Re: How about a Phoenix 35S? Message #19 Posted by DaveJ on 28 Nov 2007, 4:15 p.m., in response to message #15 by Maximilian Hohmann
Quote:
Does this really make sense, economically? Spend 70 Euros (or whatever it costs) for an hp-35S, of which only the housing and the keyboard contacts are kept. For 70 Euros, I can have the housing machined from a solid block of aluminium to my specs and anodized in the most fancy color I can think of!
Really?, 70 euros for the machining and the anodising?
Who will do it for that price? I don't know anyone who will even think about talking to you for $70.
You have also missed the point, and are not taking into consideration the devil in the detail with such a DIY project.
a) who's going to design this fantastic case? and I mean down to every last dimensioned detail?
b) You are going to need at least 2 halves of a calculator case to be machined, remember. You've doubled your money just there.
c) How are the keys going to work? How are they going to be maufactured?, and at what cost?, who's going to design them and prototype them?, what about the key labeling?, how are they going to feel?
d) What about the finer details like the battery door?
e) Do you really think it's going to look like anything but a "home made" calculator?
I could go on and on, the devil is in the detail.
Everyone talks and talks about a DIY calculator, but face it, it's not going to happen without BIG dollars, LOTS of development time, several spins of the development cycle to tweak it, and a lot of very committed people with the right skills. Just talk to Eric and Co, they have spent thousands of dollars on the DIY prototypes, and I think they got away with that cheaply.
So yes, a 35X makes *massive* sense economically. Roughly:
$100 for the calc
$100 for the PCB (comes down with volume)
$100 for the parts (comes down with volume)
and order or magnitude less "devil in the detail" than a full custom design. And the end result is you get the most professional looking calculator possible without all the hard work. Sure it's not perfect, but it gives you a good base to work with. A $200 calc is almost guaranteed regardless of volume.
A fully custom DIY project will not get under $200 unless you start talking several hundred units, with the first few prototypes costing thousands. So the 35X is cheaper both ways.
The 35X also has benefits in that you can't get carried away with "feature creep", and the project falling apart because people want to go in different directions with the case, batteries, number of keys, key layout, battery door, etc. Most of the key decisions are already made, and you work around what you've got.
Dave.
|