Has anyone here built their vesc from scratch? How much did it cost you? What were the savings versus buying one from someone like @onloop? Would you say it’s worth the savings? I know you can get 3 pcb’s made from OSH Park for like $20. I can adequately solder through hole components, but it’s pretty daunting even thinking about smd soldering and flashing the firmware and bootloader.
On my list to try.
I took Ben’s BOM and priced it out. Buying just single components from Mouser is where it gets expensive. I think you are better off buys in 10’s for hte inexpensive parts, then singles of the more expensive components (like the DRV).
Single price for the components was around $65 iirc. I kept the modified sheet - i’ll pull it up and confirm. EDIT - i was WAY off - single VESC pricing for mouser parts to build was 86.63 before shipping. building 10 to compare the price breaks was 58.73 ea (almost 600 invested). Now imagine doing a run of 100!
So besides the ability to repair and build an extra when needed, it’s definitely not cheaper than a single VESC for 100-120’ish (getting the solder paste, no-clean flux, shipping, etc.)
Still think i’m going ot give it a shot sometime soon!
As for SMD soldering - Jamesonotc helped me swap the DRV chip on one of mine that i killed (on the bench on 12s - does not like hard stop/start repeatedly - just FYI don’t do it). After watching him i think i can totally do it. Do you have a hot air rework on your solder iron / station?
I’ll dig up my modified BOM and get some more detail.
I’ve built 2 VESC for about 110$ each. 3hrs of soldering each. I bought 2 others from from enertion boards because i couldn’t be bothered with another 6hours of soldering.
The price break sweet spot is about 10 units, where you can get you BOM down to about 75$ per unit.
The pcbs OSH park is about 40$ for 3 since this is a 4 layer board.
Wow, not cheap. I supposed it wouldn’t be worth it then unless it’s done for fun. I actually do have a hot air rework on my soldering station, but I’ve never used it for anything more than shrinking heat shrink.
This is the one I found already uploaded to OSH Park. It’s $19.50 for 3 pcb’s.
Oh and when ordering from osh park, make sure you’re ordering 4 layers… The side by side pic, thats me transfering all the components from a useless 2 layer pcb to a good 4 layer pcb.
I felt pretty dumb when i realised that mistake
Mr wisconsinrobotics is sharing garbage, it’s a 2 layer board…
Well i least i’m not the only one who did that mistake haha
we call that “practice”! hehehe
that sucks!
I’m ordering up some of the CapPCB’s from hackvana to see how that process works. Definitely a lot less expensive than OSH Park - but also about 3 weeks before they arrive. I could spend another $30 for faster shipping and have it in 2 weeks, but i’m in no rush actually.
Mitch at hackvana was really easy and communicative, so i’d recommend them if you are looking for less expense and willing to take a little while longer.