altitude: It’s google sketchup. With a plugin which I mentioned in an earlier thread, you can export SVG’s of sketchup model faces directly into inkscape as a “flattened” design. So far it seems to work really well. We’ll see though.
Pichenettes: The 3 holes in the back are 1/4" CV ins. I’d like to put some sort of input protection circuit in there somewhere as well, since I’ve got some modular gear I’d rather not accidentally fry this guy with. Building a 0v clamp shouldn’t be too hard because of the negative rail but I’m not sure how I can get a +5v clamp (can you safely overload rail-to-rail opamps?) just yet. I could simply use a diode but then my max voltage in will be one drop below the rail.
Yeah, I agree, and like that shape. However, there are a few problems I see with it at the moment.
1, it increases the number of interlocking boards from 3 to 5. While my sketch may look super complicated, I’m actually trying to get by with as simple of a design as I can… The way the boards are being cut, I’m sharing cuts between multiple pieces (i.e., as the laser cuts the board it’s making the edge of two sides at once) and I’m a little concerned about how tightly it will interlock. Certainly adding more pieces will complicate assembly. And more angled pieces means more wonky intersections. Like the one at the top of the box.
2. It increases the cost. You pay primarily for machine time. I’ve actually submitted a simple design, without any text, and it came out to be $20.50 ($8 for the bamboo, the rest for machining). In fact, there’s enough bamboo to fit two shruti’s in a single sheet right now. Not sure if that would be the case if I added more panels. Possibly, I guess it all depends on how it’s laid out. Right now, I’m really happy with where it’s at price-wise though. I’m adding text to the LED indicators and jacks, a logo…
I’m still not quite sure how I’m going to secure the two halves. The main PCB will be affixed to the bottom piece, the display and interface pcb will be affixed to the top piece, and it seems like the most obvious way to do it is to have the top remove from the sides and bottom. That way the jacks, power switch and everything don’t need header pins and/or I don’t end up with a ratsnest when I open it… Glue or epoxy will probably be used for permanently affixing the sides to the top or bottom…
I should also note I’m in the middle of a few “projects” of my own… Not keeping anything a secret but haven’t done much broadcasting on the internets. So i’m basically cutting my teeth on cheap, to-order small-scale manufacturing of the kinds of enclosures I’d like to possibly use for my own designs. This being my first foray into 3d design with bamboo, and my 2nd time submitting stuff to ponoko, I think I’m already probably setting the bar a little too high for myself. I’d say at this point I’m abt. 95% sure this design is going to fail first time around anyway.
