Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

its awsome and i would like the edges as picture:)

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Thanks a lot - I'm really honored, that someone skilled enough to participate in creating such awesome things as Open Hardware computers/phones (and Neo900 soon, hopefully) likes my humble work, here.

No problem :) You may have missed it in the thread (I must admit, first post deserve cleaning and summing important info there), but pre-ordering people, amongst other things, receive free custom logo/text engraving (basically, whatever one feel fancy, as long as it's possible to engrave using CNC mill), as a way of saying "thank you" for supporting early.

BTW, development of this project - despite delays - says much about how awesome this Community is. It's only thank to supporters who donated and/or pre-ordered, that I was able to upgrade and tweak my CNC machine, in order to make it up to the task. I would be *never* able to finance all necessary purchases on my own financing, so again, kudos to all of you, gals and guys.

Frankly, I though about it, but was to shy to talk about it at loud ;) If it would happen, I'm all for it.

Thanks for kind words, again!

/Estel

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

I for one am happy to leave the finish and colour up to you. Great to see you're nearly there. Hopefully you'll be somewhere close to full body replacement when the neo900 boys have done their stuff. It would be awesome to own such a unique piece of hardware.

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

I just imagined that too, and only these words came to my mind: "Neo900 - Terminator Edition" :P

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Looks nice, I'm currently studying to become CNC-machinist, so I have appreciation to the workmanship. Too bad my N900 gave up the ghost ages ago.

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Just imagine this on Neo900 :cool:

I want to preorder (order) one full body replacement, one day i will hopefully use it on Neo900. Now it's "just" new cool suit for my beloved N900. Price doesn't matter, but i hope it will not be more than $200.

The "own design" option is just awesome, thanks!

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Congrats, Estel, on this mock-up milestone!...

It's great to see this concept moving from idea to reality....been following your progress over the past year or so on this in this forum thread...

Like the idea of the flat surface for the back cover, very practical to be able to lay N900 down flat against a desk or table surface if one wants to.

As for the edges or corners, I do recommend that they be radiused a bit as I think 'sharp corners' will tend to wear off the nice anodize color faster.

Like the idea of anodized black color for myself, but think I idea of some other colors is a fun idea.

Look forward to seeing further mock-up updates.....and ordering one soon!

Thanks for doing this!

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Have any 3D models or CAD drawings? I'd love to mess with making my own, or something similar... Or even just seeing what I can come up with.
(18650 li-on batteries instead, anyone? )

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Thanks a lot for your support - expect PM in few minutes :)

Thank you :) Of course, corners *will* be rounded "a little", we don't want anyone get hurt by new backcover (the type of "airplane aluminum" I'm using can be surprisingly sharp when took raw from CNC milling) and indeed, it's mandatory for proper anodizing.

I'm glad, that most people seems to be fine with "flat" (apart from rounded corners) finish - it allows to use even more sturdy kickstand variant, that will nicely hide itself in cover.

BTW, just for the record - it is not a mock-up (unless we're thinking about different things when using this phrase) - photo is absolutely real, albeit took on quite "raw" (raw from CNC), early stage. It's not "fake" 3D model or "artistic concept".

Sure, I'll put g-code files next week, alongside photos (it will have kickstand and separate parts for rotary camera cover incorporated). As for 18650, it is "hot" topic alongside few pages of this thread, and I've evaluated it (~7Ah batter power *is* something worth evaluating :D ) - impossible for backcover only (using standard N900 body), there is just not enough room due to camera and stuff - at least, until you want to make N900 3-4x thicker, or do some voodoo with putting battery outside cover.

But, it's viable option for custom (whole) body replacement phase, where I can shuffle things around a bit more. It *will* require even more thickness than mugen cover, so I'm not sure if someone else will be interested in such variant, but I'll probably do it anyway, if only for myself ;) Then, I'll present results here.

/Estel

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Well now, I'm glad I happened to find time to swing by this forum again now, of all times. As always, I feel particularly bad whenever I am unable to focus on this forum/community.

Every once in a while I checked in a lurking fashion, some of the stuff going on here, this being one of those things. I really look forward to hearing how the consultations about the radios go. One thing I've been meaning to mention, somewhere in a thread I read you mention a few months back how you were thinking that it might end up being the case that you could not use the wifi at the same time as the 3G, and vice-versa. I just wanted to note that I really hope that can be avoided. After all, don't forget that using one's phone as a wifi hotspot and tethering over mobile internet IS a fairly common use case. Furthermore, you may want to occupy your wifi radio with wifi hacking activities, and still get internet access over 3G at the same time.

Of course, if that's how it has to be, that's how it has to be. But I really really hope the ability to use both at once is retained in the full body replacement.

Also, if you wanted to make wooden back covers and body replacements too, like you suggested earlier, I think that too would be worthwhile. Obviously it seems there's more demand for the aluminum than the wood (and personally I prefer the former), but I presume it wouldn't be too expensive to make wooden ones for those who wanted to buy those, and as you remarked in the past, it would look rather nice and I'm sure some people would prefer that aesthetic.

Anyway, I'm really glad to see this finally being so close to coming to tangible fruition. (And am glad to hear people injected more funds. If I could have I totally would have donated more as well.)

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Don't worry, even if you wouldn't manage to notice it on your own, I planned to ping you about progress, after posting photos with kickstand and camera cover. No way you could miss it, i know first hand how much you're interested about the project :)

?!:confused: Either you're wrong on this one, or I used some really poorly phrased sentence. No, it was never considered, not to mention that I'm unsure how such thing would be even possible (unless done on purpose, via some hardware switch to antenna, as artificially introduced limitation). I was afraid that it might be impossible to get all radios on acceptable (=no worse, possibly better) performance, while using whole aluminum body, and that emergency measure, in case everything else fails, could be to use some really good quality (probably exotic) wood.

Anyway, fear not, I would never allow myself to introduce such thing, the purpose of repl. body project is to increase N900/Neo900 potential, not hinder it in any way (except for weight, for sure it will weight a little more with alu body)

Now, I don't think how to even comment on that :o you're single biggest donor up to date, and without your early support for the project, it would take <insert sadly high number here> more time to get into this state. Of course, I appreciate all donations and support - only combined effort of community supporters made this possible, period. But unless you win on some high-pool lottery, you're officially banned from donating more :d

Seriously though, again, huge thanks. I'll make sure to not disappoint.

/Estel

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Estel, if there is a possibility of going all Vertu with a metal case is there any possibility of also changing the glass inside the digitizer for Sapphire. I have a watch with a sapphire crystal and it just doesn't break, watch wacked repeatedly against a cast iron stove, nothing, not even a mark. Unfortunately the scratch resistance would be below the surface.
Al or Ti case, Al2O3 screen, and a Neo900 board would be the most insane phone ever considered.
If the plan is to mill would graphite/epoxy be possible for RF?
Also if graphite is possible a slight depression could be added for inductive charging inside the door.

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

btw, is there a difference in effort required to cut the flat vs curved back cover? if so, does it affect the price? i personally prefer the curved one. :)kudos estel! u r one dedicated guy.

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

For all intents and purposes, changing anything inside digitizer isn't possible. BTW, I'm not even touching screen module.

Elaborate more, please? You mean swaping alu for epoxy? That wouldn't look very good...

It rather affect sturdiness of kickstand - I'll explain it in detail after presenting some photos, as mentioned.

/Estel

Estel, show us that creation of yours, please, pretty please! ;)

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Now worries, I still plan to show sme photos with kickstand in action, this week (although, think about weekend, than tomorrow ;) ). Still tweaking mechanism.

/Estel

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Would you be willing to sell some that look like the one posted earlier. I like the look of the cnc cut marks. It gives it an industrial look that appeals to me. Between this and the Neo900 project I could be a happy camper for a long time.

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Sure, just remember that anodizing prevent oxidization for long term. without it, after some time of usage (especially considering "wet" environment of palms, skin oils, etc) alu would got oxidized.

Not that it's catastrophic - it's not rust, after all, oxidized alu is quite strong and look interesting. Although, it wouldn't be oxidized uniformly, so with time it could get more Fallout-like look ;) with different colors at different parts. So, deciding on lack of anodizing for your personal copy should be done with full picture in mind (not that Fallout-like look must be a bad thing :) ).

/Estel

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Thanks Estel. That sounds just about perfect. I like the Fallout look. I use the it for hacking and pentesting so it is a tool that does not have to be pretty. I don't care for the polished and perfect kind of stuff. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your work on this as well.

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Awesome! Just Awesome!
Great News Estel :)

It seems, that the long pre-order-waiting is more than it worth.

I would personally prefer the flat one, like in the photo.

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Oh, I don't think I ever answered this, but:

I have no preference. So my vote is go with whatever other people want more.

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

So earlier today I realized, I thought you were talking about a completely different part being flat than what you were actually talking about. *Facepalm*

My revised answer is I slightly prefer the flat version (if I understand correctly now, we're talking about flat as in, the camera cover area would be flush with the rest of the back), as it seems the majority of respondents do. But I would be okay enough with a non-flat version that I wouldn't complain if more people wanted that one.

I think it's more like flat as in iPhone5s (the edges) and curved like 5c. Sorry for this treacherous comparison.

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Well, that was what I thought at first. If that's the case, then my prior "no preference" stands.

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Now you have complicated it to the point that I may lose track what I'm asking about :D Seriously though, I had no idea how 5s and 5c egdes look like, and had to google for it. Now, google will bubble me as iPhone user. Oh well.

Even more seriously, reality is that I was asking mostly about what Mentalist thinks *now* that I was asking about :p = surface. But, answers about edges got considered too - from practical tests, flat ones with just (very) little curvature works best for stable grip during typical N900 activities (like, playing "throw N900"... No, just plain writing and browsing, even gaming), and makes it more stable with kickstand extended. So, sounds like all-winner - the more I'm glad, that most people prefer it visually, too.

/Estel

// Edit

From department update - circular shield for camera cover got scrapped, because I'm and idiot and for all those months of test driving usage, I haven't noticed that - when having camera opened - it leaves dust/dirt friendly opening (aka hole) in slider area (it probably don't make much sense without actually holding unit in hand, but trust me [tm] that it was wrong). Well, believe or not, but I noticed it only during light-leakage tests (normally used to notice areas with some imperfections, requiring to apply precise backslash on CNC machine itself) - instead of searching for "bleeding light" I got blinded by lamp through magnificent hole. Erm...

Fear not, though, as it's not going to introduce any delays - I got alternate project and prototype for camera cover (slider, just better - IMO - than in original cover), due to other problems with rotary shield. So, no big deal.
---

I just can't wait to show you guys photos of alpha with kickstand (polishing results a little, making it thicker) - it makes writing on desk-placed N900's hardware keyboard true option, finally, not to mention making it better to use with external ones connected, as we don't have that awkward low-angle, anymore. I know, small things, but I really love improved kickstand. If you're like me on that department, you're gonna be happy penguin, soon ;)

/Estel

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Estel, perhaps time to edit out a "pre" or two from the thread title, eh?

Somehow I missed or forgot this thread until recently. Great stuff - tenacity and some. If the neo900 comes to fruition even better.

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Sure, I will edit title together with opening post, after photos. I don't want to edit title too often, as our eternally wise forum software lock title's edits after certain (not so high) treeshold is reached.

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Estel,
The title edits are locked not by count but by time I.e. After one year of thread creation no title editing is allowed by creator of thread. However you can report the post for mods/admins to edit it :)

Also, this is not forum software limitation but a rule that existed during Reggie's time.

I'm just walking by~ ;)

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Here are promised photos with leg - sorry for delay, I had a little latitude while re-designing it (more about it later):

http://lorienart.pl/leg1.jpg

As usual, ignore scratches/lack of "polish finish" ( :) ), it is my battered prototype, re-purposed and scrapped countless times.

http://lorienart.pl/leg2.jpg

At photo, leg takes roughly 2/3 of backcover length, and is *very* stable. Hoever, I decided to change it for next revision - it will be even longer, going through the whole length of device (with camera cover inside leg zone, unlike shown on photo). I'm also going to tweak angle (while standing) a little - vanilla one - which is ~replicated here - was a little awkard for most use cases, so I'm going to make it closer to 45 degrees.
---

Comments are welcome as always. Just a little note, though - I'll be unavoidable unavailable for next two weeks. I just received keys to my new flat - overdue since august - so I'm going to set it up and move. Actually, I've just started the former, and I'm so tired that I can barely write a post here ;)

Cheers,
/Estel

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

how much this will cost
in final state?

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

As said in PM I've sent you few weeks ago (as reeply to your question about preordering - I have never got answer, maybe you've missed it?), currently planned price is:

Flat backcover: 50$
Fat backcover: 70$
Body replacement (inc. flat or fat backcover): 200$

Prices can change either way - as always, people who already pre-ordered are immune to price increases, but *do* get refund, if final price will drop.

/Estel

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

I've unusual request, so bear with me:

Some great and kind supporter (Thank You!) transfered money to my account, on 30.09.2013. The problem is, that transaction doesn't have records of sender detail (at all), and furthermore, sum isn't equal to any combination of backcover/body replacement pre-order.

I has two nice people wondering about pre-ordering and contacting me lately, and I presume, that one of you decided on "yes". Sadly, I can't determine who did it, and how to allocate money (pre-order/donation/ or any combination of those). Please, send me a PM and claim your payment ;)

Just a side note - while I *don't* believe than anyone from Maemo community would try to "hijack" this payment as his own, I *do* have means (and I'll use them) of verifying claims, by asking some discrete details about payment. I hope that it doesn't sound harsh - I just value supporter shown by pre-ordering people/donors and I want to be sure, that your payment is booked correctly, for right person and things.

Cheers,
/Estel

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

I just want it on record that I come by and check this thread like 3-4 times a day hoping to see more pictures or other progress updates.

- Edit -
Upon further thought I realize I should clarify to avoid being misconstrued: I mean the above as a joking declaration of how obsessed with this project I am, /not/ as as any sort of effort to pressure Estel.

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

make it plain back, make stand as hidden, and camera part keep it plain, like n9, damn sure thad'd look awesome

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Woa, good work ! it looks very nice !

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

superb, very nice of work. look forward to updates

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Now I really feel even more bad for being unavailable for longer than I thought :(:o

Take my excuses for being late, people - my moving operation (announced in last post) took longer than expected, coupled with some problems, ranging from leaking gas to no network provider and running out of data transfer limits on cellular network - don't want to bore you with details (already bored some people via PM and I feel filly enough ;) ), but it's all up and running now (more or less - for internet access, I'm limited to not-so-generous-transfer-limit cellular network provider till late December/early new year).

After I managed to get everything up and running and enjoy my new home for a while :) murphy law hit during CNC "inauguration" in new location - mill's inverter burned itself with classical smoke cloud and smell of burned electronics. Repair proved to be non cost-effective, so I had to say goodbay to another 150 USD and immediately ordered new one, from EU supplier (to avoid long delay due to shipping from china). Fortunately, I had some savings left after moving (sold out equipment from old flat, that I didn't planned to move with me), but it drained very last of my reserves, so keep fingers crossed for nothing more breaking soon, please. :cool:

Summing it up (sorry for being brief after so long inactivity, it's 6 AM here, and I have yet to get some sleep... for a while), I'm waiting for it (inverter) to arrive "soon" - preferably, at the end of upcoming week - and resume work. I hope to present more results and photos of various stages, shortly afterwards.

Cheers,
/Estel

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Did you test the reception of gsm signals with the alu back cover? How is the signal reception for 2g/3g. Better or worse than with plastic cover?

The way I see it. Most manufacturers have only on one side metal. In the at least 2 dimensions they have non-metal where the antenna is. See iPad with lte or the HTC One with plastic end caps.

On another note. I discovered that there is a scan machine at the uni lab where I can scan my device in fro free. How accurate does the scan have to be? Is there a format it should be in to be imported in autocad or some other cad program? And if I scan every part independently, is it possible to combine all this parts later in a cad program?

Re: [Pre-Pre-Pre Announce]Black Aluminium replacement body & backcover for N900
 

Hi Estel, could you please be so kind to answer the above questions?
Thanks in advance.