Beta Testing??

Good evening all,

Just a question before I go ahead an upset people. We are working on some new products (Drives, controllers etc) and are looking how best to get people to beta test them for us.

When the time is right, would it be acceptable to post asking if anyone would be interested in assisting with our beta testing (Free stuff for feedback and reviews/comparisons), or would this break the forum rules?

These will in the end be commercial products.

Regards

James
(on behalf of work this time)

Assuming this isn't against the forum rules...then yes I'm certainly up for testing products! You can see from my build log that I've got most probably the necessary to do it thoroughly...

Just noticed the next post mentions a bit of background...
I'm studying (well I was until I signed in here!) Electronic Engineering if that's any help.

(333rd post, nice number)

don't know about the forum rules
but I'll happily throw my hat in the ring as a beta tester

got electronics as well as software background
used to run a software company so know about testing too!

I,m just in the process of bulding my cnc router but I would love to test some new stuff particluarly software.

Ian

Thanks for the response guys... on other thing, if anyone, or a group of people have a need for a certain project, we may be willing to look at producing something to solve a specific problem.... any ideas very welcome, We generally into hardware with software, however an particular software request maybe considered.. of course price pint is allways a thing... and of course if we produce a product we will advertise through the correct channels on mycncuk.com....

James

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Originally Posted by Jimmybristol

Good evening all,

Just a question before I go ahead an upset people. We are working on some new products (Drives, controllers etc) and are looking how best to get people to beta test them for us.

When the time is right, would it be acceptable to post asking if anyone would be interested in assisting with our beta testing (Free stuff for feedback and reviews/comparisons), or would this break the forum rules?

These will in the end be commercial products.

Regards

James
(on behalf of work this time)

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James,


I have no issue with a call for beta testers on the forum. I dont regard that as advertising per se (marketing yes, for those that want to quibble the difference). Indeed, other forums I belong to have a long history of beta testing new products with knowledgable and enthusiastic members.

All we ask (and I include this purely for the information of others) is that it is a true beta test. I have drafted the following 'rules' as guidelines...

1. The product must not yet be commercially available;
2. There must be a reasonable number of testers (I'm happy to debate the meaning of 'reasonable number', but its more than 1);
3. Testers may use a single thread on the forum to discuss their beta testing and compare notes, and the Supplier recognises that such feedback may contain commercially sensitive information which will be in the public domain;
4. Reviews and comparisons made during the beta test with other vendor's products must be fair and verifiable and based on the tester's own personal experiences;
5. MYCNCUK does not require Suppliers to offer any incentive to beta testers;
6. The use of the forum by Suppliers to support beta testing does not constitute an endorsement of the Supplier's products or services by MYCNCUK;
7. Notwithstanding any of the above, Suppliers may not advertise their products on MYCNCUK unless they have formally entered into an advertising arrangement with MYCNCUK.

On point 5.... this doesnt prevent Suppliers offering discounts or other incentives as is often seen as normal practice, it just means it is at the Suppliers discretion, as are future discounts to forum members.

regards,
Irving...

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Thanks for the response guys... on other thing, if anyone, or a group of people have a need for a certain project, we may be willing to look at producing something to solve a specific problem.... any ideas very welcome, We generally into hardware with software, however an particular software request maybe considered.. of course price pint is allways a thing... and of course if we produce a product we will advertise through the correct channels on mycncuk.com....

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no disrespect but the reason i joined this forum was to thrash out "for free" problems projects ideas etc
after all, most of us have built cnc machines instead of bying one off the shelf, its a lot cheaper and more fun than getting you to build it for us
you are asking to be paid to do what the rest of the members are doing for fun or for some other reason that doesnt involve making a living off each other, id be elswhere otherwise :)

Mark,

I agree but you look around this site and there are 100's of products that are used that are made by other people, the vast majority from china and the like. The reason for my question was that I hoped to be able to help some of you build machines, while we get some in field testing under our belts as well as honest (and we want honest) feed back. In the end this may offer you and others "that do this for fun" that ability to make machines, that are as good, but with some local support, and the opportunity to influence the products. I also have a strong belief that business in the UK can make good well priced products, if the company looks to make a reasonable margin and offer good discounts to people. Making 100 off of something is a hell of a lot cheaper than making 1 off.

The rules are clear, as stated by Irving above, I think that they seem fair.... If on the other hand no one here is interested in the oppourtunity to test what we offer, then I will seek another forum that may be more supportive of my aims. On the other hand, I can not force people to take part in the beta testing, and you do not have to read the posts related to such if you do not desire.

M

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Originally Posted by Jimmybristol

Mark,

I agree but you look around this site and there are 100's of products that are used that are made by other people, the vast majority from china and the like. The reason for my question was that I hoped to be able to help some of you build machines, while we get some in field testing under our belts as well as honest (and we want honest) feed back. In the end this may offer you and others "that do this for fun" that ability to make machines, that are as good, but with some local support, and the opportunity to influence the products. I also have a strong belief that business in the UK can make good well priced products, if the company looks to make a reasonable margin and offer good discounts to people. Making 100 off of something is a hell of a lot cheaper than making 1 off.

The rules are clear, as stated by Irving above, I think that they seem fair.... If on the other hand no one here is interested in the oppourtunity to test what we offer, then I will seek another forum that may be more supportive of my aims. On the other hand, I can not force people to take part in the beta testing, and you do not have to read the posts related to such if you do not desire.

M

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sorry ..

My view, it seems a few people share it, and maybe a few disagree.... I am here and so what I do as I really enjoy it, my hobby is my work and my work is my hobby.

James

james, i hear what you are saying however my experience of this forum so far has been one of open discusion and sharing of knowledge without the hassle of comercial tip toeing
many of us could not build machines without that pooled knowledge
people have developed ideas openly on the forum then offerd to make a batch if there was any interest or we could simply copy the design and make our own
i suspect you will not be developing your designs in a build log and sharing the love :)

yes 100's of products come from elswhere, this infomation is also "shared" on the forum, if one of your products was a bobby dazzler of a job and i was using it id share that info from a detached un-biasd point of view

i may well be way off the mark, if i am you will have to forgive me :) i can be cynical and im only exspressing my opinion

love love love
blackburn mark xxx

Mark,

I hear you, we may make certain information "open source" as the power of corroborative working is massive, and no manufacturer can underestimate this. For instance we would never hesitate to sell as kits - you get to play it helps our volumes, you learn, we sell things... it what i believe is a win win... also saving you money on buying the parts individually... who here wants to buy 25,000 resistors at a time? to save 0.1p per resistor?? (an extreme example but true non-the less).

Also as a commercial entity we have access to certain information and technology that you can not get as an individual, such as Embedded licencing and for instance the company I work for is a Microchip design partner, this means that we have access to a lot more information on certain aspects than is available even on there website...

As I said I joined the forum as I want to see it be come the European equivalent of CNCzone (with people that understand metric and imperial), and try to ensure that we have some good things going... One other thing is that we have developed some technologies in line of our other work that could be very interesting for the home CNC market place, Dependant upon the interest, we are very use to Designing, high tolerance systems with run outs well below the Ultra precision specifications, at costs that do not break your bank.... For instance we have a custom designed brush less DC motor, that is capable of up to 30,000 rpm (Generally we run at 20,000 as we can use a higher resolution encoder for precise speed control), and can push 600W continuous, with a 150% overload capability, that is a kin to a RC motor but will not burn out in short order, due to our custom designed heat sinks, as our motor is being used in other project we are working on the Unit price with a drive is dropping rapidly, and the size and weight is very low think total package size of a Nema 23 stepper.

As I say just an example, of things that may have opportunities in the "home brew" CNC world, but that without some commercial purpose would have any financial possibility.... Just an example here....

Anyway... only time will tell, as soon as we are looking for beta testers then we will see if there is interest, and how many read the posts... and as they say the proof will be in the pudding.

James

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For instance we have a custom designed brush less DC motor, that is capable of up to 30,000 rpm

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nice :)
iv got open source spindles on my build log if anyone is iterested: the quick one will do 40000rpm i tend to run it below 20000 itll cost you £30/£40 quid to build including brushless ESC, the big one will turn a reasonably sizes fly cutter
jonathan is working on a mach interface (one day :) not that youll need one
(there is a diffrence in where we are coming from james)

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As I said I joined the forum as I want to see it be come the European equivalent of CNCzone

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:eek: ok?

i look forward to your products james, sounds interesting
if you can sort out a 3phase rc dc brushless esc to mach interface for a tenner ill take two :smile:

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Originally Posted by blackburn mark

i look forward to your products james, sounds interesting
if you can sort out a 3phase rc dc brushless esc to mach interface for a tenner ill take two :smile:

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Hey, I've done that...I'll write it up soon. I forgot about it!

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Hey, I've done that...I'll write it up soon. I forgot about it!

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:eek::eek::eek::eek: winner!!!:smile::smile::smile::smile:

thought you had other stuff to do, i was leaving you alone with it :)

I'm all for discussion on product development/testing, even if there is a commercial aspect, provided that commercial aspect is known about.

One of the forums I like the most, is the Gecko drive board on CNCzone, as Mariss is not afraid to admit mistakes, and discuss how things work, without revealing too much. The thread about the G250/251 development is probably one of the best CNC related threads I've read.