by bruce » Fri Oct 03, 2008 6:46 am
I'm on my way out of town for the weekend but here is a quick update; I have the prototype running on my bench for the past week playing with different plate combinations and looking at the accuracy over ranges. Personally I'm impressed with what we have been able to do for what this system will cost, as I think everyone else will be too once they get their hands on it! It will be every bit as professional as commercial products on the market and if not better than some for our application.
With that being said we are analyzing the numbers and trying to get loose ends tied up. We are looking at enclosures and all the little things to make a finished professional product all while keeping end user costs in mind! Not the most easy thing to do mind you.
Rick has the second board in his hands now so he can "finalize" Flowsoft (doubt it will ever be finalized due to adding features). Updates will be supplied here on my website so there will be no need to send anything back to me for upgrades. The unit will be shipped with Flowsoft, there will be a highend software package that will come later that will feature lots of bells and whistles. End users will be able to write their own application if they want and I'm sure there will be some third-party applications written.
As soon as we are ready I'll start taking orders and start shipping soon after that, our initial target price is going to be $250-300 for the 3 sensor package fully assembled, tested and ready to plug-in and use. Final calibration will be done by the user end.
I'm sorry this project seems to be dragging along but when you think about how remarkable it is to do what we have done in such a short period of time that we have and at the cost we have, there is not much more I can say . . . I'm sure this product is going to change the way the flowbench industry now operates! It is going to make a totally professional DIY flowbench in the price range of ~$1000-2000 for a 2-8 blower PTS build with all new parts.
"There is no more formidable adversary than one who perceives he has nothing to lose." - Gen. George S. Patton