Refining my product

Lmo,

Thanks for the kind compliments! I’m doing my best to find a way for my product and career… I don’t mind sharing in the process.

Thanks,

Isaiah Coberly
NewPencil inc.

Prototype 5 - Very close to the shipped version.


Likely a combination of machining and coining the hinges would get you the result you are looking for. Efunda gives a figure of a million flexes possible for that type of hinge. The final aesthetic of the part in plastic would the thing to work on. You could get a hold of some of the Tectonic Toys hinges to quickly experiment with.


tectonic2.jpg
If you look for sheets of plastic to build prototypes from, Crown Plastics supplies a PE material used in sports that is likely to be offered in different colors and the approximate thickness you are looking for. DuraSurf.
http://www.crownplastics.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=26&osCsid=0f9d8d105b7e40320a7a6a7c7d3c7c34

Leather bags have combinations of dyed and burnished edges, with most synthetic ones seeming to be a roller applied thick coating to seal the edge. This looks like a pain to apply, and requires the thickness of the material to pull it off.

I could imagine, ( but have never seen ) an application of bead of two part PU that could encapsulate only your edge, however, robotic and probably left to a huge company to figure out first. PU’s can be formulated to set up in seconds.

Athletic shoes are the height of synthetics, the cleanest look is the latest generation of Nike et al. using laser cuts and laminations, the lasers melt and seal the edges perfectly with no fray, that would be the simplest thing to prototype.

I’ll score some plastic and and machine a test. I agree that plastic may be a great engineering/manufacturing solution for the articulating front panel but I am doubting that it would feel right in the hand. In my mind, a tablet or phone cover falls more in line with wallets and purses and less in line with toys and cutting boards.

I did run some tests cutting the fabric on a laser. The edge cuts fast and clean. Only problem is that I dont want to design (at least the next generation product) around the idea that I will have a laser to use.

I wonder if there is a heat sealable or adhesive backed material that I could use to wrap the edge. I always imagined that the right finished edge would come in a little ways from the edge, would be a material that doesn’t slip and slide easily on surfaces and would be easy to stamp out and easy to string along the edge of the cover…

I always liked the edge on this silpat
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And tire patches
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Something to wrap…


Probably can’t use silicone with adhesive… Maybe just another thin non- woven fabric.

Thanks,

IC

I thought I would share a minor new option. A keeper for stylus and/or cord.


Out of the way and simple to use.


Thanks,

IC

IC, It’s very nice design…

Have tried this design with PP Corflute Sheet ?

pb_4381263641418.jpg


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ADD,

I have not… The closest thing I have tried would be cardboard. PP Corflute looks like fun.

Thanks,

Isaiah Coberly

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1975288517/oru-kayak-the-origami-folding-boat

Thanks for the Great Link! Things of the future fold away or into other things… There is So much oportunity for innovation and design that I have a hard time keeping focused on my tablet case invention… Hopefully I can see my invention off of the ground so that I can start exploring my other ideas… I figure that the next major revision of my design will be the finish line weather it becomes widely enough adopted or not… After that I’ll get pick my next adventure which I couldn’t be more excited about… :slight_smile:

Thanks again. Very inspirational…

IC

I have over 400 FlipSteady cases in the field… Users of my product have proven to be passionate… They are Absolutely loving, begrudgingly tolerating or outright hating my design. I never met one in the dangerous place of indifference. When inspiration strikes I execute quickly in a hasty frenzy of snipping and sewing… The result? Yuck! But Birth should never be pretty… At least not while Im on the table… :slight_smile: Anyhow, how about a backpack accessory for my Flipsteady cases already in the field? Accesorizing accesories… Something about personification as it applies to a product is dawning on me.

I made some progress in evolving the iPad case design. Here is what I came up with.



More →




More images at My Page http://flipsteady.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=17

I designed a version of the FlipSteady tablet case for the Samsung Ativ700t. Thought I would share here.

Quick video presentation.

This is the first Prototype of this design.




I recently designed a cool way to bend the aluminum bracing to very precisely fit the tablet.

You can see a lot more about this project at the Tablet PC forums where I hosted somewhat of a renegade crowd funding project to fund the development of this case. I managed to drum up quote a bit of support and have been updating my following with video and photo updates at every step of development. It’s been a great experiment on many levels.

http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/samsung/54676-flipsteady-case-ativ-series-7-a.html

Thanks,

Isaiah Coberly

This update shows the process of laminating and laser cutting the Flip Steady for the Samsung Ativ 700t. This is the very first production of 30 cases.

Isaiah Coberly

Here is the latest update where I demonstrate and narrate the entire process to make V2.0 of the FlipSteady. This product has been refined! Now I start refining again…

Thanks,

Isaiah Coberly

Excellent video once again! Great to see you share the process, it adds a lot of value to the product to see all of the unseen parts and the process of putting it all together.

I thought I would show my latest case design here in my progress thread at Core77. The FlipSteady for the ThinkPad Helix. This one is getting corporate attention and selling really well for me.

Onward! Ill now redesign the iPad case to V2.0 and select another high end windows tablet to design for.

Isaiah Coberly

This is my latest design of the FlipSteady for the Wacom Cintiq Companion, Hybrid and 13HD. Please enjoy.

I tried a lot of new ideas and learned quite a bit designing this one. My perspective of my craft improved and so goes everything else.

Isaiah

I’m back with a new design of the FlipSteady and a revised manufacturing process. The versions of the FlipSteady shown fit the Wacom Mobilestudio Pro 13 and 16. The back half of the video shows a glimpse of my manufacturing process.

That is a drastically cool product. I just wonder if you could simplify the production process, for example with foldable injection molded PP sheeting. The Flux chair is a good reference for that.