I just wrapped up assembling the third prototype. It was a great experience to build 3 completely separate units, I learned a good amount from each build, and made tweaks along the way. I uploaded my current firmware and so far everything seems to be working as expected.
Some of the major changes I included in the newer prototypes include:
- Using shorter potentiometers and redesigning the indicator knobs
- notching the upper PCB to make clearance for the MIDI connector
- Swapping out any SMD components on the upper board for thru-hole components
- Removing the SD card slot and RAM chip
- Upgrading the 30-pin connector to a flex connector
- Adjusting the bosses and ribs on the enclosure to be more robust
- Adjusting the 2 pots to the right of the left-most buttons (the original design was slightly misaligned)
- Optimizing my resin 3D printing orientation to reduce the number of supports and make post-processing easier
- Discovering a more efficient way of post-processing the 3D prints to get a glossy finish (220 grit -> wet 2000 grit -> clear acrylic does the trick)
Anyway, here are some photos below. You can see the difference between the original design and the updated one, I managed to lose about 0.5" of height, which is great. Next steps are to resolve some firmware bugs and then I plan to send them out to friends to get some feedback!
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