Sandy Electronics...

A place to discuss general QL issues.
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Dave
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Sandy Electronics...

Post by Dave »

It's with much sadness that I have decided to close down Sandy Electronics.

The overheads of running a corporation for this little venture have added significantly to costs. What was left after the USPS mayhem was mostly eaten by the company attorney and accountant. It left the projects with no money for development.

It just seems wrong to me that we go to all this effort to develop new hardware, and then the development funds get eroded by bad decisions, wrong investments and paying people who don't contribute anything to, you know, hardware!

So, moving forward, Sandy Electronics is being wound up. The physical assets will be transferred to me and I will continue as a private individual without the overheads or restrictions of corporate structure. This is expected to occur on December 1st.

In a way, it's a positive step. It removes shackles and cuts costs by about 40% all in one go.

If anyone has any questions, I'll do the best I can to answer them here.


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chriskgnr
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Re: Sandy Electronics...

Post by chriskgnr »

that is very sad. :(


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Dave
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Re: Sandy Electronics...

Post by Dave »

I don't think so.

I'm getting rid of the millstone from around my neck, so money can be used to get things moving again, instead of feeding a corporate entity. There were all these silly rules that actually got in the way of me solving problems, like when dealing with taxes. The cost of an accountant to tell me that no taxes are due was more than the taxes could have ever been.

I hope to have a renewed energy as I can finally focus on what needs doing, instead of what regulatory paperwork needs doing.... The red tape was a huge, expensive burden.


thorsinclair
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Re: Sandy Electronics...

Post by thorsinclair »

Hi Dave,

from your previous posts we know that you are working on a number of hardware projects, starting with the SuperRam. Can you give an update where you are at the moment and what you are going to push forward in the next future?
Thank you!


Simon_Carr
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Re: Sandy Electronics...

Post by Simon_Carr »

Hi Dave,

I guess it is sad to say goodbye to one more of the original QL companies, but it sounds like you are doing it for all the right reasons. As long as it frees up more time and energy for you to do things you want, I'm glad you have made this step.

Cheers,

Simon


Unpacking a JS-ROM QL, with a QL-SD and SuperQBoard, and busily refelting millions of microdrives
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schombi
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Re: Sandy Electronics...

Post by schombi »

That´s very sad news. I was really looking forward to the SuperRAM and the other promising products.


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Dave
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Re: Sandy Electronics...

Post by Dave »

The SuperRAM etc will still be worked on - just more freely than before and with better funding, because there's no lawyer and accountant leeching the funds away.


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Dave
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Re: Sandy Electronics...

Post by Dave »

A little update:

The sale is happening at 10am on Monday, December 1st. Yay!

Freed of the business, my first action will be to fulfill any outstanding orders that business had. There are six orders.

I will make the remaining stock of felt pads available - once they're gone, I will not be making any more. They only just broke even and consumed far too much time.

I will then release a batch of twenty 40LF220. This isn't the PCB-style prototypes, but the full potted 40LF220 as originally sold by SAFT. It will have a slightly higher capacity and the same materials, construction and 10 year shelf life of the original.

Primary lithium cell, 3.0 V, 560 mAh, 27x27x7mm with 5mm legs. That's 6 years of standby in a (S)GC.

They will be £12.95 each.

The SuperRAM, I need to get with my design partner as I haven't updated them in a little while. They'll verify the design then it can go right to production. That puts the PCBs in my hand sometime in mid-December and ready to ship out sometime in January.

I will also release some ZX Printer belts. All the work was done before the money ran out. I won't commit to a date or price just yet, but they are tested and work better than the originals. I just need to get a custom extruder for my 3D printer and test print a couple more and then those will be done.

I hope to be a lot less secretive as a private individual than I was when working for Sandy - having the owner/other partner be an attorney, he was always on the side of secrecy. Now he's out of the picture, I'll be a lot more open with information and photos. One of our main disagreements was that he thought it was business suicide to open source the plans/code/etc. I think that openness is the way forward for the QL community.

So, that's all I will be working on and doing at this time. When those are done, I'll get with you and we can review where we're at.

I'll be maintaining a separate personal account for the funds and expenses, as Sandy did. However, I'll be free to top my account up if needed in a way that Sandy Electronics wasn't free to do easily (at least not without lots of paperwork, tax implications and paying the accountant!)


martyn_hill
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Re: Sandy Electronics...

Post by martyn_hill »

Good luck, Dave!

You can always tell that a decision was the 'right one' on how relieved you feel having made it.

Thanks for your work to-date!

(Still hankering after the SuperRAM, though!)


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Dave
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Re: Sandy Electronics...

Post by Dave »

The paperwork was signed on Monday morning, and everything's been transferred.

I'm now a sole proprietor.

I checked on the legality of the situation, and to leave the sordid last few months behind me, I will be slightly changing the name. Once the new name is registered I'll post it here.


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