Hi VHSr’s, it Jason from the Fraser Valley Maker Space. We’ve recently brought over our first container load of stuff from Shenzen (we’re going to be selling something in the near future, oh the suspense!). One of our members has a brother in Shenzen who consolidates orders, so it’s not just items available within Shenzen, we can ship basically anything you can find or need in China (no orders for Panda bears please). This is of course being sent via boat and takes a crapload of time to get here, it also only makes sense if your either ordering something huge (ie: a machine tool) or many many small things. BUT the cost of the parts/item is a fraction of what you’d pay on Ali and the shipping is CHEEEEEEEP! We’re going to be placing another order within the next two months and as we’re not needing as much stuff this time, does anybody else want anything?
We need to make sure the longshoremen work for their paycheque, no half-full containers!
Again, please keep in mind. No individual tiny things, and it’ll take almost 2 months to get here.
Wow, where to start! How do you do this? I guess you buy on Taobao shipped to him and he fills the container? Can you give us some examples of what you bought (am guess laser cutters at least right?). So many questions, how do you split the shipping/duty?
I’m heading back to Shenzhen in June. Am/Was thinking of bringing everything back by hand but this is attractive too. @hectorh did you want anything. @packetbob?
Am planning on putting it in my luggage but can’t be sure. I might try to sync up with @FVMakersJason and drop some things off in Shenzhen for you guys with this brother.
After some discussion in Slack, it would be good if we could stock VHS with
the following:
Breadboards
Protoboards
Breakout board sets
R / C / L SMD variety packs
Possible ~500 white, blue, green LEDs (or whatever other colours that are
not red)
A variety of connectors?
I don’t have time to put together a proper list and cross-reference
Ali-Express to see if buying certain things this way is even worth it, but
if someone wants to take this on, some of us can help provide examples,
part numbers, and Chinese names for things.
I already have all I need but splitting reels of SMD leds is also excellent value. As I recall they are 20-30USD per reel for standards sizes with 3000-4000 parts per reel.
I’ve been going through the SMD bins and there is a large variety of R and C, not so much L, but the few L I see appear to be common values. I’ve a project to sort the SMD bins, I’ll post about it shortly.
As far as myself, I would like to get some tools to upgrade my workshop, Hakko soldering iron for example. I know that @Toma got a grant to run a soldering workshop, maybe he can add more things to the order depending on his schedule.
I’m also shopping for a Rigol 1054Z, but it appears the best choice is through Tequipment.net with the Eevblog discount. Weird that it’s cheaper to buy in the US than in Shenzhen were Rigol is based.
If I can find a good 6 digit+ multimeter for less than $150, (yes, I’m day dreaming), I would get that too.
These blank books are a great choice, again because they are heavy. Everyone should buy a couple of these to stock up from the reels at vhs. I had to buy the wide strip refills from Adafruit, haven’t found them in China yet. I literally have 10 of these floating around my office (R + C) * (0402 0603 0805 1206) + LEDS + Silicon.
Our first shipment was parts for a new kossel printer that we’re selling in kit form (we’re going to do a series of build nights). We were going to debut it at the VMMF. It’s a big guy, with linear bearings. Other than the size it’s pretty standard as far as kossels go. What makes ours unique is the size and quality of components that you get vs the price (we’re aiming for $600 for the whole kit, including all the printed parts, display and heated bed). We’re able to do that only because we removed as many middle men as possible and took care of all of the shipping ourselves. The only part we’re not including is the power supply as we don’t know if people want to spend the extra $$$ for a CSA certified supply and we feel a bit nervous selling a non-certified power supply, so we can recommend where to get one either way, but no power supply from us,
So last shipment included about 400lbs of extrusion and a couple hundred stepper motors.
We’re now sourcing a few other kit’s we’re looking to sell (all the profit goes to keeping the lights on at the space btw.) But we’re not seeing the same volume requirements, so that’s why we’re hoping to split shipping or even source parts for people (we’d probably add a very moderate percentage if we have to find you something as it’s not free, it’ll still be cheep compared to Ali). I assume that there’s going to be a bunch of items for various people so if you don’t mind coming up with one list and possibly one person at the VHS who’s organizing it. David (the guy who sourced the printer) and I are going to be attending the booth at the VMMF (I’m also outreach co-chair for the VMMF btw so I’ll be all over the faire during the 2 days it’s on) so you can come by and say hi.
Oh ya, and no laser cutter yet. Our building has 3 windows that open and NO ventilation. Plus it’s an all wood turn of the century heritage building and our space has about 60A of power (there’s like 3 outlets).
We are assembling a nice collection of woodworking tools and have no means of using them. We eagerly await the day that we get to move to our Bunker, not enough $$$ yet to pay the rent (hence why we’re starting to sell things).
I’ve gotten a bunch of e-mails regarding this and I’m trying to reply in a decent time frame (I work 9-5 and I’m dealing with the leadup to the Maker Faire). I’ll be at Makerfaire both days mostly in our booth, and David will be there a bulk of that time. It might be easier to meet face to face for some of this stuff, we’ll probably attend the wrap party at VHS as well, so we can talk to anyone interested in person.
