Who ever starts selling these is gonna make a killing.
Want (UK)
Replying here so that I can keep track and get notifications. I would definitely buy this especially if it had a special addition case, like atomic purple.
Hello,
Sorry (again) for the long wait 
, but I wanted to give you some quick update.
I have assembled one unit, but unfortunately my bench-powersupply died and the new one hasnāt arrived yet so I havenāt done any testing (and Iām not brave enough to just plug it in without any testing 
).
But I do have some picture you can look at in the meantime 
:
And the two parts plugged together:
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I like how the single USB C is on a header ā¦ I also wouldnāt want to just plug in a device without testing before hand ā¦
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Iām a big fan of it on the separate header too, that should make it much easier to swap out the PCB to one for a full size SD or a USB-A + USB-C or something else in the future, maybe a dual microSD or something like that.
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@Ethan_Spoelstra
The separate PCB with the USB-plug was necessary to avoid height issues so it can fit into the expansion-card form-factor.
While the idea of swapping the small PCB to another module might seem tempting, the āheaderā is a 0.35mm pitch board-to-board connector that has a durability rating of 10 mating cycles, so itās by far not meant to be swapped around. It could be reused on another design but itās outline is fitted to avoid the larger components on the main-board (I somehow like how itās wrapped around them ).
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Not yet, if it actually works, Iāll publish them on Github or somewhere.
I think they would be at least triple of that before taxes including assembly without making any profit, plus the case (at least in small volume quantities). Also I do have absolutely no experience with producing things in higher volumes.
But thereās room for optimisation and things can most likely be simplified a littleā¦ You could also probably ditch the dedicated ESD-protection and rely on the ICās built-in protection but I did rather add it because the cards are probably transported flying around in the laptop-bag.
USB-C has an option to transmit audio to a headphone-jack but as far as I have looked into it, that uses up the data-lines so you canāt simultaneously use both (you would most likely have to implement a hub and an additional DAC for the audio-part which leads to a complex design).
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Thanks for the feedback, that explains a lot. I guess the dream of dumping the head phone jack somewhere as an āadd-onā is overā¦ ;).
Take someone elseās laptop and give it a testā¦
ā¦
ā¦
Nah Iām just kidding ! DONāT
ahaha
it seems like any computer could work for a test (just needs USB C)ā¦ just find a sacrificial computer and plug it inā¦ (Once one is confident that things work)
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Iād suggest an Apple 
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I really like this and Iād love to buy a couple, it looks great! Unfortunately at $90+ (from what youāre saying) I think that would be a pretty tough sellā¦ Have you tried pricing the SMT PCBA at higher volumes (100+)? The price (especially of the components) goes down very significantly. Also, 3D printing services are very cheap nowadays, I would expect such a tiny case to cost less than $5.
Iām very much hoping it will be possible to reduce the cost and make the module more affordable. Again, great job!
And if it were me Iād just plug it in - YOLO, and Iām pretty sure the USB-C interface has sufficient protections in place to let itself be damaged by a simple adapter like that 
Tell that to my laptop ā¦ Lol ā¦ still trying to figure out why the USB-C port died
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I think depending on the company material it can get expensive real fast ā¦
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You might have misread. Youāre jumping higher than he estimated.
The estimated price is where I expected.
This is a small run, complicated build assembled by a community member. Just look at the pictures. This is not a simple or easy board.
I saw two people mention being willing to pay 20, and I was tempted to comment then. Itās just completely unrealistic for something like this. Thatās the price of most of Frameworkās mass-produced cards, benefiting from tuned assembly lines and the ability to invest in large runs. And being able to spread out design & development cost over a huge number of cards
I would not expect someone to be able to front the cost for a 100+ run. And with no guarantee that they will sell at anywhere near an acceptable pace in order to get his money back. And he stated that he doesnāt have experience with producing in higher volumes. I sure a hell wouldnāt want to attempt a 100+ run if I was him.
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I concur. The only option would be a group buy thingy where people pay upfront. Financials aside itās going to be a massive amount of work and I can understand not wanting to tackle 100+ units at the same time.
Having said that I would be in for a few cards (maybe 4, Iāll have to think about it). More if they are cheaper due to scale.
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Awesome work!
Have you tested (orhas anyone measured) how well two typical USB-C cables will fit at the same time without being in each others way?
Iād also be interested in purchasing these, 6 of them if the price if the price is reasonable enough.
My lab-supply just came in , I did some quick testing to ensure voltages are fine and the power-gating for the ports works as intended.
The power-gating has an issue (because I didnāt pay close enough attention to the datasheet) but that could be resolved by swapping a single resistor to another value .
It works kind-of, the USB 2.0 part works fine but it somehow doesnāt enumerate the 3.0 part, Iām getting an āPort Reset Failedā error there 
. Iāll have a closer look to that to investigate if its probably a wiring mistake.
Edit: Hm, by going through the schematics I may have mixed up the USB 3ās RX- and TX-lines on the plug (so the TX from the PC goes against the TX on the hub instead of the RX), but I have to verify that. If thats the case, it can be fixed relatively easy with a new revision of the small daughter-board.
But at least itās looking relatively good by now:
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