Possible group buy: SOJ -> DIP 20 adapter PCBs for old accelerator RAM / A500 hacking

[Secret Vampire]

See this thread
I've wanted some of these for ages, to get my Microbotics VXL 30 up to 8MB, and this PCB seems to address the issue of how to do it better than anything I could think of. I just did a quick quote for PCB manufacturing from futurlec and came out with a unit price of £2.15 +VAT/Customs charges for a batch of 16, which makes it an expensive 8MB.
But, the cost is all in the setup costs for the board ($25) and solder mask ($24), these are fixed. The board cost is $0.26 for <50 units, and $0.20 above that, so for example it would work out to 62.5p +tax each for 64 units.
So the question is, am I the only one that wants these? I'd be more than happy to place orders for a larger batch of the boards if I had some firm indication of interest from guys here, I just don't want to order a few hundred of them and be left with a bag of PCBs that nobody wants...
If anyone can find a better quote please let me know.

Mods: I'm posting here rather than marketplace since I figure the kinds of people who'd want these are more likely to be loitering here than actively searching to buy them. If you disagree please move.

[Loedown]

You say you've done a side by side comparison, could you post the numbers of both parts here so more of us can have a look and make a decision?

[rkauer]

Make some 1Mbit x4 in ZIP format and lots of people will show interest!

[Photon]

Hear hear.

But even so, at least I'm interested o/ - but it needs to be a group buy WITH ram, if you know what I mean. It's a good idea for chipram, trapdoor slowmem, A590 ram (eugh!), and - those expansions with either 2M fully populated or 8M with 1Mx4 dil chips.

Even though 256kx4 can still be slaughtered, I'm all for making adapters to "remake old in new components" (my motto, and I hope Mr. Schönfeld's too ) - although there are pretty cheap adapters available proven working for this, as proven with expanding Blizzard Turbo Memory to 8MB.

Just because you can buy the adapters from the net doesn't mean I'm not disapproving the project, right now I have no project for it but it's always a good thing to make available components work in the computers we love. Throw in some RAM and hit me with the total cost split n ways (n=number of participants).

[spock-79]

Originally Posted by rkauer

Make some 1Mbit x4 in ZIP format and lots of people will show interest!

Ther was a group buy last year on Forum64, a german C64 Board.
The PCB Layout (zip2soj and dip2soj) was made by a user called sotonic.

[Secret Vampire]

@loedown
I didn't do any comaprisons as such, just went to http://www.futurlec.com/PCBService.shtml and put in the dimensions and specification (25.5x10mm, double sided, solder mask) and messed with quantities to see how prices worked out. You'd still need sockets to glean the pins from (14 for a quid on ebay), and RAM chips. I also looked at PCBtrain.co.uk but they were a lot more expensive.

@Photon
My thought was that chips would be scavenged from old 4/8MB Simms, I just checked Farnell and RS, and neither of those even list the chips, so they're probably now considered obsolete, I don't think it would be economical to buy new. That said, I have dozens of the SIMMS in question (Unless I chucked them out and forgot about it), and also some 1MB 30 pin ones which should serve for 256kx4s which I'd happily test and give to anyone that needed them. I'm not sure what the best way to remove the chips without damage is, but careful use of hot air should be sufficient, it may even be possible to just heat the simm card to soften the glue bond holding the pads down and then gently pry the chips off (I just tried this with a lighter, it worked quite well).