Have to agree, in principle, with Don.
Many of you may never had done a small volume production. I have.
I cannot afford to purchase CNC tooling, metal brakes, etc. for a
project of twelve copies. Vendors are all out of state with added
shipping costs.
So I chose a good quality commercial chassis from Hammond and built
an aluminum jig to hold it in a vise for drilling. Square holes
required hand filing. Stick-on labeling. I used a pcb made by a
reputable small production house (W6PQL). Those that bought the 80w
2m amp got a pretty good product but no confusion that it was hand
made. Costs were hard to get competitive with commercial amp mfrs
but I think the reliability might have been better.
You would have to survey my customers who all read this list and most
have Elecraft radios that were used with the amp (majority had the KX3-2M).
I had an opportunity to buy out a popular line of transverters and
recently a popular preamp maker. Cost/labor time were decisive
against them (mostly at my age). Had a hard time convincing my self
that working for under $10/hour was a good deal. Each amp took about
18 hours each and my net was under $100. So I considered it
learning experience and labor of "love".
In manufacturing there is a concept called "economy of scale" which
Wayne and Eric are probably very conversant.
73, Ed - KL7UW
http://www.kl7uw.com
Dubus-NA Business mail:
[email protected]
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