cspirou

Thanks for being so prompt everybody. Someone just sent me money without their head-case ID. Initials are HM. Please send me a private message letting me know who you are.

I have an update on the TKD group buy. No price breaks until we get to 100 pieces. Here are the quoted prices as of today's rates: 4CP-601(for all resistances) - 3200 yen ($31.51) with a price break at 100 pieces at 2800 Yen ($27.57) 4CP-2500(for all resistances) - 8300 yen ($81.72) with a price break at 100 pieces at 7400 Yen ($72.86) There is a bank fee of 4000 yen if the total order is less then 50,000 yen. Sheet will be updated to reflect these prices. Also wanted to remind people that you are expected to take care of the paypal fees. It's ok for now since it can still be incorporated into the shipping price

Number and prices have been finalized on the group buy. Here is my process in determining the allocation of pots. 1.) Everyone requesting supplementary pots can buy one 2.) Everyone that wasn't part of the PCB GB can buy 2. This is to ensure they get at least one working one 3.) Kerry can get another 4 because he created the board 4.) This left another 7. These were distributed at random determined by wolframalpha.com to anyone that was requesting more than one excess pot. I hope this is transparent enough for everyone. Please use paypal to send me the amount you owe listed in the spreadsheet using the email address. Include your head-case ID when you send the order so I know who you are. Later on I will request a mailing address when it comes time to ship. When I reach 60% of the total amount I will submit the order immediately. If we do not reach this amount by tomorrow I will refund everyone's money. (See Edit) Other unforseen fees or taxes will be incorporated into the shipping amount later on. Yeah, it's a bit late but it wouldn't have mattered anyway since we are limited to only 99 pieces for this Group Buy. However I am already looking into creating a second group buy to reach the minimum order of 1000 pieces. Everyone would need to order at least 20 pots each but the price/pot is cheap enough to where that isn't unreasonable. Stay tuned. In the meantime the TKD group buy is not locked. Edit: I was still a little sleepy when I wrote this. For some reason I thought I had to order 99 no matter what. What I really mean to say is that I will order all 99 when we reach 60%. If we don't reach this threshold then I will just order the pots for people that have paid me.

Just heard back from Song Huei and it's really firm at 99 pieces. It does mean that we can order different shaft lengths. For example, 56 of the 20 mm shafts and 43 of the 25 mm shafts. There is no way to get 50k at this small quantity, sorry @Kerry. Although I think it's better to keep things simple and order all 25mm shafts. so unless we decide to order 1000 pieces, this is what we have. I'll try to brush off my Eagle skills to get an adapter board going for other pots.

Phase 2 is over and the group buy sheet has been locked. Everyone is still free to join the TKD group buy. The number of excess pots will be massaged now until we have a total of 99 from both columns. I will say that everyone will get at least one and I will try to distribute them in the most sensible way possible. Also if anyone wanted to leave this group buy then now is the time to tell me. If however we get the other pots then everyone gets what they requested with a few to spare.

phase 2 ends tonight at midnight GMT. I haven't heard back from Song Huei yet on the 55 other pots but I think it's because it's the weekend. If I hear something then phase 2 will remain open for one more day, otherwise I'll allocate the 99 pots the best way I can so people know exactly how much they owe.

Like the headamp GS-X? Isn't the regular Dynalo Mk2 + GRLV pretty modular already?

@nopants - there is a blank line above your name. Was there one when you added your name?

Wanted to let everyone know that my Song Heui GB is now open to everyone. There is a limited number of pots so a large request is not likely to be honored but I will try to get you at least one. I am coming up with a testing setup to make sure that even if you only order one that it's a functioning one. I also have a TKD GB going if anyone missed the previous one.

Phase 1 is over and we are now onto phase 2. Anyone can now add their name and register their interest. Plus use the excess 10k column. Those that have said they will purchase a PCB have those numbers locked but you can still change your number of excess pots. People that did not register their interest or chose 'No' have been removed. We have a total of 62 pots from the PCB GB which is less then 99(or 156 if we are lucky) which means everyone that is getting a PCB will be able to get a pot for that PCB. 37 are left. From excess orders we have already passed this so I can say not everyone will get what they want. But I will say that each person that makes a request will get 1 for sure (unless we get more then 37 people requesting). I'd like to try to test every pot before I send them out because it's probably much better to send the bad ones in one big batch rather then sending them all out and then doing returns for a few pots at a time. If someone could help me brainstorm a way to quickly test pots that would be appreciated. added

Wanted to let people know that if you are part of the drop for PCBs and want a pot for your boards then tonight is time to register your participation. Adding your name for PCBs after tonight will not give you priority anymore in requesting pots. This means this opens up to everyone in general. People with PCB orders can request pots but just know these aren't prioritized the same way.

That's not what I was talking about, I think. TKD list stepped variable attenuators and variable attenuators as separate items. I noticed that they have CP600 listed in both the variable attenuators and variable potentiometers. I thought it was the same item at first but looking at the data sheet they appear different. http://www.tkd-corp.com/products/att/pdf/cp600as-e.pdf http://www.tkd-corp.com/products/pot/pdf/cp600ps-e.pdf

What's the difference between the TKD variable potentiometers and variable attenuators? I know the datasheets say they are wired differently but how does that translate in terms of application? Does one track better then the other?

Oh, and we've already reached the 99 pot threshold if everyone that buys a PCB decides to join this group buy. I wrote Song Huei an email to see if I can get the 57 pots with the other shaft as well for a total of 156. Again, really sorry about this rationing. I also know that just because you don't get a PCB from sbleyo doesn't mean you don't plan on making your own but this is just what makes sense to me for now.

Updated my post and added the GB page. You can't join this through my page but you can by buying a PCB. If you have already requested pots I will add your info Oh, I also wanted to mention that certain people involved in the creation of the Dynalo SS will get some sort of priority since it wouldn't be possible without them. @Kerry, can you add your name to the other GB but put zero for the number of boards you want to order? You and @kevin gilmore(and anyone else you think I should include) are exceptions to the PCB=pot rationing rule I have imposed.

TKD said I can order directly from them. Will add their pots to the group buy

I heard back from Song Huei and they said they do QC testing and they will replace whatever we find is out of spec. i didn't ask if we could do 99+56 but I'll ask that if we pass the 99 pot threshold, which seems likely with everyone trying to order 4. Also said they would prefer an answer by Oct 4 so I am getting this rolling right away.

Edit: Group buy on Song Huei pots is closed. Please see the this post for the current TKD group buy The latest version of the Dynalo SS Mini board uses a 21 mm alpha potentiometer. Song Huei potentiometers are identical in every way and and inquiry with them has led to the possibility of a small order limited to ~100 potentiometers. Otherwise we would need a minimum order of 1000. Due to the low number of available potentiometers, whoever is ordering a Dynalo Mini SS PCB will get first priority and extra potentiometers will be limited. Due to the reported failure rate of these potentiometers, I will also accept returns to send back to Song Huei in order to get an exchange or refund. You do not have an option to choose a refund unless I get refunded for the potentiometer. This may seem like a hassle but the potentiometers are also only $4 each. There is also some interest in TKD pots for people that missed out on the other group buy. These are not compatible with the current Dynalo Mini(yet) but will be fine with the Dynalo SS v9 boards or any other balanced project. an excel GB sheet will be available soon Edit: Group buy sheet is available here Anyone who is buying a PCB on sbelyo's GB spreadsheet is automatically added to this one. People are allowed one pot per PCB and after that any pots left are up for grabs. However just because you are buying a PCB doesn't automatically mean you want to be part of this group buy so please register your interests as well as any surplus pots you might want. The names and number of pots are directly linked to the other group buy so if you want to join this you must buy a PCB. I realize that some people are added that are not buying the Dynalo Mini but that's only because the scripting to remove names linked to another spreadsheet was becoming a headache, I have already labeled those people as none-participants. This group buy will be very short as I must submit my order by Oct 4th according to the email I received, perhaps two weeks more at most. Since this is such short notice I'll probably buy it out of my own funds as long as I reach a certain threshhold of payments and then I can wait a little bit more for others to pay me. There is a separate group buy for TKD attenuators which have no limit. You will need to add your name separately for that group buy. TKD does not stock anything and makes everything to order. This means that there is a wait between 1.5-2 months. Other information on this TKD group buy can by found on the other page which recently closed If you want other TKD products the page is open to editing and you can just add the category. Otherwise just let me know and I will add it. A lot of these details are not set in stone so expect more updates Edit2: I did a bit of reorganizing and my thoughts on this are a bit more clear. First the Song Huei and TKD pots are on separate sheets now. The TKD one is right here. The other thing is that now the number of pots accounted for is reflected more accurately whether you chose to join the GB or not. If you have already mentioned here your interest then I have already marked "Yes" for you. From the way it looks we might be able to accommodate all orders. Here are the different phases I have for ordering the SH pots. Phase 1: Everyone ordering a PCB will be able to order one pot per PCB. This will last until Oct 1 at midnight, GMT Phase 2: Anyone not part of the PCB group buy will be able to register interests in leftover pots. This will last until Oct 2 at midnight, GMT Phase 3: The number of pots will be fixed and totals will be posted. Payment will be expected through paypal. Because of the tight scheduling I will not require 100% of all payments but I do need a threshold of at least 60% of all orders paid for me to place an order. Phase 4: By october 4 the order must be submitted. Note that if the total number of pots is under 99 than anyone can still order some as long as I receive payment before I place the order. Phase 5: When pots are received shipping charges will be posted. TKD pots do not have this time constraint and will have a very different procedure.

I'll check with TKD as well and see what they say.

Random thought, how important is it that pots are soldered in? Can the pins be inserted into a connector? Sort of like an Arduino shield or a Raspberry Pi HAT?

If sending back defective pots is an option then I don't mind going through the extra work to ship them back. I'll ask about testing and their return policy.

I am trying to figure out a way so that we all get usable pots in a way that makes sense. The most obvious way is just to let people order what they want and then people get an untested number of pots. The problem is that we could have situations where someone building one board is encouraged to order 4 to have a usable pot and ends with 4 good ones while someone else gets no good ones. This means people would have to trade further to get a functioning pot or the first person just hoards them. Another possibility is to purchase all pots available and the test them to find out how many function adequately. Then divide the total price by the number of functional pots in order to split the cost of failures. But unless all functional pots are purchased then the person organizing is left on the hook for unsold pots. Of course this is only really an issue if the failures are as high as claimed. For a small order they might be more careful. I'll start a group buy thread soon for these pots.

The price is for a 4-gang pot which is stereo balanced.

It's length and I think either will do so we just go with the 99 pieces. Although I wonder if that means we can have 99 + 56 for a total of 155.

Well if half the pots really are garbage then buying 2 gives you a 75% chance that at least one is good. 3 would be 87% and 4 is 94%. Note that these are probabilities to give a minimum of one good one, they can just as well be all good. Half being bad seems horrendous so I expect it to be a bit better then that. We can probably get people to commit to buying at least 2 to make sure everyone can get a working one, it doesn't seem unreasonable considering the price. I'll try to figure out a setup to test the pots quickly.