Making a carbon case?

[mclien]

I have some experience with a mold for carbon/glass fiber:
https://hackaday.io/project/2850-wristpda-abacus-battery-upgrade
As you can see if wou read through the project write up, it was quite a run to get it working. I have some parts of the Pandora case lying around and thought it trough a bit. I think it might be able to do, with some restrictions:
I'm aming for doing only 3 parts of the case:
- both halfes of the lower part
- backsite of the screen

All other parts will stay as they are (inner frame of the LCD), battery cover, shoulder buttons, dpad, buttons etc.
Even then it's 3 molds with at least 2 pieces plus some extra parts to pull away (like the holes for LEDs and cable, most difficult the hindge hole).
Even then it's difficult to say, if it will work.

Oh the order in which I would try is:
- LCD backside
- buttom part of the bottom case (where the battery lid snaps in
- upper part of the bottom case (the one with all the holes in it, might fail any way..)

So how man of you would be up for it? That's because I will not start developing molds, if there is only 2-3 intrests.
Let me know what you think and what you think it might pay for it.

 

[TrashyMG]

I remember a lot of interest in aluminum cases...

 

[DaMummy]

Make plans for Pyra and we'll talk.

 

[mclien]

I guess the need for a better case is higher for the pandora. I'll wait what EvilDragon will post from formaction. I think it might still be fiber reinforced material for the cases anyway, which makes the pyra cases of hight quality by default, which is different for the pandora.

An old broken pandora would be helpfull, too. Or parts of it.

 

[matzesu]

I wants a transparent case like on my K101 plus..

 

[TrashyMG]

We need to crowdfund one of these for EvilDragon, make some Titanium or stainless steel cases.

 

[mclien]

@matzesu once the mold is there, use glassfiber instead of carbon and it should look simmilar. Would test it with glassfiber anyway, costwise.
@TrashyMG Any idea what a maschine like this will cost?

 

[TrashyMG]

Not a clue, you can request a quote on their website. I dare say it may be extremely expensive.

 

[Tenka]

I'm still very interested in new Pandora cases, I'd pay. Of course a metal case is the best but even just much nicer plastic is worth the upgrade to me.

 

[rygD]

I can't say for sure right now that I would get a new/improved case (definitely later if they were available). I wouldn't mind a translucent fiberglass one like matzesu mentioned. I would probably want either a greyish/blackish (like in the pics above), or someting like Nintendo's Extreme Green, or just plain clear. I would pay up to around 40USD, depending on fit and look/color.

I also think there might be more interest in this for the Pyra. We won't know if there is a need for a sturdier Pyra case until we get them and (ab)use them for a while.

 

[mclien]

OK, first technical: crystal clear won't work, because resin and fiber have different refractive indexes. So that will be more like frosted/ milk glas. That is colorable with a lot of colors, even transparet ones, but would mean to buy the corresponding color add ons each different color.
Carbon is another thing, because its black. So you can possibly ad a layer of glasfiber on top to generate enough thikness to have an appropriate amount of(colored) resion on top of the carbon.

Durability, stiffness and strenght are comparable to aluminium, might even be lighter, stiffer and have more strenght, also will feel warmer (resin/ fiber isn't very head conductive)

Costs will be also compareble to aluminium. What you save at milling time will go into handwork (timewise perhaps even double), so 40$US won't do I'm affraid, even if I sponsor the mold itself.
When the carbon comes out of the mold, there is a lot of work left over to do.
In a fiber mold you can't have a closed mold at the corners. There will be fiber sticking out at the gap between the mold halves (necessary to asure, thatthe fiber will reach all edges of the mold. After getting it out of the mold you need to build the touchingparts of the cases by grinding them even and to measure. (very tedious work)

 

[TrashyMG]

@TrashyMG Any idea what a maschine like this will cost?

Found some info in a quote from an article from CES 2016:

The ProX DMP 320 is targeted at the aerospace and automotive industries and costs up to $700,000.

So pocket change for @EvilDragon really....