poker aluminium case (CNC carved)

[ligo]

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[RiGS]

Nice!
Where did you get this?

[Arcanius]

He CNC milled it?
How much did this cost you? Also, did you make two of them?

[kturnbull]

Yeah. Let us know when you start selling them. ;-)

[richie]

haha, my thoughts as well, how about having a milled top as well for a nice travel case

[~Blood~]

I wonder if aluminium or plastic is cheaper, I seriously don't know. Maybe plastic by a margin. Damn apple for making aluminium so quality with their marketing.

[Mr. Perfect]

In this situation, plastic would have to be cheaper. With plastic they would inject molten plastic into a mold, using exactly how much material they need to make the case. To make an aluminum case with a CNC you first have to start out with a solid block of aluminum at least as big as the final product, and then cut away to make all the empty space you see. He's probably got far more aluminum shavings on the ground then there is metal in the case.

Not sure where he's getting his stock, but a one foot by two foot plate of 1 1/4" aluminum is damn near $300 online.

[~Blood~]

yea right, thats why 1kg of aluminium is worth like 1 euro

[HaveANiceDay]

CNC milling can be less expensive than injection molding. For the injection molding you will always have the upfront cost of the actual mold that has to be made. Also, you need to take a lot more into consideration how you design the object, as not every shape can be injection molded(at least not in one go). For large amounts, injection molding is the way to go, but for low volume it's probably better to go for milling.

[HaveANiceDay]

Why just the other day I was telling my wife I needed a CNC machine for the garage.

Indeed, tell us when you get it :P
You can argue that it's cheaper than injection molding.

Then when you want an injection molding machine, you can argue that you already have a CNC machine for producing the molds!

[HaveANiceDay]

I'm still waiting for the inevitable 3D printing post.

I betcha the state of the art is worse than Unicomp's molding.

There was a guy here that posted his custom keyboard, and he made the case at a 3D printing company. Didn't look fancy, but it works I guess.
The rough uneven texture turns me off. The metals also look powdery.

[Mr. Perfect]

yea right, thats why 1kg of aluminium is worth like 1 euro

1KG of crushed beer cans, or 1KG of machinable stock? :suspicious:

[HaveANiceDay]

Alumin(i)um is comparably dirt cheap and easily machinable. The high cost is just for the service, not the materials.

[~Blood~]

its not hard to seperate the aluminium. I don't know how much it costs to inject magnesium into it though.

[mkawa]

very very nice. details?

also, does anyone know what the eta on the official aluminum casing is?

[noodles256]

dont worry rip, i wont argue with you

[keyboardlover]

I see your ping and raise you pong.

[guilleguillaume]

Do you think is it possible to design a Wood Case for the Poker like this one? Don't know how much will it cost..

The same question can be applied to any keybaord but I think it will be easier with the poker.

[Arcanius]

It is possible, but if you wanted to make it out of one piece of wood, you'd need to hand carve it with a router, I think. Woodworking CNC machines? Do those exist?

[mdsr]

My dad owns a metal injection plant, but he has a few machinists on site. I believe he picked up a CNC machine last year, I'll ask him for a quote when I seem him if ligo still hasn't responded. I've been planning on building my own KB, and he told me to expect around $30-$40 for raw materials for the case, but that was ignoring labor among other things.

[digitalleftovers]

My dad owns a metal injection plant, but he has a few machinists on site. I believe he picked up a CNC machine last year, I'll ask him for a quote when I seem him if ligo still hasn't responded. I've been planning on building my own KB, and he told me to expect around $30-$40 for raw materials for the case, but that was ignoring labor among other things.

+1

[alaricljs]

mdsr: You are going to get a lot of attention from this...

[Arcanius]

I have my machinist friend coming over today, I hope. I can talk to him if you guys want some Poker cases. IF he agrees to make some, I'll make a thread in the group buys subforum. I'm not sure how if he'll be willing to do this, he's moving shops and seems to be rather busy.
Anything else any of you would be interested in?

EDIT: Does anybody have any measurements for the Poker case? I'd want length, width, height,  wall  thickness, distance of screw holes to each edge of case, and the  diameter of the screw holes. Also, the ridges on the inside of the case,  does the PCB rest on those? If so, do the ridges pass over any exposed traces?

[mdsr]

@alaricljs: Unfortunately I have a feeling he was either pulling that number out of the air, or discounting it since I'm family. Honestly though, he'd love some extra business.

[alaricljs]

If he'd be interested in the business we need to know what sort of specs he can produce and what sort of data he needs to produce a part.  Also how his pricing is structured and volume discounts for duplicate parts.

[Arcanius]

Does anybody have any measurements for the Poker case? I may end up seeing my guy after all. I'd want length, width, height,  wall thickness, distance of screw holes to each edge of case, and the diameter of the screw holes. Also, the ridges on the inside of the case, does the PCB rest on those? If so, would metal ridges short anything?

[mbc]

I'm still waiting for the inevitable 3D printing post.

I betcha the state of the art is worse than Unicomp's molding.

I actually thought of that, esp. for keycaps. but its way too expensive and the results arent the best ones

[Arcanius]

I talked to my machinist, he said he's way too busy, and that to make cases for the poker by milling means a lot of wasted material, and he's not willing to do it. Sorry!

[Arcanius]

Yeah, but the OP does it for himself. Others want to make them for other people, which, as surprising as this may be to you, requires communication.

[noodles256]

chea

[mdsr]

Haha, I think ripster is alluding to this kind of phenomena. To be realistic, I wouldn't feel comfortable offering making these until I had actually successfully made one - to make one I'd like to have a plastic case to get proper dimensions from, and I don't have the money to put down for a new poker.

Once I finish my personal project, and if there is still any interest, I'll look into doing this. I'll still ask my dad for a quote, just so you guys can get an idea for a price-range to expect in case someone else steps up.

[noodles256]

sounds like you are trying to squeeb yourself a free poker keyboard

[mdsr]

Man people at geekhack are grumps I sincerely doubt anyone here is stupid enough/wants a case that badly that they'd send a poker off to a guy with 7 posts.

[noodles256]

sorry, I was busy making aluminum cases for leopolds, could you send me yours? I seemed to have lost mine

[mdsr]

Can you just send me your paypal info? Shipping is a hassle so I'll just buy you one from EK

[The Solutor]

I talked to my machinist, he said he's way too busy, and that to make cases for the poker by milling means a lot of wasted material, and he's not willing to do it. Sorry!

I think that laser cutting is a better chance, I have two clients that do it, and the nice part is that with laser you can use almost every material, even glass or stone.

Obviously with laser cutting you can't "clone" a plastic case, you have to re-project it, but the result can be wort

[alaricljs]

I've not heard of 3d laser cutting processes.  Any examples on the web?  Laser cut sheet is pretty much old hat these days.

[The Solutor]

I've not heard of 3d laser cutting processes.

Indeed I'm not speaking about 3d, as I said following this way the case should be rethought rather than cloned.

[calavera]

I remember hearing something like this somewhere  awhile ago. I heard an aluminium case was in plan as well, may be this is a factory sample perhaps?

[cactux]

Does someone has access to the case drawings? There are several machine shops in china capable of doing this kind of jobs, as long as we have good drawings with reasonable tolerances?.

BTW what type of aluminum are you considering for this board?

[alaricljs]

Indeed I'm not speaking about 3d, as I said following this way the case should be rethought rather than cloned.

Actually you said:

Obviously with laser cutting you can't "clone" a plastic case, you have to re-project it, but the result can be wort

And I took re-projected to mean re-constructed in 3d CAD of some sort.  So yeah, you can go with a lamination of laser cut sheets, but that's still an expensive process.

[The Solutor]

So yeah, you can go with a lamination of laser cut sheets, but that's still an expensive process.

For the bottom of the keyboard the first layer the material wasted would be next to zero, for the upper layer one must be lucky, if the other productions fits the cut piece, the material wasted could be not a lot, this depends on the other productions, obviously.

If you mill a block, all the material milled is surely wasted.

The production time is also an advantage, one can cut a lot of cases in a single (quick) pass, while milling is a serial process, the cases must be milled one by one and the process is long.

[himynameisbunny]

A carbon fiber or clear case is what I personally would be interested in.

Sent from my Vega using Tapatalk

[noodles256]

Can you just send me your paypal info? Shipping is a hassle so I'll just buy you one from EK

I dont have a paypal, but you can PM me your social security number #, mother's maiden name, etc. so I can make a CC under your name

[litster]

I want a case milled out of 24K gold block.  You get the shaving as payment!

[kturnbull]

I *wish* I knew someone around here with access to a CNC machine... even my metal working friends have no clue... ARRRRGHH

[jayfinger]

I'm going to make one out of glued nickels.

Legos FTW

[The Solutor]

Legos FTW

[jayfinger]

You just gave me a better idea:  take that Lego case, and then make keycaps from 2x2 lego blocks.  Once you figure out the jig for gluing the mounting bit into the brick then you just crank out more of them.  And you get color choices.

Probably not the most efficient thing to type on, but would be surpemely cool.  Hmmm, they wouldn't have a good slope to them either.  Might work as a keycap on Model Ms though.

Actually eisier would be to get 2x2 flat pieces and mount them to the top of existing caps.

[jayfinger]

Lego's never get stale.  Perhaps some people got tired of your Lego humor, but I'm new here so they're not old.  And I appreciate your sense of humor.

But Legos never get stale.