Volo wrote on 2021-06-03, 13:19:

Sorry. A bit of "live" intervened (who ever invites this "life" thing?).
I've lost my access to project e-mail for a week or two. Shall answer all outstanding messages shortly.
CNC guy still has had no chance to do the cases.

No worries Volo, this "life" thing seems to happen whether we like it or not and it's really important to take care of it. Thanks for keeping us updated.

Thanks for the update 😀

SITUATION REPORT

There is a saying: if anything can go wrong – it will.
In my case – if there could be a delay, there was.

The CNC guy “suddenly” decided to not work with me, well after taking my order! Thankfully, he returned the cases. I had to scramble and fund a new contractor. After many weeks of failing to cooperate with half a dozen of guys (who decided to tenfold their price at the last moment, making the whole venture at a loss), I managed to arrange a production run on quite reasonable terms.

Lookie what I’ve now got sitting on my table:

 
 
I have assembled the first production device. It is pretty nice! Can’t show it to you, as it is a fingerprint magnet – I keep it sealed.

THE CONS:

1. The cases were handled without gloves – there are fingerprints (Not mine! I do the final assembly gloved).
2. The fit is slightly worse, than CNC prototypes, but it is good enough.
3. There are a lot of filings inside. They get everywhere. While I try to brush them off – some might still get into the packaging.

THE PROS:

1. IT’S FINALLY DONE!!! Boy, this venture was annoying.

Been testing the firmware for a while playing Win95 Sonic CD… with a SNES controller (because, why wouldn’t I?). It just works. Pretty boring, actually.

Things to do:

1. Visit central post office to show them the sample and inquire of cheap methods of shipping. I think it shall be one of those yellow paper bags often used by Chinese. My local post office prices are bonkers and go contrary to official offers.
2. Design a user manual (to act as a wrapping paper for shipping).
3. Assemble like 20 of the things to make a pretty photo.
4. Setup one of those Skrill thingumabobs to facilitate payments. Initial orders shall be fulfilled by e-mails. Upon finalizing the order I'll generate a card payment link for the price of the device and . I shall later dive into setting up a proper online shop.

Guys, thank you for being with me this last year. This thing should’ve been over in 4-5 months, really.
Life is weird.

Wooow! Yes, good news!

Thanks for the update 😀

Congrats ~

Woohoo congrats!

Congrats, indeed! Ooh, I am so hyped to buy one of these.

Good timing! Literally two days ago I took apart an old PS2 keyboard (a crappy early 2000s dell one) and was figuring out its key matrix. I was planning to get a breadboard and make a janky setup where you plug in leads from the two contacts of a dummy controller's individual buttons to the different lines of the matrix. I had picked out the controller for it, but I haven't begun hacking it up nor have I bought the breadboard and leads I'd need. You might've saved me a lot of hassle with this perfect timing. There's a part of me that still kind of wants to do it, but I'll put this on the backburner for now.

A suggestion, if I may: If you're planning to use a bubble mailer (I think that's what you're referring to), find out if they're free. The envelopes themselves, I mean. If so, I'd suggest double or triple bagging them for extra padding. I don't know if it is due to covid, or what, but over the last year I've had a lot of packages come to me from overseas that look like they were thrown down several sets of stairs with a spike trap at the bottom. And not just from China, but one from Australia, one from Scotland, a couple from Russia. Nearly everything shows up looking like it's been in a war. Hrm. Maybe it's USPS that's doing it, now that I'm thinking about it. Maybe they arrive here fine, but then USPS just throws them around when they get bored or something.

Also, I'm not familiar with Skrill (I'm not picky, I'll go with whatever you choose), but you could always use Tindie. Seems like just about everyone who is making indie electronics projects sells them on there these days.

Excellent news!!!! I'm glad you were able to get everything sorted out in the end.

Great news Volo, thanks for all your effort into making this a reality. A quick question about payment: I use paypal, is that compatible with skrill? or will I have to create an account, enter my credit card an everything with them?

Thanks again!

Congrats!!!

Looking forward to when you let us know how to pay for our order. Great work, and well done for being determined and seeing this through.

Slight update.
Got banned from 2 payment providers already.
They say trying to sell something you've made is a scam. They hint that they prefer HYPE and self-improvement consulting trainings.

Volo wrote on 2021-08-20, 06:43:

Slight update.
Got banned from 2 payment providers already.
They say trying to sell something you've made is a scam. They hint that they prefer HYPE and self-improvement consulting trainings.

Ugh, how difficult. Is Paypal an option? It seems to work ok for keropi selling his PC-MIDI cards.

Paypal is definitely much easier for most people, and you can insist it is gifted so no additional fees.

Pierre32 wrote on 2021-08-20, 07:27:

Ugh, how difficult. Is Paypal an option? It seems to work ok for keropi selling his PC-MIDI cards.

arthur071169 wrote on 2021-08-20, 09:31:

Paypal is definitely much easier for most people, and you can insist it is gifted so no additional fees.

Paypal is not an option for me, as it does not allow accepting money in Ukraine. It must be due to those HYIP and fraudster gurus. Still searching.

As of now, I plan doing deals as follows:

1. I let you know, when I am ready to ship.
2. You write me an email, we negotiate the number of devices, extra wire and shipping.
3. You render me with your shipping address;
4. I reserve shipping arrangements and tracking number;
   
5. I email you an online invoice (a payment link) for the agreed amount, poayable with a banking card;
   
6. Send you your purchase.

Tracked shipping seems to be:
Land snail mail: US$6 (including $1 registration and packaging);
Flying snail mail: US$7 (including $1 registration and packaging).
(may be updated if I find a better deal)

Still looking for sub-5% payment processing fee option.

IMHO, If you can't find a better payment processing deal, just add a couple more dollars onto what we're paying.

arthur071169 wrote on 2021-08-20, 09:31:

Paypal is definitely much easier for most people, and you can insist it is gifted so no additional fees.

Sadly, some of us do not have the option to send money as gift using paypal, only the regular way.

Sounds good Volo.

Kyosho wrote on 2021-08-20, 15:31:

IMHO, If you can't find a better payment processing deal, just add a couple more dollars onto what we're paying.

Agreed.

Volo wrote on 2021-08-20, 14:59:

Still looking for sub-5% payment processing fee option.

This is lower than 5% and it worked to Ukraine last year

https://wise.com

Dear Sirs, good news!

Spent a bit of time chilling at the country, crimping and flashing:

And made myself 16 devices. Packed and ready to ship:

Mail me. I accept US ABA transfers, EU SEPA, UK local payments, Wise and banking cards (though I couldn't check if banking cards worked)

The bad news: each 6th device seems to be faulty (three so far). I hope it is a matter of reflowing solder, but be aware that some of the later batches might be slightly singed due to manual soldering.