Industrial costs vs. Do it yourself costs

[Topher925]

UPDATE:

IT WORKS! I got the basics of a single sensor working and just finished testing it and it works BEAUTIFULLY. So much better than I even anticipated actually. I think I might even be able to achieve much greater accuracy and response time than I had even anticipated. I just got to finish fine tuning the amplification circuit and do some more work on the algorithms but after that I am ready for calibration! w00t!

BTW, my total costs are still about 3% of that of industrial versions of this sensor!

 

[FredGarvin]

BTW, my total costs are still about 3% of that of industrial versions of this sensor!

Even factoring in a cost for your time?

 

[Topher925]

Even factoring in a cost for your time?

I'm a grad student Fred. So maybe like 4%.

 

[mheslep]

Nope, not at all. I'm an ME not an MBA major.

I've tried asking for samples from all these places and got nothing. Not even samples for a few LEDs. Most companies these days won't give out samples to universities but only to major OEMs and manufacturers. For Example; http://www.marktechopto.com/Sample-Cart/leds-sample-cart-start.cfm?part_number=LC503FPG1-15Q-A3

Unfortunate. I thought you were a part time grad student - working for somebody doing a high altitude wind turbine project at some point?

 

[Topher925]

I used to be but not anymore. It was a venture capital project which was having issues with funding. Given the state of the economy and the way the project was headed I decided to be a full time grad student.