

Hardware Hackers - Resources To Make Your Projects Beautiful - replicatorblog
http://replicatorinc.com/blog/2009/04/hardware-hackers-resources-to-make-your-projects-aesthetically-pleasing/

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cmos
In small quantities the best bet is sheet metal. You can take a design down to
your local shop and they can cut and bend it. Ask them what colors they'll be
powder coating that week and if you could slip your batch in with it (much
cheaper than shutting down the line for your small volume)

It helps, of course, to know how to make the 3D drawings. But if you find the
right shop, and make friends with them, you might get away with sketching it
or paying a small fee for them to design it in CAD.

This is much more cost effective for small quantities compared to dealing with
plastic. It also gives you more flexibility in your design since you don't
have an expensive mold to change or re-machine when you want to make a change.
And, at the end of it's use, it can be melted down and reused more efficiently
than plastic.

If money is tight I'll get an extruded aluminum chassis and just make custom
end caps for it.

~~~
HeyLaughingBoy
In small quantities, your best bet is either to get the tools to make your own
sheetmetal parts or make your design fit into an off the shelf enclosure. Just
getting a single panel of aluminum with a few holes punched in it can run you
$100 in set up costs at a sheet metal shop.

The same $100 will buy a few square feet of aluminum and tools to make holes
yourself.

I'd find one of the online hobby machinist forums and ask someone there to
make you what you need. As long as you're intelligent about it (learn to make
your own drawings or to _clearly_ explain what you need), you'll find plenty
of hobbyists with the proper tools who don't mind helping you out at much less
than professional shop rates.

~~~
stcredzero
So a couple of thick sheets of plexiglass and machine screws/spacers just
don't do it anymore?

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Radix
I wish there were more on hardware hacking around here.

Maybe one of you can share alternate sources for hardware.

~~~
HeyLaughingBoy
What do you mean by "alternate sources" and what kind of hardware? Electrical?
Electronic? Cases & Enclosures? Chassis for motorized machinery?

I'd be more than happy to point you in the right direction, but I'm not sure
just what you mean!

~~~
Radix
Electronic, and by sources I mean forums or blogs. Somewhere with interesting
people like HN, but with an electronics focus.

It was 4 or 5 years ago that I first heard of Stripe Snoop
<http://stripesnoop.sourceforge.net/> I thought it sounded like an interesting
project, I'm not sure if it's dead now, but certainly interested me at the
time. I was also intrigued by Zed's rant about programmable peddles.

~~~
HeyLaughingBoy
The best one I know is the Sparkfun forum. It's heavily weighted towards
newbies, so it's not as interesting as HN, but it seems to be growing fast.
There are quite a few fun projects being discussed there at any given time.

It's interesting how software people congregate. It is really hard to find a
_good_ electronics blog or forum that isn't populated primarily by
professionals talking about work-related topics. Electronic or Mechanical
engineering versions of HN just don't seem to exist, unfortunately.

[edit] I know there are hobbyist electronics and machinist blogs out there;
I'm saying that people with electronics & mechanical skills aren't discussing
their startup ideas online.

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run4yourlives
Wow, this is really cool but they all have one huge caveat: "You need to learn
how to use a 3D design program like..."

What a huge opportunity for an enterprising businessperson: Send us a broken
part, we'll make you another. No design skills needed!

~~~
stcredzero
Better yet, be the middleman! Implement a marketplace where people needing a
part can hook up with people willing to fabricate it. Outsource the actual
work and the fulfillment and the risk, and just take a small cut of each
transaction.

~~~
run4yourlives
Well, that's what I was thinking... If you have the 3D design knowledge, you
could use these services, spec the part, then offer this it up for people that
have broken plastic pieces around the house.

Hell, most of it is probably already spec'd in a manual somewhere, and just
needs to be obtained.

