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Scratch Build – In Progress Rasberry Pi Competition: Woody - updated april 29. Finished

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by Ehlers, 2 Feb 2013.

  1. Ehlers

    Ehlers What's a Dremel?

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    Hi.

    I thought I'd have a go at the Raspberry Pi competition.
    It seemed like a nice, little winterproject.
    Firstly, I knew I had to do it in wood, since I'm not that skilled a welder just yet. Not that I've done much carpentry in my lifetime, but it sure seems easier. ;)
    Another criteria was to make it VERY affordable, preferably free. So far I believe I have the stuff needed to do the mod, but we'll see. I don't have a rendered sketch or plan or anything, so I'll just se how it evolves as I go along.

    I do not own a Raspberry Pi myself, so I'll have to work from a template. Basicly I just cut a piece of cardboard from an advertisement I had lying arround. Hopefully I can find someone nearby Aalborg, who has one I can use to compare with. :)

    The wood I chose is a piece of the bottom of my parrents christmastree. I found it lying around in their garden. There was a few branches, that had been cut off, wich should leave some knots in the tree. Hopefully this will give a nice look to the finished mod.

    [​IMG]
    Here's the wood and the template

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    Since I don't really own any non-electric woodworking tools, I had to go to Biltema and buy some. :dremel:

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    I left the bark on for this part. It was pretty soft and sticky, so it left the wood undamaged by the wrinch.

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    Found my old scouts-knife in a closet. Turned out to be the best tool for the job

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    Time for sanding!

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    This is going to be the bottom part. So far, I'm not sure wether the sunken part I made will be used, or I could have just skipped that part.

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    This is the bottom of the bottom. I've leveled it for the Pi to be able to stand better.

    This is my progress so far.

    Regards Ehlers
     
    Last edited: 29 Apr 2013
  2. Razarach

    Razarach Minimodder

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    Nice idea. Can't wait to see more pics.
     
  3. vrrox

    vrrox What's a Dremel?

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    Looking great! Inspired me to hunt for some wood offcuts to do some modding of my own!
     
  4. Combatus

    Combatus Bit-tech Modding + hardware reviews Lover of bit-tech Super Moderator

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    Wow that looks great! Good job!
     
  5. Ehlers

    Ehlers What's a Dremel?

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    Today I put in a bit of extra work. I started by adding the different plugs to my cardboard-cutout. Took me quite a while, so I'm hoping it's pretty precise! ;)
    I had hoped to get more woodwork done, but unfortunately, I had a small accident, which forced me to do some glueing. I'll have to wait till tomorrow, before I can proceed, just to be sure the glue has propperly hardened.

    Here's what I managed today:

    [​IMG]
    Here I have removed about 15mm of depth in this end. The other end is about 5-7mm. This should fit the SDcard reader. I decided to glue the corner back in place. Not sure if I'll remove it later, but I like the option of having it.

    [​IMG]
    This is a really tight fit. I'll drop by the local university's electronics department some time later, in the hopes of them having a Pi I can use for test-fitting.


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    Here's the bottom put on. I'm still trying to figure how to attatch the two parts to eachother.


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    I've left the wood in the oven at 55 degrees c for three hours now. Just to speed up the hardening. I took it out a couple of minutes ago, as I fear the wood might crack, if I dry it like that for too long.

    Regards Ehlers
     
  6. Ehlers

    Ehlers What's a Dremel?

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    Today I had planned to continue working on the top. However, I have not yet managed to get in contact with the local university, which means I still have not found a way to test the fit on a real Pi. I'm fearing that it will be a real bitch to remove more from the inside, if I remove the bark beforehand. So for now I figured I'd try to work on some feet for the bottom.

    [​IMG]
    I started with this small piece of wood I've cut off the top part. I divided it into four pieces, and punished those small feckers on the beltsander.


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    They're not all even just yet. This is just a preview.


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    Here I've attatched them with some pieces of tape. I can't really figure if I like it, or it spoils the look.

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    I can't help but think, that it looks a bit lige the bottom half of a pig.

    I'd really appreciate some second oppinions on this one. I'm affraid I might lack the skills to make them look even, and attatch them evenly. Also, I can't decide if they spoil the look so far.

    What do you guys think?

    Regards Ehlers
     
  7. dancingbear84

    dancingbear84 error 404

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    Personally I don't think they go with the look of the case bottom but I like things simple and minimalistic. I'm really liking the lozenge type look you have going on it looks really good, I'm interested to see where this is going to end up.
    My vote no feet, or if you do small fat coin sized type feet that only raise the base my a few mm. Just my opinion though.
     
  8. Ehlers

    Ehlers What's a Dremel?

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    Thanks a lot! I've had the same thoughts. In my head, the idea of the feet seemed much better... :sigh:
     
  9. Pranja

    Pranja Blackwolf

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    Why don't go total minimalistic and use two short wooden bars under the case?
     
  10. Ehlers

    Ehlers What's a Dremel?

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    I like that idea! I think my folks still have the tree somewhere. I'll go see if I can find some fitting branches and check how that works out. :)
     
  11. morgansk

    morgansk I've got wood

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    If you have any more green wood to dry out try the microwave rather than an oven. I do some wood turning in my spare time amongst other things, and this is a fairly common method of speed-drying wood. Have a hunt on the 'web to see details.
     
  12. Ehlers

    Ehlers What's a Dremel?

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    Thanks for the advice! Might get usefull later on. :)
     
  13. Ehlers

    Ehlers What's a Dremel?

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    So, here's another small update:

    I've spent the last couple of days trying to track down a Raspberry Pi for testfitting - without any luck. :wallbash:
    I decided to start working on the exterior of the top part. First step was to remove the bark. This had been piece of Pi (get it? :rolleyes:) on the bottom, since it was rather fresh. But on the top, I had left it in the oven for some hours, in order to dry the glue fully. This had caused the bark to dry out, and thereby be much better stuck. Not a big setback, just annoying. My wrist is pretty sore now, due to the knifework.
    Anyways, I would have started earlier today, but was invited for free supper at the inlaws. So being back at around 20.30, and having the hobby-room placed below my neighbours livingroom, all use of powertools was a no go.
    So I did the first parts by handsaw. Then I held the wood on the table, and used a file, which I ofc decided to use on my hand aswell. I stuck the file in the vice, and moved the piece of wood instead. I'd recomend that solution!

    [​IMG]
    No more busted fingers this way.

    Switching between knife and file, I've made the outline of the shape I'll be going for, when I get the chance to beltsand the rest.

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    Here it is from the side. I'll be going for sort of an egg-shape. That's the plan so far, anyway.

    [​IMG]
    Still lots of work before I'm done!


    I had hoped to get more done, but the work without powertools is a lot harder! :D
     
  14. sixfootsideburns

    sixfootsideburns modeteer

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    your wood will also shrink some when it dries (how much depends on how wet it was to begin with and what species it is) but if it was a tight fit to begin with you should expect to have to remove more material after its been "kilned" a bit.

    Looking sweet so far mate
     
  15. Ehlers

    Ehlers What's a Dremel?

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    I sort of had the feeling that would happen. I'm hoping the shrinkage isn't more than the Pi will still fit, with just a bit of dremmel sanding. :)
     
  16. sixfootsideburns

    sixfootsideburns modeteer

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    I would actually recommend using a chisel. You can either 1) shave off material with the front of the blade (as you would typically think of a chisel to be used) or 2) drag the chisel across the material with the cutting edge tipped away from the direction you are dragging it. Number 2 is actually really effective if your trying to accurately control how much material you are removing. It works more like a hand plane than a chisel if you get your angle right.

    Also, if you happen to have a small scrap piece of metal laying around you can file the edge to a sharp 90 degrees and use that instead. That's a trick my father taught me and he is a long time wood worker.

    Typically using a method like that is a lot easier and more accurate than hand sanding or filing. Planes and chisels when used correctly are much much easier to control
     
  17. Ehlers

    Ehlers What's a Dremel?

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    Thanks for the advice! I have the biltema set of chisels, which I used to remove the wood from the inside. I'll just continue using them. My problem by using method 2, that you described, is the wood gets very rough. So I've had to sand it after, to make the surface smooth.
     
  18. Guest-23315

    Guest-23315 Guest

    This is awesomesauce.

    [​IMG]
     
  19. sixfootsideburns

    sixfootsideburns modeteer

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    Yeah if the wood isn't dried enough then method two is going to end up pulling up the grain and not working so well :hehe:

    take your time with the chisels though and I think you'll have an easier time than sanding. good luck it mate, I really like the progress so far! :thumb:
     
  20. sixfootsideburns

    sixfootsideburns modeteer

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    double post...
     

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