Audio Input Switch PCBs Ordered

[This is a cross-post from here at diyAudio Forums:]

Well, the first five PCBs were ordered from PCBEX.COM a few minutes ago. The biggest changes since yesterday were moving the smoothing capacitor before the voltage regulator to 1000uF (13mm diameter, 5mm lead spacing footprint) which required a good bit of shuffling of parts in the power supply. (Some configurations, particularly those not needing to use the 5VDC output, can use a much smaller cap here. I’m recommending this value as a best-fit.) As part of this I also ended up moving all of the connectors to the front edge of the board, which I think is a rather good thing.

The boards are five-day turn, so I figure they’ll ship sometime around the end of next week. As PCBEX.COM batches their boards out to China I expect it’ll be another week or so before I have the boards.

Here’s how the part prices from Mouser breaks down:

All parts, except PCB, heatsink, relays, and audio terminals: US$10.46
5x 4PDT Omron relays and 5 place Phoenix terminals: US$57.10
5x DPDT Omron relays and 3 place Phoenix terminals: US$25.45
1″ Tall Heatsink: US$1.14
1.5″ Tall Heatsink: US$1.06

Of course, you can cut these prices down if you do things such as not fitting the boards to switch all five inputs, leave out some of the onboard power supply parts, etc.

The PCBs cost about US$16/each after shipping from PCBEX.COM. If I were purchasing for a group buy or something I imagine the price would be a good bit lower, although that obviously depends on the quantity.

So, I guess that’s about it for now… There is more info over at the main nuxx Audio Input Switch (as the device is now known) page.

One final question for everyone: Are any of you interested in purchasing some of these PCBs in a group buy?

I figure that I could probably handle doing a group buy for some folks. I’d provide a PCB and programmed PIC, and you’d just have to order the rest of the parts. Everything in there is very standard, so even if you can’t order from Mouser you shouldn’t have a problem sourcing the same (or compatible parts. I’m not in the position to offer kits or assembled boards.

Off the top of my head I’d estimate the total cost at being around $20, to cover the blank PCB, PIC, packing stuffs, PayPal fees, etc.

Anyway, that’s it for now…