HN Explorer

Getting Custom Hardware Made?

2 points by BeatQuestGames ↗ HN
Hi all, I have some ideas for extremely niche products. Has anyone had any luck getting some custom hardware made, maybe based around a Raspberry Pi + a small battery.

I'd be over the moon if I could find a way to get this done for less than $10,000.

As a stopgap , has anyone made something like a Raspberry Pi zero, but even smaller( a single USB port would be nice too) ?

7 comments

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fivelessminutes
Getting it designed and a prototype 'made' is one thing. Getting a production run is another.

Pico and rpi are completely different levels of effort and cost. You should figure out what networking, ram, OS or RTOS, and cpu power you need first.

joezydeco
Do you want to build a shield for RPi with your project on it, or a complete self-contained PCB with RPi core features? Because one is really easy and the other is nearly impossible with the Broadcom part.

This project highlighted on Hackaday might give some inspiration too if you're willing to look beyond.

https://hackaday.com/2022/01/03/another-homebrew-linux-board...

BeatQuestGames
A shield would work, do companies create custom ones on demand ?
joezydeco
A company would probably not give you the time of day, but there are hordes of garage hackers with the equipment and knowhow that you could hire on a consulting basis and get some PCBs made and stuffed with parts.

$10,000 sounds like a nice tidy price if you're trying to get a small quantity of boards built and shipped.

You didn't mention how much you have designed so far. Is this just an idea, or are you all the way to a schematic with bill of materials? The closer you are to the latter the cheaper it gets. And if you DO have a gerber/BOM, there are turnkey services that can build the boards for you outright, like PCBWay.

BeatQuestGames
I've already written most of the code, and I have it wired with jumper cables.

As far as PCBs and stuff, I literally have no idea how that works. I would definitely need to pay someone to design it for me.

joezydeco
Drop me an email and tell me more about what you're thinking of.

I do mostly firmware but lately I've been working with someone that builds his own hardware. Maybe we can get you all in touch.

schappim
>> maybe based around a Raspberry Pi + a small battery

I'm not sure if this is a great idea (for anything beyond a hobby project) as your customer will have to supply the Raspberry Pi Zero or Zero W.

You cannot purchase Zeros in quantity (there are limits imposed).

You will be better supported by Raspberry Pi if you go down the Compute Module path (yup, they're more expensive).