Bitcoin Forum

Gauging Interest in Assembly Services for NF2 and/or NF6

We are checking to see if there is interest in a combined assembly run/services for Nano Fury USB miners using the new BitFury Rev.2 chips that are now available.

We would NOT be supplying any BitFury Chips for this service.  There are Group Buys and direct purchasing options available at:

• BitcoinValet's GB https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=528603.0 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=528603.0)
• Also Direct for smaller quantities at about $5 a chip: http://www.bitfurystrikesback.com/product/bitfury-55nm-rev-2-chip-tray/ (http://www.bitfurystrikesback.com/product/bitfury-55nm-rev-2-chip-tray/)
• Or for a large order at about $4.15/chip: http://www.bitfurystrikesback.com/product/bitfury-55nm-rev-2-chip-vacuum-package/ (http://www.bitfurystrikesback.com/product/bitfury-55nm-rev-2-chip-vacuum-package/)

All solid options depending on quantity.

            Current Interest Expressed
            Name           Quantity
           House                  20
           BitcoinValet          10
           Philipma1957          8
           Private                  8
           Private               250 (approx.)
           Private                50
           Stex2009              8
           yslyung               10
           Private               150
           TOTAL                  500+

---

04/24/2014 UPDATE

$68 per miner is the final cost the NF6.  Again we did not have enough interest in the NF2 so we are only building the NF6.

This includes parts, pcb manufacturing, assembly and shipping.  Does not include BitFury chips or Heat Sink.  If you need guidance on the Heatsink we can help you with that by posting ones we are confident will work well.
If you want to see the final assembly diagram send me a PM.  I don't want to post it.

Payment is a simple calculation of the # of miners you want times (x) $68.

We are going to put a time limit on payments so we can get this group started quickly.  All payments must be in by MAY 1 - one week from today.

Payment can be made by BTC or Bank Wire.
  For BTC please use the Coinbase exchange rate at the time of payment and send coins to 16SnTjcEYT1EdQsBRCF9XKmKoXm8RuuGGo
  Then send me a PM with the following:
     Your Name
     Shipping Address
     Email
     Phone number
     Quantity ordering

I will confirm receipt.

To use bank wire please PM for the instructions.

---

04/18 UPDATE
We have reached the minimum number needed to move forward.  Over the next few days we will be verifying costs and then will let everyone know what the confirmed per unit cost will be.
We have only 4 orders for the NF2 with the remaining 500+ being for the NF6.  Given that, this assembly will only be for the NF6.
If you are on the fence about joining, please decide today or tomorrow and send me a PM.  The process will start to move quickly now.

What would be made?
Specifically, the Nano Fury 2 (NF2) using 2 BitFury chips AND/OR the soon to be released Nano Fury 6 (NF6) using 6 BitFury chips.

**NOT BEING PRODUCED, only NF6NF2 stock speed is 3.7-4.1 Gh/s with Rev1 chips, overclocks to 5+ Gh/s - More info HERE (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=526925.0).  These figures will rise significantly with the Rev. 2 chips.  We expect overclocked speed to reach or even exceed 6GH/s (source (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=228677.msg5573479#msg5573479))

**NF6 stock speed  with Rev1 chips is about 11 Gh/s and overclock to about 15 Gh/s (again this will be higher with the Rev2 chip).  NF6 speeds are estimates as some testing continues, but the design has been proven and these numbers will very likely be exceeded.  Overclocking could near 18-20 Gh/s with Rev2 chips

Who are you?
vs3 - Developer of the open-source Nano Fury miner series. You should already know him from his project thread and tireless patience with all our support questions.   He will handle any technical issues such design changes, part substitutions, general testing and technical support.  
NanoFury Design Thread - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=321287.0 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=321287.0)

Swimmer63- I have done manufacturing runs for the NF1 and the NF2 as a reseller.  Both successfully, with high yields, using US manufacturers and assembly houses at very reasonable costs.  I have a working relationships with part suppliers, pcb manufacturers and assemblers making these boards and avoiding the pitfalls and delays.  Essentially, I already took the hard knocks on what not to do and can save you the hasssle.  I would handle the business/production end with part sourcing, accounting, bidding the work, production and shipping of finished miners.

Where will the work be done?
Here in the US.  Mostly on the west coast.  It's been our experience that for USB miners the speed of delivery, ease of communication and quality of workmanship outweighs the cost benefits of overseas production.  We don't say this is the case for everyone or everything obviously, but for this product, in this time frame, we have benefited greatly from using our US vendors.  

How long will it take?
General rule of thumb is one week to make the pcb and two weeks to assemble and test the miners.  Options are to pay more for faster turnaround, less for slower.  A reasonable time frame is 3-4 weeks after we receive your BitFury Chips.   This assumes paying for a 5 day PCB build and 1 week assembly, plus a few days for testing and repairs and a few days lost in shipping back and forth.  If issues arise this could go to 30 days, but it's doubtful.

What will it cost per miner?
There are a lot of variables that go into this obviously.  But in general here is what we estimate the pricing to be if we have the  volume to make this worthwhile.  These figures do not include the cost of the BitFury chip.  We will firm this up if there is enough interest to proceed:

• NF2 - about $38-$44 per miner, minimum order of 8
• NF6 - about $65-72 per miner, minimum order of 8

What IS included in that estimate?
All parts (except heatsink), manufacturing of the pcb, any design fees, stencils, assembly of the miners, shipping of all parts between vendors and final delivery of miners via FedEx in the US (overseas shipping may be extra).  It will also include initializing the miners and testing for any errors so they are ready to run when delivered to you.  Also included would be simple fixes of faulty miners.

What is NOT included in the estimate?
BitFury Chips, thermal paste and the heatsink are not included.  The heatsinks currently used are pricey and you may want to pick a cheaper option for your self or one you find more visually appealing.  Specialized retail packaging is also not included.  
Any automated assembly costs due to large scale re-work needed for defective parts is not included.  Smaller isolated issues can be corrected by hand ourselves at no additional cost.  But a bum part on hundreds of miners will require automated reworking.  These costs can be mitigated somewhat if they occur, but not completely.
Speaking from experience with the previous Rev.1 chips - about 7%-10% of the boards will end up having one kind of a defect or another.   Most of them can easily be repaired and vs3 will take care of that.  About 3-5% of the bitfury chips will end up being bad or underperforming.  Replacing the chips is a major pain and at the moment we are not planning on doing it.  Sometimes a bad NF2 board can still be used as a NF1 with one working chip.  Bad boards that can't be repaired will be distributed proportionally among everyone.

Is your fee included?
Yes, we are both taking some kind of fee.  The higher the run less it is.  We are also making a per board contribution to Luke-Jr for his outstanding job and support of Nano Fury with bfgminer.
Additionally, Swimmer63 (Moonlight Miner) will not be building any miners for resale on this run and only a few (under 10) for personal use/testing.  I intend to sell my remaining stock of the MLM NF2 miners in the next 2-3 weeks such that I am not competing with anyone joining this assembly service when their miners come on.  That is if you are a reseller.

What about any slow miners and defective boards?
There is no fixing slow chips.  While we have noticed a quality improvement in the latest Rev. 1 chips, we do not represent BitFury or attest, guarantee their quality.  But we have been very happy with the current Rev. 1's in the NF2.  Regardless of who's chip is put in a miner the quality is going vary across a range and that is not something that can "repaired" before or after assembly.

What else should I know up front?
The NF1 is open source and it's design files have been released. But at the request of the few people that have sponsored the NF2 and NF6 development design files have not been published yet. They will be published eventually but certainly not prior to this first batch of miners has been produced and delivered to all participants of this assembly service.  So if you are a re-seller, no one else outside this run will have the same product.
Finally, if you don't know already, a Nano Fury (unlike almost every other USB miner) requires no special drivers to work or be recognized by the mining software.  That is why it's an ideal miner for beginners and enthusiast.

Is there more info about NF6 that you can direct me towards?

I'll be posting some more details and pictures on the NanoFury thread in the next few days, but in essence - it is 6 chips, similar USB design as the NF2 and in its current incarnation it will use a 40x40mm  heatsink. Basically the goal here is to be as much "overclockers"-friendly as possible, permit to add extra heatsinks on top, replace bottom one, and even use a standard 40x40mm 5V fan for extreme overclocking.

Okay I like the nano fury I still have 20 of them and I am selling them piece by piece on ebay.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=151265544546&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=161260730005&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT


So a small order of :

8x nf2 =  8 x 44  or 352
8x nf6 = 8  x  72 or  576 

 I want 4 of each can that be done?

It is below the minimums, but we are assessing interest right now so we'll worry about that later. 
Thanks for responding!!

I'll take at last 10 of the NF6. May do more depending on quantity pricing.

The group buy should be executed this weekend. I'm buying at least 500 extra chips for people who will be wanting assembly through the forums, but the best pricing will be for people who get their order in prior to when I submit payment.

If you are ordering assembly services through Swimmer63 you can skip paying for shipping for now as it will either be free or reduced.

I went to your store and purchased a pair of the 2 chip ones you have in stock.
I will want the 6 chip ones  maybe 8 of them.

I am going to buy some  nf6  chip ones from swimmer.  I think 8.  I ordered a pair of his current 2 chip ones from his website.   If they work  okay I will get 8 of the nf6 chip ones.


 i think i would need the nf6  chips from you to do this.

Hope to have some more performance info from vs3 on the NF6 soon as testing continues.

We are at about 100 miners at this point and would need to get to 500 to make this worthwhile.
Post here or pm me or vs3 if you are interested.
This is the only way to get a 6 chip Nano Fury in the near future.

Hi Swimmer63

Could you start an order counter above on the first post at the bottom for the NF2/NF6 (even if you just put in <Private>).

I'll willing to help out and pick up some, let me learn a little bit more about this project.
(now 30 minutes later) I'm interested in this project - seems like a pretty sweet design.

Do we know a lead time on NF6?

All same questions, but we're really looking for 100% finished product with chip included in price.  Also PM'd with initial quantity/spend interest.

I will start a counter or list iluvpcs.  Meant to do that but my real job has been sucking me in the past few days.  That's gotta stop.
OK - Yes - NF6 is a sweet design with significant user advantages over the hexfury just released.  Price is the biggest but also the fact that it's as close to "plug n' play" as you get with btc.
As we described in the OP, once we have the chips in hand we are looking at 4 weeks.  That's conservative.  If all goes well it will be between 3-4 weeks.
I will let vs3 chime in on the eta for the final design.  But that will likely be in place before we finalize this Group Assembly.
So if we can get the number of miner commitments up to at least 500 for one design (NF6 or NF2) in the next 7 days we are looking at 4-5 weeks from today having the product.
I am leaving the chip delivery out of the equation here but this is just to give you an idea.

I think the chip issue you have might be a matter of perspective.  We are not going to facilitate chip purchases because it's redundant and we don't want to compete with the other Group Buys going.  The BitFury chips have never been available from more sources than they are today.  And they are are relatively cheap. 
I am sure BitcoinValet has bought some extra chips with his order if you are looking at smaller numbers.  And if you are looking at larger numbers, he will probably be willing to open another buy, as he has done in the past.  But we are not going to reinvent the wheel with our own purchase on them.  Sorry.

Updated OP with an interest count.  More than halfway to 500

Design for NF6? is it USB style?

Yes, it is USB style. Board dimensions are somewhat similar to NF2 - slightly longer board (to accommodate for various heatsink options).

Just a reminder that as this is a 6-chip board it will need power for like 6 chips! :-)
(and they of course will produce 6 times the heat that one chip produces - so some air movement will be a must!)

And yes - you can underclock all of them and get them to use very little power and run them on a standard USB2.0 plug providing only 2.5W (0.5A@5V).

However if you plan on pushing the hell out of it you should be ready to plug it to a powered USB hub, where for each port (in which you plug a NF6) you would have at least 3A available. If for example your 7-port hub comes with a 4A adapter - that will be sufficient for running only one NF6 board at the limits, or if you slow it down (where it uses around 2A) you might be able to run 2 NF6 boards.

So far preliminary tests with chains of up to 8 chips show that things should work as desired. I'm expecting the first real test boards within the next day or two, so most likely by the end of the weekend I will have some real numbers - performance, heat, power usage, etc.

Once I have the real feedback I may have to tweak the board a bit (based on that feedback) and that redesigned one is the one that will likely be used for production. Redesigning the board and getting new samples will likely take another few days, so production version will probably be confirmed the following weekend.

Thanks for the info!
Sign me up for the min please.
ie 8 X NF6

Good deal Stex2009.  OP updated.

I'm traveling this weekend so contact might be sporadic.

I am back and updated the OP with another 10 NF6's.
Vs3 should have more info for us this week.
Need 136 more to go to build.

Just need 136 more and we are off to the races!

And NF6 design is pretty much finalized - most likely to be confirmed over the weekend.

Specs so far:
Chips: 6x Bitfury Gen2
Power usage: 1-1.3A (also somewhat heat dependent - when chips get very hot they use a bit more)
performance: 11-12GH on average
connection: USB (USB 2.0 signaling)

Just a reminder that per the OP, the minimum order is 8 units.

I am listed at 8. price is about  576 for the 8.

 do i have to order chips? or can I just add more money to my order and have you provide the chips?

Per the OP we are not providing chips. There are multiple ways to order chips and links listed at the top of the OP.  We have no inventory of chips.

Parts and PCB prices are in.  Waiting on Assembly pricing.  Hope to have the final cost per miner by tomorrow and will post.  :)

04/24/2014 UPDATE

$68 per miner is the final cost the NF6.  Again we did not have enough interest in the NF2 so we are only building the NF6.

This includes parts, pcb manufacturing, assembly and shipping.  Does not include BitFury chips or Heat Sink.  If you need guidance on the Heatsink we can help you with that by posting ones we are confident will work well.
If you want to see the final assembly diagram send me a PM.  I don't want to post it.

Payment is a simple calculation of the # of miners you want times (x) $68.

We are going to put a time limit on payments so we can get this group started quickly.  All payments must be in by MAY 1 - one week from today.

Payment can be made by BTC or Bank Wire.
  For BTC please use the Coinbase exchange rate at the time of payment and send coins to 16SnTjcEYT1EdQsBRCF9XKmKoXm8RuuGGo
  Then send me a PM with the following:
     Your Name
     Shipping Address
     Email
     Phone number
     Quantity ordering

I will confirm receipt.

To use bank wire please PM for the instructions.

Cool - just checking on the thread and catching up on PM's.

I need lots of chips for the NF6's, and might put in order for 2600 chips (they come in a 10 pack of 2,600 or 1 packs of 260 from bitfurystrikesback, 10 pack is cheaper).    IS there anyone else needing chips?  If I get a few PM's back (or on the thread, but I don't want to thread jack), I probably can handle 600-1000 extra chips for others here.  I would also ship your chips with my chips to the group here for assembly.

I was wondering if the assembly service is still open? If so, is it possible to do less than 8? Or maybe someone would want to go in with me? I was possibly interested in ordering 4

It's closed. Production started last week.

in the mean time while doing some testing with just a slightly repositioned fan (and same old somewhat crappy USB hub providing 4.7V currently):

 bfgminer version 3.99.0 - Started: [2014-05-13 10:54:56] - [  0 days 10:50:16]
 Manage devices Pool management Settings Display options
 Pool 3: ...ning.eligius.st  Diff:16  +Strtm  LU:[21:44:43]  User:
 Block: ...071ab1e4 #300646  Diff:8.85G (63.38P)  Started: [21:44:35]
 ST:8  F:0  NB:70  AS:0  BW:[257/ 34 B/s]  E:24.46  I:35.37uBTC/hr  BS:2.34M
 1/6          | 15.96/15.72/15.13Gh/s | A:8477 R:33+0(.39%) HW:4782/3.4%
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 NFY 0:       | 15.89/15.73/15.13Gh/s | A:8482 R:33+0(.39%) HW:4784/3.4%
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [2014-05-13 21:42:28] Accepted 0a379afc NFY 0e pool 3 Diff 25/16
 [2014-05-13 21:42:29] Accepted 01f05aad NFY 0a pool 3 Diff 132/16
 [2014-05-13 21:42:34] Accepted 002ce119 NFY 0b pool 3 Diff 1.46k/16
 [2014-05-13 21:42:41] Accepted 05a7ecb8 NFY 0a pool 3 Diff 45/16
 [2014-05-13 21:42:42] Accepted 006ef451 NFY 0b pool 3 Diff 590/16
 [2014-05-13 21:42:49] Accepted 0f233241 NFY 0c pool 3 Diff 16/16
 [2014-05-13 21:42:50] Accepted 09a43e0c NFY 0e pool 3 Diff 26/16
 [2014-05-13 21:42:51] Accepted 02070698 NFY 0a pool 3 Diff 126/16

Sweet!

Are you going to have a group buy for these 6 chip units?  Fully assembled ready to ship?

I would not call it a group buy, but some will be for sale on moonlightminer.com.  A limited supply.  I was not going to sell any but the assembly service had ended up being very small.  So I will sell 20-30. We expect them to be done and ready to ship the first week of June.

I would take a pair.

If anyone still needs heatsinks for these, I ordered 5 extra. They are peel and stick. $5 each, plus shipping, BTC or PayPal. PM me.

http://imgur.com/TKxAHK9

Any known trusted 2nd hand sources for these?

I don't know of any with a reasonable supply, but sidehack was willing to part with one a week and a half back:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=963131.msg10535806#msg10535806

We've got four on the shelf, and I think we'd be willing to sell two. Probably best to talk to novak, he knows the USB hardware better than I do.

I might have a few factory seconds left.  If you are interested and serious pm me.

You got any chips running around?

PM sent