What's cooking in Sandwich Shoppe Workshop.

[dat2zip]

I thought I'd create a thread to let you know of the stuff that is cooking in works.

Some projects are confidential in nature and others are public.

I'll try to update this thread to keep you posted and you are more than welcome to discuss, speculate and even add suggestions of what you'd like to see different or new.

Edited 12/24/2006. Testing a new method to share my current status of my work by using a blog at theledguy blog.

-Wayne

[McGizmo]

[dat2zip]

At the top of my priority list is Daves new SPY converter board. The new converter board has a different Step down IC and sports a uP to provide additional features. The raw board is now at revision4 and is in final testing phase with Dave. We are having a tough time getting the uP and I am all out to make more than the one proto.

The next job in the R&D lab is another uP based controller to provide a simple UI with control from the rear push button switch (toggling power). It will use a simplier uP than the one that is in Daves project. I can't disclose much more detail on this project and what it will be driving...

Next is another uP based project to provide low battery detection for a customer. No other details can be provided.

A new Step down converter (Son Of Downboy SOB) is in the works that will phase out the DB converter board. It will be 0.55" compatible, Sandwich compatible and be more effiicient and should be less prone to failure than the current DB. There will still be two sense resistors and the formula for the resistors will remain the same. I have one proto soldered up and it looks good so far. I need to do characterization of the board, but, I think it will not need any further tweeks. It will be able to handle 1.5A to the LED safely.

A breakout board/panel for the fixed lighting is in the works. This will be revision three. It fits in a standard electrical box. Input is raw 12V and it has 4 fused outputs to feed a fixed lighting system. It has reverse battery protection, main fuse, individual output fuses and has a solid state relay with a an external control input. A photo sensor can be hooked up to the control input to switch the outputs on when it gets dark.

A new LED board that will be made out of flex material to be ultra thin will allow mounting Luxeon emitters on it and the flex can then be glued to reflowed onto a heat sink. The center pad is via'd to the bottom which is solid copper. If the slug is not neutral special attention is required to isolate the center pad.

TBD: Spin the DBx2 to the SOBx2 to improve efficiency and provide the new benefits of the SOB converter board.

TBD: A low cost converter for a customer. (assembled < $1.00)

-Wayne

[McGizmo]

A little foot note here.

Wayne hasn't even seen a pre-production sample yet but there is a light that will come to market from a "real" flashlight manufacturer that he and I have had some significant involvement in. I am not at liberty to disclose the light or manufacturer and it may be that our participation is never disclosed to the public. I received a pre-production sample and it made me feel like a real proud parent, I guess. This light, like all of my lights, would not be if it weren't for the black box of magic that Wayne has provided at its core. I guess I just wanted to say that beyond CPF and ultimately in the hands of users who could give a hoot about CPF or the Sandwich Shoppe Workshop, will be tools that came about due to the toils and efforts within this workshop. Some of you will appreciate Wayne's work without ever knowing it was his work. Your support and patronage of the Sandwich Shoppe goes beyond the obvious and it serves many of us who look to the Shoppe for solutions. Thanks guys!

[UncleFester]

Hey Wayne
To go along with SOB, how about Cree emitter sandwch board. Imagine a two AA minim@g with two 14500 LiIons, a SOB 750, a Cree Q3, and modified IMS 20. An hour and a half of regulated awesomeness!!!!!!!!

[chimo]

Can't resist...

So when is the GD (and) SOB going to show up (for sale)?
I detect a naming convention theme with the new converters.

Thanks for the update and good luck on the protos!

Paul

[dat2zip]

We put online the GD500 here.

For now, if you want a different flavor you'll have to change the resistors yourself.

-Wayne

The SOB will go through the process of testing and characterization before production. I would suspect next year some time?

Can't resist...

So when is the GD (and) SOB going to show up (for sale)?
I detect a naming convention theme with the new converters.

Thanks for the update and good luck on the protos!

Paul

[Data]

See this thread for more information on the SPY converter board.


chimo,

[dat2zip]

Status image for wk50 update.



1) First prototype for Daves SPY light.

2) Second Proto for Daves SPY light

3) New revision of the Breakout board for fixed lighting.

4) New low cost driver. (0.55", Sammie compatible, 1,2 Alkaline battery)

5) Revision 5 of actual fab'd proto of Daves SPY converter board.

6) Proto of the SOB converter board.

7) 2 mil Luxeon PCB with vias from center pad to bottom copper.

8) 1/32" PCB (same as #7) except FR4

9) Earlier revision of Daves Board

10) Another revision of Daves Board

-Wayne

[dat2zip]

Just a heads up.

We have samples of the Seoul P4 LED and are working on Seoul P4 solutions in our existing product line.

I have Seoul P4 LEDs on order and when I get a definitive delivery update I'll create a separate thread for this information. For now, I only wanted to let you know that we have been working on this now for a while and more information will be available soon.

As it stands now: We will be providing Aleph components, upgrades around the Seoul P4. Details to be forthcoming (Hopefully, next week).

-Wayne

[dat2zip]

I do not know the ramifications of what this will do, but, I created a blog to post my status of work I'm working on and what project statuses are.

Since a forum newer threads are always at the end it makes it hard to follow day to day activity or a list of activity. On a blog the most recent is always at the top and it makes it easier to see what just transpired as apposed to going to the end of growing thread that gets larger and larger.

I have to be careful of what I post as some information can not be disclosed at the moment or is in confidence with a customer.

See the first post for the URL. I added the link to the first post.

-Wayne

[dat2zip]

To be fair and honest, not all my time is spent on projects related to stuff here on CPF. Some of you may be wondering why I'm not creating or offering stuff more often.

Bottom line is I need to feed the family and I have taken on other customers in view of this goal.

Here's a picture of project I'm working on for customer. I can only say it's 300mm in diameter, has a uP on it and a storage flash card to store data onto. Of course you can see an DC power jack, Power on/off switch. Maybe, you can make out more stuff in the image.


Wayne

[DaFABRICATA]

what in the hell is that?

[dat2zip]

Here's a Rebel Tri-cluster head that I made two of to upgrade my microscope light setup.


here's a picture of the two lights in action.



You can read more about this mod here.

Wayne

[dat2zip]

Since I haven't posted in a while I thought an update is in order.

Sales have sagged. There are many factors in play here. One is sales revenue = staying alive. Slower sales means less revenue and less free capital to invest.

Since the majority of sales are targeted towards CPF we are very dependant on CPF support and sales. For whatever reason GPuP LEs are not selling well and this was something we had counted on for income to help cover expenses and also to help pay for future development of new products.

Since we are financially strapped I've been trimming new product development down a lot. It seems every month I stop more and more projects due to extreme uncertainty whether the time/effort spent will generate sales or revenue to cover the cost of the time/effort to develop it.

I know this is an oxymoron (?sp) or a catch 22 situation. That's fine. Most of you know we do this for the love of it and not because we are here to rake a buck off of you. Many of you think of us as just another online store. You couldn't be farther from the truth. We are just the two of us, Cindy and I. Neither of us really want to run this business. It is what we have fallen into. No one seems to realize how much different the converters boards developed by us are over the offshore goods. In order to make boards the size we do takes expertise, talent and years of experience working on switching power supply, analog design and electrical design experience in general. I've been working in the electronics industry since 1974.

I've actually been focused more on our nice veggie garden this year which is now busting forth veggies that are very yummy.

Projects on hold that I can recall offhand are:

Irakongi - buck

Irakongi - boost

Makita Dock accessories: (the box that holds the Irakongi comes to mind)

Shark like buck (would use Remora)

Mr. Z ( a simple classic Zetex boost converter board)

5mm LED driver: Mike Jordan has developed a driver that is the size a 5mm board and sits behind the LED. Super compact and super small.

100W derivative of the Irakongi:
I have built and tested a working boost converter prototype and would at best make this one unit and go no further. Too bad. It's running at least 92% efficient while driving 100W to the output side and will run off 36V like the Dewalt battery pack.

The dewalt battery adaptor: I have prototyped this and have a working prototype. Not clear if there is demand for such a thing. Probably use the prototype with the 100W driver to make my 100W portable light.

The Milwaulkee battery adaptor: This adaptor might be better for general purpose use over the Dewalt for lower cost and good power to weight ratio. Concept only stage.

==================================

What is ongoing.

Blue Sharks will be hitting the shelves very soon.

It has taken me many tries, restarts and many hours of thought into making Jonathans AA battery packs. I have finally mastered the fine art of assembling these and will be making these myself. Bummer, the vendor Jonathan was used wigged out on him leaving him eating the whole bill. I could take it to the local CM and have them assemble them, but, at a higher cost than what I will be charging for them. I'm only adding a ~$5.00 labor fee on top of the existing price. If they start selling I will continue making small batches on demand.

The key is on demand. It's very risky now to run 500 converter boards uncertain if 10 sell or more. The cost of components, board, and assembly of them can run anywhere from $4,000.00 to $8,000.00 depending on the complexity, quantity built etc.

We need to find a balance of time spent and return on time/money spent. It's a simple basic rule of life. Spend $10.00 requires something sold for $10.00 or more. Currently spending has been reduced to match the ecommerce sales on the shoppe which has signficantly reduced from this time last year.

I know... Economy sucks. Gas prices are higher. We all get hit.

I've got other stuff in the works that I can't disclose.

And for whatever the reasoning for nearly zero sales on the GDuP LE totally baffles me and unless I can recoup the investment of time/$$ spent to develop it the base GDuP converter remains unavailable.

CPF can make the shoppe successful and conversely CPF can take the Shoppe down.

Wayne

[dat2zip]

I have activated two designs and will be making protos early next week.

The first is the SOBuP derived from the SOB board. It should run the same code as the GDuP making bring up faster than the GDuP. I'll probably make a separate thread regarding the details and testing information.

The second is a Shark Buck converter. I don't have a name yet. It will be the same diameter as the Shark, same trim pot adjust and Remora compatible. This might be a good candidate for driving one or more P7s.

Wayne

[mfrey]

I'm excited about the SOBuP. Just my .02, please give it at least a 1 A high and a low, low.

[dat2zip]

Making progress on the SOBuP. A working prototype is on the bench and it runs the same code as the GDuP so no code development is required. This means the cost of development for the SOBuP will be substantially less than the GDuP leveraging the code development from the GDuP.

Also, fixed the programming fixture for both of them. I can now reliably re-program them.

As many of you may know already I bought Jonathans CNC mill. It's really awesome and I've been spending time learning to use it since late June. The loc-line block heads were all machined by me on the CNC mill.

My rationale is pretty simple. The shop revenue is substantially less. It's hard to justify the current development cost and associated risks. Can't afford to go out and buy 100 heads, 100 bodies and 100 tail caps on the hope that putting them online they would all sell. That's too risky in todays market.

So, how do I develop new products? One way is to have the required tools and skills to make the initial prototypes in house and if sales generate demand then it would make sense at that point to go out and pay to have a real production shop make them. While making them in house is time expensive there is no out of pocket $$$ except for material costs. This is far less expensive and less risk. It's also a much better in flexibility in that the customer may desire it to be different. Not having massive amounts already pre-made allows the design to change as the market sees it.

I made a soft jaw fixture to hold the PES heat sinks in the CNC and was able to flat top then and shave off the emitter recesses. The cost associated with this was the two aluminum 3/4" X 3" stock I used for to make the soft jaws for the vice. Instead of going to a machine shop and have new mag heat sinks made I was able to convert existing stock that no longer is selling to possibly something else that might sell.

I have prototyped a Shark Step down that in the next revision I will be testing to 3A to the load. The Remora fits on this like the standard Shark and the trim pot remains the same. This might be a good driver for the P7 LED.

A new GDuP anode board will be here next week and if all goes well I might be able to re-program the GDuP once a light engine is made. This allows future upgrades and changing of the UI. More UIs are in the works.

Wayne

[Edwood]

Having your own CNC machine is awesome. Big hit in costs up front, but the sheer convenience and fun factor cannot be denied.

BTW, for the Makita vs. Dewalt battery dock thing. Have you created a poll? One thing that makes me hesitant to get a Makita dock is that I have no Makita tools. I have mostly Dewalt tools.

A poll could be useful in determining how many people already have Batteries and tools for whichever brand in question.

-Ed

[dat2zip]

Having your own CNC machine is awesome. Big hit in costs up front, but the sheer convenience and fun factor cannot be denied.

BTW, for the Makita vs. Dewalt battery dock thing. Have you created a poll? One thing that makes me hesitant to get a Makita dock is that I have no Makita tools. I have mostly Dewalt tools.

A poll could be useful in determining how many people already have Batteries and tools for whichever brand in question.

-Ed

I hear you on the battery pack issue. It's somewhat moot as the investment cost of tooling is cost prohibitive to make another style. Even if Dewalt or B&D came out overwhelming the choice preferred I don't have any capital to invest in another battery dock. For now it's Makita and I've prototyped the 36V Dewalt. I won't take the Dewalt any further as the pack has issues in the aftermarket especially in the electric bike group.

I've looked at Makita and Dewalt and it seems the charger for these run ~$25.00 or so on Ebay new and would suspect that you can get a nice rapid charger for any tool battery pack for similar prices. For me that locks in the deal as that is not a lot of cost to support the Makita even if you didn't own the tool. Getting the batteries and chargers are common place on Ebay, Amazon and elsewhere so at least for me it doesn't matter in the big scheme of things.

Now that I have two sets of power tools (Makita and Dewalt) it's no longer an issue what I use for my LED based projects as the batteries and chargers don't matter anymore as it did when I only had one type of tool/battery style.

What matters to me is having lighting in the right place for the right application. I found single cell lights especially flashlights made terrible work lights and the thought of using them for more than an hour with primaries always made me cringe. I have come to rely on three of the Makita boxes for work light setups. One is permanent to the CNC and the others are floaters for other tools an equipment. The side lighting vs pointing straight down generate shadow detail makes everything pop in 3D. Top lighting can make it flat and shadowless and can be frustrating to see what you want to do with flat lighting.

The Dewalt light setup I use on the CNC is set on medium and is plenty bright to light up the work and tool. I use the light for hours and hours when I fire up the CNC and I've only charged it twice or maybe three times since setting it on the CNC lathe in July.

If you want to start a poll I'm sure the information gathered will be most insiteful.

Wayne

[dat2zip]

Since I already ran a run of boxes for the Makita Dock I am now working on fleshing out all the components to make the Makita box a full solution.

I am not sure if the box as a component will be desireable. My next steps will be in a complete redo of the boards for the box to be more modular. My plan will be to make the base board which will house the microprocessor, switch, LED and such and then the converter will mount to this.

The plan will allow mounting 1 or 2 Blue Sharks or 1-2 Shark Bucks, 1 Irakongi Buck or 1 Irakongi Boost.

The initial offering will most likely be the base board, two Shark Bucks and two beehive heads configured as a tri-Rebel and McR10R reflectors. The battery will be optional and the charger and batteries are easy to come by on ebay and elsewhere.

I will also strive to make the Irakongi boards fit in the Cree Bar along with a microprocessor board and that will also be made available as a completed custom light here on CPF. There will be an interest and signup list as I will only make these on demand if there is demand for these.

You can see a new head prototyped for the Makita box here.

Wayne