Openmoko Beagle Hybrid

[Shawn Rutledge]

On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 12:56 AM, Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller
<hns at computer.org> wrote:
> has fixed dimensions) and we can't afford to build plastic injection
> moulds (if someone has an idea how to reduce cost this is very
> welcome). So the easiest solution was to combine what we have: a given
> Beagleboard and the Freerunner case.

Personally I don't see what the big deal is with mold-making.  Anybody
could start a business doing that if it's so lucrative: get a Harbor
Freight or other cheap milling machine and some blocks of aluminum,
and develop the skill to do sufficiently accurate machining.  (I have
tried a little milling but my skill level definitely needs a lot of
improvement; maybe it will if I ever get around to doing enough of
it.)  Of course CNC would be nice, but again, what's the big deal...3
steppers or servo motors and a controller...  As someone else
mentioned the Chinese obviously aren't having too much trouble with
mold-making.

It's also within the realm of possibility to make your own injection
molding machine.  There is a book (Gingery) about how to do that, but
there is nothing too exotic in that book either... it's just a heated
cylinder and piston arrangement with a lever to apply the pressure.
Hot plastic comes squirting out, and you have your mold clamped in
place to receive it.

Alternatives include building a RepRap, making the plastic parts
directly, and putting up with rough, inaccurate results; buying a
better rapid prototyping machine (FDM type or laser sintering or the
type that builds up parts from thin laminates); or directly
CNC-milling the cases (you could even use wood then).  As a DIY/hacker
type thing rather than commercial, it might fly.  Maybe try to get a
story in Make Magazine because there seems to be a trendy new crowd of
DIY/hacker types nowadays, who weren't around a couple years ago.

Or get it made at one of the rapid-prototyping shops.  For every type
of RP technology there are multiple shops doing on-demand prototypes.

In any event, the case design could be posted on

http://www.thingiverse.com/

and maybe someone who has a RepRap or similar can try to make a prototype.

There was a design contest going on but I guess the time has passed:

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/04/makerbot_giveaway.html