Distorque Project PCBs - Would anyone be interested?

[CynicalMan]

I'm looking for ways to finance my habit, and this is one of my ideas. I'm considering selling PCBs for the projects on my website. I'm curious whether there's enough interest here to make it worth it. Here's my plan.

• Smaller PCBs would cost somewhere between $5 and $10. I haven't decided the exact price yet.
• Larger PCBs would cost around 1.5 times the cost of smaller ones, but I don't plan on selling any larger ones for a while.
• Shipping to Canada would be around $1, at 2 to 4 business days.
• Shipping to the US would be around $6, at 6 to 12 business days.
• Payment would be through Paypal.
• For now, I would sell PCBs for one or two projects, but I could add more if there are enough sales.
• PCBs would come with part list, schematic, and PCB instructions.

So, is anyone interested? If so, what projects would you be interested in?

[CynicalMan]

I see... I can understand that the shipping to the US can be a bit of a turn-off. Still, that's what Canada Post charges and I don't think I can get around it in any way.  If anyone has any ideas for that, let me know. Still, I'm currently leaning towards the lower end of the price range I quoted, so it shouldn't be that bad.


Even if you're not interested in buying PCBs, I'm curious about your opinions of my projects. Which projects would you be most interested in building, if you were to build one?


Also, shipping to Canada is easy for me. I could sell PCBs within Canada. Canadians wouldn't have the high shipping costs and times that we normally have to deal with. I don't want to compete directly with places like GGG and Tonepad, but I don't think Canadians are a huge market share. I could avoid selling PCBs that are already sold by other sites, but I'm open to any ideas. So, are there any Canadians who are interested in getting some PCBs?

[Taylor]

How were you planning to ship stuff? I'm able to ship boards worldwide from the US for about $4. It's possible to go even cheaper if you don't use a padded envelope, but I'm paranoid about that.

I like your multi-opto idea - I actually had the same exact idea but never got around to doing it (figured the ticking would be too bad) but you've done it a little better than I would have.

[CynicalMan]

How were you planning to ship stuff? I'm able to ship boards worldwide from the US for about $4. It's possible to go even cheaper if you don't use a padded envelope, but I'm paranoid about that.

I guess USPS is cheaper than Canada Post. Within Canada, I can ship using Lettermail, which costs less than a dollar. I was planning to use normal envelopes. The letters I get with paper in them don't even get bent, so I don't think damage is an issue. For the US it's trickier. Canada Post can only ship goods internationally in parcels, so the price goes up to between five and six dollars. Add in mailing supplies, and the price is pretty high. I've checked out Fedex, UPS, and Purolator, and there's no better way.

I like your multi-opto idea - I actually had the same exact idea but never got around to doing it (figured the ticking would be too bad) but you've done it a little better than I would have.

I had fun with that, but I stopped working on it because all of the individual effects you could do were pretty mediocre. It's simple, but it wasn't really worth continuing to me. If anyone wants to pick up on the design for that one, they can be my guest.


I'm currently putting a list together of stompboxes that don't seem to be currently offered as PCBs, but I'm open to suggestions if anyone wants a particular pedal.

[Skruffyhound]

If there was a sound clip for the speaker sim, that's the one I would be inclined to build. Nothing wrong with your projects but for me the PCB's I'm inclined to buy are builds that are much more complicated, or that include chips with code (I can't write code as yet) and therefore overall involve lots of work/high risk of failure/massive debugging.
Either that or something smart and fabbed that fulfills a specific need I have at a low price.
You may be shooting yourself in the foot by posting vero layouts. The people who might shell out for a PCB are those who can't DIY it, but if they have a much cheaper option why part with the cash.
I know from your posts that you know your stuff, but it's going to take at least one successful run of boards for a niche product (your own design or some other popular effect) to start this ball rolling. Question is what do Canadians want.
Good luck with it though.

[CynicalMan]

If there was a sound clip for the speaker sim, that's the one I would be inclined to build.

Working on it. 

Nothing wrong with your projects but for me the PCB's I'm inclined to buy are builds that are much more complicated, or that include chips with code (I can't write code as yet) and therefore overall involve lots of work/high risk of failure/massive debugging.
Either that or something smart and fabbed that fulfills a specific need I have at a low price.

I understand what you're saying here. That's what I'd use PCBs for as well. However, this is targeted more towards beginners who may not want to build on vero or perf, or to people who are just more comfortable building on PCBs.

You may be shooting yourself in the foot by posting vero layouts. The people who might shell out for a PCB are those who can't DIY it, but if they have a much cheaper option why part with the cash.

I know.  Still, I'd feel rotten if I took information away from the community for the sake of personal profit. The PCBs also offer a few advantages over vero. The vero layout I have are unverified; I don't use vero. The PCBs would be verified. Also, they would come with instructions and a parts list. They would be silkscreened with the parts. Finally, you'd be supporting an acitve and contributing DIYer.

I know from your posts that you know your stuff, but it's going to take at least one successful run of boards for a niche product (your own design or some other popular effect) to start this ball rolling. Question is what do Canadians want.

That's exactly what I'm trying to determine through this line of questioning. My plan is to find out which effect Canadians want PCBs for the most, and to make a run of them with good prices and low shipping. Then, if that works out, I can start selling more PCBs for other projects. So, come out of the woodwork, Canadians, and tell me what you want! (I know you're in there.  )