"SID diamond" design

[ris8_allo_zen0]

Hi all,

after building a Step A MBSID inside a carton cd-walkman package (and bringing it to my university for the "audio engineering" exam - still waiting for the marks :P), I decided to go "a step beyond" - step C!!

I found a very interesting casing - a plastic chocolate candy box, i.e. one of those used as a gift. It doesn't resemble any of the cases found in this forum or in the gallery, so I thought it would be of interest for you :) the first photo shows it with some holes already drilled. As you can see, it resembles a diamond - composed mainly by triangles and squares rotated by 45 degrees

I think I can put in this space the complete CS in the upper half, and two cores (even four with stacking), PSU and maybe the Moog-like VCF in the lower half. The case is used as "exoskeleton" for all the boards inside, fixed through long screws to exploit the inner volume. I hope all this doesn't become too heavy to break the not-so-thick plastic!! (I'm afraid this will become a serious problem later...)

I made a project using my favourite 3D modeler, Blender, used here as a CAD tool. I've attached some screenshots of it (just the upper half for now).

I didn't work too much to define the position of switches/encoders/leds: i found many symmetries in the original Step C layout (e.g. two sections with 2 encoders and two with 5) so I exploited them as better as I could to have a well-balanced design. I'm quite satisfied with this result.

Any comments? suggestions? ideas?

[stryd_one]

I just keep hearing Lisa Simpson, "Do-deca-heeee-dron....Do-deca-heeee-dron!"

;D

Good luck!

[Sasha]

Interesting box...  :) I always like to see unconventional shaped gear. It`s more cool, but maybe less practical.

[MTE]

PHAT  :o

[ris8_allo_zen0]

Interesting box...  :) I always like to see unconventional shaped gear. It`s more cool, but maybe less practical.

Indeed the panels on the opposite side are less reachable and less visible, especially when the box is used in a desk while seated in front of it. But I assume I'll quickly learn the position of the knobs without visually searching for them. It's time to use the 3D sense of space of my brain :P

[/tilted/]

I hope all this doesn't become too heavy to break the not-so-thick plastic!! (I'm afraid this will become a serious problem later...)

Very nice box. How thick is the plastic? What type of plastic? If you plan to paint the outside, perhaps you could reinforce the inside of the box with some fibreglass resin and webbing. Of course, you could still do this if you plan to keep it clear, but you'd want to be super clean and neat. Then you could fill the thing up with LEDs and throw on a couple of photo theremins and/or ribbon controllers... Whoa! I want one! What sort of candy box was it again?

[ris8_allo_zen0]

Very nice box. How thick is the plastic? What type of plastic? If you plan to paint the outside, perhaps you could reinforce the inside of the box with some fibreglass resin and webbing. Of course, you could still do this if you plan to keep it clear, but you'd want to be super clean and neat.

I know little about plastic matter in general, so I can't tell what type is it. It's 1mm thick and yes, I plan to paint the outside, maybe leaving some zones transparent for happyness of voyeurists :D.

To reinforce the whole thing, I thought about placing a square wood or metal plate in the middle (there already was one in plastic 1.5mm thick, used to separate the candies among two levels :) ), then fix PCBs and the two valves to it with long screws. So I obtain an "endoskeleton" instead. Core and SID boards are obviously attached to it on the bottom space. Images explain it all better, compare plate.jpg with 3.jpg of my previous post. The other image shows the box name, inspired by MTE's reply :), and a painting/decal idea. I never tried UV texture painting before!!

I think this will make everything more robust, but I don't know where & how much. I'm a sort-of-computer engineer, not a mechanical one  ;)

Then you could fill the thing up with LEDs and throw on a couple of photo theremins and/or ribbon controllers... Whoa! I want one! What sort of candy box was it again?

Uhm... I thought about putting leds inside if I find what zones to keep unpainted and transparent. My intent was to make the complete C surface, then make it a dual SID, then add the Moog VCF, then... ... yeah, MIDIbox is fun :P

The candy box was produced by Ferrero, a famous Italian candy producer. I got this box two years ago for a gift, and I kept it while thinking "who knows it'll be useful later..." (I treated the original content in a much different way :D). I don't think they make similar boxes now, as you can see here:

http://www.ferrero.it/main.php?w=O852GERU9GJKM6QLP3MT&path=IT/Prodotti&subpath=Prodotti/Praline/Ferrero+Rocher/Le+confezioni

[bill]

That look really nice, but must be so fragile ! ??

[ris8_allo_zen0]

That look really nice, but must be so fragile ! ??

If I understood correctly, you're asking why I'm so worried about robustness?

If so, the answer is: encoders, leds, PCBs, screws and all sort of things are a bit heavier than a bunch of candies, and looks like this box was made to only carry the latter ones  >:(

Anyway, the zones near the edges seem to be quite more resistant... you can see I tried to exploit this feature as better as I can.

[MTE]

The other image shows the box name, inspired by MTE's reply  :),

  thnx  :)

Phat-Boy-SID  ;D

[ris8_allo_zen0]

Here are some pics of the growing monster... I'm going to throw away almost all of  the previous ideas because there's less "useful" space than I expected...