I was working on one of my projects .I found a guy who made a similar design but used the exact display I wanted to use... My problem and question are do I continue building my design and figure out the display issue or just buy a board from him and be done with it?? What do you guys do or prefer in this type of situation????


Thanks
Jay Sr

 

Without knowing what the project is or the costs involved, we can only offer up generic answers. I would carry on with my own project if A) I had a fair amount of money into it which I stood to lose or B) It was something I felt was a challenge and completing it would give me some sort of satisfaction. If neither applied and buying his satisfied the needs of my project, I would buy it and carry on so I could move on to other projects.

 

Are you a purist and want to do it yourself for the experience and to know how your unit works? Or, are you more concerned with getting the project done and the end result and think a purchased unit will speed up your access to your finished project.?

 

Without knowing what the project is or the costs involved, we can only offer up generic answers. I would carry on with my own project if A) I had a fair amount of money into it which I stood to lose or B) It was something I felt was a challenge and completing it would give me some sort of satisfaction. If neither applied and buying his satisfied the needs of my project, I would buy it and carry on so I could move on to other projects.

This is more or less a general question. (The project I speak of is dummy load I have been working on...The
display I want is a lcd but have no idea where to begin to design or build one showing all the measurments I would like).. But it's not the really the point of the question..But comment if you would like..


Thanks
Jay Sr

 

Are you a purist and want to do it yourself for the experience and to know how your unit works? Or, are you more concerned with getting the project done and the end result and think a purchased unit will speed up your access to your finished project.?

Personal I would like to finish this since it's my first real project and I have come to understand how it works.. I also have learned a great deal from this and can't thank you guys enough for helping me out ...,(Thanks Ronv).

 

As long as you are learning, the project has value, at least to you. Really, why would we need to make anything? Nearly anything you can think of is for sale.

 

To paraphrase an old VISA advertisement, the price to buy it is set, the value of doing it yourself is priceless. If you need it to make coffee tomorrow morning, buy it. But from what you have said, I think you should try to make it. The cost of making it yourself is irrelevant, within reason.

John

 

I have learned a lot over the years and in some cases I paid way more than I should have to finish something. In the end I would like to think the lessons I learned paid me back in much larger ways, the biggest being the newfound knowledge I gained from finishing what I started. The payoff is the experience you gain and knowing you can now help someone else.

 

Nearly anything you can think of is for sale.

Not really! But I agree it's worth a long look before you decide to build. If nothing else, you want to give yourself options.

I'm probably much farther on the "buy" side of the equation than others around here. If you think of yourself dispassionately as a business and ask yourself, "would I pay someone like me to build X when I can go buy X?", the answer is almost always NO. Even if your labor is free, you may not come out ahead. So when I decide to build something, it's usually because I can't find anything suitable to buy, or because I'm looking forward to a project just for the sake of it. It's only rarely to save money.

 

Generally it is always less costly to buy something complete over designing and building it yourself.

 

As long as you are learning, the project has value, at least to you. Really, why would we need to make anything? Nearly anything you can think of is for sale.

The above should be understood, and kept in mind, by those asking questions on building something.... but also by those answering their questions too. Otherwise, this hobby makes little or no sense at all. Let me say.