Open Manufacturing - (How to Build 30 (SERB) Kits)

Welcome to the first foray inside the oomlout.com factory.

At oomlout we are focused on producing "delightfully fun open source products" this commitment to open source extends to our manufacturing process as well. So what follows is step by step what we go through to fulfill an order using our Arduino Controlled Servo Robot - (SERB) kit and an order size of 30 as an example.

You will find everything you need to get up and making your own SERB's in semi industrial volumes, ideally you won't decide to. the real purpose of this Instructable is to act as a repository for our methods, jigs, and tricks and to help anyone looking into producing similar style kits. (or simply for those who like to see how a product is made).

updates to come
This will be an evolving Instructable to be updated with new tricks as and when we come up with them. Hopefully slowly changing from the small tabletop factory we now operate towards something much grander.

The steps to follow
We have broken down our manufacturing process into five main categories each with sub-steps.

• Before we Start - Tools, materials and other little bits needed before commencing. (steps 1 - 3)
• Laser Cutting - Taking large 4' x 8' sheets of acrylic and turning them into the individual SERB parts squares. (steps 4 - 9)
• Hardware - All the supporting elements going from mad heaps of bolts and stacks of Arduinos into nicely labeled and organized envelopes. (steps 10 - 14)
• Instructions - From on screen to lovely printed booklets. (step 15)
• Packaging - Putting it all together and getting it ready to ship. (steps 16 - 18)

(shameless plug)
Not looking to build your own? Lovely pre-packaged kits are available from oomlout.com (here)

Step 1: The Product

First off what we will be making.

We will be producing 30 Arduino Controlled Servo Robot - (SERB) - kits. The SERB is our open source Arduino powered robot platform.

Details on how to make your own can be found- (here)

Or if you'd like to purchase a kit they can be bought from our online store - (here)

Comments

[Kdemon]

Is your system running windows on a MacMini? Sweet!

[lordofthedonuts]

Really cool, I love the pizza box idea. unfortunately I don't have any laser cutter and doing it with a scroll saw would take an enormous amount of time. How much did your laser cutter cost you?

[hintss]

check out the epilog zing laser, and check out the laser tutorials on adafruit

[hintss]

and they have a link to their laser cutter. wow, thats cheap.

[ladyada]

nice job! these look great... one thing that may help you save a step, i get my acrylic with paper backing and peel off only the top. If you have a perfect setting, it is possible to cut precisely deep enough so that the paper doesn't get cut but the acrylic does then you can carefully lift the sheet out. i also do a hand-QA of 10% of the kits. it might not make sense here, but if you have confusing resistors or various caps it may avoid mixups/tragedy

[hintss]

they made a machine to measure out a length of sticker sheet for lifting the pieces out of the laser. the lasercuttable files (oh the irony) are up on thingiverse...

[ohelisa]

what model of canon printer is that? i'm trying to find one old enough that doesn't have paper sensors but don't know where to look!

[tech_punk]

 i agree with you johann, got to see a totally different perspective of open source. I have a question though, why dont you consider make your own cnc laser router of a bigger size, so that you dont have to cut smaller sheets. And you can use the laser head from your existing laser cutter. I am making a cnc router right now for similar purposes.  

Kudos to your manufacturing process. i bet this is what makes entrepreneurs like you win the world. 

[NastySpill]

Hi. I am aware of at least one company who are selling overpriced scales to fast food companies to use in their drive through counters, to ensure you get what you ordered. In exactly the same way you weigh each nut and bolt to save time, you should also consider weighing the finished parcel, which +/- minor packaging variations should be exactly the same. This allows you one final quick step to ensure everything that should be in the box - is. And nothing that isn't - isn't. So a Serb parcel might be 467.6 grams. If it is +/- 0.6grams or whatever tolerance you deem tight enough - ship that sucker!

[www.microbike.ie]

 They do weigh the whole parcel in the step 18

[NastySpill]

Great instructable by the way

[Seifpic]

Thanks! Yesterday I had an idea of making kits and selling them online! and this tut helped me alot!

[dombeef]

Wow.This is a great Instructable!

[gamefreek]

can u send me one lol

[sabbott]

This was really interesting! A lot of steps. A good reminder of what goes into manufacturing. How would you define "Open Source Manufacturing"? Do you mean the act of showing/telling how it is done? Or something more? Thanks.

[oomlout]

Hey;

At the moment it's about the showing, telling and sharing of our process but there is an on going discussion about what open manufacturing will encompass (we are not going by the moniker open source manufacturing too wordy and not really what we are doing) . There is a group discussing it which can be found at http://www.openmanufacturing.net

We're still seeing where it goes.

[johann]

I love it!!! So interesting to see how you make things. Open source rocks in many ways but you have added a new dimension to my way of thinking about it.....J

[comodore]

in the background, Is that your wire cutter machine, device, When is the Instructables for that coming up? Please make an Instructables for that device... Thanks! Your admirer commodore. :D

[oomlout]

Hey Comodore; Sorry about the lackluster info on the wire cutter, rest assured an improved version is in the works which will be fully documented.

[comodore]

Great, can't w8! Is there going to be a kit available for the device, I guess the box that contains all the materials is going to be large.... :P Hope your Instructables comes soon, so I won't die of inpatients. :D

[LeahLen]

Wow, great tutorial! Excellent photos and very well written. Love the open-source aspect of your product.

[guyfrom7up]

I think my school might have some of your kits! I'll check today.

[Culturedropout]

Very, very cool. Clearly explained, while maintaining a sense of humor about the whole thing. And I love all the machines and tools you've built to help streamline the process. Thanks for sharing!