Anyone here ever brought a hw product to market?

[Jumper]

Hi,

You can always have a look at one of my favorite stores www.enclosures.com.cn . I buy boxes in single numbers from their Beijing store and the prices are really nice and they have alot of different shapes and styles in stock.

I can totally agree when you say the enclosure is the most hard thing to solve to get a nice looking product. For small volume products it is just to find a currenly avaliable box and squeeze the design to fit it.

In the same mall they also sell PCB, overlays, dome foil solution and tons of connectors and components.

If it looks home made.. it is not really a good start for the sales.

/me

[Jerson]

Have you looked at sparkfun? They have a tie up with pololu and others to give you custom enclosures. I haven't used their service, but, it may be helpful to you,

[rsocor01]

HankMcSpank,

There are many manufacturers that have premade enclosures that can be customized. To mention a few,

http://www.pactecenclosures.com/
http://www.serpac.com/
www.polycase.com

However, the site that Jumper mentioned www.enclosures.com.cn seems to be a good option because it should be cheap.

Robert

[HankMcSpank]

Thanks for links & feedback gents ...still pondering whether to bother! (it's not just the enclosure, but then the printing etc)....an all this for something that wouldn't likely sell for a great deal of money anyway!

Anyway, I'll digest the URLs you've given me & take it from there.

[mtripoli]

I've brought many products to market. I wouldn't get hung up on the enclosure; that is the least of your worries.

I'd say take a step back and look at the bigger picture; how much of your time and money do you have to devote to the project? What will your sales outlet be? Internet is fine (and I'm a big proponent of it) but then keep in mind you have to have a website, how you'll collect funds (CC, Paypal, etc.).

I wrote an article for a magazine once where I outlined the task of bringing a simple product to market. The magazine later told me they had one of the biggest repsonses to that article, almost all saying how utterly depressing it was! Once you get past ordering your first run of boards, ordering components, populating, testing, installing, writing directions, inventory - I'm free-wheeling here... it soon makes you wonder how anything makes it to market. And if it's any good, here come the knock-offs.

Didn't want to ran on anyones parade... figure out first if you really want to do it.

[prstein]

Hi Hank,

I'm coming in late to this conversation, and I'll second what mtripoli says. One item he didn't mention was after the sale tech support, which can suck the will to live right out of you...8^)

I've brought a handful of products to market, most of them intended for little niches. For the most part anything I've designed that sells more than a hundred units is a "hit out of the park." On the other hand my prices are reasonable but by no means cheap. I don't know the nature of the product you're considering but I do believe there is something to be said for operating in the niches. It's small enough that a lot of the problems are surmountable--maintaining parts isn't much, it's not lucrative enough to worry about knockoffs, etc.

There was a series in Nuts and Volts maybe 10 years ago (?) called (I think) the Design Cycle. I wouldn't be too surprised if one of those articles, the one about taking a "project" and making it into a "product" was the one mtripoli was referencing. I remember a lot of negative reader feedback on it but I found it to be highly accurate. I'm not afraid of adversity and I'm not above tilting at windmills.

But it is hard. A lot of the best things, the best accomplishments, are hard. Go into it with eyes open, because all of those negatives are real, but if you want to do it then damn the consequences and just go for it!

Best Regards,
Paul

[rsocor01]

Hi Hank,

I think the hardest part of selling a product is advertising it, getting people to know your product. There are many well known companies that sell products designed by somebody else. For instance, Sparkfun.com is always adding new products to their webpage. You can send them a prototype and maybe they like your idea, just a thought . On the downside, I personally would be worry of somebody else stealing my ideas . Patenting a design costs a lot of money and many times it is not worth it.

Robert