An Etsy for electronics projects

[Sean McBeth]

Interesting idea
http://www.tindie.com/about/

[pezman]

I like kitify.com better.
On Apr 30, 5:13 pm, Sean McBeth <sean.mcb...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Interesting ideahttp://www.tindie.com/about/

[Daniel Provenzano]

Hmm, pretty interesting. I'd love to see where that goes.

Speaking of which, how often would you guys say that you make projects for purchase? Somebody recently floated the idea to me - which I was kind of near repulsed by since I usually start a project primarily as a learning experience. But at the same time alot of folks are definitely making creations at a professional level.

On Monday, April 30, 2012 2:13:59 PM UTC-7, sean.mcbeth wrote:

Interesting idea
http://www.tindie.com/about/

[Jack Zylkin]

I probably make half of my projects with the goal of selling them, and I dont have much problem selling kits and electronics on etsy -- although I wish they had a diy electronics category, or a kits category for that matter.  The problem with business models like "the etsy of this" or "the kickstarter of that" is that etsy and kickstarter could easily co-opt the idea just by adding a new category to their site.  True, Facebook was "the myspace of college kids" but it was also superior in design to myspace.  

Even so, if tindie puts a fire under etsy so they target us makers as well as crafters, Id be very happy.

Jack Zylkin

USB Typewriter LLC

www.usbtypewriter.com

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[Sean McBeth]

Jack, excellent point on competition.

Dan, I've never specifically built a project for sale, but latelt have been thinking about it.

For more awesome goto http://groups.google.com/group/hive76-discussion?hl=en

[illovich]

The challenge of that kind of site is reputation and aura - it's basically down to the dude making the site being able to get people who want the goods he's selling to automatically think of him when they want something in that class. 

I think that specific niche is awesome, but I also don't shop for it much - in the sense that I think "hey, I'd like an item made by a hacker/maker type person" ... it's more that I get wind of a specific project and I either google it or follow links from a trusty source. 

It's kind of like saying "I can do the iTunes store better" - it wouldn't be that hard, it's the worst online shopping experience in the world IMHO,  and seriously Amazon is a fucking nightmare UI wise (try to find your friend's wish list) ... but they both won on a more important level, and a lower tier of whatever you call that (mindshare? consumer confidence?  laziness?) is where Tindle would have to win to be successful (and if it can be successful, I think its actually more likely that Etsy would fail if it tried to subvert their hypothetical success, because they'd re-inscribe the aura of tindle - 'they're copying Tindle, because Tindle is so awesome')  

But I hope he's successful - I'd like to see as many successes in the DIY/Maker/Crafter as are possible, for sure. 

[Justin Dunham]

Little late in responding, but thanks for the Kitify shoutout, Mike :)

[Joshua D. Johnson]

I had the idea of having all the typically plastic parts required to build a RepRap injection molded. In conjunction I would try and make up a kit, some really detailed instructions and maybe some optimized software etc. Any thoughts? I know molds would be expensive and some parts would require drilling because of geometry. Obviously it would be openly available and done for the benefit of Hive76, RepRap.org and those involved.

Any thoughts and criticism appreciated.

Josh

[Dave]

It's not a bad idea. There have been a couple of similar efforts, one of which involved Hive members:

http://www.hive76.org/cast-resin-3d-printer-parts

and one of which I think we just inherited:

http://www.hive76.org/bronzebot-a-3d-printer-made-of-bronze

Both of these involved cast parts made in silicone or similar molds, rather than injection molding. I could definitely be wrong as I don't know your background but I am guessing this effort (having the parts injection molded, optimizing the software, writing the instructions, etc) is more than you realize. The previous two casting examples have a much lower barrier to entry since they won't require thousands of dollars in tooling and setup fees per unique part, but it's obviously much more manual labor to crank out parts one at a time and letting them cure as opposed to an industrial machine kicking out dozens of parts per minute. It's possible with some leg work and using somebody's injection molding machine (I think NextFab has a little baby one) you could save some money on the tooling and setup, but it'll be more work and you'll pay for it in headaches and sweat. Injection molding requires a lot of attention to detail to get really good results, so the parts have to be custom designed or at least modified with IM in mind so you can deal with the realities of manufacturing.

Here's a forum post about other people with the same idea:

http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?94,37924,38964

Here's somebody else apparently doing it:

http://reprap.org/wiki/SeeMeCNC

Let us know if you need a hand, I think a lot of us are interested in seeing the quality of 3D printers go up and the cost go down. I don't even have one myself, even though I make the milled extruder bolts for them.

-Dave

[Joshua D. Johnson]

Dave, thanks for the response. I'm having a bunch of other work quoted right now for both metal and plastic injection and have done a little work in the industry. my guess is all the little parts would cost no more than 25 cents per peice. We would have some secondary operations (drilling, tapping, kitting.) but nothing major. I will look into the links you sent.

I am not a member of hive76  but would like to see you guys get a bigger shop and more tools.

Best,

Josh

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[Sean McBeth]

Become a member and donate tools! :)

[Joshua D. Johnson]

Ha!, I would.. I need my tools to be ready for business purposes though. I do have an Atlas drill press and powermatic scroll saw plus lots of bench tops if you're interested. Give me a little consideration on the 3D printer and I'll donate them.

Josh

[Sean McBeth]

You can use the 3D printer all you want as a member, and we might still have some materials left over from the last resin casting project. Josh Dunham was kind of spearheading that, and I think Chris Thompson was helping him a fair bit. Have you been by our space yet (sorry, I'm bad at connecting names with faces)?

[Sean McBeth]

And I totally know his name is Justin Dunham, not Josh. Wow, stayed up way too late last night :)

[Joshua D. Johnson]

I'm talking about the FDM 2000... I think we've met. I need to drop by on a wed night again. I'm the guy with zero programming knowledge trying to make a brakelight...

Josh