I have good news from Spain: the atben/atusb PCBs have been delivered. The next step will be to take them to the SMT fab and get them populated with components.
I hope we'll get some pictures of the PCBs later. Now, there is one item that's still undecided, and that's the case. One option would be to just ship the naked boards and leave wrapping them nicely completely to everyone's imagination. Another option would be to cover them with some sealant that will protect them against anything but extremely rough handling. The following materials have been suggested: - Silicone (caulk) - sugru (a fortified silicon), http://sugru.com - resin (polyester, epoxy, etc.) Silicone and particularly sugru is easy to handle, which would make it possible to ship the devices with just a sachet of the sealant, for application by the user. Sugru and silicone are available in reasonably small portions. Silicone and probably also sugru can be removed without residues, so a damaged cover could be replaced, the board can be reworked (e.g., to add an antenna socket), etc. A resin would offer better mechanical resistance but would be difficult to remove. Another possibility would be to make a real plastic case. Cristian Paul did some early experiments with 3D printing. Joachim examined a USB stick to see if an existing case could be reused. Victor is thinking about designing a new case for injection molding. What all three approaches have in common is that they would add significant production overhead and it would take some more time to make/find and debug those cases. A proper plastic case would offer the best mechanical protection and the most professional appearance. One could also select/design it such that it can be disassembled. A two-phase approach would also be possible: bundle boards with silicone or sugru and ship them soon, see how things go, and then consider developing a proper case. Opinions ? - Werner _______________________________________________ Qi Hardware Discussion List Mail to list (members only): [email protected] Subscribe or Unsubscribe: http://lists.en.qi-hardware.com/mailman/listinfo/discussion
