with it all.

you could ask these guys, they have a number or prototyping/manufacturing technologies for small to large volumes runs.

http://www.3dprototyping.com.au/

Cheers for that! Will contact them tomorrow.

[Tazzi]

Right so, going to get 50+ units made via professional 3D printing using the mob that quoted the injection mold. Its going to be a few hundred, roughly $8 per case. Based on the examples, looks like their high grade 3D printer does some pretty good work.

Going to have to save every penny to put towards the mold. Just makes you realise the magnitude of manufacturing, everythings done in multiples of 10's of thousands of units!.

[antus]

Yeah for sure! For specialist automotive type stuff production levels of work are still considered prototyping. Its not cheap, and the time cost is high too. Maintaining quality over time is another challenge, suppliers and products can and do change on vendors side even if you think your buying the same product. Ive been burnt by that on OBD2 cases before. Change of plastic and quality. Had to ditch a whole batch in the bin as the plastic was flimsy and they also didnt supply screws. In the end they wanted photos of them all laid out for inspection, and I had to pay full price tracked return courier shipping, so it wasnt even worth doing. I had to wear the cost, bin the shells and s**tlist the vendor.

[Tazzi]

Yeah for sure! For specialist automotive type stuff production levels of work are still considered prototyping. Its not cheap, and the time cost is high too. Maintaining quality over time is another challenge, suppliers and products can and do change on vendors side even if you think your buying the same product. Ive been burnt by that on OBD2 cases before. Change of plastic and quality. Had to ditch a whole batch in the bin as the plastic was flimsy and they also didnt supply screws. In the end they wanted photos of them all laid out for inspection, and I had to pay full price tracked return courier shipping, so it wasnt even worth doing. I had to wear the cost, bin the shells and s**tlist the vendor.

Shiiiiiit, I would have been fuming.
So far Iv not copped something like that. Although Iv been dealing direct with a manufacturer rather than a distributor.

Hoping the 3D printed models will come out nice.