Playing with Play-Doh

[Hồng Thất Công]

20% of what you said is 80% correct.

 

[EvilDragon]

Well, as everybody was making fun of me using Play-Doh and I had to do it again today, I took some pictures.
Here are some nice examples

1. Question: How much space it between the USB Ports and the case?

When the PCB is put into the case, you have no way of measuring that.
Thus, you use Play-Doh!

First, put some into of that stuff into the case.



Then, put together the Pyra.



Next, disassemble everything.
You can clearly see the USB ports in the Play-Doh!



Use a proper measurement tool to measure the distance from the bottom to the USB port.




So it's about 5,5mm from the bottom of the case to the USB port.
Actually, Play-Doh is so soft, you can easily stick the measurement tool directly through it!



You can see that here on the right port:



As Play-Doh isn't sticky, you can easily remove it without any issues.

2. How thick need the heating pad be between the OMAP5 and the PCB?

Again, that's an area you can impossible measure when it's assembled!

So let's start again:



Assemble:



Which then looks like that:



Remove one edge so you can properly measure the thickness of the OMAP5:



Aaand the result of the measurement is that there's 0,1 - 0,2mm space between the PCB and the OMAP.

Which means I'll probably use a 0,3mm thick heat pad (as they squeeze together a bit as well).

See?
Play-Doh is useful...

... well, unless you put it on the SD-Card slots, as you need to open them to remove it again
(I measured the distance from the SD-Cards to the case here).

 

[rygD]

They have had Play-Doh in a prominent location at one of the stores I visit regularly. They have much better colors than I remember as a kid, and I just wanna play with it, so I keep trying to find an excuse to get it. Maybe I will pretend I need to measure a bunch of things at the same time, so I will need different colors (don't try to follow the logic).

Thanks for the pics.

 

[levi]

It's certainly a novel way of measuring internal distances. Real engineers I know tend to measure everything and then use arithmetic to work out gaps, but if you're at all inaccurate in your initial measurements you'll tend to be inaccurate one way more than the other, which can easily mean that theoretically, things don't fit that do for example.

This way there's only one thing to measure, although the gloopiness of play-doh probably limits how confident you can be about the answer, but at least your positives will stay positive.

In other news, I bought one of those digital calipers a few years ago now. Then, after using it I put it in my toolbox. Grabbing it to use a month or two later, I saw that it had used up its battery. So I ditched it and bought a proper vernier caliper set instead, which has much better battery life

 

[WizardStan]

I was thinking about this. Playdough contains a large quantity of salt making it both conductive and corrosive when moist: is that really the best material to be doing this with? Maybe some other modeling material, like plasticine would be better?

 

[directive0]

Man, ED, that is actually a really clever technique. Thank you for teaching me it.

 

[levi]

I'm not sure if the acids in plasticine would also be corrosive. Blu-tac is another possibility, which only tend to leach its oils if left on something absorbent (like the posters it's used to suspend) for a number of years. You can also get that in a range of colours these days if that's important to you. In Germany that seems to be known as Fun-tak or Poster Putty amongst other names it seems.

 

[mecksg1]

that was awesome ED. I needed that today

 

[Grench]

I'm not sure if the acids in plasticine would also be corrosive. Blu-tac is another possibility, which only tend to leach its oils if left on something absorbent (like the posters it's used to suspend) for a number of years. You can also get that in a range of colours these days if that's important to you. In Germany that seems to be known as Fun-tak or Poster Putty amongst other names it seems.

How about just using paraphin (wax)?

 

[Drezrek]

Huh, never knew that Play-Doh could be used like that. Much multi-tool, very indeed~

Still a bit curious over this one part in the OP, tho;

And yes that misusing Play-Doh-trick is being done by other designers as well, it's not something I made up!

*looks around* What more gadgets could be using the same method of measurement, hm..

 

[elwing]

I was thinking about this. Playdough contains a large quantity of salt making it both conductive and corrosive when moist: is that really the best material to be doing this with? Maybe some other modeling material, like plasticine would be better?

I don't think that breaking one pyra during development is an issue, and I am pretty sure that even if the state of the board is not great, it's probably good enough for some hardware/driver early free test machine...
If play-doh works nice, then it's the thing to use...

 

[thebaitmaster]

I'm dead tired right now, so forgive me if I write some wrong words in the post.
But I wanted to get the latest updates out to you tonight.

Prototype units

As you know, prototype units have been built and I also finally started to ship them to some devs.
notaz, ptitSeb and aTc either have already received one or will receive them within the next two days.
Some more devs will get one, but I haven't decided who yet and which unit.

And I'll also contact the Pyra preorderers. While these units are not yet perfect (case, older keymat, etc.), they are basically working and this might be enough for some of the preorderers, especially if they want to help with bug hunting or even bug fixing. I'll let every preorderer decide whether he wants to wait for the final keymat, etc.
I hope to find the time to contact them this week.

ptitSeb will also be at the Libre Software Meeting from July 01-07 Saint-Etienne (France) with the prototype, together with fantomid and Linux-SWAT (only on Sunday), so if you'd like to meet some of the community members AND see a prototype, feel free to go there!


The cases

If you followed the news, you know that the cases are now physically correct except for one or two minimum tweaks.
That means we're now planning the production of the first mass production run.
As usual, Greece companies close down in August (it's too hot to work), so the mass production run is currently being planned to happen mid till end of July.
I'll be there to make sure the quality is fine and everything fits.

We still have to wait for the keymats, but these should be ready in July / August as well.
There are still a lot of other parameters, so don't expect that the mass production and delivery will happen right after the cases are there - but we're getting closer!

In July, 500 cases will be produced.
Why only 500?

Well, when mass production starts, we most certainly won't be able to produce more than 500 per month.
The first produced units always take longer. You need to optimize the full process before you can start in full speed.

So the rest of the cases will be produced in time for the next 500 units

And in case we find any improvements / fixes during assembly of the first 100 units, we can let Form Action know so that the next batch of cases will have those already included.


So what about the Play-Doh?

Well, there were a few measurements I had to make.
First, the space between the case and the backside of the Display board. We need some padding here, so that the LCD sits firmly inside the case but won't break as easy when you push hard against it.
But how can you find out how much space there is, as it's inside the case?

Easy: With Play-Doh. Just put a bit Play-Doh inside, close the case and measure the thickness of the Play-Doh afterwards.
That's it!

I also used the same way to determine the thickness of the small aluminium plate that will go between the PCB and the backside, helping to keep the heat away from the battery.

And yes that misusing Play-Doh-trick is being done by other designers as well, it's not something I made up!



The keymats

New samples haven't arrived yet, but probably will within the next 1 - 2 weeks.
Once they're confirmed... it's time for mass production as well.


LCD-Cables

Mass production has started, so they should be with us sometimes in July / August.


Other Stuff

I made a new contract with FedEx which means I can now ship items with battery for a WAY cheaper price than with UPS.
About 30 EUR to US, delivery within 3 - 4 days. That means it'll probably be cheaper if I ship it directly to you.

Link will still stock Pyras once they're out in regular production

I hope I didn't forget anything and didn't post too many weird things.
I'm off to bed now and will see you soon

I know that you must get this question alot, but how long until the final products are ready to ship?

I live in america, and i know that china takes a month to deliver anything, but what is your estimation time for delivery to the ports on this side of the atlantic? (Dont worry about the government's routine probe-u-lators or the time that it takes for the postal workers to feel inspired enough to do their jobs, lol)

 

[sebt3]

I know that you must get this question alot, but how long until the final products are ready to ship?

2 months (TM)


... I wonder if craigx have a copyright too on this...

 

[Eight Bit]

I live in america, and i know that china takes a month to deliver anything, but what is your estimation time for delivery to the ports on this side of the atlantic?

Afaik Link is going to sell Pyra's too so you can essentially buy them in the states. Not that it would matter much in regards to shipping time, those units will come from Europe as well. Ed just mailed he found a new courier that takes batteries too. What was it, Fed-Ex? You could look up their standard shipping times.
[doublepost=1498484317,1498484006][/doublepost]Btw, thanks for the short progress update @EvilDragon
As far as I'm concerned the extensive news posts are nice and all but daily short progress or no progress one or two line update posts (Or longer like this one) are just as good to keep me 'appy and engaged!
Not that it is your job to keep me happy but you know... lol

Nevermind

 

[TrashyMG]

I live in america, and i know that china takes a month to deliver anything, but what is your estimation time for delivery to the ports on this side of the atlantic? (Dont worry about the government's routine probe-u-lators or the time that it takes for the postal workers to feel inspired enough to do their jobs, lol)

I've had fedex and/or UPS deliveries from Germany only take 4 or 5 days before.

 

[Grench]

There is still a lot of important bits to work out. Running at 1Ghz, 4GB/2GB, thermal, etc. We need to have a run-down on the different versions of the processor/RAM/eMMC board. It is becoming difficult for those of us in the audience to keep track of which changes on which board are being used where. What distinguishes one from the next? Is the next revision of the processor board being produced currently or is it still pending more tests/checks/changes?

However, there are -working- prototypes in the hands of developers. That is an accomplishment worth celebrating.

 

[klapse]

I live in america

North or South America?

 

[PCXT]

2 Months? I think it may take a bit more, but do not hurry, this is an important stage. Let's try to sum up what should be done with software, this list is based on posts here and lack of information about certain functions, I haven't seen the OS on prototype so some items may be already done in Debian and some more may be needed.
- 4GB timings fix in loader
- Driver for graphics - to have 3D, or, if free-as-in-freedom OS is needed, location into which driver blob may or may not be copied.
- Driver support for video o/p.
- Configurability for input devices (e.g. nub sensitivity) ?
- Support for bells-and-whistles (LEDs), or scripts throwing proper values in needed registers.
- Driver for battery monitoring.
- Thermal/performance throttling support to minimize battery consumption?
Prototype in hands of developers is much, but it's beginning with software. Now the thing is as complicated as HP had with their LX, maybe even more as they had a complete set of standards (CGA, RS232) or more-or-less standards (LX's PC-speaker) implemented in system.

 

[Splintercat]

North or South America?

Don't forget Central America

----
I'm glad the prototypes are getting into the hands of some of the devs. That'll hopefully speed up fixing some of the underlying issues.
There's quite a few things that will probably need to be tuned and tweaked as well, for instance I'm pretty curious about how well the wifi and cell radios perform.

 

[levi]

There's quite a few things that will probably need to be tuned and tweaked as well, for instance I'm pretty curious about how well the wifi and cell radios perform.

He'll need to build some new prototypes for that - the ones that have gone out already and probably all of the initial dev ones (which is 20 or so, IIRC) will use slightly old boards, at least until he gets the new ones delivered. We know the one Ptitseb has has untuned wifi which doesn't work very well, for example.