A design challenge and product idea

With all the engineers and masters of all things Toughbook on this board, I’m sure one of you, or several in collaboration, could design and produce a better aftermarket CF-29 hard drive caddy system.

It could be constructed of injection-molded plastic; similar to the ones from China I heard mentioned here months ago, but with a two-piece snap together design.

BUT, I’d like it to have a fully intergraded connection ribbon with a direct SATA connection on the internal side and female IDE on the external side; the adapter in the middle. And, throw in a simple rubber ring to help shock isolate the hard drive in the caddy.

You could probably get the plastic casing made in bulk for less than five dollars each, the connector for less than $20.

Sell them at a price point of $50.00 USD, and I’d bet you couldn’t make enough of them.

Anyone…………..

 

Panasonic builds these Toughbooks caddy's like that for a reason , they can take what we throw at them. We had a few guys that tried :laugh: to build a better one :rolleyes2: but failed big time. Also if I wanted too for $35.00 I can get the OEM out of china .

 

Wow... sounds to me like you've got it all figured out. none of us here with a degree in Electronics Tech & Engineering *CoughDwagonCough* might know how much it REALLY costs to get tooled up for production on something like this; once you start making custom cables and adding other people's technology into your design, it couldn't POSSIBLY cost more than $50 a pop to make it... just cuz you say so! We would have NEVER though of that.

To get into the price range you're suggesting, you need to be STARTING in qty 10,000. I sure don't have that much venture capital lying around; if I DID, I'd have bought 200,000 more shares of Ford when it was $1.89.

mnem
Now if I worked/lived in Zhejiang... could probably get it done for the price of a new Camaro...

 

WOW, touch a nerve or something............

My post was a basic observation on the skill of the forum members, the lack of aftermarket caddies for a hugely popular system, and what I thought would be a nice alternative design.

I was looking for a discussion of the possibilities, not a weak diatribe with personal attack. But hey, if it makes you feel better, then that’s really all that matters, isn’t it?

 

Just curious, Where do you get the OEM from China at for $35.00?

 

There have been ebayers who cobble together PVC hard drive caddies that were 100% crap. Could I put one together if I had to? Absolutely... But considering the time it would take... I'll just order the OEM ones.

I doubt the PVC/Plastic can shed heat as well as the thin aluminum ones.

 

I never did buy any

Back a few months ago I had a lot of toughbook parts on auction and a china seller emailed me with his wholesale price list and the caddy was $35.00 BUT we are not talking about buying 1 or 2 to get this price ....trust me. More like a few dozen....$1000.00 or so .You don't get something that cheap without spending $$$$$$$$