Once the sheet metal forming is finished, the cases get shipped to the powder coating house, who will paint them and screen print the graphics on. After that, the cases get shipped to final assembly, and then shipped to our shipper, who will ship them to you! We could be shipping in 2-3 weeks now.
Laser Cutting Case Blanks
The “flat pattern” for the sheet metal cases are cut from a larger piece of stock on the laser cutter. This machine is fully automated and can load and unload material while unattended.
Punched Lances
The case has some small tabs that give it a good “snap” when the pieces fit together. At higher volumes, it would make sense to pay for the tooling to form these features in an automated machine, but for now, they are formed on a foot operated punch.
Forming on the Press Brake
The press brake is a semi-automated machine for forming the bends in the case. A back stop helps the operator locate the part and the machine controls the amount of force used to press the sheet into the dies. The operator is still responsible for loading and unloading the pieces.
There are separate videos below of the case fronts being formed and the case backs.
We’ll keep you posted as everything moves along! We’re so close to shipping!
cheers!
-Sam
aka The Awkward Engineer