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And then there were two....
Posted by Chris
on
Friday, October 09, 2009
In preparation of a demonstration to a business class at Brighton University, arranged by none other than Dr Clifford Conway, we've been busy making up clones of the (only) ScoreSure prototype device.
It was an interesting experience. It certainly taught us that the current prototyping method is only good for prototypes and not for "production quality" manufacturing, given that only one out of the extra three we made actually worked first time. Then again, it may be down to the fact that our collective soldering skills are just short of "shocking", and that one too many bridged connections meant more than one fried microcontroller. The newer, smaller PCB is on the left, and includes sockets for the MCU and EEPROM chips (because we couldn't afford to keep soldering them to the board, then frying them with a dodgy connection). The actual PCB is exactly the same for both - the difference being a bit more time was spent cutting the later one, actually following the cut-guidelines!
As far as the demonstration went, it was an interesting - albeit brief - opportunity to gauge interest in the ScoreSure device, and at least three different groups asked for more details and an email address to pursue the idea further. Chris Holden went up to the uni to represent us and concentrated on launching the ScoreSure range of devices, so here's hoping that, with a bit of assistance, it won't be too long before we're ready for a commercial launch.....
It was an interesting experience. It certainly taught us that the current prototyping method is only good for prototypes and not for "production quality" manufacturing, given that only one out of the extra three we made actually worked first time. Then again, it may be down to the fact that our collective soldering skills are just short of "shocking", and that one too many bridged connections meant more than one fried microcontroller. The newer, smaller PCB is on the left, and includes sockets for the MCU and EEPROM chips (because we couldn't afford to keep soldering them to the board, then frying them with a dodgy connection). The actual PCB is exactly the same for both - the difference being a bit more time was spent cutting the later one, actually following the cut-guidelines!
As far as the demonstration went, it was an interesting - albeit brief - opportunity to gauge interest in the ScoreSure device, and at least three different groups asked for more details and an email address to pursue the idea further. Chris Holden went up to the uni to represent us and concentrated on launching the ScoreSure range of devices, so here's hoping that, with a bit of assistance, it won't be too long before we're ready for a commercial launch.....
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