Mk.6 EMP -Experimental Modular Project-

I'm still waiting for my etchant to come in the mail. I'll probably work on the case handles at the machine shop this weekend. The only other thing I can tackle right now is cutting the springs for the side panel mechanism.

And I have no plans to sue anyone, especially a crappy manufacturer such as Ultra.

 

That was the first thing I thought of when I saw that. Yours wll be better though.

 

Why doesn't it surprise me that Ultra is ripping your project off. Talentless hacks

 

btw Capt, do you want me to take pics of my progress as well?

 

And this is where modders should start getting patents for their mods, then suing large corporations that try and profit from it.

 

Sure, if you have time.

 

this is almost exactly what happened witht he paintball industry. one company invented a way to make a marker shoot with electricity. they may not have enven been the first, but they have the patent on their way to do it. they held the patent, quietly making and selling their product until other companies started making millions off many other ways to shoot electrically. at this time, virtually all competitive markers were triggered electrically, but most had completely different operating systems. what this company did is they went back, hired a bunch of high priced lawyers, and said that their patent covered ALL ways of electrically triggering paintball guns, not just the design in the patent. they start forcing companies to pay a huge royalty fee to produce electric markers, or they went out of business. a lot of companies were very hurt by this, and miny did go out of business. this caused total paranoia within the industry, causing advancements to virtually shut down until the courts ruled that they could no longer accept royalties except on markers thet DIRECTLY infinged on the patent. virtually every company has clammed up, stopped making parts for other markers, and just made their own and upgrades for their own. one particular model, the autococker, was the workhorse of the industry, everyone had one, everyone made their own version with the same dimensions/tolerences/etc, everyone made parts for it, and everyone made money off of it. the company that made the autococker was much more leniant with companies that the first company, allowing other companies to make the product, but only the company could make the bodies. fearing other retribution, most of the aftermarket firms just died out, or just stopped making autococker stuff while they continued making products for other markers.
i realize this may look like im going on a tangent, but im really not. ive seen other industries get sue happy, not seeing the big picture and only going after the money. the whole industry suffers and many die out while the one looks like a bunch of money hungry jackasses.
i can see the other side of it too,myself being a small time inventor/tinkerer. having your ideas stolen would suck, and companies blatently using your exact idea need to pay the price, but companies that see your idea, modify it, change it and make it their own should have the right to sell their product too.
captain slug, thank you for seeing the big picture and not just going for a quick buck.

 

I agree
My main goal is to revolutionize computer cabling, or atleast find a more efficient way to route them through a case. The secondary goal is to use this project to land myself a job.
I don't have the money, time, or effort required to make this a commercially viable product. I generally don't agree with the patent-everything-then-sue-for-profit model, which many companies that I have no respect for currently follow.
I want the plug-bus to eventually become available for all of you to purchase at and affordable price. And in order for that to happen I feel that the only possible avenues for that to take place would be.
1) I get hired by a case manufacturer and can eventually make it available through them.
2) The idea is purchased by a case or motherboard manufacturing company and they start manufacturing it.
3) The process of natural selection in the global free market evolves the design through imitation until one company manages to get it right. The product becomes successful and cheap thanks to competition.

#3 is the most likely, especially in the computer industry. The concept is not 100% original, I'm simply the first person to apply the concept of a singular bus connection to standard cable types used inside computers rather than making a proprietary connector that won't work with other hardware.
Suing anyone is an extremely costly and stressful gamble that I intend to avoid as much as possible for the rest of my life.

 

I say patent it before a company does and let anyone have free access to it.
Although there have been similar things in the past, yours is truely more functional. It is designed with a purpose and is usefull over a range of hardware configurations. Plus simple changes to update it will be easy enough.

Anyway, can't wait to see this in action

 

Yeah, that's what I meant ratchet; patent it so companies can't make profits out of it, but allow people to make them for themselves.

 

If you look at the article, you will notice the PCB's underside. It is just a power routing circuit. This is not really that much different from a modular PSU. If it comes to that i had an idea where you had four rails running round a case, and you just clipped connectors to the rail to get power anywhere.

It does look very similar to CS's plug bus idea, but it does not preform the same function.

So while they are 'copying' the idea of this, that have made a PSU version that is not even 10% as capable as CS's plug bus.

On a lighter note:

The build quality of your case is astounding CS, and the ideas you are putting into it are very impressive too. i cannot wait for this case to be finished

 

So hows this case coming along? or sucked into your other one?

 

I have to go back to the print shop to get another transfer made but haven't been able to because I've had to attend to the professional cleaning crew that has been work on the main level to clean up the aftermath of a small kitchen fire. The etchant came in the mail, but now I just need a corrected printout.

 

GuardianStorm, the power rail system is an old invention used at many companys shops, where there is one rail running along the wall above 6 or feet and for every 15 or so feet there is a hole with a cover where you click a box onto it that has a power outlet in it.. Now those are meant to run 380/220 volts and can provide loads of current without melting so they are naturally very bulky and the whole grid has to be shut off to plug a box in, but you get the idea.. I think they're just copper bars laid with plastic in between..

 

Currently working on the slow process of getting the laserjet prints ironed onto the copper clad boards. The Iron wasn't hot enough even on the linen setting so I switched to a 170w flat sealing iron.

 

Update soon?

 

Well this isn't going well. Even after the third attempt after switching to a ridiculously high power sealing iron I'm not able to get the paper off without ruining the smaller traces and holes. Due to the complexity of this board the UV etch process may be the only option.

 

I thought whats-his-name was going to etch it for you, what happenned to that?

 

Soulmage has offered to do the drilling, which I'm very grateful for. He never offered to etch anything, and I'm still trying to get that part of the process done.
I'm really out of sorts on this part of the project. I have no prior experience with this kind of stuff and it's already starting to drive me batty after having fiddled with it for a year with no real physical progress.

 

Soak the board in water to remove the paper, after a couple minutes it should come right off and leave the ink intact. If you don't get it the first time you should be able to clean the board with alcohol etc and start over. Hope that helps.