Paul Schreiber on Modularsynth.net
MOTM user Jeff Laity pointed the below article out to me, that he found on the modular synth website.
Thanks for the tip. Paul talking about the now and the future :-)
The people who are 'dissappointed' with me are usually assembled module customers. And, they have a right to be as I have a *terrible* track record predicting delivery dates for these. But then again, I have shipped about 800 assembled modules over the years, every one personally hand-built by me (and I do *VERY* good work, IMHO) so it's not like no one has ever seen an assembled MOTM module Smile
But this will change later this year, as I flush all the kits out of the backlog and start moving to SMT for new designs. In fact, just today I sent off to the pc board fab the 4-layer CPU board for the MOTM-730 VC Divider (it uses 2 PIC 8-bit uPs, 1 for counting and 1 to drive the LED display). The boards are about 4.25 x 4.25 and are 'generic' in the sense I can put them behind *any* format panel (cough). The boards are actually shot as "4-up", meaning there are 4 of these on 1 large panel (in a 2x2 array). I will get these back June 8th and then send them over for stuffing. I will stuff 1 panel , test the 4 and then if OK stuff the other *196* boards all in *1 DAY*.
The other boards in the set (a jack board, a switch board and a pot board) all plug into ribbon cables to the CPU board. I guess that it will take about 11min to assemble the boards to the panel (no more wires to solder!). When the MOTM-730 shows up in the cart, there will be *75* of them sitting in boxes ready to ship.
This will also be true for the MOTM-650s when they are back in the cart (later this summer) and the Cloud Generator & CG Expander. In the cart means ready to ship.
This fall, I will have ready-to-ship stock of the current MOTM modules as well.
As far as I know, I am the only modular manufacturer that is doing this *part time*. But I'm always tweaking the process and planning for 2-5yrs out. I am about to make a $4,000 CAD SW investment for designing products in *2010* when everything will switch over to BGA and other small packages (MSOP, chip-scale, etc). Yes, I 'ping-pong' all over the map, worring about inventory, then packing orders, to designing the pc boards to paying the bills (I spend about $75,000/yr on parts).
I think that people that have 'given up' on me will be surprised what unfolds over the next 8 months or so.
T J
Thanks for the tip. Paul talking about the now and the future :-)
The people who are 'dissappointed' with me are usually assembled module customers. And, they have a right to be as I have a *terrible* track record predicting delivery dates for these. But then again, I have shipped about 800 assembled modules over the years, every one personally hand-built by me (and I do *VERY* good work, IMHO) so it's not like no one has ever seen an assembled MOTM module Smile
But this will change later this year, as I flush all the kits out of the backlog and start moving to SMT for new designs. In fact, just today I sent off to the pc board fab the 4-layer CPU board for the MOTM-730 VC Divider (it uses 2 PIC 8-bit uPs, 1 for counting and 1 to drive the LED display). The boards are about 4.25 x 4.25 and are 'generic' in the sense I can put them behind *any* format panel (cough). The boards are actually shot as "4-up", meaning there are 4 of these on 1 large panel (in a 2x2 array). I will get these back June 8th and then send them over for stuffing. I will stuff 1 panel , test the 4 and then if OK stuff the other *196* boards all in *1 DAY*.
The other boards in the set (a jack board, a switch board and a pot board) all plug into ribbon cables to the CPU board. I guess that it will take about 11min to assemble the boards to the panel (no more wires to solder!). When the MOTM-730 shows up in the cart, there will be *75* of them sitting in boxes ready to ship.
This will also be true for the MOTM-650s when they are back in the cart (later this summer) and the Cloud Generator & CG Expander. In the cart means ready to ship.
This fall, I will have ready-to-ship stock of the current MOTM modules as well.
As far as I know, I am the only modular manufacturer that is doing this *part time*. But I'm always tweaking the process and planning for 2-5yrs out. I am about to make a $4,000 CAD SW investment for designing products in *2010* when everything will switch over to BGA and other small packages (MSOP, chip-scale, etc). Yes, I 'ping-pong' all over the map, worring about inventory, then packing orders, to designing the pc boards to paying the bills (I spend about $75,000/yr on parts).
I think that people that have 'given up' on me will be surprised what unfolds over the next 8 months or so.
T J
posted by T J at 4:15 PM
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