Hi All,
I recently made up a couple of kits for some collaborators, which mostly consisted of the Raspberry Pi electronics. In case it’s useful to anyone, I’ve pasted the part numbers below:
| Item |
Value |
Farnell Order Code |
RS Order Code |
| Raspberry Pi 4, 4Gb |
£44.36 |
SC15185 |
182-2096 |
| USB to GigE Adaptor |
£14.70 |
CS25041 |
195-4911 |
| Ethernet Cable |
£0.68 |
1526203 |
333-6469 |
| USB-C Power Supply |
£7.07 |
SC15241 |
187-3412 |
| SD Card |
£6.13 |
3410199 |
186-4648 |
| Micro-USB Power |
£6.59 |
SC14154 |
177-0222 |
| HDMI-micro-HDMI adaptor |
£2.35 |
SC15240 |
197-3419 |
| USB A-C cable |
£2.81 |
CS29710 |
182-8848 |
| USB A-microB cable (short) |
£2.50 |
CS22611 |
182-8870 |
| USB A-microB cable (1m) |
£1.15 |
2468266 |
182-8495 |
| Raspberry Pi Camera |
£19.10 |
? |
913-2664 |
That list includes options for using the Pi directly (micro-full size HDMI adapter) or for using an ethernet cable (incl. USB adapter in case your laptop no longer has an RJ45 port). It also includes both international wall-plug power supplies and USB cables to allow the use of a power bank. I’ve assumed you’re using a (micro-USB) Sangaboard v3, hence the extra USB cables and two power supplies. You can buy the Pi Camera from Farnell - they were just out of stock when I made this list. Prices are from Farnell, in the UK, though they may include educational discounts and don’t include VAT.
For the components in the “bag of bits”, I used the suppliers below. If you’re in the UK, this can be obtained from OpenFlexure Industries but we’re not yet shipping internationally. Unfortunately, that includes the EU for now - don’t get us started 
-
Westfield Fasteners for all the screws/nuts/washers
-
Simply Bearings for the Viton bands - because they are a University supplier. For OpenFlexure Industries, we prefer Eastern Seals as they give a more detailed spec and are significantly cheaper.
-
AliExpress for the plastic condenser lens - see the thread on sourcing non-printed components for some links. These tend to stop working after a while so I won’t duplicate that here.
The tube lens is most easily obtained from ThorLabs, and the LED can also be had from one of RS/Farnell - only one of them stocks the exact model we use, but if you’re not too fussy about colour reproduction, any 5mm LED will give you an image.
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Hopefully, in the not too far distant future OpenFlexure Industries will have enough cash on hand to buy a stock of tube lenses which will make things easier for those in the UK.
We are still in active talks with others that may soon start selling kits in the USA and elsewhere. We also hope that once everything has settled down OpenFlexure Industries will be able to ship to Europe. However, first we have to understand the implications of such small scale export within the unmitigated disaster that is Brexit. If anyone in the EU want to start selling kits so we don’t have to, please let us know!
I’m interested to start selling the kits in Europe if that can be of any help !
I recently decided to go from arduino nano + drivers to sangaboard but all distributors are out of stock for some parts except Farnell but they do not sell direct to consumers.
On top of that, the microcontrollers seems very expensive and it seems to me that it could be replaced by a cheaper controller of a newer generation such as a SAMD21. I am considering redesigning it but I am not sure what the requirements for the board are or where to find them.
What is your opinion on that ?
It might be a good idea to sell the boards or its components in the same place to simplify the logistics especially now with the electronics shortages.
Hi @JPBiomed someone selling kits in Europe would be very helpful! We’re currently trying to get our first batch of working Sangaboard v4 ordered, and once that’s done we will start the process of emissions testing so it can be CE marked. We can’t sell them until that is done in the UK, and I imagine it’s the same in the EU. Once we can sell them, we certainly will!
Given how long it has taken us to get the Sangaboard v4 working (largely logistics and sourcing delays) I don’t think any of the core team at Bath or Bongo Tech are likely to switch the microcontroller any time soon, but if you have time and inclination to do so, by all means give it a try! The move from Arduino to PlatformIO for the firmware (not released yet, but soon I hope) should make it easier to support more architectures easily. Bear in mind, though, that a revised board will need to re-do all the testing and certification before it can be sold, which is something that costs significant time and effort.