Well, I never figured I would be writing this thread when I started here a bit over a year and almost 2300 posts later. But here goes.
I would like to offer my service and time to make your custom ideas become something you can hold in your hand. While I am not offering electronics work, I am offering custom fabrication and/or light machining. I have access to a full sized manual Bridgeport, welder with stick and MIG (carbon steel, stainless, and aluminum). While I do not have any welding certifications (they are only good for 6 months without recertification) I am not a bad welder by any stretch of the imagination. I am also skilled in light hand machining using drills, grinder, Port-a-band saws, hand files, tapping holes, etc.
Fair warning though on my lead times if your piece requires the use of welding or the full sized Bridgeport. They are not located at my house. They are both equipment at a friends shop, and I work a ton of hours. My current work schedule is 6 days on 3 days off. And this is on top of being married with 2 kids under the age of 6. So, these services would have to wait until my days off. But if the work you are looking to have done doesn't need this I can work on it after the kiddos bed time in my garage.
While I would like to offer assembly services for keyboard PCB's, I can't at this time due to my lack of soldering experience. I just wouldn't feel comfortable charging for that quite yet.
If you have any ideas for something you want done just post here and/or PM me. If it is an idea that you think others might benefit from please post here and we can possibly get some batching done and possibly drop the price down a bit.
Some of the recent projects I have worked on for the community has been the Panavise group buy that Mkawa conducted recently. If you don't know the thread
here is a link. What I did to modify these vises (aside from the powdercoat) was to drill out the threads for the thumb wheel fixator bolt, I then tapped the new hole for a threaded insert, and installed a 1/4"-28 tpi bolt. The purpose of this was to move the constant friction from steel on aluminum (aluminum likes to gall and seize on steel hardware) to steel on steel, not to mention the fact that you just gained a significant amount of clamping force on the ball head with no additional torque on the bolt. This will allow for heavier parts to be supported or higher forces exerted on the same weight object without deflection and unwanted movement.
The next project that I am working on, are PCB holders for the panavise. While the end user would still need to purchase the arms (unless already own a set) but I can make a bracket to mate up with the panavise perfectly, and without that annoying extra joint in the round stock. Plus, I am using extruded aluminum (6061 t-651) for both the round and the square stock which is fairly cheap, and looks 10 times better than the stock Panavise castings. I have done a brushed look on the square stock using 320 grit sandpaper dry and I have used 1000 and 2000 grit wet sandpaper (wet or dry here referring to how I actually used it). There is a very noticeable difference. The square stock cross bar can be of any length but the round stock will be kept to 3 inches, about an inch shorter than the default piece available from the makers of the panavise. If one of these would intrest you feel free to PM me. I have enough raw material for one more upright at 4 inches and I have a piece of square stock at about 48 inches. The round stock is pretty cheap to order including shipping but the square stock is a bit more expensive to ship because of the 6 foot lengths.
Any other ideas, submit here and we can discuss general ideas in public and details in private.
One word of warning. I will only actively work on one project at a time due to pretty much any time I have to work on it would be after the kiddos are asleep and the wife is in bed.
I will accept multiple projects and have a queue setup but active work on one project at a time. For the most part I should be able to put money up front for materials and shipping, but for larger/more expensive materials I would probably ask for some money upfront and or source yourself and mail to me.
