Sorry, everybody. Life-stuff has been screwing up my ability to fund the making of a proper prototype. (It does seem to like doing that...) It isn't monopolizing my time however, so I've been able to do a lot of thinking and whatever tinkering I could do with what I have already. (Including two possible solutions for making an LED unit thin enough for any cabinet.)
I had wanted to have a working prototype more representative of the final product to show before I started taking preorders to pay for the production... But that isn't looking very practical right now and I want to get this thing done and get them out to people to put in their cabinets.
I think two or three people so far have said they might be interested in putting down money up-front for this (Most recently, Prairiedillo) and I had hoped it wouldn't come to that, but I had also hoped I would have been able to fund production myself and get the things out in just a couple months.
So, here goes...
Anyone who wants to put down a preorder, PM me.
The prices are as follows:
$150 for 2-slot
$200 for 4-slot
$250 for 6-slot
And I need 3-4 preorders to get the PCBs made and order the parts for the preorder boards.
This will include the light units, controller, and everything you need to install it. Note: If you don't have the cable that goes from the MVS main board to the EL transformer board, tell me and I'll see what I can do!
If you have a Big Red, installation should only take a couple of minutes. It attaches to the back of the marquee with velcro, and will be a completely reversible and non-destructive installation, though you will have to remove the board behind the marquee. (Which you would need to do anyway to get to the cable you need to hook it up.)
Owners of other cabinets will either have to modify their cabinet slightly (By cutting clearance into the wood behind the marquee) or wait until I come up with the slimmer backlight.
It will take as much as 4 weeks to get the PCBs back, at most a week to assemble and test them, then they'll be ready to ship. While I'm waiting for the PCBs to arrive, I can get the rest of the components made and tested. So, figure at most 6-8 weeks-- considering the possibility of backordered components --from the time I have the preorders I need.
I'll understand if some of you want to wait until you see the final version of the hardware, but as long as I get the couple preorders I need to cover the tooling costs for the PCBs, I can start production.
)
