Hi All, I am very sorry to hear about Mitch as well. Seems like it was very sudden and this time of year would be hard for the family to enjoy a New Years for some time. I am very grateful for his wife to even think of our group at this time but it showed how much interest Mitch had in this project.
I am already on the 1st group spreadsheet and had been trying to help Mitch with things and was prepared to resume where he had left off. But I am very glad to hear people are willing to volunteer. I reviewed the great advice that Manuel has already provided us on how to set up the group buy, and it is just a matter of getting things rolling.
We have the list of people that have signed up already to start from, and I suggest we get going with that list. We can take additional names for the next group (if we can fit them in this first round by the time we make the order that would be great), but priority is to get the ball going make progress on making this happen. We can source for 203 kits based on the current spreadsheet count. If some people have dropped off the list, others would be happy to join so a count of 200 should be a safe bet for sourcing and figuring out the final unit price.
I don't know enough about 3D printing or metal fabrication, but it sounds like there is interest in this group with that. I don't like messing with finances, but my wife is a VP of Finance and has graciously volunteered to help us out with this. I am fine doing the logistics of bagging and shipping, and could even distribute that work with others if there were interest. If someone wants to take on ordering Printed Circuit Boards with Surface Mounted component preinstalled (whatever is viable) that would be great. If we have 2-3 people volunteer for Sourcing the remaining parts we can split the work up. Once we have the PCBs sourced and the rest of the parts sourced we will have a blueprint for repeating the ordering process much faster on subsequent buys.
WildMcQ created a google form for volunteering, that I think is a great idea.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... sp=sf_link
Here is a draft Task List that I had shared with Mitch which can help identify what could be volunteered ...
Compose a parts checklist.
Checkbox, part name, size, quantity, description to help builder identify each part.
Include links to the online build instructions on this website .
Determine the size and cost of standard USPS shipping box/package
single kit vs. multi kit package
Determine the standard shipping method. ( is there any bulk shipping option for regular USPS)
Figure out how to divide the kit components into labelled bags. (ziplocks and padding)
Source the parts
Source the PCBs SMD components, upload the PCB drawings to vendor.
Source all the remaining the components. (Mouser, Digikey, …)
Tally the total cost, divide by 203 to get per person cost.
Covers cost of PCB, components, taxes and shipping costs from the vendors.
Covers the postage, labels, and boxing that will be used
Covers cost of intermediate shipping bulk bags to distribution volunteers (if we use them)
Covers the potential cost of at least two lost/damaged kits .
Note: We have all likely had kits arrive in boxing destroyed by the mail system,
so packaging needs to be secure enough to avoid parts loss.
Order the PCBs (including upload the drawings)
Order the additional parts, standard size shipping packages, packing materials, Ziplock bags, component bag labels.
Financial Volunteer:
Establish payment methods. (Venmo account, Zelle, Paypal account, Check)
Email invoices to everyone in group buy.
Track the payments coming in (Venmo, PayPal, Checks)
Track the shipping costs by distribution volunteers (if used)
Print mailing labels for list of people that have paid.
include number of kits to mail on the label after their name (as a checksum).
Note: will gather mailing address information again since that is not available on the spreadsheet
we have.
Print copies of the checklist for distribution to each kit builder.
Bulk Packaging volunteer: (if we split up the work of shipping)
Divide components into bulk packages. (enough for 50 kits?)
Alternatively you could have a bulk coordinator bag up individual kits
so no sorting, part identification and bag labelling required by distribution volunteer.
Mail bulk parts (bagged kits), and mailing labels to distribution volunteers.
Distribution Volunteers:
Gets enough boxes from USPS for his/her mailing group,
divides bulk parts into individual kit bags
labels each component group bag.
boxes the kit, checklist and mailing label
Goes to post office and to get postage and mails the kit packages
Emails you with number of kit packages mailed and total shipping cost.
If there is something you would like to volunteer with on this list, and if it is ok to use that google form, please do so.
Thank you
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Terry Shuya. VE5HF/ KN4UWE