I first did a trial run for the bottom part on a piece of MDF. The result was too fuzzy to even look much like a case, which is more or less what I expected, but it confirmed that the basics were right and the mill wouldn't go off and drill holes into itself.
I then went straigh to acrylic and the top part. This is what the model looks like: http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/anelok/tmp/case-2015/case-2015-alpha-top.png This kept the mill busy for some three hours, but the result looks nice. Of the two 2014 boards (#1 and #2) I have made, #2 is in the 2014 case and #1 didn't have a case yet. You've already seen this board in July/August: http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/anelok/tmp/brd1-top-0818.jpg Now it was time to cut board #1 in half and to put it into the new top shell. This is the result: http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/anelok/tmp/case-2015/case-2015-alpha-overview.jpg As one can see, the main PCB does fit. It doesn't have a lot of wiggle room, but that's intentional. Here is the vertical stacking: http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/anelok/tmp/case-2015/case-2015-alpha-stacking.jpg The display is held laterally by a raised border and the rounded barriers (one prominently in the foreground, the other one invisible under the PCB in the background). It hangs loosely between PCB and the window because I haven't put anything between PCB and display to gently push it against the case. Then there is a rim upon which the PCB rests. This is followed by a rim that touches the sides of the PCB. And then there's the outer wall into which also the bottom part slides. This looks all very pretty, but there are problems. First of all, the sidewall seems quite low. Here it is in more detail: http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/anelok/tmp/case-2015/case-2015-alpha-sidewall.jpg Its height is 0.8 mm in the model, i.e., as much as the PCB, but it looks more like 0.5 mm in real life. This needs more examination. Then there is a blooper in the model: http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/anelok/tmp/case-2015/case-2015-alpha-sub.jpg The sub-board proudly sits on the rim that supports the main PCB but that rim should not exist in the area of the sub-board. I simply missed that one. Alas, this means that this case won't be usable for putting the Anelok circuit inside. But this mishap will make it an excellent candidate for experimenting with aggressive window-polishing techniques. Nothing is wasted :) The opening for the switch looks great: http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/anelok/tmp/case-2015/case-2015-alpha-switch.jpg Maybe it's a bit too narrow (in a future consumer version, there should be a piece of plastic on the knob, so that the user never touches the switch directly, but I'll keep things raw and simple in prototypes), but that can be easily adjusted. USB was less fortunate: http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/anelok/tmp/case-2015/case-2015-alpha-usb.jpg This should still work without problems, but the receptacle really ought to be better centered. There is a similar positioning error in the cut-out for the silo capacitors: http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/anelok/tmp/case-2015/case-2015-alpha-cap.jpg The last problem is one of the PCB, and something I expected to happen. It's caused by me not taking into account the real shape of the lanyard cylinder when designing the PCB outline a long time ago: http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/anelok/tmp/case-2015/case-2015-alpha-lanyard.jpg The original PCB has right angles in these corners. I had to clip off about 1 mm to make room for the curve the mill produces. Again, something that can be easily corrected. By the way, the asymmetry between the upper and the lower corner is not a bug but the result of me using 2014 PCBs in the widened 2015 case. This makes the case 0.5 mm "too wide" on the top and the bottom, and since the lanyard hole follows the case outline and not the PCB edge, there is this gap in the Y direction. In order to properly support the 2014 PCB, this case has thicker walls and widened rims where the case sandwiches the board. Oh, and I didn't mention the FPC. It went into the increased space without even a hint of a problem. So the widening accomplished its goal perfectly :) - Werner _______________________________________________ Qi Hardware Discussion List Mail to list (members only): [email protected] Subscribe or Unsubscribe: http://lists.en.qi-hardware.com/mailman/listinfo/discussion
