Check out some of the hardware running OpenPnP software. It’s basically a 3d printer with a vacuum pump, camera and some feeders. Can populate an entire board (or several boards) in a pretty reasonable amount of time.
Combine that with an open source reflow oven and the only two things you’d need to order are PCBs and chips, both of which can be ordered from US suppliers like Oshpark & Ti (if they ever get stock lol) or the other long list of chip fabs outside of China, like Taiwan (), Japan, Korea, etc.
I’ve seen some “ready to assemble” hardware kits go for $1-2k. I think a surprisingly affordable electronics manufacturing setup outside of China could totally be done.
For CNC parts, the MPCNC is cool and all, but not production ready as it’s not very rigid and machines aluminum way too slow. The PrintNC though, that thing can fly through aluminum, and with LinuxCNC supports tool changes and all sorts of cool features. Can be built for $2-3k
Aluminum:
Stainless:
Tool changer:
Realistically it would take months to set all this up, configure it for the parts you wanted to make, and tweak everything to get just right… but frankly no manufacturing plant is a quick setup, and all these projects have a huge open source community for support.
I built an MPCNC, made lots of wood projects and some aluminum stuff on it. It works really well for wood, but just OK for aluminum. It’s the same machine that Boardnamics started out on, in fact I followed Kevin’s guide on their website for aluminum settings. It leaves a lot to be desired though. I’m looking to build a PrintNC, maybe over the winter. Seems like the perfect balance between rigidity and cost for milling aluminum.
The ability to make circuit boards could be really valuable. I think the era of globilization is coming to an end and regions of the world may have to become more self sufficient when it comes to sourcing products.
I’m not sure I fully agree with the second part, but COVID certainly put a huge strain on the supply chain, and being able to source stuff in multiple ways is definitely useful for whatever future catastrophe inevitably comes along.
It is possible that cheap manufacturing will move somewhere else in the world.
China is in a massive economic crisis, The housing market is a multi-trillion dollar ponzi scheme resulting in a severe banking crisis. Real-estate makes up 30% of their GDP and 70% of all Chinese are invested in the real estate market. The value of the housing market has been dropping like a rock for the last year. Think of the 2008 housing crisis in the US except 10-100x bigger. China has massive infrastructure debt. High speed rail system alone is almost 1 trillon dollars in debt. Ever hear of ghost cities? They are real.
To top it all off, 30 years of the 1 child policy means they will not have much of a work force soon. Tons of older people are retiring and there are not enough people to replace them. In about 50 years, their population will be half of what it is now. Can’t manufacture without a large labor force. If their economy crashes, we will have supply chain issues that will make 2020/2021 look mild.
Deck weighs 3 pounds 6 ounces.
Enclosure cant be much more. For most shipping services the first weight bracket is 8 pounds and under, though, so 8 pounds should give you a reasonable estimate.
), Japan, Korea, etc.
