
Show HN: 1-click orders for open source electronics - kasbah
https://kitspace.org
======
kasbah
Hey HN, I created Kitspace in an effort to help open source electronics be a
bit more like open source software. The aim is to make it as easy as possible
to replicate designs without the creator having to bag components to make
kits.

I have been working on this for a number of years already (started with the
browser extension) and have a few things in the pipeline such as integrating a
GitLab back-end for easier file-uploads and adding a bill of materials editor.

The source code is available at
[https://github.com/monostable/kitspace](https://github.com/monostable/kitspace)
(give it a star if you like it - it really helps a lot with grant
applications). There is an alpha version of a BOM builder tool at:
[https://bom-builder.kitspace.org](https://bom-builder.kitspace.org). Feel
free to ask for more details of course :)

~~~
ZenoArrow
Thanks for sharing Kitspace on HN, your site looks promising. At first I
thought it may be hard to gain traction over the established players (such as
Tindie), but after looking into how the site works it looks like it has the
potential to lower the cost for acquiring the hardware, as well as reduce the
customer support burden for open hardware creators. Nice work!

Any short term plans to expand the site further?

I had thought that selling solder stencils perhaps might be a good optional
extra for larger boards, but I guess they could prove a little expensive.
Cheapest I've found with a quick search was this site:

[https://www.oshstencils.com/](https://www.oshstencils.com/)

~~~
kasbah
Cheers! I don't think it's in competition with Tindie either. I want the site
to serve a niche of creators that can't be bothered with the rest (i.e.
packing and selling). I think this opens up a world of designs that don't have
commercial viability. My special areas of interest are music gear and
scientific instrumentation (but of course that doesn't dictate what types of
designs people decide to put up).

The cost for a one-off order is always more than something that is made
multiple times so I it's not a question of competing on price. Kitspace
currently optimizes for one-off orders (batching orders of a single design for
multiple people would be interesting too though).

I am curious, how do you think it lowers the support burden? Do you mean they
can just say: "you soldered it, I don't know, works for me" or is it something
more? :D

I think the stencils are best left to the batching services and Aisler and
PCBway, which are linked from Kitspace, offer them too (and they should pick
out the relevant solder-paste Gerber files).

EDIT: Oh, and regarding planned features check:
[https://github.com/monostable/kitspace#planned](https://github.com/monostable/kitspace#planned)
and the work-in-progess (WIP) pull-requests:
[https://github.com/monostable/kitspace/pulls](https://github.com/monostable/kitspace/pulls)

~~~
ZenoArrow
> "I am curious, how do you think it lowers the support burden? Do you mean
> they can just say: "you soldered it, I don't know, works for me" or is it
> something more? :D"

Yeah, pretty much the former. Selling a product directly, even in kit form,
implies that you're stating that the parts you supply will be fit for purpose,
whereas with a site like Kitspace I'd suggest it's up to the person assembling
the boards to get things working (though that won't stop some people asking
for help). What Kitspace seems to do is to reduce the friction between seeing
a board an individual is interested in and the ordering of the suggested
parts, which is a step forward for the user experience of open source
hardware.

------
ejo4041
Without having placed an order, this looks really cool and I hope it takes
off. One I thought of off the top of my head that I did not see there is the
ErgoDox keyboard.
[https://github.com/bishboria/ErgoDox](https://github.com/bishboria/ErgoDox)

A good resource for more projects to put up might be Tindie. You might find
some more HW folks there that would like to contribute.

What did you use to build the site? It looks great and is responsive. I have
been wanting to build a "thingiverse for x" for a specific x for a while, but
have not had the time for a nice implementation like this.

~~~
kasbah
Thanks for the tips. I actually have a GitHub org [1] which serves as a todo
list for projects to try and get into a state to be put up.

Source code for Kitspace is on GitHub as well:
[https://github.com/monostable/kitspace](https://github.com/monostable/kitspace)

Tindie is a really cool platform for selling kits and assembled projects and I
need to figure out how to best reach people there. Kitspace is kind of trying
to serve the niche of creators that don't want to put in the effort to put
together and sell assembled projects or kits. There is probably still some
overlap though and some people do have projects on both sites already I
believe.

Kitspace is built with React and Semantic-UI (and pcb-stackup! [2]) and is
compiled into a static site hosted on Netlify. I chose to implement my own
build system using Ninja because I didn't get on with the frontend build tools
at the time and it needs to process a lot of assets (and I do embedded systems
programming by day, so I actually like Make and Make-like build tools). This
was before Webpack and I had a go at understanding Webpack a few times in the
mean time but never got my head around the config language.

I am currently working on moving away from a static site and using an instance
of GitLab as a back-end. I am eyeing up Parcel and Next.js as possible routes
for building the new front-end.

[1]: [https://github.com/kitspace-forks](https://github.com/kitspace-forks)
[2]: [https://github.com/tracespace/pcb-
stackup/](https://github.com/tracespace/pcb-stackup/)

~~~
ejo4041
Thanks for the reply, I had not heard of pcb-stackup before, but it looks
awesome. I hope to integrate that into a site some day.

The ergodox sounds like a good fit as per your description, I tried to put
together an order to make my own but got overwhelmed between out of stocks and
alternative chips, etc. Ultimately I will probably buy a kit from someone else
rather than buy individual parts from mouser and digikey.

~~~
kasbah
Haha, yeah, I just fixed up the tomu [1] BOM because of out of stocks and
started dreaming up a self-healing BOM solution (pick the in-stock parts), I
need to implement quite a bit of stuff before that though.

I forked the ergodox project and will have a go at helping the creator put it
up when I get a chance.

[1]: [https://kitspace.org/boards/github.com/im-tomu/tomu-
hardware...](https://kitspace.org/boards/github.com/im-tomu/tomu-hardware/)

------
throwaway2016a
Seems like a great idea. Congratulations on launching.

I'm not sure I'm willing to install a Chrome extension to be able to use this,
though. I try to keep my extensions down to a minimum.

~~~
tyingq
Also hampered by Google's refusal to support Chrome extensions on Android and
IOS. What's their motivation for this policy?

~~~
kasbah
That reminds me that I should make the extension work for mobile Firefox. I
keep wondering though: do people order electronic components on their mobile?

~~~
tyingq
I do, but I don't know if that means much. Certainly mobile is overtaking
desktop in total overall traffic.

------
ken
> It could be described as a "Thingiverse for electronics".

I'm getting old. I would have described it as "on-demand Heathkits"!

It's a great idea. I'd love to see more types of designs. My parents still use
their Heathkit receiver, while I make do with a pathetic store-bought one.

~~~
kasbah
I like it, I might add that to the description. But what sets a Heathkit apart
from a regular kit? Sometimes I describe it as "a place for virtual kits".
(Also, didn't Heathkit make a little bit of a comeback?
[http://heathkit.com](http://heathkit.com))

It would indeed be great to have more types of designs. We've had an influx of
animal shaped PCBs recently (partly my own fault [1]) so I am on the search
for some rectangular green, serious ones to offset that. I feel like it's
slowly getting to a point where it's worthwhile adding categories.

[1]: [https://blog.monostable.co.uk/posts/etching-oscillators-
in-z...](https://blog.monostable.co.uk/posts/etching-oscillators-in-zurich)

~~~
ken
> But what sets a Heathkit apart from a regular kit?

I guess I've never seen any other solder-it-yourself kits. Do they exist? I'd
love to make some. Or give them as gifts.

> (Also, didn't Heathkit make a little bit of a comeback?
> [http://heathkit.com](http://heathkit.com))

Great, if true. Right now I only see 2 kits on their website, and both are
just newer versions of ones I built years ago (clock, AM radio).

> We've had an influx of animal shaped PCBs recently (partly my own fault)

Heh, I was wondering about those.

Do you take requests? Home audio is the DIY classic. Maybe power supplies or
battery chargers -- I always seem to need more of those. And of course,
anything related to home automation. Maybe you could start small (like an IR
remote control), and move up. A fully open-source alternative to the IOT junk
that's on the market today would be most welcome!

~~~
kasbah
I do take requests but mostly for documenting other people's projects and
getting them in a state to be put up. I was going to have a go at HackRF [1]
next but if you know any good projects you would like to see put up, let me
know.

[https://github.com/mossmann/hackrf](https://github.com/mossmann/hackrf)

P.S. I should really have a go at this power supply too:
[https://github.com/eez-open/psu-hw](https://github.com/eez-open/psu-hw)

~~~
ken
I was thinking more along the lines of "the power brick for my old monitor
died again", but that dual-channel programmable PSU looks amazing. I wish I
had a use for it so I had an excuse to build it! Thanks for the link.

------
archi42
Oooh, nice site! I like it :)

Some ideas: 1\. You could add the objective O2 headphones amp (very nice
build) 2\. I have a stash of common parts I bought in bulk (mostly SMD R/C),
if those were automatically "supplied" via my personal inventory list (maybe
even updating it), that might be really neat.

~~~
kasbah
Thanks for the tips. I checked out the O2 amp and it's extensively documented!

For 2. it might be worth integrating with some of the part managements
systems. [https://github.com/monostable/awesome-
electronics#inventory-...](https://github.com/monostable/awesome-
electronics#inventory-management-and-purchasing)

------
jcrabtr
Cool project! This reminds me of an idea that you're awfully close to:
optimized small-volume part kitting. I can order boards from OSHPark and
stencils from OSHStencils, but figuring out which distributor has parts in
stock for the lowest price and in the preferred packaging still takes an
inordinate amount of time. The Octopart BOM tool is the closest thing I know
of, but it will only let you fill a cart at a single distributor. Going in one
step from BOM to ordered parts from multiple optimal distributors would save a
lot of time.

~~~
kasbah
Yes! I had this idea too (or maybe I stole it off you, who knows :). Though I
changed my mind at some point and thought I would first do it according to
preferred retailer (since I normally want to order at Farnell and then RS, if
Farnell doesn't have it, because both will deliver next-day in the UK for
free). Check 1.6 and 2.0 on the 1-click BOM roadmap [1]. Though it may be
better to integrate this with Kitspace.org rather than build it into the
extension.

[1]:[https://github.com/monostable/1clickBOM#roadmap](https://github.com/monostable/1clickBOM#roadmap)

------
amelius
Looks nice, but I hope the documentation for the individual projects improves
(it seems to be at the bare minimum at this moment). For example, I'd like to
know what to look for when a freshly soldered project doesn't work. Or when it
breaks. Also, I'd like to have a minimum explanation of how a circuit works.
The circuit schematics should always be included.

Further, it would be nice if the website immediately showed the price for the
components (or a range, for different resellers).

~~~
kasbah
All great feature requests and will be implemented one day (if I don't get hit
by a bus). Linking up the board preview with the parts list, to help soldering
and debugging, has been on the roadmap for Kitspace for quite a while. Here is
a badly collaged concept drawing of that idea:
[https://github.com/monostable/kitspace/blob/bf017e245ed92066...](https://github.com/monostable/kitspace/blob/bf017e245ed920668571af32c43ded80f2dcb86b/presentations/fosdem2017/images/aide.png)

If you click on the "repo" link for most (not all) projects you will be able
to download schematics (the majority are done in KiCad).

------
dylanha
Do you have links for one-click assembly too like Macrofab and PCB.ng? Taking
a day to place parts with tweezers and hot air is a major pain point.

~~~
kasbah
Not yet, one day I want to add links to these new type of assemblers.

------
thrownaway954
honest question... how can we test that you actually implemented 1-click
ordering without having to install an extension?

~~~
kasbah
You can try with Digikey, Newark or Farnell. Once I find time I'll do a
shared-cart trick with Mouser as well so the extension will be needed less,
though the extension can also be easier expanded to more retailers that don't
offer cart-sharing links.

