24 Mar
1999
24 Mar
'99
3:28 a.m.
I don't know if $500 is the right number
either, but I figure that in a
"new" IMSAI 8080 kit in low quantities, there'd be at least $75 in boards,
$100++ for the case, $50 for the power supply, $25 for a silkscreened front
panel and the rest, silicon, passives, switches, and the backplane
connectors. And that doesn't iinclude any re-engineering costs to account
for parts that have been discontinued or marked as "end-of-life."
You forgot one vital component: the switches. The 7101 and 7103 series
switches used in the IMSAI front panel are still available new from C&K,
at $5-$6 each. They start adding up fast! And cost of a full-length (22-
slot) backplane would come to around $150-$200 these days. (Though you
could easily argue that now that we have memory boards larger than 4kbytes
you don't need all those slots, all of my real IMSAI's have 22-slot
backplanes...!)
A year or so ago I looked at what it would cost to make my "TIMSAI" IMSAI
clone into a commercial product. Street price, I calculated, would be about
$2000, and most of that was in the metalworking. There was only about $30
in semiconductors in the whole unit (and that included 256K SRAM and an
IDE/floppy controller).
--
Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com
Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/
7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917
Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927
24 Mar
24 Mar
9:06 a.m.
Tim Shoppa wrote:
You forgot one vital component: the switches. The
7101 and 7103 series
switches used in the IMSAI front panel are still available new from C&K,
at $5-$6 each.
Hmmm... does that include the handles? Are the correct colors available?
My IMSAI switches are all intact (and factory-original AFAIK), but it wouldn't
hurt to get some spares.
9:34 a.m.
On 24 Mar 1999, Eric Smith wrote:
Tim Shoppa wrote:
<shameless plug warning>
I have both the levers and switches (in the original colors) available
thru the 'Garage'... (check the 'objects/items available...' page for
details)
</shameless plug> B^}
-jim
---
jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
You forgot one vital component: the switches.
The 7101 and 7103 series
switches used in the IMSAI front panel are still available new from C&K,
at $5-$6 each.
Hmmm... does that include the handles? Are the correct colors available?
My IMSAI switches are all intact (and factory-original AFAIK), but it wouldn't
hurt to get some spares. 
10:20 a.m.
Eric Smith wrote:
Tim Shoppa wrote:
I was down at Alltronics a while ago, and they had the IMSAI style switches
for about $1.25 each (surplus of course.)
You forgot one vital component: the switches.
The 7101 and 7103 series
switches used in the IMSAI front panel are still available new from C&K,
at $5-$6 each.
Hmmm... does that include the handles? Are the correct colors available?
My IMSAI switches are all intact (and factory-original AFAIK), but it wouldn't
hurt to get some spares. 
11:52 a.m.
Why not just build a kit w/out the case, or sell the case seperate? I'd gladly
buy a kit like that and install it in a metal file cabinet. That'll cut the
costs, if metalwork is that expensive.
CLASSICCMP(a)trailing-edge.com wrote:
I don't
know if $500 is the right number either, but I figure that in a
"new" IMSAI 8080 kit in low quantities, there'd be at least $75 in boards,
$100++ for the case, $50 for the power supply, $25 for a silkscreened front
panel and the rest, silicon, passives, switches, and the backplane
connectors. And that doesn't iinclude any re-engineering costs to account
for parts that have been discontinued or marked as "end-of-life."
You forgot one vital component: the switches. The 7101 and 7103 series
switches used in the IMSAI front panel are still available new from C&K,
at $5-$6 each. They start adding up fast! And cost of a full-length (22-
slot) backplane would come to around $150-$200 these days. (Though you
could easily argue that now that we have memory boards larger than 4kbytes
you don't need all those slots, all of my real IMSAI's have 22-slot
backplanes...!)
A year or so ago I looked at what it would cost to make my "TIMSAI" IMSAI
clone into a commercial product. Street price, I calculated, would be about
$2000, and most of that was in the metalworking. There was only about $30
in semiconductors in the whole unit (and that included 256K SRAM and an
IDE/floppy controller).
--
Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com
Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/
7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917
Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927 
12:03 p.m.
On Wed, 24 Mar 1999, bluoval wrote:
Why not just build a kit w/out the case, or sell the
case seperate? I'd gladly
buy a kit like that and install it in a metal file cabinet. That'll cut the
costs, if metalwork is that expensive.
The separate sales of the case could be the big money maker! I would
think that a lot of the clueless yuppies that overbid for them on e-bay
would be even happier with an "IMSAI" case containing a current Pentium
motherboard. (How many here are familiar with Excalibur cars?)
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com
<A HREF="http://www.xenosoft.com">XenoSoft</A>
12:10 p.m.
The yuppies can keep the case, I'd keep the internals. Heck, I'd install it in a
wooden box!
"Fred Cisin (XenoSoft)" wrote:
On Wed, 24 Mar 1999, bluoval wrote:
Why not just build a kit w/out the case, or sell
the case seperate? I'd gladly
buy a kit like that and install it in a metal file cabinet. That'll cut the
costs, if metalwork is that expensive.
The separate sales of the case could be the big money maker! I would
think that a lot of the clueless yuppies that overbid for them on e-bay
would be even happier with an "IMSAI" case containing a current Pentium
motherboard. (How many here are familiar with Excalibur cars?)
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com
<A HREF="http://www.xenosoft.com">XenoSoft</A> 
1:20 p.m.
At 09:28 AM 3/24/99 -0500, Tim wrote:
A year or so ago I looked at what it would cost to make my "TIMSAI" IMSAI
clone into a commercial product. Street price, I calculated, would be about
$2000, and most of that was in the metalworking. There was only about $30
in semiconductors in the whole unit (and that included 256K SRAM and an
IDE/floppy controller).
That's exactly why people don't build kits any more. The price so the
individual parts is higher than the cost of the commercaily assembled
finished product. You need to find a surplus case that you can use. That
would save a lot of money. Ditto the power supply and as many other parts
as possible.
Joe
12:16 p.m.
On Wed, 24 Mar 1999, Joe wrote:
At 09:28 AM 3/24/99 -0500, Tim wrote:
I dunno. I had a friend who put out a commercial product (high-voltage
electrical test equipment) that needed a 2' by 1.5' by 8" or so aluminum
case, with drilled/cut machining on the front, rear, and bottom panels. He
had a professional machinist/welder build one for him as a prototype for
close to a thousand dollars, and then had a hundred of them made in Mexico
for $95 a piece...
Aaron
A year or so ago I looked at what it would cost to make my "TIMSAI" IMSAI
clone into a commercial product. Street price, I calculated, would be about
$2000, and most of that was in the metalworking. There was only about $30
in semiconductors in the whole unit (and that included 256K SRAM and an
IDE/floppy controller).
That's exactly why people don't build kits any more. The price so the
individual parts is higher than the cost of the commercaily assembled
finished product. You need to find a surplus case that you can use. That
would save a lot of money. Ditto the power supply and as many other parts
as possible. 
12:24 p.m.
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text
Size: 1680 bytes
Desc: not available
Url :
http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/attachments/19990324/2889401e/at…
26 Mar
26 Mar
1:53 a.m.
At 09:28 AM 3/24/99 -0500, Tim wrote:
That, tech support, and product liability.
A year or so ago I looked at what it would cost to make my "TIMSAI" IMSAI
clone into a commercial product. Street price, I calculated, would be about
$2000, and most of that was in the metalworking. There was only about $30
in semiconductors in the whole unit (and that included 256K SRAM and an
IDE/floppy controller).
That's exactly why people don't build kits any more. The price so the
individual parts is higher than the cost of the commercaily assembled
finished product. You need to find a surplus case that you can use. That
9247
days inactive
9249
days old
10 comments
10 participants
participants (10)
-
af-list＠lafleur.wfi-inc.com -
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
bluoval＠mindspring.com -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
CLASSICCMP＠trailing-edge.com -
eric＠brouhaha.com -
jimw＠agora.rdrop.com -
marvin＠rain.org -
mikeford＠netwiz.net -
rigdonj＠intellistar.net