A stamped steel plate is not possible at my planned price point. But one thing I will note is that this 3D printed front panel is only a prototype.

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marcosscriven 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

On the contrary, I think you’ve done a fantastic job with the enclosure. Far from looking “half melted”, you’ve made good use of the bed texture, and the design is top notch.

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Palomides 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

as an aside to anyone else reading this, laser cut and bent sheet metal has gotten pretty cheap and easy, I think you could have an okay (unpainted) tray/case like this made for maybe $5 to $10 at 100 units

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polpo 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

BTW I'm pretty well versed in getting laser cut and bent sheet metal made, both in China and via US-based providers like SendCutSend - my PicoIDE project uses a metal bracket. In fact when so many other projects were using 3D printed brackets, I decided that was not good enough and dove in and did the work to get nice brackets made affordably. It really elevates the project to a higher level of professionalism.

That being said, $5-$10 sounds about right (if maybe a little on the high side) for something the size of PicoIDE, but unfortunately that is too much for the price point I want to hit. Affordability is a major target for PicoIDE. And also, WiFi is a feature of the front panel and for that reason, metal is a no-go. The WiFi antenna is at the front of the device to give it the best chance of decent reception, so it needs to be plastic.

	▲	Palomides 19 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		totally reasonable, the cost tradeoffs on these types of products seems very challenging

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marcosscriven 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Where, out of interest?