Build Your Own Pandora Kit?

[Illuminerdi]

So, who is building the Pandora, exactly?

I mean, the PCB comes prefab from wherever it's being made, but exactly how much of it is done? I'd venture a guess that the PCB comes with everything pre-soldered, since surface mount chips/switches are much easier to install simultaneously by just placing every surfmount component and baking them all together - this is pretty common from what I understand.

But who's actually slotting the boards in the Pandora's case, connecting the LCD ribbon cable, dropping in the keys for the keyboard and game pads, etc? In other words: who's assembling it? The same company that does the PCB? Or are these being done by hand by the dev team (which I doubt, but you never know...)?

I ask because in the spirit of Pandora's open nature and DIY aesthetic, would a DIY andora1: kit be worthwhile? Would anyone besides me want the joy of assembling one of these themself? If these are being hand assembled by the dev team, or are costing a decent amount extra for assembly at the factory, perhaps a cheaper kit could be provided to those of us who don't mind/like "some assembly required".

Granted I doubt it would save much money, since the hard part is PCB assembly, everything thereafter is a bit simple, but I think that's the point - give the DIYers something to do, and let 'em save a buck or two while they're at it.

I mean, it's not like they're actively trying to keep people out of the case, so there won't be weird stuff like proprietary screws, or voided warranties for opening it, etc.

 

[---_Won_---]

So, who is building the Pandora, exactly?

I believe a company in china is assembling the pandora, not sure if they are doing the PCB as well. >?

Would anyone besides me want the joy of assembling one of these themself?

Sod the joy, if it gets me a pandora quicker I'll do it!

 

[FRZ]

So, who is building the Pandora, exactly?

I believe a company in china is assembling the pandora, not sure if they are doing the PCB as well. >?

Would anyone besides me want the joy of assembling one of these themself?

Sod the joy, if it gets me a pandora quicker I'll do it!
That's how I feel also. I mean, I need something to play with too. The devs shouldn't be the one to have all the fun. I'd buy a kit and put it together.

 

[Megamixman]

There are a lot of companies in China that will fab and assemble the PCB and then build the final product as well.

 

[Illuminerdi]

There are a lot of companies in China that will fab and assemble the PCB and then build the final product as well.

Hence the reason I ask - I'm guessing the assembly from the fab plant costs extra, even via one of these companies, so the big question is how much extra.

If production of the unit costs $299 and assembly is $1, then it would be pointless (outside of fanservice) to sell a DIY Pandora kit, since it wouldn't save much money, and since the bulk order savings are probably on a single SKU, and a DIY kit would probably be a separate SKU, in this scenario it would be mostly pointless.

However if assembly is, say, $50 bucks per unit (adjusted) then perhaps a separate run of DIY kits would be worthwhile to people? Do a 3k run of preassembled kits for $330 apiece, and then do, say, a limited run of preorder only DIY kits. Say preorders hit the 300 mark - get a price estimate on that and then ask the community if they'd accept that price.

Then it's win-win since the devs can sell these kits at reduced cost, increasing market share, and also satisfying the DIY-ers, which I imagine number quite a few among our ranks, since the andora1: is aimed at some pretty hardcore people, for whom assembling a kit like this is - dare I say - half the fun?

After all - this is an open project, very little is being withheld from us. I haven't actually seen any reference to production costs (they might not even be finalized), but this isn't really a business trying to hide the fact that they're fleecing us on cost - or at least I'm hoping that's the case, as the devs have stated that this is a relatively low profit enterprise and they're more in it to make the console and not to make a buck - so why not disclose assembly cost and make that optional...?

 

[ljones]

Uh oh. I hope the company doing the assembly work in china is a good one! I work for a small electronics assembly company (in the UK) and some of our circuit boards are made in china. Quality is often variable; it is usually OK but there have been *many* times where stuff just isn't done properly, i.e. bad soldering, cracked components, circuits not cleaned properly, missing components, components fitted the wrong way round, wrong components entirely, etc.

I hope they don't just "batch test" the pandora circuit boards either, that is they test (Say) 300 out of the 3000, the 300 work and they call them all ok(!).

ljones

 

[kloplop321]

Honestly, I don't want to have any issues, nor do I have the time to build it with my own hands. But I dunno how it would go for market prices. Shipping may be more since the parts have to be safe and separated.

 

[mrsnature]

I can imagine a flood of returns for such a 'diy' project from people who have broken it/messed up somehow.

 

[AireTamStorm]

Why? Having (let along having to keep track of) assembled and unassembled stock adds a ton of unnecessary work, and if you only sold unassembled stock, you wouldn't have a chance at mainstream. Waste of time, resources and money.

 

[TaG]

Because take up is often low for kits, parts still have to be brought together and packaged, sometimes true kits end up being more expensive than mass assembled devices.

Potentially kits can be a warranty PITA too as they have no control over assembly or firmware loading and cannot test the units before despatch.

 

[ingrin]

It would be too difficult/costly for all the reasons mentioned above.

Of course, nothing keeps you from tearing it apart and putting it back together.

you could even make it contest of skill

 

[Illuminerdi]

Because take up is often low for kits, parts still have to be brought together and packaged, sometimes true kits end up being more expensive than mass assembled devices.

Potentially kits can be a warranty PITA too as they have no control over assembly or firmware loading and cannot test the units before despatch.

Will the Pandora even have a warranty? I assume they'll fix any DOA units, but otherwise I don't really see this as having a warranty - warranties are costly, and I doubt a loose knit community project like this would have any kind of warranty beyond, say, 30 days.

And obviously if the DIY kit was more expensive/equally expensive as a prefab kit, then it's pointless, I'm just investigating a scenario where it is cheaper and easier than a prefab, that's all.

 

[waffles]

Because take up is often low for kits, parts still have to be brought together and packaged, sometimes true kits end up being more expensive than mass assembled devices.

Potentially kits can be a warranty PITA too as they have no control over assembly or firmware loading and cannot test the units before despatch.

Will the Pandora even have a warranty? I assume they'll fix any DOA units, but otherwise I don't really see this as having a warranty - warranties are costly, and I doubt a loose knit community project like this would have any kind of warranty beyond, say, 30 days.

And obviously if the DIY kit was more expensive/equally expensive as a prefab kit, then it's pointless, I'm just investigating a scenario where it is cheaper and easier than a prefab, that's all.

I think it was determined in a earlier thread that a warranty for faulty products had to be provided legally for 12 months, for product defects.

 

[Kyo]

two words: warranty hell

 

[PandoraLox]

Few people would enjoy snapping together a Pandora piece by piece - and out of that group even fewer would enjoy taking it another step & do any type of soldering (at least I sure as hell wouldn't @ the later).
Besides - mass producing stuff would mean cheaper prices in comparison to making it as a kit. And we won't even get into warrenty possibilities ("HELP!!! I THINK I BROKE THE ARM CPU TRYING TO PLUG IT INTO THE USB SLOT!!!"). Best bet would be to just take it apart when it arrives and post the YouTube if you have the urge to explore it's innards.

 

[Gilrad]

If you want some DIY hack fun, just get a BeagleBoard and build your own equivalent -- I actually think that would be a pretty fun way to spend your free time, assuming you have it.

 

[Illuminerdi]

Few people would enjoy snapping together a Pandora piece by piece - and out of that group even fewer would enjoy taking it another step & do any type of soldering (at least I sure as hell wouldn't @ the later).
Besides - mass producing stuff would mean cheaper prices in comparison to making it as a kit. And we won't even get into warrenty possibilities ("HELP!!! I THINK I BROKE THE ARM CPU TRYING TO PLUG IT INTO THE USB SLOT!!!"). Best bet would be to just take it apart when it arrives and post the YouTube if you have the urge to explore it's innards.

Well the point of the kit would be for those of us who DO enjoy that sort of thing. I'm not talking about making all of them this way and ONLY selling kits, just making that an option for those of us who actually like putting things together by hand (and have the knowledge to do so).

I have little desire to actually see the innards of the Pandora - I've seen them quite a bit in pics and videos, I just like the idea of putting one together by myself for the express purpose of A.) saying I did so from scratch and B.) saving a few bucks because I'm capable of it and would rather build my own and save money instead of buying a prefab one and paying someone else to do what I could have done, and losing the thrill of seeing it boot for the first time and knowing that I contributed to that in my own small way.

If I want to disassemble something for fun, I'll go pull apart my PC again.

And as far as the warranty goes - most people aren't going to buy a DIY kit if they can't make it happen - and even those that do, you don't have to honor the warranty if they mess it up and/or admit to breaking things. I seriously doubt it would be a huge problem - DIY computers were huge for over a decade, and they died off primarily because building them became too complicated even for hobbyists, they needed a LOT of assembly and custom equipment. The Pandora doesn't need such things (assuming the PCB comes prefab, pre-soldered, etc), and the way I'm envisioning it, a DIY Pandora kit could be built by a 12 year old with a screwdriver and the common sense to ground himself before assembling the thing.

If you want some DIY hack fun, just get a BeagleBoard and build your own equivalent -- I actually think that would be a pretty fun way to spend your free time, assuming you have it.

That's a bit too much DIY hack fun...I like the idea of a DIY Pandora that can be built in an hour or two.

A roll your own beagleboard-based-portable console would probably take months, crazy amounts of equipment and the knowledge to use them, materials...

I'm not nearly that hardcore, I want to revive the build-your-own-electronics kits that were popular in the 70s and 80s down at Radio Shack.

 

[nubie]

The simple fact is that it would take the same amount of work, and more packaging and care, to achieve basically the same thing.

Figure it this way, each part needs to be handled to package it for a DIY kit. As long as they are holding them it is cheaper to just plug the part in.

You also need labels, bags, boxes, extra packaging, instructions (I like to read them for a pastime.)

I voted bring on the soldering, but I would probably just put it inside a stuffed animal instead of the case , so they would be saving me the disassembly (which I enjoy anyway, so is it really a plus?)

Cheers guys.

EDIT:

I forgot to add, the kit would be more expensive and harder to impossible to provide a warranty for.

 

[slygamer]

I remember buying a RAM and SCSI expansion card for the Amiga 500 that came as a DIY kit. All the components had to be hand soldered to the PCB, including the RAM sockets, resistors and capacitors, then mounted in the metal box supplied. Plugged it into the side expansion slot on the Amiga 500 and nothing exploded, sparked or fizzled, which was good.

 

[mrsnature]

Will the Pandora even have a warranty? I assume they'll fix any DOA units, but otherwise I don't really see this as having a warranty - warranties are costly, and I doubt a loose knit community project like this would have any kind of warranty beyond, say, 30 days.

AFAIK in the UK goods are returnable for 4years if a malfunction is due to manufacturing fault or the product not suitable for normal use.

Anyway, I'm sure the company wouldn't want to show a complete distrust in the quality of their own product by only offering a 30day warranty, it may be a 'loose knit community project' but is still a professional business.