Altitude

Duh, Should have posted the spec sheet: http://www.crystalfontz.com/products/2004a-color/CFAH2004AYTIJP.pdf

PLEASE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. I WILL NOT BE SCOURING THIS TREAD FOR "I'M INS"

Just send me an email per the instructions

Well, the $16 is for a flat rate global priority package and is the expensive option. I actually just did some more research and it appears that the flat rate envelope is $11.00 not $16 and first class international to France is $7.20, with the Euro being what it is, I dont think it is too bad.

No rush really, I know they have at least 30 in stock now so it is usually good to snap those up before they have to have another batch made which can be 4-6 weeks or so. The FSTN one apparently is pretty popular and I don't want them to sell out. hey, it's less work for me. The postal service in the US is actually pretty good when it comes to the tools they provide so I can get a good quote, all the customs stuff, labels etc. with a couple of clicks

Thats a good idea. The flat rate box is pretty big so I'll be happy to accommodate

UPDATE: PLEASE READ Ok, so I spoke with crystal fonts and they have stock of the FSTN type so it is time to start collecting money. Discounts are on a per item basis so there will only be ONE type available for the group buy. This will be the CFAH2004A-YTI-JP, 20x4 FSTN Negative, Transmissive, Yellow-Green Array LED Backlight shown here: Pricing(assuming that we have over 20 pcs ordered): $21.00 ea. This covers the shipping to me, my packaging costs, and paypal fees. The base price of the unit $18.73 plus a $.45 per piece handling charge and $8.50 base shipping rate. Shipping: in addition to the $21.00 there will be a shipping fee. For the Continental US: USPS Flat Rate Priority ($5.00) or 1st Class Mail (Varies) International: USPS International Priority Flat Rate ($11.00) or Airmail (Varies) I will do this identically as Wilba did except I will add the shipping to the invoice that I send so you only have to pay once. So send an email to altitude909 at g m a i l dot c o m with your Name, the quantity, your shipping address, how you want it shipped, and your paypal address so that I can send you an invoice. I would also ask international ppl to include their phone since it will be necessary for customs forms. People without a paypal account can still pay through paypal with a credit card since I have a business account there. Unless we dont get to 20 pcs, I would like to place the order on Friday August 3rd

Your right, this is quickly spiraling out of control. I will give them a call as soon as they open (they are 4 hours apart from me) and see what stock and delivery is on the FSTN ones. I seriously doubt that they will give any discount to low part count displays and short of the original one that I posted, there is not 10 total of any one of the others ppl have asked about so those would not have any discount anyway. Like Wilba said, the LED blue ones are dirt cheap on the bay. The FSTN ones retail for $35 and with a group buy, they would be ~$19 Once I have the stock and delivery situation figured out , I will try to get this wrapped up quick so I can get Wilba's to him so he can be on the same page as everyone who is on this since I am assuming that he has not finalized the panels yet.

I guess I should poll to see if ppl are more keen to the STN or FSTN type, which is about $4 more expensive

As it stands, there are 22 for the CFAH2004A-YMI-JP and less than 10 for all others. Ill call crystalfontz tomorrow and find out if they will do total quantity for a discount or quantity per piece (which I figure will probably be the case) but 22 of the CFAH2004A-YMI-JP are $14.65 which is less than half of the single price

I used a 10k and they still are too focused and too bright. As much as I want to use blue, it's just too much and I have no desire to be sanding 99 LEDs

I got a hundred of these also and they are WAY to bright to use and pull a lot of current. If they made a diffuse blue I would snap those up in a second but I have found that anything but diffuse has less than good results in just about any color

Yes, should have mentioned that. WORLDWIDE

UPDATE: PLEASE READ Ok, so I spoke with crystal fonts and they have stock of the FSTN type so it is time to start collecting money. Discounts are on a per item basis so there will only be ONE type available for the group buy. This will be the CFAH2004A-YTI-JP, 20x4 FSTN Negative, Transmissive, Yellow-Green Array LED Backlight shown here: Pricing(assuming that we have over 20 pcs ordered): $21.00 ea. This covers the shipping to me, my packaging costs, and paypal fees. The base price of the unit $18.73 plus a $.45 per piece handling charge and $8.50 base shipping rate. Shipping: in addition to the $21.00 there will be a shipping fee. For the Continental US: USPS Flat Rate Priority ($5.00) or 1st Class Mail (Varies) International: USPS International Priority Flat Rate ($11.00) or Airmail (Varies) I will do this identically as Wilba did except I will add the shipping to the invoice that I send so you only have to pay once. So send an email to altitude909 at g m a i l dot c o m with your Name, the quantity, your shipping address, how you want it shipped, and your paypal address so that I can send you an invoice. I would also ask international ppl to include their phone since it will be necessary for customs forms. People without a paypal account can still pay through paypal with a credit card since I have a business account there. I am closing orders tomorrow Aug 2 13:00 GMT and everyone needs to be paid up so I can order in the afternoon

I drilled first, then painted, then labeled, the clearcoated, an did the cutting of the lasertran holes last with and exacto knife. With the clear on, it is more rigid and easier to cut. In its raw state it is easy to tear and the edges are not protected from sanding. Bear in mind that I used the inkjet no heat type though so it may be different for the other stuff.

woo hoo, 9090 club ;D

They are $21 at mouser so I cant see there being a huge discount at volume (50+ is still $17.00) especially when you consider how big a box of 50 of these would be and the associated shipped cost

mouser is wonderful for many reasons, but good physical descriptions of knobs is not one of them. What I did to select these was to buy 2 of each knob they sell that looked like good candidates. You could probably look up the model of the knob elsewhere also.

Well, the total cost to do the label was $3 for printing, the paper was $3 a sheet, $10 for the spray paint and $5 for sanding supplies so that comes to $21. I dont think you can do a 3 color silk screen and paint for that much. I didnt post a link to the mouser part since their site was down earlier. here is the data sheet: http://www.mouser.com/catalog/specsheets/EPD-200221.pdf

The color is called "Fossil" and was pretty much exactly what I was looking for since I was going for a 909ish tan color. The knobs are cheapo black plastic with white pointer from mouser (they had 2 sizes, hence the big volume knob) and then hand painted using a flat Tamiya model spray paint for the base (works really well on plastic) and the stripe with a brush, finishing with a flat clear to protect them. Like I said, I used the non-heat inkjet kind. I had the graphics laser printed at Kinko's which worked out very well since I could get 3 labels on a 11"x17" sheet of lasertran and the quality and color accuracy was wonderful. Through tons of trial and error (and I mean I had to strip and repaint the front panel 4 times to get it right) here is my process: 1. The case I used was a bare aluminum and I had the machining done by front panel express. It came to only $72 which included machining of the front, back, and the extra plate which allows for the pots to be recessed. Its a good idea to send them your own material since it saves you about 15$ per panel. I sanded out the rough finish of the panels with scotchbrite till they were fairly smooth 2. The primer I used was an "etching" automotive primer and I laid down several coats (it is very thin) sanding between coats, making sure I had VERY good coverage and let it dry for several hours in the sun. Spray painting was the same, with more coats and lots of wet sanding at the end. It has to be PERFECTLY smooth for the label to sit right, when the lasertran is wet it is delicate and any surface crud will cause a hole. 3. Getting the label right was a pain in the ass but once I had all the kinks worked out it went pretty easily. The clear coat is key. I used a hobby clear coat made by Krylon, anything should work providing it contains a strong solvent. This will dissolve the label a little and make it clear (it is normally white when dry). Here are the steps: A: I cut the label a little taller than the panel so it hangs over a bit, but not all the way around the top. You can trim the excess off for a very fine top and bottom fit when your done with a razor B: Immerse the label in a water bath until it uncurls and the label slides off like a decal, but dont slide it off backing C: Slide the decal onto the panel just like your would a model decal GENTLY, it can rip if your too rough with it. Also make SURE there is nothing between the label and the panel (dust etc). The label is easy to move around when completely wet and only sticks with moderate strength when it drys so this is the time to make sure it is aligned with holes and lays even (measure it). Carefully blot the water out with a lint free wipe and make sure there are no wrinkles. You don't have to get it all and I recommend doing this (or touching the label in general) as little as possible. D: let it dry COMPLETELY. I mean hours, this is where i botched my first panel. If there is any moisture in label, it will wrinkle badly when you hit it with the clear. I also recommend that everything you do be done indoors out of the sun (more on that later). E: The clear coat. This caused me the most grief and these steps are critical for a good result. First off, know how the clear coat will react to the paint you used. It should be applied in lite coats onto the label and exposed paint surfaces. I killed my first panel by spraying to much and it blistered up the paint on the rack ears requiring me to start from scratch. I actually decided to spray the exposed paint surfaces with a clear acrylic as added protection by masking the label with a sheet of paper all the way to its edge and then spraying the expose paint. This also had the added benefit of building up some clear so the labels edges were considerably harder to see. The clear coats should make the label clear again (it goes clear when wet with water also) and I applied it in coats which left no white areas. I used several coats. DRY THE CLEAR INDOORS!! Doing this outside in the sun will expand the panel below and crack the label. (another botched panel). I let everything dry overnight and the following day, more wet sanding to get a perfectly smooth finish. The cutting out of holes and trimming the label flush was done last with a final light coat of clear. whew. I hope I covered everything

Well, I use the non-cook stuff and here are the results:

gotcha, didnt even notice that on the protype

20x4?

You know, over half the price of FPE is the engraving, a single color silkscreen would drop the price quite a bit (try pricing it with just the holes)

Hmm, Interesting power supply you have there.. I wonder if the quatro has better ripple current performance