The day the Pandora goes even more open

[bzar]

I hope some chinese company doesn't take the case design and create a pyra competitor with a new system board. Pretty unlikely is my guess, but still.

...as if case design would be the limiting factor in that endeavour.

 

[janvlug]

I decided that this news is important enough for a slashdot post:

http://slashdot.org/submission/3597245/openpandora-design-files-released

 

[WizardStan]

I wonder how long it'll be until someone (without irony) complains that since there's the restriction that these can't be used for commercial purposes that it's not actually "open".

 

[ekianjo]

I wonder how long it'll be until someone (without irony) complains that since there's the restriction that these can't be used for commercial purposes that it's not actually "open".

Well for Open Source software that would actually be unusual to enforce such restrictions since the GPL is very widespread, but for hardware projects this is actually rare to see anything much open. 

 

[notaz]

Since this has been released, here are Rev5C (or CC pandora) schematics:

http://notaz.gp2x.de/misc/pnd/Pandora_mainboard_schematic_rev5a.zip

same license and restrictions apply as for Pandora_PCB.zip

The differences from 6D are both LCD and USB using the same supply (so that overloading USB port makes LCD flicker) and lack of wifi and other tweaks across the board.

 

[EvilDragon]

Most of the parts as they are are not 3D printable, but it's an incredible start towards something custom. Now if only I actually had an idea...

The SAT file is the original file used for mould production - why shouldn't it be printable?

 

[urjaman]

notaz: Thanks for the R5 schematics, wanted to see them (didnt look at it yet).

Also, you put in a place for a 3-axis accelerometer (MMA7455L/MMA7456L) and decided not to have it and _didnt bother mentioning of the pads to anyone_ ?

 

[fusion_power]

 Not a very clean 3D model to be honest, an actual mess.   Again, I have no clue how the original files are handled, could be a different method for 3D printing etc. to get smoth edges out of the vectorized 3D model. maybe there were just so much vertics due the conversion in blender but Blender can read .stl files jsut fine, without converting.

However, still interesting to see all these details (and sharp edges ) of the actual case files.

The .SAT file is the original, the STL is a conversion.

Blender works totally different though, as it uses polygons (which are not used for real case designs)

Ah, thanks for clarification. Still nice conversion and at least it's possible to clean it up in polygon form (with some work). I wonder how 3D printers "curve" these edgy polygon .stl files to eliminate the rough shapes of the 3D models but is must be possible because 3D printers mostly use normal .stl files.  I try to load the .sat file into Blender. Blender can also handle curve based objects (bézier, splines...) but it's not that specialized for this.

 

[levi]

Also, you put in a place for a 3-axis accelerometer (MMA7455L/MMA7456L) and decided not to have it and _didnt bother mentioning of the pads to anyone_ ?

Ah, that's what the unpopulated site is between the volume wheel and the right SD slot.

 

[WizardStan]

The SAT file is the original file used for mould production - why shouldn't it be printable?

Because 3D printing isn't the same as mould production, there are things you can do with a mould that you can't with a 3D printer, at least not with the kind most home users are likely to have. For example, there are overhangs and bridges that make 3D printing difficult, and dangly bits that make it completely impossible that would be no problem for a mould. Take the keypad part of the case for example: I can import the model into Repetier and sure as peaches it'll slice it for me, but it's got all these tabs hanging down that if I tried to print it would just spit plastic into empty air. And all the holes for the keys make it impossible to slice as a bridge, so even if they do manage to stick somehow it'll be very droopy. In order to be 3D printable it will need support structure, but the automatic support designers I've tried don't do a very good job with it, they just fill the entire inside with plastic. Someone's going to need to manually add some walls to build up to all the dangly bits so the printer has something to work with.There exist printers with two heads that can spit out regular plastic and also a water soluble support system, in which case who cares if the case is entirely filled, you just dip it in water and it all melts away leaving just the plastic, but such systems are kind of expensive. The case designer probably has such a system but home users probably won't.

 

[elwing]

now where is that fantastic aluminium milled case?

 

[fusion_power]

now where is that fantastic aluminium milled case?

In our wild fantasies and dreams of course.

 

[rygD]

Most of the parts as they are are not 3D printable, but it's an incredible start towards something custom. Now if only I actually had an idea...

I have ideas.  If you have everything else I can share them.

 

[edgex004]

now where is that fantastic aluminium milled case?

In our wild fantasies and dreams of course.

I'm looking up milling options now. It is pretty clear that the cost per case goes down drastically as the lot size increases. If at least 25 of us can get together and pool funds for a single order, I would hope it could be doable without each of us investing too much.

This would certainly need to take blockage of the antenna into account though. Perhaps the design would need to be modified for a plastic section to house the antenna in.

If it does end up being more than $200 per case, I may wait for the Pyra. I would really like this to happen though.

 

[PowerGod]

This can be the start of the "Pandora-compatible" devices heaven, like the IBM did in the old times

 

[EvilDragon]

The SAT file is the original file used for mould production - why shouldn't it be printable?

Because 3D printing isn't the same as mould production, there are things you can do with a mould that you can't with a 3D printer, at least not with the kind most home users are likely to have.

Well, yes. But the case design I got for the Pyra was for a mould as well, and I converted it in the same way to STL, uploaded it to Sculpteo with an automatic fix and they sent me the printed cases

 

[doragasu]

¡Great news! As a hardware designer myself, I'll sure have a look to the schematics and board files. ¡THANKS!

 

[janvlug]

The news arrived also at Phoronix:

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTcwNzA

 

[WizardStan]

uploaded it to Sculpteo with an automatic fix and they sent me the printed cases

Sculpteo does laser sintering which has no problem with bridges, less problem with dangly bits, and tends to cost thousands if not tens of thousands or more: most home users do not have that kind of money and must stick with the cheaper FDM printers

 

[vcoleiro1]

I got the story onto Liliputing. 

The story is here:  http://liliputing.com/2014/06/openpandora-releases-open-source-hardware-case-designs-handheld-game-system.html