Re: How do I even manufacture a device ?

On Mon, 30 Oct 2006 05:17:55 GMT, the renowned Robert Baer
<robertbaer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Spehro Pefhany wrote:

On 29 Oct 2006 19:23:41 -0800, the renowned
srinivasan.murali@xxxxxxxxx wrote:


Hell All,

I am a newbie to the field and I am kind off intrgued on how people
manfucture small electronic devices. That is, say, I have an idea: to
make a "calculator" kind of device that can take the amount of time you
run as an input and gives the calories burnt as output.

How would I manufacture such a device ? Do I write a computer program,
give it to some manufacturer (say, in China) or should I sit and
design the hardware blocks ??

Any help would be greatly appreciated (I am kind of really curious :))

thanks
srini


Sounds like there is virtually no hardware design to your proposed
device, so any work on the design of the hardware you could do (as a
neophyte) would not likely be of any help, and the manufacturer might
misinterpret your suggestions as constraints, thus increasing the
overall cost.

You could ask a manufacturer to produce a finished product which
implements pretty much any algorithm you could imagine. They would
want a large order paid for by irrevocable L/C at sight or T/T in
advance and/or NRE money up front. They would either get their own
engineers to do the design or farm it out. You could also get a
consultant to write the program and produce a prototype, which might
allow you to retain more control over the details of your algorithm
(perhaps not reveal it at all), and then deal with a manufacturer (it
also helps with market testing and getting funding). You could hire
your own industrial designer to produce a housing prototype or go with
whatever the manufacturer wanted. There are many, many approaches
which may be viable depending on how much money you have to put into
the project, and how sure you are of the market.

I'm currently doing a couple of projects like this for established
companies, which actually involve very little electronic design
(unfortunately). I'm even in the process of getting a engineering
post-graduate certification in plastic injection mold design to better
deal with (and between) offshore tool and die makers and US and
Canadian industrial designers. The process isn't so different from
electronic design. A bit of math (not so much), some tricks, some
fancy simulation, a fair number of standard components to select, and
a lot of documentation. More custom stuff and more 3D CAD such as
Solidworks or Catia. The end result is one piece worth maybe $25,000
(which can produce perhaps 1,000,000 parts) rather than, say, 2,500
pieces worth $10 each, but the design process isn't so different. They
have this irritating habit of referring to "tenths of an inch" when
they mean increments of 0.0001" (tenths of a thousandth of an inch).


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
Which one (Solidworks or Catia) is easier for a neophyte to learn and
use, and what do they cost?

I don't have any experience with Catia, though I've heard it's not so
hard to learn (seems to be popular with the automotive industry?).
Pro/E is supposed to have a steeper learning curve (again, hearsay).
Cost-wise Solidworks runs around $6-8K depending on options (more if
you want the COSMOS FEA features). I think it's significantly less
expensive than Catia (closer to $20K, IIRC).

If you've only used 2D CAD like Autocad, using a 3D parametric
modelling package is like night and day. You can set up equations
and/or Excel spreadsheets to determine relationships and
configurations. Change a dimension of a feature anywhere in the tree
and the model rebuilds with the new size. You can create a plane and
generate an instant section view, rotate it, make it partially
transparent etc. and see what's going on everywhere- helps to see if
you've inadvertently created too thick wall sections that will result
in sink marks in the molded product. The mold related features are
perhaps still a bit weak, but getting significantly better every year.
I think it's faster to learn than most 2D packages- just work through
some tutorials and if you're like me you'll take to it like a fish to
water. It has a Windows look-and-feel. AFAIUI, Solidworks is not
really set up to help you generate complex compound curves (NURBS),




Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
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