- Cover_image.jpg (81.33 KiB) Viewed 13149 times
The project files and design itself are free for both commercial and private use. Since it is free, it's provide as is with no warranty whatsoever
The goals of the project were to create a design of enclosure that would look good, could be manufactured using relatively simple production methods (i.e. laser/water jet/CNC routing) and would reuse materials and parts already in possession (or easy to obtain locally cheap materials and parts).
Therefore it was decided to use these materials:
- 3.7mm plywood (nominally it is 4mm plywood but in reality the actual thickness may vary from 4.2mm to 3.6mm) which was already in possession (in form of roughly A4 size) sheets
- 1.5mm clear/transparent PMMA (acrylic glass namely Plexiglas XT) which was already in possession in form of roughly 700x700mm sheet
- 0.5mm and 1mm anodised aluminium (unfortunately anodised aluminium was cost prohibitive to obtain in small quantities, so a brushed aluminium was used instead; i.e. a plane aluminium was sanded in X patten using 2500 grit sand paper and water then polished with aluminium polish)
- 10x10x1mm anodised aluminium angle
- vinyl films of different colours
- a piece of clear 0.6mm plastic from blister packaging
- fasteners (i.e. screws and bronze/brass inserts from recycled notebooks enclosures)
- two epoxy types (LOCTITE EA 3430 clear one for plastic to aluminium/aluminium to plywood bonding and LOCTITE EA 3450 grey one for aluminium to aluminium bonding)
- a wood glue (to join plywood sections together)
- plywood sections joined together with glue to form an outer shell which holds other elements together
- 1mm aluminium back plate (attached to plywood shell using clear epoxy)
- 1mm aluminium front plate with 1mm aluminium buttons with cut out icons (cut out space is filled with clear epoxy to prevent accumulation of dirt and dust)
- 1.5mm PMMA LCD screen cover backed by 0.5mm aluminium plate with cut out icons which are joint together with clear epoxy (make sure that all the voids are completely filled with epoxy otherwise it will not look good or alternatively use thin (0.1 or so mm) double-sided clear adhesive tape)
- 1mm aluminium front (that side where all the output jacks are located) and rear covers (the rear one is attached with two screws)
- 1mm aluminium base/carrier plate which slides in to the groves/guides in the plywood shell
- Under the base plate a 0.6mm thick plastic plate is affixed with double-sided adhesive tape and a screw. This plastic plate is used to hold the battery (battery is affixed with two strips of double-sided adhesive tape) and it is need to ease the disassembly process since the battery covers two other screws going through the base plate
- On top of the base plate 3 3.9mm hight brass inserts a mounted (serves as spacers) which are attached to the plate with 3 M2.3x3mm screws. The brass insert located under the LCD screen needs to be filed down (where it comes in contact with the PCB) as shown in the 3D model, since a resistor is located dangerously close to the mount hole. Please also note that the holes in the PCB are 2mm in diameter so ether a thinner screws should be used or the hole should be widened to 2.3-2.4mm (I've used the later option)
- The player PCB rests on the above mentioned brass inserts and is affixed to these inserts with two M2.3x5.8mm and one M2.3x3.8mm (located under the LCD screen) screws
- On top of the keypad area a 1.5mm PMMA plate with cut outs for buttons is located. Above this plate a 1mm aluminium plate with cut outs for buttons is placed (the two are joined together with clear epoxy). This "sandwich" (so to speak) is affixed with the above mentioned two M2.3x5.8mm screws. Also mounted on to the "sandwich" are rubber/silicone springs for the key caps from an old notebook keyboard
- DSC_0920.JPG (91.92 KiB) Viewed 13034 times
- On the same "sandwich" just above the LEDs a 1mm black foam (from an old mousepad or double-sided adhesive foam) piece is attached. It is there to reduce the light bleed from/between LEDs
- The same purpose (to reduce the light bleed from/between LEDs) a strip of black vinyl self adhesive film is attached on the PMMA plate where it faces LEDs
- An LCD screen is attached with thinner (then originally - 1.4mm new vs 1.6mm stock) double-sided adhesive tape/foam to reduce the profile (you would have to remove the LCD screen anyway to mount the screw)
- Above the keypad key caps sub carrier plates (two plates, each for a separate set of keys) are located. These plates are used to affix key caps and provide spring action (using the above mentioned rubber/silicone springs). Also attached to these plates are rubber (grey colour ones in the image bellow) bumpers. These bumpers are used to actually press the buttons. To ease assembly by providing precise mount location cut outs are done (an engraving could be used but not all cutting services can do engraving and cutting hence it is easier to do these as a cut outs rather then engraving)
- A001.jpg (43.35 KiB) Viewed 13034 times
- The key caps are attached to the carrier plates with grey epoxy. As already mentioned, these key caps have cut out icons which are filled in with a clear epoxy to prevent accumulation of dirt and dust
- Around the outer carrier plate a 1mm aluminium spacer plate is located which in turns is attached to the 1mm aluminium face plate (with grey epoxy). The face plates also prevents both carrier plates from falling out of the enclosure in the upwards direction
- The face plate together with the spacer plate are attached to the plywood shell using clear epoxy
- B001.jpg (34.03 KiB) Viewed 13034 times
- Above the LCD screen is located a 1.5mm PMMA LCD screen cover backed by 0.5mm aluminium plate, this "sandwich" is attached to the plywood shell using clear epoxy. Under the 0.5mm aluminium plate just below the VS1005 Hi-Res logo, a white self adhesive vinyl film is attached to provide white background for the logo. To cover the internal 0.5mm aluminium plate surface (which is unfinished i.e. not brushed and polished in this particular case) a black vinyl self adhesive film is attached.
- C001.jpg (38.89 KiB) Viewed 13034 times
- 1mm aluminium front (that side where all the output jacks are located) cover is attached to the carrier plate via two aluminium 10x10x1mm angle segments. These segments are fixed to the front cover with grey epoxy and are attached to the carrier plate with two M1.8x5mm screw and bronze inserts
- 1mm rear cover is attached to the carrier plate via an aluminium 10x10x1mm angle segment with four M1.8x5mm screw and bronze inserts (two to mate the angle to the carrier plate and the other two to fix the rear cover). The rear cover used to also hold the PCB module (comprised of all the parts affixed to the carrier plate) in place after it is fully inserted in to the enclosure (from the LCD screen side towards the key caps using a 70x45mm piece of laser printer film placed above the keypad area to depress the rubber springs; the film is then carefully extracted after the PCB module is fully in) using two M1.8x5mm screws
- D001.jpg (41.96 KiB) Viewed 13034 times
External links to the project files are provide below. These are five .rar archives namely:
Enclosure_2D&3D.rar - 3D model of the enclosure with all the internal parts (DWG & DXF files), 2D general outline of the enclosure with main dimensions (DWG, DXF, PDF files) and photos of the ready enclosure (mainly internal parts)
Enclosure_parts_fot_cutting.rar - all the main parts that should be cut by the cutting company (laser cut for aluminium parts and CNC routed for PMMA and plywood parts, some parts may be cut by hand since are not that complicate in shape), DWG, DXF and PDF files are included
Gift_packaging.rar - DWG, DXF, PDF files that were used to make the gift packaging (the device itself was meant to be as a gift) plus some photos of the ready items
Player_PCB.rar - general 2D DWG & DXF drawing of the VS1005 Hi-Res Player board with all the relevant (to the project) parts it was created since it was need to design the enclosure
Test_bed.rar - DWG, DXF & PDF files of the test bed board I've made for my brother's software development effort (yes, it is a team effort!)
Links:
Enclosure_2D&3D.rar https://www33.zippyshare.com/v/XhiEN6kK/file.html
Enclosure_parts_fot_cutting.rar https://www33.zippyshare.com/v/qprCVVJ8/file.html
Gift_packaging.rar https://www33.zippyshare.com/v/bevKqgTi/file.html
Player_PCB.rar https://www33.zippyshare.com/v/LGtN2pNC/file.html
Test_bed.rar https://www33.zippyshare.com/v/tr93bauy/file.html
All the drawings were created using AutoCAD 2008 and were saved in 2000 file version (for compatibility reasons). These can be opened using free DWG TrueView software from Autodesk (Windows only; view, print and measure only) or NOT so free Autodesk AutoCAD (although a 30 day trial version can be used).
All the parts to be cut were initially planned to be water jet cut (since it is the only technology that can cut all the materials used in the project and provide good cosmetic results), but due to how local businesses operate (i.e. most deal only with large parts/large volumes hence all the tooling is geared towards large size parts) in the end non of the parts were water jet cut at all. Aluminium parts were laser cut. PMMA parts were CNC routed (they could also do the plywood, but unfortunately the smallest end mill they have is 2mm in diameter whereas a 1mm is needed in the project; these do exist but are too expensive for the quantities used in the project). I wanted to avoid cutting plywood with laser since it produces an ugly cut. Unfortunately it was the only way to go. Hence the end result was mediocre at best (with all the sending to get the natural plywood edge colour and laser heat induced geometry distortions).
Any questions are welcome!
