The magnificent seven


EvilDragon

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Assembled 7 Prototype Pyras tonight.
Works pretty well.

Pyras.jpg

After I assembled 2 or 3 I found the best and fastest way to assemble them, and it's less than 10 minutes you need for a full assembly :)

For those who are interested in the optimized steps:
  • Roll the LCD Cable and put it through the lower lid part.
  • Put the hinge part into the keyboard part.
  • Slide the LCD Cable through the keyboard lid and put the lid part into the keyboard part.
  • Lock the hinge. Then you have the keyboard part and the lid part fully assembled including the rolled LCD cable.
  • Put in the speakers, sealing, nub discs and keymat.
  • Put in the PCB, connect the LCD Cable.
  • Put the stylus holder and the shoulder buttons into the bottom part.
  • Put the aluminium plate (for cooling) onto the PCB.
  • Assemble the bottom part with the keyboard part, screw it together, insert stylus.
  • Assemble the LCD with the Display board (two plugs, one for the LCD, one the the touchscreen)
  • Connect the display board to the LCD Cable.
  • Put the LCD + Displayboard into the lid, put the frame on top. Screw it on.
That's it :)
Pretty weird putting the LCD in last (if you assembled hundreds of Pandoras before), but it works best :)

Some more information about the case (shrinking marks, etc.):
The current material that has been used is some black material they had available from some other mass production.
That's the reason we have some discolorization and shrinking marks there.
There are materials which are optimized for various mold flows. Depending on the material, it's thicker or more liquid, it needs more or less heat.

For small details, you need a material that is very liquid and cools off evenly - there is special material for that, that is mostly suited and being used for mobile devices.

The manufacturer of that material already has the 3D data to analyze the mold flow and mix a perfect material for that.
This takes a few weeks though, so the current cases have been made with an unoptimized material that's too thick.
This leads to the shrinking marks. Those will be gone once the final material arrives :)


So, what important stuff did I find out while assembling the Pyras?

Overall, the case is now physically perfect.
The only small thing are still the shoulder buttons - but that shouldn't be a big deal:
With 3 out of the 7 Pyras, all shoulder buttons work perfectly. The other 4 work, but don't feel as good as they should.
The reason for that is simple: We need a bit more tolerance (which means: We need to remove a tiny bit of plastic).
While the buttons are very accurate on the PCB, they still have a tolerance of about 0,2mm. The case currently doesn't take that into account and stops the button too early sometimes.
Just removing a bit of plastic there fixes that.

Everything else is fine though, which is awesome :D

The LCD Cable also has the perfect length, another step done.
These can now go into mass production as well.

Speaker sealing: While the silicon idea is basically a good idea, I'm not sure it closes everything perfectly...
This needs to be tested. It might be better using the same shape and plot that out of thin self-adhesive tape.
This would make sure the sealing is perfect.

I have to do some more testing soon!

Sooooo we're getting there.

Quick summary:

  • LCD Cable: Done now as well, ready for mass production.
  • Case: Done, except for minor tweaks in the shoulder buttons. Otherwise ready for mass production.
  • LCDs: Already mass produced, including touchscreen.
  • Batteries: Already mass produced
  • Keymat: Samples of the (most probably) final revision are currently being produced.
  • Aluminium Plate (for cooling): Will work on that this week.
  • PCBs: Except for testing the fixes and work on the 4GB ones, they're ready for mass production as well. Nikolaus is working on that, now that he has cases :)
  • Boxes: Basically finished, needs box design :). Production time is two weeks.
  • Manual: Needs to be written, but I'll base it on Pandoras manual. Production time is one week.
  • OS: Basic Debian is working, but a lot of low-level stuff needs to be done... remember the first OS for the Pandora? Yep, something like that :D
Phew... The to-do-list is shrinking, and we're getting closer to mass production each time.
Don't expect your final units within the next few weeks, but we're continuously moving forward :)
 
Great. As for the boxes, as I told ya im interested in make the design. In fact afair i sent you a pm asking the measurements.
 
THANK YOU,

EvilDragon + the rest of the crew! Just sitting here on a business trip at Birmingham Airport, having my Pandora (beaten up, but still running) with me and makeing certainly good use out of the little beast .... but eagerly waiting for UMTS and all the neat features you + the team designed into Pyra.

BTW: PLA-printed Stylus on the Pandroa last week did make it to the graveyard. Last week's 38 degrees in the Netherlands killed the stylus as I had the Pandora in the car on the passengers' seat. 38 degrees Celsius air temp, 4 hours in the afternoon on the parking lot prouced some nice heat -- and in the evening, on the airport, I barely could get the self-printed Stylus out of the case .... it wasn't straight anymore :) more like a curve ...

Makes me remember to print the next time my spare parts for the mobile devices either in ABS or Nylon :)

Are the Pandora Case-Thingis already available for printing? Then we could start already with dummy-mockups and work on mounts etc. for cars, bikes etc.etc ..


thanks! Michael, and if you need help: let me know


peb
HP200lx-List + Website-Admin ..
 
there are 10 types of people.... to paraphrase an old joke

those of you who have never had a 3d printer, will probably think 0.2mm that's tiny, couldn't possibly have much effect, then you build and successively dial in your 3d printer, and you discover 0.2mm is gigan-o-normous !!!

at least its too much plastic I discovered by removing nearly .2mm of a bunch of snap together parts you soon get the knack of how hard/long you need to draw the file to get just the right amount off after you've tried it and can feel how it fits...

seeing them sat there, no neigh sayer can bitch vapour ware.... The pyra is a real thing, no longer a prototype...

now just to throw a few thousand together, pah ED should have them done by Wednesday ---- DUCKS!
 
wow, they indeed look magnificent, thanks!!!

the todo-list shrinking to a much more compact size is really great news, as this means a happy dragon now and soon happy pyra-proto-devs which ultimately leads to superhappy pyra-users polishing the os and userspace like hell!

2 months! 2 months! 2 months!
:)
 
Wow, even un-booted, I'm already drooling about that screen real estate you've got there. Looks much more swish than my Pandora in that respect alone!

And regarding the assembly video posted in the other thread (which should perhaps be republished here for others to find more easily), I love the way those nubs just clicked into place. Although that makes me wonder how they'd unclip if we ever need to take the case apart.
 
Fantastic! They look great on the picture, can't wait to see what some of the devs do when they get their hands on them. When will we be able to pay the rest of what's left after the down-payment?
 
You can already pay what's left in the form of shop vouchers making up the difference between the pre-order downpayment and the final price. A few of us on these boards are known to be doing just that.

But the money will actually become due when the units are assembled and ready to be posted out I assume.
 
Great picture. The screen looks absolutely lovely on that size.
I´d be interested in knowing about that box art you are going to need as well as illustrations for the manual.
So, are they ultra ready to go to the devs?
ultra-seven-ultraseven-tokusatsu-japan.jpg
 
Wow, even un-booted, I'm already drooling about that screen real estate you've got there. Looks much more swish than my Pandora in that respect alone!

And regarding the assembly video posted in the other thread (which should perhaps be republished here for others to find more easily), I love the way those nubs just clicked into place. Although that makes me wonder how they'd unclip if we ever need to take the case apart.


They are not clipped. If you disassemble the unit, they will simply fall out again.
 
Assembled 7 Prototype Pyras tonight.

As 8th in line for a prototype preorder, 7 feels sad.

Yes, I know these are units going out to active devs with expectations for great and less tangible things to be created.

What is left to be able to power them on?
 
They look great. I am glad to hear about all the ongoing work and progress.

Don't rush those shoulder buttons, take a couple iterations if needed.
The Pandora shoulder buttons were very bad.
 
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