Quick update. Had a great call with Steven, my Shenzhen hardware partner and explained that all we're really looking for is the connector. I showed him an example of the AV connectors available on AliExpress and basically said we want that but for the serial port based on the measurements and photos I sent of the port.
I asked him if there would be a required minimum order size, and he said, paraphrased, "No, the manufactures don't care about minimum orders, only if they can make a profit. So for example it could be possible to order as little as a few hundred, but the per unit cost would be higher than if it were a larger order. Once we have quotes we can figure out the optimal order size based on unit price."
He's now going to reach out to his manufacturing partners to get quotes. Keep in mind that given the small size of this order and the fact it's a niche hobby project, he's just doing this as a favor to me in his free time, so it's not going to move as quickly as if we were a larger company placing an order in the 10s of thousands of dollars. Especially since there was just a week long holiday in China, another one is coming up (if I remember correctly), and then Chinese New Year. So we're probably looking at something like 5-6 months from now to have something in our hands, but obviously that could be earlier or later depending on various factors.
I'll keep you guys updated as things progress.
I asked him if there would be a required minimum order size, and he said, paraphrased, "No, the manufactures don't care about minimum orders, only if they can make a profit. So for example it could be possible to order as little as a few hundred, but the per unit cost would be higher than if it were a larger order. Once we have quotes we can figure out the optimal order size based on unit price."
He's now going to reach out to his manufacturing partners to get quotes. Keep in mind that given the small size of this order and the fact it's a niche hobby project, he's just doing this as a favor to me in his free time, so it's not going to move as quickly as if we were a larger company placing an order in the 10s of thousands of dollars. Especially since there was just a week long holiday in China, another one is coming up (if I remember correctly), and then Chinese New Year. So we're probably looking at something like 5-6 months from now to have something in our hands, but obviously that could be earlier or later depending on various factors.
I'll keep you guys updated as things progress.