Twitterix Mould Photos

[Bosbeetle]

http://twitpic.com/photos/Craigix



nice

 

[elwing]

wooot, sound greats

 

[Bosbeetle]

the good cop bad cop strategy alway have the sour first and the sweet later

 

[RajTakhar]

Take a pinch of salt - as there is another post mentioning a tweak

But hey its progress

 

[x68000]

Mouldy Damn Moulds

 

[elwing]

Take a pinch of salt - as there is another post mentioning a tweak

But hey its progress

hum you're right... this post made my day, while mweston post about the tweak ruinned my year... (well my christmas hope at least...)

 

[craigix]

There is a very small tweak we want done, it's going to take 2-3 days. So it's no big deal.

 

[Ravnos]

Take a pinch of salt - as there is another post mentioning a tweak

But hey its progress

Let me guess. Two more months?

Edit: Not fast enough. Still. I like my estimate better.

 

[bsamm97]

Those pics made me wet my pants....

 

[Phawx]

Why does it look like some are made of copper and others are made of aluminum or something silver-ish?

 

[juniorm33]

There is a very small tweak we want done, it's going to take 2-3 days. So it's no big deal.

What's the tweeks?
Can't wait to see your next artsy vid by the way!

 

[fusion_power]

Nice Pix, good to see something real.

There is a very small tweak we want done, it's going to take 2-3 days. So it's no big deal.

With "WE" you mean the OP Team, sounds like serious changings onto the Case. I guess sending the Tweak to the Factory needs another Day, if the Factory again knows what you want it takes 2 or more Days and to make the "tweak" reality in physic form it could take one week I guess...

 

[Trevsweb]

the moulds look fantastic hope we can see mass production process soon.

 

[Yoyobuae]

Why does it look like some are made of copper and others are made of aluminum or something silver-ish?

It probably has to do with the thermal caracteristics of the materials. My guess is that the plastic is injected hot (melted) into the mould, when it comes in contact with the mould metal it cools down, setting it in it's final form.

Also remember that for mass production they need to do this fast. So there's the potential problem of mould running too hot (as they're constantly absorbing heat from the plastic). Solution is to cool them somehow, the first pic shows the method, running cooling liquid (water maybe) over the moulds as they do their work. Copper would conduct heat more efficiently, therefore would aid in cooling down.

Or at least that's what I guess it's happening.

 

[droneb]

Why does it look like some are made of copper and others are made of aluminum or something silver-ish?

It probably has to do with the thermal caracteristics of the materials. My guess is that the plastic is injected hot (melted) into the mould, when it comes in contact with the mould metal it cools down, setting it in it's final form.

Also remember that for mass production they need to do this fast. So there's the potential problem of mould running too hot (as they're constantly absorbing heat from the plastic). Solution is to cool them somehow, the first pic shows the method, running cooling liquid (water maybe) over the moulds as they do their work. Copper would conduct heat more efficiently, therefore would aid in cooling down.

Or at least that's what I guess it's happening.

since the copper one seems hollow, i believe this one is for keymats so rubber requires a lower pressure and higher temp if i remember correctly.
so it gets elastic (Copper has a less hardness and more termal coonductive).

btw wuts with the first photo? it seems they are still machining the part since i believe they are not doing the panda by artisan manual injecting

but from what i see the top cover (the one with panda logo) its going to be matte and not shinny as i thought looking at the renders
keys also seem matte (normal to me), but wtf is the first photo? it looks like they are still machining the plate!!!.

btw i know good you shows us those pics, but i would like to see the frontpanel mould (unless that the copper one is, something that i dont think because it is holow instead of being full on the key area, unless my eyes cheat on me)just to kill the curiosity.

are all parts going to be matte or any will be specular? (of course i know the keys are specular because they get resin, but what else?)

 

[emil10001]

I'm not sure, but these might be my favorite photos that have come out of this project so far, especially the one labeled "You've got the body I want." Any chance of more and/or higher res?

 

[Yoyobuae]

since the copper one seems hollow, i believe this one is for keymats so rubber requires a lower pressure and higher temp if i remember correctly.
so it gets elastic (Copper has a less hardness and more termal coonductive).

I think that the hollow parts may have matching "embossed" (not sure if right word) parts on the matching mould. So if those parts are completely filled, then a hole would be the result.

Also consider that not only the "keys" are hollow, but also the control pad buttons, d-pad and nubs. And all these are not made at the same time/of the same material. Another of the pics also shows the real mould for the d-pad and XYAB buttons.

EDIT: Also the hollow in the middle top part, no part matches that at all.

but from what i see the top cover (the one with panda logo) its going to be matte and not shinny as i thought looking at the renders
keys also seem matte (normal to me), but wtf is the first photo? it looks like they are still machining the plate!!!.

Notice that the copper mould is face down. The thing with the shaft is probably some kind of plastic injection machine.

 

[droneb]

since the copper one seems hollow, i believe this one is for keymats so rubber requires a lower pressure and higher temp if i remember correctly.
so it gets elastic (Copper has a less hardness and more termal coonductive).

I think that the hollow parts may have matching "embossed" (not sure if right word) parts on the matching mould. So if those parts are completely filled, then a hole would be the result.

Also consider that not only the "keys" are hollow, but also the control pad buttons, d-pad and nubs. And all these are not made at the same time/of the same material. Another of the pics also shows the real mould for the d-pad and XYAB buttons.

but from what i see the top cover (the one with panda logo) its going to be matte and not shinny as i thought looking at the renders
keys also seem matte (normal to me), but wtf is the first photo? it looks like they are still machining the plate!!!.

Notice that the copper mould is face down. The thing with the shaft is probably some kind of plastic injection machine.

i just usually work as a translator on several plastic machinery CO. so im used to these (also gained some knowledge about most of the plastic diferent processing)so thats just my interpretation.

1) i said they seem to be the keymat mould since they are hollow they would leave a blob or a cup even if their matching partner was filled we still dont have a full hole (maybe it does but it would be a really weird mould design ive never seen before, since they usually dont round these holes in order to reduce/avoid filling on these places, yet they usually make them sharp so a 90 degree is harder to leak in..

thinking more into it, the copper mould seems to be needed in order to cool faster the panel since there is a large amount of plastic and very small col/rows on it, so if they dont get it properly cooled they would end up with a woobbly piece (vibrated and shrinked) been working once with someone that had a poorly cooled supermarket fruit basket and they ended up with drunk looking baskets (really funny).

as i stated, i dont think they are doing injection on a artisan based production, Injection machines, usually are caged, rounded with parallel bars and never cooled like that (free water flow).

cooling a mould is as complicated or even more than to design the shape side., they must make the water flow equally so all the parts keep at almos the same temp or you will bend/crack/damage the shaping and end up with a bulk of steel /copper as a paper stand
i really believe they are machining the part and not injecting

 

[guizm]

nice

 

[Yoyobuae]

Hmmm, I guess that could be photo of the machining process. There's a hole in the copper mould exactly at the that position too.

So yeah, I was wrong on that part.