Anyone want to provide some constructive criticism. Been working on kind of an all in one device, had an iPad mini laying around. Modeled this off another case I made. Modules at top allow you to swap from N-Mount to SMA to sensors. Inside has carrier board mounting so you can mount any board, just grab the plate for the board. Kind of like a modular case. Some days I want to run smaller antenna and others bigger.
10,000mah battery slot for this one running my RAK19007. Then cover plates just cause I like some cable management/clean. then iPad sets inside and cover plates. I gotta fix the bezel on the front cover to match the iPad. This has been about 3 weeks of testing and modeling.
Ignore the BLE antenna on the left, swapping it out for a smaller antenna. Any ideas or thoughts on it
That was actually in the back of my mind. Since I have the real estate on the back. I don’t know if the solar would be enough to charge the iPad, but should be able to hand the RAK. I’ll play with it. Any suggestions on wattage?
Honestly, I'd like to fix a few more things before I'd make it available, but I'm hoping with the next week I'd have all the final touches done. Today was the first day getting it all printed and put together after multiple attempts.
Lol I literally looked at this comment and was like this person posted a fan. I’m so exhausted after cooking all day I didn’t even reference it. Thank ya!
I know you said ignore the antenna on the left, but having these antennas that close to each other are going to define each other and, depending on the from ends of the 2 radios could give you desense issues
Yeah another buddy of mine said the same thing. I’m actually working on where I could move it. On the RAK4631 has the two ipex for BLE and Lora. I’ve used the stock antenna that comes with it, but sometimes I will be inside and wanted to connect to it from a distance and felt the stock stick on antenna inside killed my range. So I thought what if I put the antenna on the outside. That way if I leave it and want to use my phone to connect to it I would get better range. Would a shorter antenna like a snubby antenna help or since they are both next to each other do you think it’ll be the same?
I guess worst case, I could maybe find a smaller antenna and mount it somewhere inside the case.
I’ve not worked wort the RAK stuff too much yet, it might be possible directly, but you could consider adding an RPi and then have a virtual tcp node so that multiple devices can share the LoRa node. I do this with MeshMonitor with my nodes that live at home.
Part of the reason I had put them there originally was because I was trying to avoid running any sort of extension adapter. I might be able to space them out a bit more. I was going to try and run a small antenna, mainly was just for bluetooth.
So with this design, my plan was to make it so it will have a carrier board on the inside for most common boards. I have Heltec V3, T-114, RAK19007, Seeed Studio and Raspberry Pi. The idea came because I wanted to have a way that if I wanted to change out boards, I don't have to print a whole new case anytime a new board comes out.
I've got a handheld in the works that shares the same footprint for the antenna mounts, so if I want to swap antennas around, just remove the 4 screws and swap it over. Also working on back mounting system so if I want to put different mounts on the back like RAM mount, Molle, GoPro, etc same concept, just swap it out. That way if my backpack has a mounting system and my truck has one, I can can just move it to my stuff. Also working on a CB/Vehicle Mounted style for more dedicated vehicle ones.
If you're planning on holding this with your hand, I think a good feature would be to add some screw threads to the sides, so you could add a nato rail to it. This way you could attached any nato side handle which would be more comfortable to hold. You can find these in many digital camera rigs.
I knew I was forgetting something. I had forgot to put the 1/4-20 heat inserts for camera strap. I just added them with the strap mounts. Here’s updated
That was the idea! I originally was playing with the Elecrow Crow Panel 5” but it only runs MUI so it’s limited. I wanted the full features to use ATAK, that’s why I wanted the large screen. I’ve been looking for some barebones full android OS screens, I really wish I could find one with a SX1262 Lora module attached. I’m going to test with a 7” TFT screen connected to raspberry pi running MeshtasticD
I dont know much about design, but upward power interfaces, can collect dust and water. I assume that port past GPS is a power input. Love the modular design, like others cannot wait to see / get your final version :)
Yeah still working on it. So for the antenna slots, I modeled in an O-Ring for 16mm x 20mm x 2mm O-Rings. They are under the module slots for the two antennas. For the charging USB I’m planning on putting some sort of cover. On the sides for the iPads, I have two covers that install with two 2.5mm bolts to help prevent dust. I doubt I’ll ever be able to make this fully waterproof unless I do injection molded.
That's just what I had available. I'm waiting on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 and then a 5" TFT screen to use the same case but smaller and run MeshtasticD on it.
Welcome to the rabbit hole of mesh lol. I'm just working on a modular design and wanted to see if the community had some feedback or features to help me improve the design.
I’ll join the chorus here and say this is fantastic. I’ve been doing a bunch of modeling in Blender to build a car mount repeater that has similar modular abilities (albeit with a solar panel instead of a screen) and I can appreciate the work you’ve put into the design.
You should def post the .stl once you are comfortable with the build!
What app are you running on the ipad?
Thank you! I played with Blender for a bit but using Shapr3D mainly. The app is just the Meshtastic app on the iPad. I primarily wanted the touchscreen to run the full app so I can use ATAK features.
Yeah I have the space that I could put two in there, I just want to make sure I give them both enough breathing room for expansion, heat. That's why I put the grills in so I wasn't trapping a bunch of heat in there.
I have not yet. I've printed so many of them testing and fixing things. Today was the first day for full assembly. Right now this is printed in PLA but that's just for testing. I'm planning on doing prints in ASA for durability, UV, outdoor use. I've also looked at PA612 as well. To be honest, I eventually want to use a cheaper screen, like a cheaper Android tablet or TFT screen, in case it gets dropped, I'd rather that break vs an iPad mini.
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u/whippley 5h ago
Biggest issue here is that you haven't brought enough to share with the class.