View Single Post
  #4   Ban this user!
Old 07-12-2009, 01:09 PM
Torchhead Torchhead is offline
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: USA
Posts: 1,875
Torchhead is on a distinguished road

The only "kit" I am aware of was the Rutex THC kit to build a DIY THC. By the time you bought all of the parts it was about 500.00 and it was a mechanical nightmare. It lacked a lot in features and function. Later they introduced a combo driver/thc card but it was tied to their plasma cutting software and not a lot cheaper.

I'll wax philosophical on this and say that I owned a mail order business in the early 80's that sold electronic components to electronic experimenters. We had a line of kits we developed and we sold thousands over 8 years. Bear in mind this was to persons that were (supposedly) electronically inclined (i.e. Ham Radio operators, electronics technicians, and engineers). It was in the heady days of Popular Electronics, Radio Electronics, 73's and other publications. I was amazed at the kits we got back for repair (some with nasty letters) that looked like they were assembled by a 4 year old and soldered with a hot rock. Parts in wrong, parts in the wrong place, cold solder joints, PCB damage from too much heat, etc.

The worst reason to buy a kit is because it's cheap. If you have the technical skills to properly assemble, test and use a piece of equipment with minimal (or zero) support, and your spare time has no value, then kits make sense. If you want a learning experience then working at the component level has rewards. There used to be a company named Heathkit. They had all kinds of kits when electronics were expensive. You could even buy a 25" color TV Kit from them. Their manuals were excellent and the components were good quality. At a point where you could buy an assembled radio, TV, power supply, etc for less than a kit it spelled their demise.

I would have nightmares about offering a kit or parts where there are lethal voltages involved to non-technical builders. The problem with just a PCB is that the card is layed out for specific components. If you deviate you better know what you can substiute and what you can't. You have to source all of the parts and unless you live in an area with a really good surplus electronics store, your cost of parts in small qty and the freight to get them will quickly eat up the concept of "low cost".

Consider also that the MP3000 unit is also a full powered, isolated BreakOut Board (BOB) which is another piece you will either have to build or buy.

I understand the idea of doing things on a budget. Also understand that the "hobby" or "project' you choose will have cost factors. You can't build and fly an RC airplane for $30.00 unless you have the skills to build your own small servo receivers and circuits. You can't get into metal working (lathe, Mill, welding) for a few bucks. Woodworking can be done with relatively cheap tools but as soon as you want to do more complex projects you start to "justify" that table saw or router table you saw in the tool catalog!


TOM Caudle
www.CandCNC.com
Reply With Quote

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361