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verified publisher icon NPoole

Design enhancements

Open j3qq4hch opened this issue 3 years ago • 6 comments

Greetings! I really like your idea and the implementation in a form if mostly PCBs. I hope your crowdsupply campaign will be succesfull. However I see at least several improvements to this project that may be very useful for high scale manufacturability, BOM cost and components lead time reduction. As well as for higher device reliability. Please let me know if you are interested. If not - just delete this issue. Best regards.

j3qq4hch avatar Apr 23 '22 12:04 j3qq4hch

I think we're locked in for the campaign hardware, but I'm happy to hear any feedback you have for future revisions or "Pro" model offerings.

NPoole avatar Apr 29 '22 18:04 NPoole

Well, I will just leave a small list of enhancements here

  • Switch to a cheaper and more available MCU like something from STM32G0 series
  • Get rid of the 3d printed part and replace it with either another PCB or laser cut plastic part.
  • The way everything holds together using soldered pins is a bit untidy... It is always better if no circuitry is exposed. Also, its good to have a device that can actually be disassembled with a screwdriver
  • It seems like something has to be done with the indicator. I think its readability can be improved a bit.
  • I am not sure but it seems that mechanical buttons may be replaced with sensor ones. It may reduce the BOM cost a little bit and also ease the overall construction.

j3qq4hch avatar Apr 29 '22 19:04 j3qq4hch

Thanks for your time! I'm going to leave this issue open for the time being while I collect feedback and compile it.

NPoole avatar May 16 '22 18:05 NPoole

I would add a few things to the list:

  • It would be really nice if it could be enhanced to handle slightly taller and possibly wider components (1206 and SOD-123, for a couple of examples).
  • I find that the count is sometimes off by 2 or 4...not sure why. That's not a huge issue for me, but I wonder if that could be improved. Maybe it depends on where the tape is cut exactly in relation to the holes.
  • I also think the LED display readability should be improved a bit. Some of our office lighting makes it unreadable.
  • Future enhancement to work with additional tape widths would be great.
  • I might try to retrofit mine with a rechargeable battery. That would be a good option for future consideration.

It is pretty nice for a budget-friendly counter, though!

je2442 avatar Aug 31 '23 21:08 je2442