BM1384 Pod Miner plus trade-in/recycling - an interest and feasibility poll

[sidehack]

This time it was my best friend's grandpa. I've known him and his family over 15 years so I was there for them. My own family is doing fine.

But yeah, there are more important things than money. I treat money as a resource, something I want because it enables me to do awesome stuff. A lot of people want money just to have money and whatever power or comfort having lots of money could bring. Me, I just want resources - but I don't want to feel like I didn't earn what I have, which is one of the things defining my stance on preorders and investment dollars.

[chiguireitor]

...
But yeah, there are more important things than money. I treat money as a resource, something I want because it enables me to do awesome stuff. A lot of people want money just to have money and whatever power or comfort having lots of money could bring. Me, I just want resources - but I don't want to feel like I didn't earn what I have, which is one of the things defining my stance on preorders and investment dollars.

Speaking of resources, i've just got 1 dead board from a friend, there's about 15 more incoming my way, that would net about 16 boards "if" the project goes trough.

As soon as i have them all, and you say "go" i'll send'em.

[sidehack]

That's a lotta boards. I'm assuming you'll want 16 pods in return.

[chiguireitor]

That's a lotta boards. I'm assuming you'll want 16 pods in return.

If the project goes through... yeap

Also, willing to put some dough for at least 20-25 pods... you wouldn't believe how much fans Gekkoscience got on my family

[Mikestang]

The image is even green for gekko science, haha. 

[sidehack]

"Pod people" always makes me think of Apple device users. Especially the "devour your soul" part.

[Meech]

The image is even green for gekko science, haha. 

God! We can only hope to be consumed--- Bring it!
"Just a few minutes could save you hundreds.... on mining equipment" GekkoScience.

[kilo17]

I am in for either an auction and/or a raffle.  I am also in to send in some boards.  

8 - Garden blades
4 - Asicminer blades
4 - S1 blades

I want some PODS

[notlist3d]

I am in for either an auction and/or a raffle.  I am also in to send in some boards.  

8 - Garden blades
4 - Asicminer blades
4 - S1 blades

I want some PODS

Garden and S1 I doubt have a ton of value behind them.   Kinda like old A1's just not really worth it at this point for most.

Which asicminer hashing blades are they?  If prisma or whatever then yes likely worth something. 

[Meech]

Some additional components can be found in common power circuits like on BTCGarden AMV1/AMV2 blades, ASICMiner Tubes and to a lesser extent on the boards common to Rockminer BE200 gear, as well as AntMiner S1 and S2 boards. As the power parts don't represent near as much expense as the hashing chips would, a quota of these parts would cover half the cost of a miner, so you'd get one miner for your old boards and $25.

These are what he may need if sidehack is on short supply of parts but as stated not as urgent as the chips themselves.

[kilo17]

I am in for either an auction and/or a raffle.  I am also in to send in some boards.  

8 - Garden blades
4 - Asicminer blades
4 - S1 blades

I want some PODS

Garden and S1 I doubt have a ton of value behind them.   Kinda like old A1's just not really worth it at this point for most.

Which asicminer hashing blades are they?  If prisma or whatever then yes likely worth something. 

I based it off the OP - But yes they are Prisma - thanks

[sidehack]

Some parts are being scavenged from Prismas, but I have a fair supply of those - enough to supply parts for mroe boards than I'll build, likely.

S1/S2 blades are looking to be a bit higher demand because they have a nice supply of 470uF and 680uF solid-state caps which I'll end up wanting. AM Tube and BTCGarden AMV1/V2 blades are also desirable for power parts but since I already have those parts for 150 boards without tearing down my S1 stack (and I probaby won't have to if folks send in S1 and S2 I can strip).

The breakdown is about like this: An S5 board pays one pod and supplies about $25 worth of parts each for two more pods. An S1 supplies $10 worth of parts each for 4 pods. A Tube or Garden board supplies about $10 worth of parts for 8 pods. A Prisma supplies about $1 worth of parts each for over a dozen pods. Therefore, S5 boards are much more highly valued than anything else because the one board gives me about $50 worth of scarce parts while everything else has various cheap parts in spades - a lot of which I already literally have buckets of.

The options in the survey pretty much are the options. If the survey says 2 boards and $25, it doesn't mean 4 boards. If you have four boards you can trade 4 boards and $50 and get two pods. That's also subject to limitation based on my needs at present - if I need the parts from an S1 more than from a Tube to complete the batch, I may not allow trades from Tubes but still take trade in S1 boards.

Friggin' economics, man. Right now the priority is first S5, then S1/S2, then anything else in a distant third.

[sidehack]

Still working on the PCB layout. Not sure if I mentioned or not but we expanded the board size a bit to make it actually possible to manufacture in a single-sided board and still have room  for a CPU cooler with mounting and clearance and stuff. Current dimension are 10x15cm, about 4x6 inches.

The mount holes I'm putting in are the proper spacing for LGA115x coolers. One thing to note, however, is that our ASICs stand between 35 and 40 thousandths of an inch (about 0.9mm) above the PCB. An unmodified CPU cooler is likely to sit well above this point, being as it's used to mating with a fairly thick processor in a fairly thick socket. With this in mind, I've added some extra holes which line up to some direct mounting on the Freezer 7 (since that's what I'm referencing) and also making sure to keep clearance around the chips to use lower-profile coolers like stock Intel i-series (which I don't recommend for near full speed operation since they have a round core and corner chips will probably run hot). Basically, I'm trying to give options without going crazy.

My test board will have some added instrumentation like output current measurement and extra pads to directly measure and manipulate. It's likely some of this won't be on the final version, unless y'all really want the functionality (at slightly added parts cost). If I don't run into issues with time management, I should be able to order some prototype boards tomorrow and they'd be in by probably middle of next week. During that interrim I have some other design tasks and some manufacturing to take care of.

After we have some working prototypes and the firmware is finished and tested, I'll raffle off at least one of the prototype pods and start taking in funds for a full batch. I don't know yet how big a full batch will be, but it looks like there's interest and materials enough already to merit about 100.

[notlist3d]

Still working on the PCB layout. Not sure if I mentioned or not but we expanded the board size a bit to make it actually possible to manufacture in a single-sided board and still have room  for a CPU cooler with mounting and clearance and stuff. Current dimension are 10x15cm, about 4x6 inches.

The mount holes I'm putting in are the proper spacing for LGA115x coolers. One thing to note, however, is that our ASICs stand between 35 and 40 thousandths of an inch (about 0.9mm) above the PCB. An unmodified CPU cooler is likely to sit well above this point, being as it's used to mating with a fairly thick processor in a fairly thick socket. With this in mind, I've added some extra holes which line up to some direct mounting on the Freezer 7 (since that's what I'm referencing) and also making sure to keep clearance around the chips to use lower-profile coolers like stock Intel i-series (which I don't recommend for near full speed operation since they have a round core and corner chips will probably run hot). Basically, I'm trying to give options without going crazy.

My test board will have some added instrumentation like output current measurement and extra pads to directly measure and manipulate. It's likely some of this won't be on the final version, unless y'all really want the functionality (at slightly added parts cost). If I don't run into issues with time management, I should be able to order some prototype boards tomorrow and they'd be in by probably middle of next week. During that interrim I have some other design tasks and some manufacturing to take care of.

After we have some working prototypes and the firmware is finished and tested, I'll raffle off at least one of the prototype pods and start taking in funds for a full batch. I don't know yet how big a full batch will be, but it looks like there's interest and materials enough already to merit about 100.

I like the sounds of this .   Sounds like making good progress.

There is not a lot of companies I say take my money I trust you.  But I feel the pod will be fun just like the compac.

[kilo17]

This project is probably the best thing happening in the home miner scene.  I posted the following on the SP50 thread but wanted to share it here where it is more applicable-  

Here are my 2 cents on the SP50 -
Probably a great machine - but at this point I really do not give a F&%$

"Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence."
Colin Powell

The key word in that quote for me is LOYALTY - for which most of the companies building miners have none
Got to love the companies that make their name and chips from Home Miners and then turn around and f&%$ them over.

If BTC keeps moving the direction it is going all of these greedy companies will ultimately be their own demise.

I have joined SideHack and Novak in what I am calling the "GekkoScience Movement" - which to me means the following - F&^% the big mining operations and companies building miners that have no loyalty

Maybe I need to start the "GekkoScience Fan Club" - kind of like the Nasty Fan Club - with the motto - "By home miners for home miners"

[sidehack]

You should probably wait until we have more than two server boards, a stickminer and basic hosting before going quite that far. Also consider we're not the only ones doing what we're doing, and we couldn't do anything at all without help.

[vapourminer]

My test board will have some added instrumentation like output current measurement and extra pads to directly measure and manipulate. It's likely some of this won't be on the final version, unless y'all really want the functionality (at slightly added parts cost).

I in for that even at extra cost. I think the experimental/learning aspect of your gear is a major plus. I also like the intel i series stock heatsink option holes as I have several of those from builds. I understand the clocks wont go as high but they will work until a hand-me-down aftermarket cooler makes it over from another build.

[sidehack]

Also, I should mention we're looking to use a temp sensor that sits a few thousandths shorter than the ASICs, and park it right in the center of them, so it should make fair contact with the heatsink and get a decent measure of that temperature instead of, say, the temperature of the opposite side of the PCB.

[AJRGale]

Also, I should mention we're looking to use a temp sensor that sits a few thousandths shorter than the ASICs, and park it right in the center of them, so it should make fair contact with the heatsink and get a decent measure of that temperature instead of, say, the temperature of the opposite side of the PCB.

got a layout for these chips? they going look like a 3x3? since they are 8mm by 8mm, thats a 24mm by 24mm, less any space between the chips, so give it 2mm between them 26mm by 26mm, so I don't think them stock Intel sinks would work, I can't find one atm to measure.
I'm happy with throwing a "NoFan Icepipe" on that little beast anyway

[sidehack]

As stated earlier, the chips are arranged in a 3cm x 3cm square. There's a bit more routing required between them than 2mm will allow, especially considering the pads for the no-leads need to stick out from the chip a bit to make soldering correctly easier. The stock Intel cooler I looked at had a 5.5cm raised circular center, a little over 3cm diameter of which was a solid core. This would have pretty much full contact with 4 of the chips and a little over half contact with the other 4.

I'm still talking to the current owner of my surplus of Freezer 7 Pro coolers. I have permission to use them on this project but am still waiting on a price.