NP-41 Emulator (may be)

[Chris Chung]

(08-29-2015 12:23 AM)Benoit Maag Wrote:  Chris,

just an idea: do you think one of the big component distributors (I guess I am not allowed to quote names here) might be interested in joining you for a 2,000 pc order of such displays? After all, they have access to a worldwide market and may be confident they can sell 2,000 HP-41C type displays. One of these distributors also has a project club - this may be a good platform to promote the display and projects made with it, possibly including your new HP-41C?

Benoit

I would doubt it be possible on such a specific glass. You won't even find the more generic glass that goes on evaluation boards (like the Launchpad I used in the mock-up video). And those distributors can't deal w/ a hobbyist like myself.

One thought will be to pair w/ the DIY shops, seeedstudio, elecrow that can works w/ designers to sell kits, etc. Not sure how much risk they can take on similar projects, but I shall try this as an option. Thanks.

(08-31-2015 11:46 AM)Waon Shinyoe Wrote:  Further info:

The 600 yuan set-up cost is from a company which requires a minimum order quantity of 5000.

According to another company, the set-up cost is 1200 yuan with a minimum order quantity of 500. Unit price is about 7 yuan. (The unit price is just an estimate since the company needs to do the design and drawing to see the actual cost... and you have to pay the set-up cost first to know the accurate unit price XD)

Yes, I also saw offers from Taobao that boasts very low tooling cost, and lower MOQ. Taobao offers are way lower than Aliexpress offers and payment is an issue though. Most shops requires the chinese version of paypal (zhifubao or their bank alliance card / account) to do business.

In the end, for the handful I had contacted, the advertised offers are the "best case" scenario for a job. I.e. static or 4-mux (simple routes), "watch" size design (little ink, little glass), zebra contacts (no pin cost).

I am not ready to try Taobao sellers as they are mostly setup for local Chinese shoppers and I will need some kind of proxy which sounds trouble for custom projects.

I understand the process and related cost for a custom product and I won't imagine it could be done for a few hundred dollars. What I think I can afford is up to US$1k all around, tooling + whatever number of units (say 50+) that lands w/ it. I think it may be reasonable / doable for some smaller factories but not the larger ones (you can see their average transaction of $10,000+ in their alibaba profiles)

If anyone is in Shenzhen and be able to advise please do so. In the meantime I am continuing w/ the COG version while poking some more small LCD glass manufacturers and hope they are of the right setup for this.

Thanks and good to hear inputs from everyone.