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Designed a usefull product from scratch. Anyone else followed this lonely path?

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tvtech

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Hi folks

As some of you know, I have been a member here since around March 2010. I don't create lot's of new threads asking lot's of questions. I can pretty much stand on my own two feet as far as electronics and my field goes....

Anyways, I had this idea back in September 2010. It was born out of curiosity to see if it can indeed be done as said device would be beneficial to help uplift the poor kids whom our "government" is determined to dumb down for voting purposes. Cannon fodder for continued X marks next to pretty pictures of politicians they recognize.

Sorry for the small wall of text coming.

Yes it is a LED light. Yes it will enable students to study without resorting to candles in rural area's of South Africa. And yes, it is rechargeable at the child's school where they have mains. Totally flat battery is fully charged in 3 Hours. Yes, the charger is built in. Nothing to loose or forget by the child. And reading/studying/learning is possible for around 3 Hours minimum with no risk of anything burning. No more fallen candles and unexplained fires.

Back to the Title of my post:

Designed a usefull product from scratch. Anyone else followed this lonely path?

Electronics were done and dusted 4 December 2010. Professionally made double sided
PCB's. Not a single LED failure in 1200 hours of testing so far.

My huge problem now is the lonely walk of a casing. Absolutely no one can help. Yes, I bought a Dremel, Router Table and correct router bits and so on.

Yes, I can more or less get consistency with what I have. Good for now. Production NO.

A dedicated mold is out of the question now. I don't have R100000,00 to throw around yet. Got to make money first.

This is a global mind fulck for me. Anybody been there?

Thanks,
Tv Tech
 
(I don't think you should use the F word, the moderators will ban for that)

As for the case, custom enclosures are always going to cost $$$ for setups, and they are not that cheap per unit even after paying big setups.

What you could do is some serious research on ready made enclosures direct from China, there is a huge range out there. Your product does not need to be too pretty for now so you just need something the right size. For machining you can machine the openings yourself or contract China to do it, it may benefit you to do it locally to create some jobs.

Otherwise if you really decide it MUST be a custom enclosure then you can obtain funding etc from a business partner and pay the $10000 setup and $1 to $2 per unit for custom enclosures. Just watch where you have them made, some firms have a history of pumping out nasty competing copies using molds YOU paid for.
 
The shape is unusual.

Sorry for swearing. Be good Mr RB.
You produced/designed any goods that you want to take to market?

Cheers
TV Tech
 
hi tvtech, i have done what your doing but with an even bigger product, i myself am an engineer (toolmaker) so i made the housing for one of my MK1 products myself. I didnt put it on the market in the end as the MKII quickly followed and was much more superior. This project i am still working on.

If you have a drawing of what you wish to create then i may be able to help you out.
 
hi tvtech, i have done what your doing but with an even bigger product, i myself am an engineer (toolmaker) so i made the housing for one of my MK1 products myself. I didnt put it on the market in the end as the MKII quickly followed and was much more superior. This project i am still working on.

If you have a drawing of what you wish to create then i may be able to help you out.

tvtech I'm not sure if you realize what Cobra1 just offered. The engineering for the housing or enclosure will need to be done in a program with vectors and such. He is offering his help which will be posted on ETO to benefit many folks out there doing the same thing, if you draw it he can try to get it done in a Cad program or something useful to reproduce.

I'm only assuming this is what your offering. Cobra1.

Please explain if I'm off base.
 
Hi tvtech,

you might also make a "tailored" enclosure from scratch (more or less :)

Here are two ways I used to make a room temperature indicator for my parents:

The main circuit (including power supply) was housed in double sided FR-4 material. Bottom and side panels were soldered together inside for a stable box.

The 10 LED column was housed in a top box made of acrylic glass with the bottom having 6mm thickness (for threaded holes)

I didn't have any special tools to cut panels to shape and just used a fretsaw and a file for accurate and snug fit of the two parts. (upper and lower box).

To mount the two bodies drill 3mm dia holes through the FR-4 material and drill threaded M2.5 holes into the bottom acrylic glass. Using lentil head screws they will be flush with the copper surface.

If you want to give the copper a good finish use some strands of a brass brush which you glue into a round piece of wood and use a drill press to gently scratch an overlapping circular pattern on the copper with the brush rotating at max. speed.

(That pattern might be seen on box cars used to transport frozen food.)

To prevent the copper from turning green after some time you might use one or two coats of clear boat laquer.

Regards

Boncuk
 

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hi tvtech,
I ran my own electronics design and manufacturing company for many years, my best advice to you is to avoid customised cases/boxes at all costs, [pardon the pun]

Find an off the shelf case/enclosure that is as close as possible to the 'ideal', then modify your design to suit, also ensure the cases can be sourced from a number of suppliers. There are lots of ABS/plastic case types available, also dont forget the anti tamper screws.
When you find the case that will do the job, produce the machining drawings and contact your local machine shops for quotes to do the required machining and engraving.
Initially go for small quantities, say 6 or 10 cases.

Regarding the school recharge, I would suggest a dedicated charger at the school/s that could charge say 10 pupils light units. This will be cheaper than a inbuilt charger and the light unit could be smaller.

If you ever get to production quantities, say over 500 light units, then look around for a model shop/moulding shop to produce the cases.

Regards
 
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Hi,

Killivolt, yes i was offering to assist in the design of the enclosure, i have a good imagination for enclosure designs and its not always a requirement to go and have expensive tooling done,
heres a design using a peice of glass a sticker and a piece of plastic to house the circuit board.

**broken link removed**[/IMG]
 
Candles instead of electric lights?
Then how do they watch TV?
 
I am very grateful for the replies and advise from you folks. Thank You for your very kind offer cobra.

I will keep you all updated.

Thing is now I canno't give drawings, photo's or anything else to a toolmaker/tool and die maker as I need to get temperatures down inside the unit to keep the LED's cooler. Hence the housing thing....holes in the right places and so on.

The last thing I want to do now is piss someone off who want's to help me.

This project is real and is not some crappy thing in my imagination. I spoke to EM around 2 Months ago and he is prepared to Time,Date stamp this for me to ensure Prior Art.

Irrefutable evidence for me to prevent some curious chance taker on the WWW stealing my idea and then Patenting it. I trust ETO members. However anybody out there can stumble on this site and read everything too.

So, I will keep tweaking and cooling. ETO will get all when all is ready and good to go.

Thanks guys
TV Tech
 
Candles instead of electric lights?
Then how do they watch TV?

We are talking South Africa here. Believe it or not there are Rural communities without TV. Only a radio for news.

Bad stuff.

Cheers
 
They're probably better off without it.

You are probably right. The kids still want to learn though even though the parents don't care.

It's an Octagon BTW :)

Octagons don't roll so easy.

Cheers
 
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what type of LED's are you using, and with what power source??

If there getting that hot, it sounds like your running high power LED's
 
Irrefutable evidence for me to prevent some curious chance taker on the WWW stealing my idea and then Patenting it. I trust ETO members. However anybody out there can stumble on this site and read everything too.
Thanks guys
TV Tech

Ahh hot chassis, no transformer. Lots of fun.

As for Patent, LED light with a wall charger, no chance.
 
Why don't the kids use rechargeable flashlights? A 2500mAh NiMh can run an LED for ages with the help of a simple circuit called a Joule Thief. You can buy a bulk AA charger and charge up the batteries while the kids are in class. It'll be far safer and lighter than hauling around a mains plug, should be cheaper too.
 
@blueroom. All will be explained. It's so simple it's wicked :)

Time is all I require now to get all perfect.

Cheers

PS: I like your signature...more or less sums up my reason for designing and developing this beaut.
 
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