Tweaking and Finalizing


EvilDragon

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 4, 2003
Messages
29,986
Age
46
Location
Ingolstadt
Weekend, time for a newspost about the Pyra, isn't it?
As you know, I was in Greece on Monday and Tuesday last week, discussing the final changes and tweaks with FormAction about the case production.

But apart from that, I got some other news for you, but let's start with

The Case

I sat together two days with the designer and plastic expert of FormAction to discuss the final tweaks needed for the case.
The reason the case didn't close properly on the pictures you've seen was a rib that was colliding with one part on the PCB as well as a too thick wall between the battery compartment and the inner life of the Pyra.
Removing the rib and milling the case a bit down makes the PCB fit perfectly and the case closed just fine.

This also was the reason, why the holes for the ports had so much spacing. You can't make the final tweaks to those as long as the PCB is not sitting properly in the case (makes sense, eh?)

So, these things will now be fixed so we should get a completely finished and tweaked case for the GamesCom in August.

The hinge will also be modified a bit to add fraction to it.

The rest was already fine, so these really are the final tweaks that need to be done.
I took 25 of those sets with me, so we can use them to build the prototypes once the PCBs are ready :)

Let's move on to...

The Colors

Getting proper colors is actually harder than I thought. Well, not harder: more expensive.

Black, Transparent and various vibrant colors you often see used in kids toys are easy to get: These are standard colors which you can buy in any quantities from the market.

However, if you want to get a REALLY good looking color (like dark metallic or non-metallic red, blue, or whatever), you need to get the color custom made from the manufacturer.
All RAL-Colors (http://www.ral-farben.de/en/PRODUCTS-SHOP/) are available, not only plastic ones but also effect ones.

There are some that really look gorgeous - however, the minimum order quantity is 1t. And that's quite a lot.
I still want to do an awesome looking color version at some time, but maybe that'll have to wait until the first batch is out - or we could do some Kickstarter / Indiegogo for that.

Nevertheless, here are pictures of four standard colors have right now:

Colors1.jpg Colors2.jpg Colors3.jpg Colors4.jpgColorsStack.jpg

The red, grey and blue one looks okayish... but still not what I imagine as awesome looking color :)

But black is always a proper solution, eh? :)


The PCBs

Nikolaus will be finished with the new layout files this week, so new PCBs can be ordered - and if all goes well, that's the final revision, so those will also be the ones used for mass production.

And I've got some other nice news for your:
The parts with long lead-times have been ordered!

Yep, that DOES mean that the mass production has started a bit, at least we'll soon have the parts to start it anytime, once we're ready. So no waiting time once we're done. Yay!


The 3D Driver

Thanks to a community developer effort in IRC, we also have a first working 3D driver!
Thanks a lot to everyone involved!

It still needs improvements (i.e. it only uses one core right now) and packaged up for Debian, but they're working on that.
But still, it does run and runs glxgears and other 3D programs already, so it's a very good start!
Hopefully at GamesCom, we can show some nice 3D games running!


Some sad news

Unfortunately, I also have some sad news for you.

My main contact for the Pandora production at Global Components died this Sunday after a long struggle with a disease. He didn't have to suffer long, which is good, and usually with the illness he had, you often only live for two years or less... he lived six years with it.

He was the one who managed moving the Pandora production over to Global Components, who had trust in me even after the whole Pandora fiasco, who helped me get everything going smoothly.
He personally brought thousands of Pandoras to my company, mad sure everything worked out, organized solving every issue that occured.

He was always available, even at night times, he loved his work and lived for it.

And even though he stopped working at Global Components a few years ago because he couldn't do it anymore, he still was there as their advisor and always followed the Pyra development and asked how I was doing.

I am both relieved that he didn't have to suffer too hard, but it's also sad seeing someone like him go. Especially as I already knew shortly after the Pandora production was moved here that he will be gone at some time during the next few years.

I want to honor him with this newspost, wish him all the best whereever he will be and thank him for everything he's done.

Best wishes of also to his family. He has a special place in the Pandora history as well.
 
Sounds like things are going great with the Pyra! Can't wait for the daily videos :)

A question: are there dyes somewhere that are sold in consumer-grade amounts that could be used to do a paintjob on the case myself? like Plastic\Carbon dyes? Lord knows all I need to do is make some stencils.

Also Rest In Peace, Man, Hope the afterlife is awesome.
 
Nice news, except for the passing of a good man, of course - sorry to hear that.

The colors look (to me at least) a bit cheap-ish. Is that due to the lighting? Or maybe the material? I mean the "black" doesn't even look dark grey.

I didn't quite get, where the MOQ for non-casual colors comes from. Is it the minimum molding run size making the run worthwhile or is it a minimum amount of color additives that would be produced.
If it is the latter, could one order the color, only use as much as needed for the intended case batch, and have Form Action keep it in stock for you? Or is the color alone too expensive to consider this?
 
Unfortunately, I also have some sad news for you.
Terrible to hear that ED, sounds like we lost a true unsung hero from the Pandora saga.

Peace & Love to his friends and family.
_____________________

There are some that really look gorgeous - however, the minimum order quantity is 1t. And that's quite a lot.

Could you give a link to a gorgeous colour?

What do you mean by 1t?
 
What do you mean by 1t?
Given the context, that's most propably one thousand. Or one tonne - who knows. :)

EDIT: I just realise, I assumed ED meant the MOQ for cases in such a color, but he might have refered to the color (additives). Then I'd rather expect 1t to mean one tonne of color additive. But that would be an unsensibel high MOQ for such a thing, wouldn't it be? That would be terrible.
 
Mit diesem gesamt es kann (erzwungen werden die Pyra) gesamt twerk ↑

I think he means 1k, (1000), but it could be that he means 6.283185307179586

It is an unfair world that doesn't grant immortality to the people involved in the restructuring of the Pandora production. Then again, forever remembered and appreciated.
 
Last edited:
the inner life of the Pyra.
I don't understand.

I think I would prefer that grey to black as a basic color (can't be sure without seeing a black case). The other colors are tolerable, and I agree that they could be better. I am not really clear what your plans are. Are you just going with black cases for the first batch?

If you don't want to do any other colors for now maybe you can also offer a limited run of clear cases. My top two choices of what is shown are grey and clear, and I don't know which I prefer (clear offers some interesting customization options).

A question: are there dyes somewhere that are sold in consumer-grade amounts that could be used to do a paintjob on the case myself? like Plastic\Carbon dyes? Lord knows all I need to do is make some stencils.
There are some dyes (that actually penetrate the plastic a bit) that might work, but I kinda doubt it. The ones I am aware of work on ABS. Some colors or brands seem to work better with acetone added, and otherwise look bad. The easiest option for a custom color is paint, and painting the inside of a clear case protects the paint against scratches and such.
 
The other colors are tolerable

Well, am I the only one who agrees with ED that the ones outside of black look a little too 'toy shoppy' for a console\computer\whatever? Clear is always cool though.

There are some dyes (that actually penetrate the plastic a bit) that might work, but I kinda doubt it. The ones I am aware of work on ABS. Some colors or brands seem to work better with acetone added, and otherwise look bad. The easiest option for a custom color is paint, and painting the inside of a clear case protects the paint against scratches and such.

So are you saying I should just go to the hardware shop and ask for standard buckets of paint? For real? I thought you needed something special! Oh well. Can I lacquer it or whatever afterwards?
Thanks btw :)
 
Well, am I the only one who agrees with ED that the ones outside of black look a little too 'toy shoppy' for a console\computer\whatever? Clear is always cool though.



So are you saying I should just go to the hardware shop and ask for standard buckets of paint? For real? I thought you needed something special! Oh well. Can I lacquer it or whatever afterwards?
Thanks btw :)
There is no black in the above pics. There is a grey. I wouldn't say the rest look toy-like, they just look boring, not fun like I imagined...except the clear, but I am also imagining the possibilities and already have a few custom paint ideas. The grey looks sorta utilitarian which is what appeals to me.

Not just any paint, it probably needs to be for plastic. I prefer a rattle can, and I need to get some purple or something for one of my GBs, so I may use some of that. I might also try to get something close to Extreme Green, or a translucent black or grey.
 
Sad news are all around us these days.

Regarding the colors:
I'd still like to see the picture of a black one since black doesn't always look the same.
The transparent one looks surprisingly good and is my favourite from the above since the grey one looks still too bright for me.
 
Please at least consider that grey, it's pretty nice looking!

Sorry for your loss, though.
 
Back
Top