In reference to http://http://dangerousprototypes.com/2012/02/29/how-not-to-sell-pcbs-pcb-drawer-first-year-sales-breakdown/#comments, we need to figure out how to make the life of the people who send out free boards better.
The device needs to operate in various countries. So assume power 100V to 250V AC.
No cow tongue or other animal parts for licking envelopes, etc.
Needs to handle pre-made boards.
Webcam so you can watch!
Also needs to tape board down, insert a business card and decal, and apply labels. And print labels or better yet print on the envelope directly. As label reinforces the envelope though, could be bad to NOT use labels.
Probably needs to be no larger than a dorm sized refrigerator.
Ideas?
I have no problem with an animal tongue liker, but no tongue as tasty as cow. Cow tongue is like the best tenderloin you've ever tasted x2 ;)
My thought (and this isn't original, it has been proposed by several people) was somethign like a snack vending machine that dropped into a padded envelope (or a mechanism that loads an envelope). I would gladly trade the time & cost of labels (about 15cents for good ones like we use) for a padded mailer purchased in bulk (around $0.20) that we can print on. Most mailers have adhesive strips that can be pulled manually, so someone could spend 10 minutes pulling strips no problem (finding the boards and stuffing them is the biggest time sink). Main thing would be a big basket of (nearly) ready-to-go envelopes that can just be passed to the postman.
My main problem is while I could program and design the electronics, I am a loozer with physical construction. I can't build robotics or machines to save my life, partly due to lack of tools, partly due to lack of experience, patience, and being cheap.
Even a heavy-ish cardboard mailer like CDs sometimes get mailed in would work if you can print on them. I also thought about heavy paper that gets printed and then board gets stuck a the correct spot and it gets folded and taped. Maybe a dab of rubber cement.
I have 4 or so small steppers I can mail you BTW.
CD mailer is a good idea, a lot easier to load/feed/print. Probably a limit to the number of boards that you can fit in it though.
I was thinking something like this: http://hackaday.com/2008/03/02/diy-cd-changer/ (http://hackaday.com/2008/03/02/diy-cd-changer/)
[quote author="ian"]I have no problem with an animal tongue liker, but no tongue as tasty as cow. Cow tongue is like the best tenderloin you've ever tasted x2 ;)[/quote] its like mountain oysters, better off knowing what it is after you eat it.
the problem with shipping in low quantity is the setup time is usually much more than the actual "stuffing time"and calculating a per envelope charge is not easy.
gut feel is that anything that wasn't made out of scrap would cost far more than the time saved (for the volume of PCB's we're talking about and extremely low volumes of the PCBMailerBot itself :) ).
anything that is made out of scrap is probably going to take more tinkering time than stuffing the envelopes manually.
this is coming from someone that LOVES automation. . .i would LOVE to be proved wrong here :-D!
@asdf I like that. I have a few steppers and can come up with a solenoid or 2 if Ian actually tries to build it. The suction cup/ vacuum pickup is brilliant. But would fail on a through-hole board or one with a lot of vias. In the future, assuming Ian decides to try this, adding barcodes to the boards would probably help too. I could donate a hand scanner to Ian to build this as well. Not sure but I think it's RS-485. A scanner would also help, in the US anyway, to verify the zip+4 on the envelope. Which should be unique for each person.