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Lasercut Acrylic Case+ Frontpanel for SEQv4


smokestacksproductions
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  • 1 month later...

Just a few ideas for someone looking at doing one of these too.

 

There's some ways you could modify the design.    These are my observations from having also done a ponoko case from smokestackproductions original design in this thread (many thanks to him for the original idea/design work!):

 

1.  As mentioned the case holes on the bottom should be mirrored.  Depending on how you want to assemble your case you could go with no holes on the bottom at all and drill your own as you need them. (explained more in a minute).

2. The case may not need to be as high as in the original design.  Depending on how you assemble it.

3. Adding additional holes for 4 more midi in/out's  BLM is as easy as cut/pasting the original holes in the diagram.

4. I also moved my SD card slot to the far lower left side at the back and used an ebay SD card module on 10mm spacers (at it's rear), with the front of the module poking slightly through the case slot to keep it in place.

 

I found when assembling mine that it was far simpler to attach the top panel only to the control surface, there was no need to use long screws and spacers from the top of the case all the way through to the holes in the bottom.  The panel mounted directly to the control surface is very rigid and sits on top of the sides.  With only 4 external nuts holding the panel/CS substrate to the sides the entire assembly is more than rigid enough.  Doing this prevents having to try and line up a myriad of long bolts right through the case and makes assembly much easier, also providing more internally usable space in the case. It was nice to not have to mess with JB Weld for the panel mounting with this solution.

 

My second point is that you could potentially take about an inch off the height of the case.  If you chose to mount the core board to the base (not on 10mm standoffs), and move the corresponding midi in/out/lan/USB holes down to suit you could use as little as a thin washer to space the board from the plastic.  Saving a lot in height.  Equally the height of the panel/control surface board is only about 15mm when assembled, and can rest only mm's above the core and/or IIC boards if you install them.  So the entire case can be much more svelt. I'd say 15mm for core board/case bottom (depending on how flat you mount the caps)+5mm clearance + 20mm CS/top == 40mm in height for the whole case.  The current design is 65mm high.

 

You'd have to calculate what is required in all measurements to achieve this but without threading bolts through 50mm spacers (x2), from top to bottom of case there is also no need for all the holes on the bottom and you can simply drill the few you need in the correct place to mount the core etc and attach the top panel to the bottom (in 6 places, each corner and 1 either side center) so that the entire case holds together.  Those 6 holes in the original design already line up.  So you could keep the outter 6 holes in the design on the base, and remove all others so you'd only need to drill the mounting holes for the circuit boards.

 

Anyone attempting this case should also note that the plastic around the lcd holes is the weakest part of the design.  I accidentally cracked mine by overtightening the screws that hold the top to the bottom.  They should only be tightened enough to hold the structure together via friction.  The space between the two lcds and the place on the right from lcd to edge are the weakest points.  Fortunately I was able to glue mine back and I used some of the off-cut plastic from ponoko to make a design above the lcd's to cover the mistakes (not ideal but saved me reordering a new panel).

 

Note that there's nothing at all wrong with smokestackdesigns original plans in this thread (apart from the mirroring of the holes).  I just thought I'd throw in some options and ideas that I learned from having done one myself.  They may or may not be useful to others.

 

It was an easy process.  I modified the original files in inkscape, created an account on ponoko, uploaded the design, selected the largest acrylic sheet ( No 3 size at 790mm).  They cut it and sent it to me for $70.  I then painted the text while the paper overlay was still in place. 

 

Cheers,

 

Arkay.

 

P.S.  Some pics attached (taken on my phone), that give a good idea of what to expect with the finished product.  I'll be putting a larger DK38 knob on the center encoder when I get one (purely for aesthetic reasons).

 

post-11106-0-24086200-1357887171_thumb.jpost-11106-0-57231800-1357887180_thumb.jpost-11106-0-23948900-1357887186_thumb.j

Edited by Arkay
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  • 2 months later...

I used a small bottle of model paint from a model aeroplane shop.  There is also a thread on how to do infill with wax crayons and a heat gun.  That might be something to look into though you'd need to be careful with the heat gun and plastic.

 

The paint worked ok and if I did it again I'm sure I could get a much better job due to the first time experience gained.

 

I think this is what I used:

 

http://www.modelkitsonline.com.au/pages/main/dataAccess.php?Key=2499

 

It's very difficult to paint into the cut-outs, better to dab over and fill the crevices, wiping excess around the cut-out away with a cloth, wait for them to dry a little, then repeat, each time buiilding up another layer of paint in the infill.  The more you do and the more patient you are during this step the better it will turn out, aim to fill the lines so they are mostly full but still have a dip and are not completely flat (or sitting above the level of paper).  I also removed the paper very slowly and carefully from mine not long after the final paint run was done as I wanted the paint partially wet so there was no chance the paper would pull dried paint out of the infill.  I then used a fine blade to clean away any excess paint and the inside of cut-out letters (like the triangle at the top of an A or the inside of a D for example).  It comes out pretty good done this way.  Just take your time.

 

Any mistakes can be cleaned away with mineral turps without damage to the plastic though white paint on a black matt surface will not completely clear away and a light hazy residue can sometimes remain.

 

Good luck with it.  Be sure to post up some photo's of the finished product :)  Mine has been working great and my parts for my other 4 midi outs are now on their way too.  Wish I'd have build them in to start with as I don't really want to disassemble it but I need to ports so don't have a choice.

 

Cheers,

 

Arkay.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi,

 

can someone tell or discribe me how i get casedesign made on boxmaker (PDF) into an svg-file...i tryed to import the on boxmaker created casedesign in inkscape but i only got the text in the PDF-file end not the caselayout. how can i import it so that all the measurement are correct after import?

 

Can anyone give me some hints?

 

thanx a lot!

 

Regards

MaG2k



i got it...:-)

 

sorry for the question befor...the import was okay but i didnt saw the outline of the Case cause it had no color and no thickness! :-)

 

MaG2k

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Back again...with new problems..

 

the design of smokestacksproductions is an Ilustrator svg-file. because i have only Inkscape i opend the file of smokestacksproductions and edited a bit around to "bend" the case to meet my demands as i realized that the P3 template (790x384mm) is to small in Inkscape. If you open the casedesign of smokestacksproductions in inkscape the outlines of P3 template is only 640x315mm in size so the rest of the casedesign is to small too...can anyone help me?

I only have inscape and it would be nice not to design all from the begining.

 

Regards

MaG2k

Edited by MaG2k
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MaG2k,

Not sure what is happening with your inkscape but I can confirm that I used those files in inkscape (on Linux not that it should matter which OS you use), and modified the original to suit before sending off to Ponoko. Everything worked fine when I did it so I'm wondering if there is some setting or oddity in the way inkscape is opening the file? Defaulting to the wrong units of measurement or something?

I can't exactly remember now if I used the original files in post 1 or the modified files that flip posted in post #18. Have you tried opening flips in inkscape to see if they exhibit the same issues?

If they do then there's something off with the software as it all can work fine with inkscape and either one or both sets of files.

I can check on my work laptop next time I'm there to see if I still have the modified files if that will help?

Cheers,

Arkay.

Edited by Arkay
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hey Arkay,

 

i found that Adobe opened it's old software for free download and use. so i installed Adobe Illustrator CS2 and opend the original design from here...everything is perfect...but then i tryed to open my svg-file that i allready modified in Inkscape till i realized that the measurements are wrong...and what happend...opend in Illustrator the measurements are also okay. its a little bit strange.

I downloaded the master-layouts from formulor/ponoko for Inkscape and opend them in Inkscape...they have the correct measurement...only the Illustrator-Layouts opend in Inkscape are to small.

But now i have found a way and think that i make it with Illustrator. i have to learn a little bit at first because i dont know how i can make exact measurement in Illustrator. i will try next time to create a layout in Autocad and export it as DXF and reimport it in Inkscape to make an svg-file...if that works with correct measurements it is better to design it in Autocad.

i make the first steps with boxmaker and importing the pdf in inkscape or illustrator but does anyone has experiences with lasercutting-width? i ask because of the correction-factor that can be set on boxmaker to make the case fit better.

what kind of value is good for that correctionfactor?

 

Thanx a lot!

 

Regards

MaG2k

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i make the first steps with boxmaker and importing the pdf in inkscape or illustrator but does anyone has experiences with lasercutting-width? i ask because of the correction-factor that can be set on boxmaker to make the case fit better.

what kind of value is good for that correctionfactor?

 

I have successfully ignored that factor so far. So far it has not been relevant for any my Ponoko / Formulor orders at all.

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MaG2k,

Glad you found a workaround with the software. It's an odd one.

I can't help with your other questions though. Smokestackproductions conversion just worked for me after a short learning curve in the software to add the extra midi ports and move the SD slot. But I really know little to nothing about designing something like this from scratch in CAD software. This case was my first foray into laser cutting at all.

I can see why it becomes addictive though :D

Good luck with the case!

Cheers,

Arkay.

Edited by Arkay
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Not sure if this is relevant MaG2k, but I had a similar problem going between Inkscape and Illustrator. The root cause was that one piece of software works at 72 DPI, the other at 90 DPI by default (I forget which is which). If you change the DPI setting so that it is equal in both applications, then exchanging .svg between them should not result in size changes.

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thanx for that hint monokinetic,

 

i looked arround in the settings of inkscape and saw that the prefered resolution for import/export is 90dpi...so i think inkscape is working with 90dpi.

But i have a new problem. i started to edit around in the design form this thread in illustrator and tried to open the in illustrator saved svg-file in inkscape...but it doesnt work. i can't open the illustrator file in inkscape again. so i think i have to stay with illustrator :-)

I think i use the next days to edit around a little and try to find out how inkscape an illustrator work! :-)

 

Thanx again for you help!

 

Regards

MaG2k

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