noshua
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Registered: 19th Nov 08
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Is this what you described to me on xbox live a few months ago? The idea you was looking to patent?
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Whittie
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Registered: 11th Aug 06
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I've put a thread about it on here somewhere, its no secret.
It was patented but not in production, there's enough changes i've made, design wise, to get around that.
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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Ed has designed the board himself.
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Whittie
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Registered: 11th Aug 06
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I remember speaking to Ed about this last year on the phone at some point.
Pretty sure it was the board programming which is the difficult thing.
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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You have to program the chip and design the board that the chip goes on.
I still can't see you getting anyone to do that for a realistic price. The bit you need done is basically everything, there's no benefit of a company doing it all then giving you it for a 1 off fee.
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Whittie
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I'm going to approach some Uni's and see if they can offer anything.
Everybody is so busy in this industry. Last July I said there's a 4 month waiting time, wish I'd have signed a contract with him then.
Just need a business who can do the design, programming and building of the PCB. I don't understand why they'd only do half the job and send if off to another company. Stupidity.
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John
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I'm not sure if I'm missing something here Whittie but I'm more surprised anyone is entertaining you at all than them not doing it.
You've got an idea, which is all very well. What you need is someone to do all of the work from scratch, then hand it over to you for you to make the money.
2 options I can see and have seen in projects elsewhere are;
1. Create a company and employ people to do all of the work.
2. The person with the idea has the knowledge to do it, ed is a perfect example. He's programmed the chip and designed a board, he can farm that design out to be manufactured really cheaply by basically anywhere that does it.
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Whittie
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Your option 2 is what i'm after.
What I'm saying is no companies i've found in the UK, design, program and create the boards. (They do it all individually).
It's not about the people i've contacted not being interested. It's the amount of projects they have on, so don't currently have the time mate. I'm guessing the current projects are far more lucrative for them etc.
I'd love Ed to do it, but from what I remember him saying. He didn't physically have the knowledge to do so. (Last July)
I only Re-Raised the thread as he's been getting more involved in the making of PCB's of late.
[Edited on 15-02-2012 by Whittie]
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Gary
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Registered: 22nd Nov 06
Location: West Yorkshire
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quote:
Originally posted by John
I'm not sure if I'm missing something here Whittie but I'm more surprised anyone is entertaining you at all than them not doing it.
Comopany i found a year or so back were quite happy to build me a board off my spec, even though i knew little about PCBs.
There are people out there, its just finding them.
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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I wasn't meaning get ed to do it, it probably wouldn't be in his interest either, I mean ed as an example of how these things get started up.
I'm not trying to be snide or anything and good luck with it, I just can't see it being easy to find someone willing.
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Whittie
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quote:
Originally posted by Gary
quote:
Originally posted by John
I'm not sure if I'm missing something here Whittie but I'm more surprised anyone is entertaining you at all than them not doing it.
Comopany i found a year or so back were quite happy to build me a board off my spec, even though i knew little about PCBs.
There are people out there, its just finding them.
Aye, microtrax - I got quite far with them if you remember before them parting ways as a business. Colin iirc. He said to contact him in 12 months as he was restaffing the company.
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John
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quote:
Originally posted by Gary
quote:
Originally posted by John
I'm not sure if I'm missing something here Whittie but I'm more surprised anyone is entertaining you at all than them not doing it.
Comopany i found a year or so back were quite happy to build me a board off my spec, even though i knew little about PCBs.
There are people out there, its just finding them.
Depends what you mean by build you a board and what it was for.
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Whittie
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quote:
Originally posted by John
I wasn't meaning get ed to do it, it probably wouldn't be in his interest either, I mean ed as an example of how these things get started up.
I'm not trying to be snide or anything and good luck with it, I just can't see it being easy to find someone willing.
I know bud, and thanks.
It is hard to find somebody, would still rather search for someone to do it and it take 6 months more, rather than waste a lot of money paying 3 companies to do it all.
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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Is it completely out of the realms of you spending 6 months to piss about with it yourself?
Taking arduino as an example, there are loads of tutorials and even development environments that you just drag and drop blocks together.
Depends how complicated what you want to do is.
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Balling
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Registered: 7th Apr 04
Location: Denmark
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quote:
Originally posted by John
1. Create a company and employ people to do all of the work.
2. The person with the idea has the knowledge to do it, ed is a perfect example. He's programmed the chip and designed a board, he can farm that design out to be manufactured really cheaply by basically anywhere that does it.
Lots of people have (prototype) products made with no knowledge of the process involved and without employing people to do it.
In my work I've had quite a few, all be it very simple, prototype products made from companies who stood to gain nothing further from the product.
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John
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Say I had the idea for a new mobile phone, I knew it had to make phonecalls and send text messages but I didn't know how to do anything related to it.
Is there a company that would design and build that for me, hand over all the files and only charge a realistic one off fee?
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Balling
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Registered: 7th Apr 04
Location: Denmark
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quote:
Originally posted by John
Say I had the idea for a new mobile phone, I knew it had to make phonecalls and send text messages but I didn't know how to do anything related to it.
Is there a company that would design and build that for me, hand over all the files and only charge a realistic one off fee?
As a private person, no, you would probably be pretty hard pressed to get a prototype phone produced.
But a simple bit of electronics? Sure.
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John
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Phone was an extreme example but you get my point.
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noshua
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Registered: 19th Nov 08
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How much are you intending on getting each of the final products made for? An ideal price?
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Ian
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Registered: 28th Aug 99
Location: Liverpool
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Whittie - do you have the circuit actually designed and just need the PCB or do you need the whole thing designing?
If it needs prototyping with the actual components then it'll be a while before you're manufacturing boards for it.
Might be worth re-posting the concept, I wouldn't mind taking a look.
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ed
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Registered: 10th Sep 03
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quote:
Originally posted by Whittie
Ed - Since you've been getting more into this. Are you able to assist in any way now?
The chips that you can get hold of are getting more and more powerful. I think the issue before with this was that the stuff I knew about was far too slow, so to transfer the amount of data you were talking about would take a week!
Now you could make a fairly inexpensive product using and ARM processor seeing as SOC type devices are becoming readily available - just look at the Raspberry Pi for example. Strip away all the video and networking and you've got something small and cheap-ish. I think you could find an electrical engineer type person who would freelance for you, we've got a guy in our office who designs electronics for other people who know what they want but don't care about how it works. Surely that's what hiring a consultant/freelancer/company to design stuff for you is all about?
(but to actually answer your question - I'm still a bit too much of a n00b to actually take any of this sort of work on)
[Edited on 15-02-2012 by ed]
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ed
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Registered: 10th Sep 03
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:Homer Simpson drooling:
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Dom
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Registered: 13th Sep 03
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Problem you've got is that you want a prototype thrown together from start to finish cheaply and that's going to be difficult.
As mentioned before, there are plenty of companies (PTP Cambridge might do it or Fen Technology) will develop the idea, create the artwork (schematics and PCB layout), get the PCB knocked up and populated for a prototype but it won't be cheap (Fen is around £750 a day).
Alternatively go the freelance route (freelancer.co.uk or electronic forums might be a good place to start) and get parts done individually. But note it's the design/artwork/software that is the costly part. Getting a PCB made in a limited runs (a couple) is roughly a few hundred and then populating it is about the same; price is dependant on time frames usually.
Edit - Personally I'd a proof of concept knocked up on a development board (beagleboard or a variant, Raspberry Pi, Arduino if it's basic); at least then you have something to show designers/concept houses etc
[Edited on 15-02-2012 by Dom]
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Chris
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Registered: 21st Sep 99
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Whats the plan for the circuit?
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Dom
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Registered: 13th Sep 03
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quote:
Originally posted by Chris
Whats the plan for the circuit?
Basement water level detector 
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