Hiya!

As hinted in the previous update, I’ve got some sample injection moulded cases with me and I’d like to share some pictures with you in this update.

There’s relatively little to talk about except for how satisfied I am with the enclosure. So without further ado, here are the pictures.

The bottom of the case, just like the windows on the top, is polished to complete transparency. This way instructions on the PCB become readable, yet the case is still closed and I didn’t have to apply any stickers.

Here’s another picture from the top.

This is almost perfect. But, very unexpectedly, I suddenly saw a problem when I first got these samples: the labels don’t look very readable. So what’s the problem? It turns out this was a design error on my part, there is nothing wrong with the samples. What nobody foresaw during the design is that even though both the engraving on the case and the printing on the PCB are perfectly clear and readable, they confuse the reader when both are visible at the same time, that is, when you see both on top of each other. Each one on their own is perfectly fine, but put together they just don’t work.

To remedy this, I decided to remove the engravings from the enclosure, so in the final version, only the PCB printing will be present. I let the manufacturer know of my decision, and given that this happened relatively long ago, they’re already done with the modification and are in the process of volume production. Here is a control picture I got last week with the engraving removed.

And with that, I deem the enclosures perfect. The sample quality is very good, and the fitting and snapping of the halves is even better than I expected (much better than the 3D-printed prototypes). They hold firmly together, I can safely say that the enclosure will never fall apart, yet with the right technique you can still open it up.

So much for the cases. Other than that, there is not much to report. The project is basically in a stage where I’m just waiting for my suppliers to finally ship. I’m also working on finalizing the official documents which I’ll soon publish on the website, as the current ones are pretty out of date. I’m mostly through with them, just waiting for the official lab report to arrive. As always, I’ll keep you updated. Until next time!