Contextual Electronics highlights stories of people using electronics to solve their problems. Listeners will hear how to use electronics in their own projects, by learning about new technologies and techniques. Tune in each week to hear a different guest and how they are using electronics to solve a problem in their life. Contextual Electronics is also an online education program. Started in 2014, CE pairs theory and practice for learning electronics. In 2020, we started the podcast to highlight stories of using electronics in real world contexts.
https://contextualelectronics.com/category/podcast
CEP010 – Low Volume and Low Cost with Timon Skerutsch
Welcome, Timon Skerutsch (@timonsku)! Show notes
- Timon and Chris know each other from Twitter and from past Hackaday events (Timon won one of the Hackaday Prize awards for his Linux Tablet)
- Timon has been doing experiments with the recently released Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4)
- This includes creating a carrier board using an Othermill circuit board router
- This also led to the creation of the Piunora, a Rasberry Pi in the shape of an Arduino Uno.
- Interested in getting a Piunora? Sign up here for the mailing list (general) and sign up here for the Crowdfunding campaign
- His dayjob is working on a technical exhibitions, such as museum exhibits and trade fairs.
- He is the only person there, so there are limited mentorship opportunities
- He is mostly self taught
- The low volume nature of technical exhibitions means Timon has had to reduce costs without volume
- Bunnie Huang‘s book
- Chris thought it was the Shenzhen Guide (it was not what Timon meant)
- The Hardware Hacker: Adventures in making and breaking hardware
- When finding a manufacturer, it’s important to build relationships
- Reducing cost means that you might need to move outside “western” manufacturers
- It’s easier to find alternative suppliers using sites like LCSC or Alibaba
- Import costs can be high if manufacturing in China
- The rough ABC Bill of Materials (BOM) discussed during this episode
- The ABC Rev A Schematic is available on the course site now
- “It’s often about finding the right keyword for the components you’re searching for”
- Selling a “pro” and a “lite” version can offer the board at a lower price for people that don’t care about every feature.
- Check out Timon’s youtube
- Timon helps out with and participates on the Maker Cast, a monthly show that highlights different people on YouTube who make things and discuss them.
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