I'm getting there...
Right now I would estimate the progress to be at 80%, maybe a little more, for the bagging.
But I'll put in quite a few hours today, maybe I'll even be done tonight.
The reason why I haven't shipped anything yet is simply procedural.
I have all the bags on a wall, waiting to be filled with their respective parts.
And then I take one type of parts from the Mouser delivery box and distribute it across all the bags.
That means I won't have anything to ship, until everything is ready.
This is unfortunate, but every other method for the sorting/bagging process would increase the total time it takes and therefore some would get their shipments earlier at the cost of others receiving them much later.
There should be a few more pictures in my iDisk Gallery this afternoon.
Regards,
Jokener
P.S.: Belt-cutting is a bitch.
A few (like a dozen) of the components come on paper belts.
And instead of distributing the components, I have to cut them into 1. 2 or 4 component pieces first.
That takes AGES... luckily my girlfriend is handy with the scissors, otherwise you'd see me plotting a plan to take over the world by now
Right now I would estimate the progress to be at 80%, maybe a little more, for the bagging.
But I'll put in quite a few hours today, maybe I'll even be done tonight.
The reason why I haven't shipped anything yet is simply procedural.
I have all the bags on a wall, waiting to be filled with their respective parts.
And then I take one type of parts from the Mouser delivery box and distribute it across all the bags.
That means I won't have anything to ship, until everything is ready.
This is unfortunate, but every other method for the sorting/bagging process would increase the total time it takes and therefore some would get their shipments earlier at the cost of others receiving them much later.
There should be a few more pictures in my iDisk Gallery this afternoon.
Regards,
Jokener
P.S.: Belt-cutting is a bitch.
A few (like a dozen) of the components come on paper belts.
And instead of distributing the components, I have to cut them into 1. 2 or 4 component pieces first.
That takes AGES... luckily my girlfriend is handy with the scissors, otherwise you'd see me plotting a plan to take over the world by now
Just a little update:
I am now at 93% of the sorting, but I can't see straight anymore...
resistors, resistors, resistors, diodes, diodes, diodes, rectifiers, resistors, op-amps
So I have decided to call it a night for the bagging and I'll now put the "extras" into their respective bags.
That should be easier (except for ABX's order that includes 75% of the kit in single parts ^^) and might cheer me up.
That and a couple of pints...
Regards,
Jokener
I am now at 93% of the sorting, but I can't see straight anymore...
resistors, resistors, resistors, diodes, diodes, diodes, rectifiers, resistors, op-amps
So I have decided to call it a night for the bagging and I'll now put the "extras" into their respective bags.
That should be easier (except for ABX's order that includes 75% of the kit in single parts ^^) and might cheer me up.
That and a couple of pints...
Regards,
Jokener
Okay... its 1:53 in the morning and I give up and fold.
The extras are mostly sorted out, but I either lost my ability to count or Mouser messed up the order.
(About 4 or 5 of you would be affected, but that includes 2 people that have asked me to put their orders on hold while they're on vacation/work trips...)
They definitely didn't send enough solder/wick, but didn't notify me they changed my order...
But the solder/wick thing is not as important, since I just distributed the stuff I had ordered for myself across the other people and now they all have what they ordered... and I have none :-(
Well... Mouser still has to ship the Bourns pots for Mango57, 5 resistors of one type and some of my own extras, so I'll call them up and ask them how this can be rushed.
At any rate, this affects only very few orders, the components for the kits are all here and mostly bagged.
Wish me luck.
Regards,
Jokener
The extras are mostly sorted out, but I either lost my ability to count or Mouser messed up the order.
(About 4 or 5 of you would be affected, but that includes 2 people that have asked me to put their orders on hold while they're on vacation/work trips...)
They definitely didn't send enough solder/wick, but didn't notify me they changed my order...
But the solder/wick thing is not as important, since I just distributed the stuff I had ordered for myself across the other people and now they all have what they ordered... and I have none :-(
Well... Mouser still has to ship the Bourns pots for Mango57, 5 resistors of one type and some of my own extras, so I'll call them up and ask them how this can be rushed.
At any rate, this affects only very few orders, the components for the kits are all here and mostly bagged.
Wish me luck.
Regards,
Jokener
I'm getting there...
.. luckily my girlfriend is handy with the scissors, otherwise you'd see me plotting a plan to take over the world by now
Now that you mention it, we'd need a new Dr. No!
(With the next James Bond maybe being the last they ever make...)
Honestly though: Thanks for the effort you put into this, it's all gonna be over soon...
I think Jokener will still have nightmares of sorting all the parts out long after the work is done. It seems to me that, in hindsight, the amount of work was rather unreasonable to ask from a single person. For the follow-up of this GB, we should definitely think of a way to spread the work over more participants. Here's my idea.
One of us (Jokener) collects all the parts, so we can benefit from price breaks from the suppliers as much as possible. He then splits up the whole lot into some 10 smaller sub-lots, which then go to the local dealers. The local dealers then piece the kits together and ship them to the members by local mail (cheaper). If some small part is missing, it can be sent to/from Jokener or between dealers by letter for little money. This way, each dealer only has to compose around 10 kits, and the work should be doable for everyone in one or two evenings at the kitchen table. And everyone will remain sane...
One of us (Jokener) collects all the parts, so we can benefit from price breaks from the suppliers as much as possible. He then splits up the whole lot into some 10 smaller sub-lots, which then go to the local dealers. The local dealers then piece the kits together and ship them to the members by local mail (cheaper). If some small part is missing, it can be sent to/from Jokener or between dealers by letter for little money. This way, each dealer only has to compose around 10 kits, and the work should be doable for everyone in one or two evenings at the kitchen table. And everyone will remain sane...
I will definately not organize such a LARGE group buy again.
My initial estimate on the time it takes would have been pretty decent, except I didn't expect resistors and other parts to come on belts and require cutting, a rather time consuming task.
And I never expected more orders (bags) than I can fit on the 1x4 meter table in the room I am using to sort things, so I had to resort to a more time-consuming but precise sorting method...
I really have an entire room and a half dedicated to this task right now, so I don't have to store the stuff every evening... which upsets a certain lady, because she doesn't quite share my view that electronic components in ESD bags are aesthetically pleasing and relaxing on the eye... weird thing that...
The problem with spreading the work accross different people is that all the parts arrive from Mouser in single bags..
So it doesn't make much of a difference to put 10 kits together for a 'sub-dealer' or to assemble individual kits.
And Mouser won't give the discounts if you want them to split it up for you.
(And then each 'sub-dealer' could order directly from Mouser.)
Other distributors offer to piece together individual kits, but they usually charge quite a lot for it if you don't order in volumes above 1000 to 5000 kits.
When the sorting for this GB is done, I WILL open another one.
I just want to finish this one first, because all of you have trusted me with your money and now it should be (and is) my first priority to repay that trust by getting this done.
Also, I will limit the next GB to something like 30 or 50 kits and charge a small but reasonable fee for myself and the work it means...
At least I have the organization sorted out, have my verified Mouser and Farnell accounts, have the appropriate ground-straps and ESD-mats for the table...
There was quite a lot of work to be done besides the actual sorting.
(Including buying and measuring the first AC adapter that didn't work, so none of you get working but inadequate power supplies...)
My initial estimate on the time it takes would have been pretty decent, except I didn't expect resistors and other parts to come on belts and require cutting, a rather time consuming task.
And I never expected more orders (bags) than I can fit on the 1x4 meter table in the room I am using to sort things, so I had to resort to a more time-consuming but precise sorting method...
I really have an entire room and a half dedicated to this task right now, so I don't have to store the stuff every evening... which upsets a certain lady, because she doesn't quite share my view that electronic components in ESD bags are aesthetically pleasing and relaxing on the eye... weird thing that...
The problem with spreading the work accross different people is that all the parts arrive from Mouser in single bags..
So it doesn't make much of a difference to put 10 kits together for a 'sub-dealer' or to assemble individual kits.
And Mouser won't give the discounts if you want them to split it up for you.
(And then each 'sub-dealer' could order directly from Mouser.)
Other distributors offer to piece together individual kits, but they usually charge quite a lot for it if you don't order in volumes above 1000 to 5000 kits.
When the sorting for this GB is done, I WILL open another one.
I just want to finish this one first, because all of you have trusted me with your money and now it should be (and is) my first priority to repay that trust by getting this done.
Also, I will limit the next GB to something like 30 or 50 kits and charge a small but reasonable fee for myself and the work it means...
At least I have the organization sorted out, have my verified Mouser and Farnell accounts, have the appropriate ground-straps and ESD-mats for the table...
There was quite a lot of work to be done besides the actual sorting.
(Including buying and measuring the first AC adapter that didn't work, so none of you get working but inadequate power supplies...)
According to the pic - great big things have happened. I salute you, Jokener!
I would also second the blog thingy (especially if you took pics all along). Definitely a decent amount of beer included for going through such a shovel-and-bucket exercise is in order - if you are to do more GBs. I think the blog would outline that very well. Cheers for the Mrs as well for letting you do this...
I would also second the blog thingy (especially if you took pics all along). Definitely a decent amount of beer included for going through such a shovel-and-bucket exercise is in order - if you are to do more GBs. I think the blog would outline that very well. Cheers for the Mrs as well for letting you do this...
I guess you got to be a master in kit building the hard way
By the way you mentioned that the transformer had some extra cost, if you detail it I'll be happy to paypal it.
+1
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