You'll hate this post. And you'll love this post.


That makes the whole trip pretty useless.
Didn't you want to go to Greece to tweak the shoulder buttons and other things while you are there.

At least in my case I will not love that post in any way.
An other unexpected waiting.

I'll never change that one opinion: "No matter what's promised and how sure it will be, I won't believe in a ready Pyra until it's standing in front of me"
Useless? No.
A lot of decisions had to be made. Choosing the surface material, discussing about the different qualities and possibilities of the plastic, etc.

Yes, that wasn't my original plan and I was as much anticipating as you were to get a final case already (which is what's to hate about that post), but that's not yet the case.
However, I am still happy because I've now seen ways to improve the case compared to Pandoras one, I am happy to have learnt more about the whole process as that helps with further projects (and I got an idea how long things take).

I rather wait a few weeks more than have an inferior, cheap looking case (what's those few weeks compared to the full development time we had?)

Sure, we need to hasten, but not rush it out.

I have my new 3DS here, and I'm actually horrified by the build quality... so far, I've ever only used it at home, it's the first time I took it with me.
The matte surface has some ugly scratches already, so edges even look worn-out like they're a few years old already... honestly, that case is VERY cheap.
Something I don't want!

BTW: Forgot to mention: We'll try using a very hard rubber material for the nubs which will give them a better grip (especially as we keep the structure) :)
 
It looks like communication with this compagny goes a lot smoother than with the previous one. Very nice post about the process and looking forward to some finished samples :)
 
https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/attachments/27810/

that purple next to the blue usb stick....

but burgundy with a little gold glitter embedded in it....

clear...see through....

that wood effect


OMG my brain might explode..... the possibilities....


I'd have been amazed if the trip had gone like you planned - as you now know injection moulding is way more complicated then you ever wanted to know....!
 
I think the Pyra is going to be great - because ED cares a lot about getting hight quality stuff. Keep up the good work!
How many different colors will you choose for mass production? I might even prefer transparent, but that depends on weather the keymat covers all the LEDs, so they won't shine directly into my face.

edit: there is only a 'like' button for the post, so I couldn't hate it!
 
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This was always one of the biggest problems with the Pandora, unexpected delays, and what huge problems it caused. Obviously this time the delays are tiny in comparison, but I think everyone would agree the real difference is the fact ED is providing a detailed account of what has happened, both the problem but also all the cool stuff that has happened. Result: everyone is happy. Thanks ED, wishing you the best luck for the next stages!
 
Though this looks nice

acrilic.jpg.d2834377d42eae5a0a32c79a02f6d48b.jpg


I'm afraid it will end up like this after a while :-/

V1dEw6xl.jpg


And I don't like the fact that it would leak light everywhere...
If it's going to be clear plastic I would be happy to pay the 30€ for something else.

And although I would like a C64 colored Pyra, I'm a bit worried by the Pyra logo on the lid as brown with white plastics won't look nice so maybe something like the coffee colored one would look better with the white pyra logo on the back...

coffe.jpg.c7e438f4125227f4296aa62c235585af.jpg


Or just plain white... :)

ERICO-white.jpg.8e2855dfccdc53cb37372bd05497bdfe.jpg


Yay! Color talk!

Anyway, thanks for the update and those nice pics Ed :) I love seeing stuff like that!
 
I hope you enjoyed the newspost, even though it was looooong and too much to read, probably :)
I thought it was really interesting with all the details. Much more interesting certainly than your previous news posts (though that may only be because I had no idea how injection moulding really works).
 
W
Hmm, could keeping the plastic parts longer in the molds, until they cooled down more, do the trick?
I don't think so. Or better: you can leave it longer, but it will shrink anyway, resulting in internal tension, which basicly makes it harder to get the part out of the mold. It's more about choosing the right temperature of the plastic for injecting and the right time/cooling curve to have as little tension in the part as possible. Some molds even have different cooling chanels inside the mold to get different cooling in different places, IIRC.
[doublepost=1453372968,1453372550][/doublepost]As for the colors:
I'm totally to give 30EUR extra for a "wooden" case. The nubs, wheel, and all buttons have to be in brass then of course. Steampunk Pyra, Yeah! (og and brass screws, of course...

Mate clear, paintable from the inside would be cool, too....
 
It's been reported that Pandora cases have failed not explicitly due to falls or hits, but simply due to corners being worked e.g. around the USB port. On my case I made a small crack in the lid getting the bezel out one time (to get at the LCD board), but that crack has been slowly propagating and becoming longer, presumably due to small but repeated stresses on the case.

Is there any way for the mould company to test the plastic to see how it resists the propagation of cracks? Resisting a fall or a strike is a useful test, but not as useful to me as I've never dropped my Pandora onto anything hard or hit it with anything. If my material science knowledge is up to date, it should be possible to start a crack by filing a V into the material, then try mistreating it (maybe in the same way as in that video, although smaller forces, much more often would be more representative of my real world cases), then observe if a crack has formed from the V and if so, how long it is.
 
What polymer are they using for the plastic ?

Given how transparent it is and that they claim it's bulletproof, I suspect it might be polycarbonate. (At the right thickness and tolerance, that's used for bulletproof materials and have you ever tried destroying a coaster'd CD-R or DVD+R? Those things are very flexible.)
 
The woodgrain finish is too 1970's for my taste. Bring out the fondues and shag carpets.
I'm glad that we will have a choice of case colours. Transparent cases are not for me.
 
Given how transparent it is and that they claim it's bulletproof, I suspect it might be polycarbonate. (At the right thickness and tolerance, that's used for bulletproof materials and have you ever tried destroying a coaster'd CD-R or DVD+R? Those things are very flexible.)

If that's the case it would quite expensive. Polycarbonate is way more pricey compared to other polymers, but yeah, they are used in some smartphones (LUmia, I think).
 
I suspect it might be polycarbonate. (At the right thickness and tolerance, that's used for bulletproof materials and have you ever tried destroying a coaster'd CD-R or DVD+R? Those things are very flexible.)

Easy; put it in a plastic bag to catch the shards, then from outside the bag, fold it in half. Cracks do propagate quite well in polycarbonate, although if it gets to a certain thickness it tends to flex rather than shear, and given the way recordable discs tend to delaminate, it's usually quite close to that thickness.

I'd guess in normal use polycarbonate should be enough. Some of my CD cases and especially DVD cases don't want to give up the disc without a bit of a fight, so some of my discs have been significantly deformed probably a few dozen times in total. Perhaps premade discs are a little more robust than recordable ones: I've not destroyed many of the former.
 
ED, great work as always. The case company seems to be "top shelf", and while your trip didn't go as originally planned, I think it is very good you went when you did, as you where able to see the process earlier, and know how things work, so once you do begin to get prototype case parts, you'll know and understand what to request, and understanding the whole process will help you to make better choices and corrections in the long run.

Everything looks to be excellent, so how will the case color selection actually work? You have 10 sample colors correct? Did you try a wide range of colors across the 10, or did you select several variations of basic colors, like 3 different shades of red, or a few of blue, several pink ,etc to see which "red" is best or where all 10 colors unique choices?

How will the final color selection go, do you have any ideas, or will it be something decided later? Do you have a set number of alternative colors that we will have at production? So will there be set number like 2, 3, or 5 choices for launch? Or can they be made to order at request, and that is where the extra cost comes in, and any color can be chosen at anytime? Or will they have to be pre selected and produced before hand?

I really have no trouble paying extra for a color I would actually want, and this company seems more than capable of delivering a decent quality, so hopefully we don't need to replace parts due to defects soon after receiving or Pyra's.

Great work again to all involved, and we are near the end, but there is still a lot of work to do, so looking forward to more updates over the coming weeks and months. 2016 is looking to be the year the "Pyra" for sure. Best of luck!

Chris
 
Given how transparent it is and that they claim it's bulletproof, I suspect it might be polycarbonate. (At the right thickness and tolerance, that's used for bulletproof materials and have you ever tried destroying a coaster'd CD-R or DVD+R? Those things are very flexible.)

In fact it is. I just saw it written on the material bag :)

Should be good for us I guess.

Later tonight (or tomorrow, as I have to leave veeery early) I'll make a new post, with lots of informations about how the coloring works.
[doublepost=1453383347,1453383257][/doublepost]
So will there be set number like 2, 3, or 5 choices for launch? Or can they be made to order at request, and that is where the extra cost comes in, and any color can be chosen at anytime?

Request wouldn't work. It takes about 3 hours to set up a mold for production, and we got 7 molds.
So it's 21 hours setting up just to get one color.

We might make 2 or 3 different colors for the launch, probably.
[doublepost=1453383689][/doublepost]
If that's the case it would quite expensive. Polycarbonate is way more pricey compared to other polymers, but yeah, they are used in some smartphones (LUmia, I think).

Well, compared to ABS the price for 1kg is only 30 Cents higher (I just checked the current prices). With 1kg, you can probably create 2 full sets, so it would increase the price 15 Cents per case.
And one case set will approx. be 7 EUR (based on the original offer), so 15 Cents more for the best material we can probably get is a small price to pay.
 
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