Ok so some of you responded to a previous post. However at this point I may need to go another direction.

I have a product I need to have designed from concept. I am not sure the engineer I hired is getting it.

if there is anyone out there that can help design a PCB and get a prototype made I would love to know who.

 

A commercial product can easily take hundreds of hours to finalize.
If You do find someone willing to take-on your challenge, it certainly won't be cheap,
and will likely turn into your worst nightmare in the long term.

If You will explain, in detail, exactly what You expect this Project to do, and at what cost per unit,
You may get some good advice as to it's practicality here in the Forums.
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What is the nature of your product?

 

For any design to be created in a reasonable manner, by which I mean reliable and safe and an good production yield, and being something that folks will want enough so that they purchase it, the starting point has to be the specifications, both physical and operating. Then every specification has to be understood by the person or team creating the design. I have designed quite a few machines and a fair number of products for industrial clients. That was actually simpler because only a few had to agree on the specifications and functions. AND they knew fairly well what had to be done, as the functions went. Creating the full concept of a consumer product is much more complicated. Still, before the design can happen you need to know what you will be making.

This is not the whole project , it is what you need to do before the design starts.

 

Post the specification you gave to the engineer and we can probably tell you why she isn’t “getting it.”

 

Another caution is that inadequate specifications of a product PRIOR TO THE START OF THE DESIGN PROCESS will lead to, at best, a poor and inadequate design, and more likely PRODUCT DISASTER.
In that regard, I have twice done a complete redesign of what was a disaster designed by a contractor that was either incompetent or had totally inadequate specifications.

 

Looking at your last thread, I see you are using an RFID reader as part of your device.

Are you familiar with the regulatory requirements for testing and certification of intentional radiators? You will definitely benefit from using a module that is already certified rather then reproducing it on your PCB. There are many RF-related modules today intended to be soldered to a main PCB for this reason.

FCC testing and certification is not a trivial thing. It is expensive and requires domain-specific expertise. If you haven’t already investigate this, now is the time so you don’t encounter a problem with regulators after you put the device on the market.

 

"Y" is totally correct!! please provide more details, and the specifications given to the contracted engineer. Then we can at least see what might be missing and suggest what additional information you need to supply. And understand that I have not read the prior thread , so I am not addressing any RF considerations.

 

You are attempting to bring to market a remote "dead-man switch"?
Why make life complicated?
There are many simple solutions that are already being used on watercraft, snowmobiles, exercise treadmills, tractors, forklifts, lawnmowers, chainsaws, medical equipment, etc.

 

You are attempting to bring to market a remote "dead-man switch"?
Why make life complicated?
There are many simple solutions that are already being used on watercraft, snowmobiles, exercise treadmills, tractors, forklifts, lawnmowers, chainsaws, medical equipment, etc.

Where did Mr Chips get "dead-mans Switch" from?? Or is this a special version that can't be cheated??

 

Ok so 2 things. First I actually got to speak to the engineer who is working my product. Reality is he has 10 hours into where we are now. However we are over 2 months into the project, which in all fairness I was quoted 2-3 months for a working sample so I guess we are on schedule…

second this is not a remote deadman switch. From my other posts I discussed some of the operations and was looking for some direction and it seemed to turn into guess my product. At this point I don’t want a lot of info out there because this one is not currently in the market I have designed it for and I would like to keep it that way. Not saying someone is going to steal my idea, but I have seen it many times from some big manufacturers where things just seem to happen.

 

OK, we do not want to disclose the plan. So what we can do is describe in detail the specifications that a design engineer needs to have so that the design comes out just right the very first time. Then the TS can compare that with what was given to the engineer.
The level of details is similar no matter what the product will be.

So the description starts with a complete description of what it will do going from each possible initial condition, when given each of the anticipated instructions. That may be a few pages,for some types of systems. Along with that could be different decision trees telling what then happens, and then what happens after that.
There would also be a hardware description giving voltages on the outside and currents in and out. And definitely timing, if it matters. And for every controlled variable, a mention of the resolution and accuracy required.Also response times, if they matter.

So the list gets long and tiresome, but having targets in advance helps towards going in the correct direction from the start. It may also force the decisions as to how fast and how accurate things must be.
(Allthese details and not one bit about the actual product) Still secure!