New Project Kit Launched

We are pleased to announce that the new Electronic Project Kit has now gone into production.
The first batch of packaging was delivered from the printers on Friday.

We are really pleased with this kit, which is boxed and includes 9 fully functional projects to build.
The draft for this kit was shown on the blog a few weeks ago, and we updated  and changed a few areas of the design.

It is hoped that this kit will be as popular as the original, and it has been designed to be retailed by third parties too. If you are interested in reselling this product, please email us at, info@mallinson-electrical.com and we will discuss details.

The projects all include circuit diagrams, a brief explanation and we have photographed the built circuits. Based on our original concept of re-usable, solderless breadboard, the kit should provide a great foundation to the world of electronics, giving useful components that can still be useful no matter how far your hobby progresses.

At this time, we are retailing this kit through our website www.mallinson-elctrical.com and will roll out the product to Amazon and ebay over the coming weeks

example circuit diagram and photo

This is the most complex circuit, and is project 9.
You will create a circuit that sequentially turns off one of 4 LED's. The photo shows 4 red LED's for clarity, the kit includes 9 LED's, 3 red, 3 green and 3 yellow in the total of over 150 parts which include

Resistors

Ceramic Disc Capacitors

Electrolytic Capacitors

Transistors

Diodes

Variable Resistors

Battery Clip

LED’s

555 Timer IC

Light Dependent Resistor

Tactile Switches

3D Printing

The last two weeks have seen sales starting to increase slightly, I'm guessing that this might have something to do with the school holidays. The weather is a bit more variable, and sales always seem to be up slightly when it rains.
As ever, we have been really busy on the developement front (or playing, according to Kate)

3D printing is now viable in the workshop. I spent 12 hours over the last week or so assembling and calibrating a RepRap 3D printer. The printer was bought in kit form from RepRapPro, and was delivered in 10 days, just as promised.
Our Printer is the RepRap Mono Mendel. All the reprap printers are named after biologists.
I should have taken photos throughout the build, but to be honest, the instructions on the RepRapPro wiki are just so good, it is unneccessary for me to document further.
The only stumbling block came when it was time to download the software.
We have gone with Pronterface, and I didn't spot the "download all" button on GitHub, after several frustrating hours, I called in the big guns (Steve, our IT consultant). Steve looked, pondered, quizzed and generally drank all the coffe in the place before pointing out the download all button (do I need glasses?) 5 minutes later, we were ready to go.

As you can see from the close-up, I sleeved all the stepper motor wires. I only had green and yellow coloured sleeving, so I used this. I sleeved th wires because I was uncomfortable tie-wrapping them directly to screwed bar, the threads can be quite sharp, and easily able to puncture the PVC coating on the wires.
Things to note:

1. Before downloading anything, make a new folder for your files, we called ours 3D,  save everything to this location, and it will create a folder for your images, we store all our image file there
2. Do run through a calibration routine, the wiki for this is here
3. Do take your time, its easy to rush through, particularly when it comes to squaring the frame up. Time spent doing this right will pay off later. Work to the finest tolerance you can.
4. Don't assume that the settings are just right, all the options are fully configurable. If your prints are not great right off the bat, change something and look at the result
5. Do change only one setting at a time, so you can see what changes that makes

The plastic extrudes from the nozzle and sticks to the glass heated bed, but only if the glass is clean. I tried acetone, and this was hopeless. The best result came from a damp cloth with detergent, and then drying the glass with tissue.
Printing with black!
Not Happening! A new roll of PLA was delivered, and no matter what I tried, all I got was a big blob around the nozzle. result? the PLA was not good, and part of a bad batch, so it is being returned :(

Here is a very short video of the first print

The Hottest Week

The sun has been shining in Huddersfield, and its been hot!
The office has no AirCon, and no opening windows, I've lost 4 pounds in a week.

Everywhere else, people must be out enjoying the weather, because sales are down for the week :( I guess that they are making hay while the sun shines, instead of being inside and tweeking electronic circuits.

The sales being lower, has given me the opportunity needed to make some long overdue tweeks to our online standing.

Ebay
Our ebay shop now has a spanky new bespoke theme designed for us by the team at the bay web design and as time progresses I will be adding the theme to our listings. Want a sneaky peek? here is the link mallinson-electrical ebay shop

Amazon

Our Starter Kit became the 3rd best selling item in its category this week, up from 25th. I put this down to revising our images, and offering free shipping. Its now also available on Amazon.de

On wednesday, for the first time, we sold more volume on Amazon than ebay, I'm hoping its not a one off.

We had a disaster with a shipment to Ireland,
8 weeks ago, we sent a couple of laptop batteries to a company in Ireland. 4 weeks ago, they told me they had not received them. A not so quick call to Royal Mail customer services, and I discovered that

1. The batteries had been wrongly destroyed because they thought they were LiIon (they were NiCad)
2. The report had been filed under the wrong name (A hairdresser in Essex! of all things)

We agreed to send replacements, and guess what. They still haven't arrived! why?

1. The batteries were designated for destruction!
2. RM then decided that they would return to sender instead
3. RM didn't get as far as Returning, before someone decided to forward them to Ireland. This time by road and ship

If it wasn't so bloody frustrating, I would be smiling and laughing at the idiocy of it all

Mallinson-electrical.com

There has also been some big changes on our website www.mallinson-electrical.com
I have finally managed to configure the international taxes, non-EU customers can now buy VAT free.
I have also managed to install the currency bar, so you can see your products in your own currency. (as long as it is Euros, US dollars, Au Dollars or GB pounds), but now I have understood how to do it, I can add other currencies if needed.



In and amongst all this, I have got on with two new projects.

The first new project

I have it in mind to create an animated short film, using components as actors, I have made a very short sample here ( no sound, and low quality, but you get the idea)

The second new project

Based on the original "Electronic Project Starter Kit"  I am working on an upgrade, with a few more components, a more involved booklet (including 10 projects) and this time the kit will be Boxed
Here is the draft of the design

I hope to be in full production by september 2013, ready for Christmas.
Note the new company name on the box "creatronics" which will be our site just for this kit.
I hope to sell these to retail outlets as well as via our own store.


As you can see, its not all stuffing envelopes here, it would almost be work if I wasn't having so much fun (note of sarcasm? maybe)