BEAM prototype. Request to be a beta tester here.

[Kalle]

Hi Mexicanto,


wow, that was also fast and thanks for the info.


The Sphere has normaly no base - the base which you have seen was any 3D print which was lying around on my desk.


If you have a 3D printer, you need only to print a small ring (40mm diameter, height 10mm) or a other trick:
Put a piece of baking paper on a electric iron, set the iron to the lowest temperature and press the plastic sphere with the bottom on the iron to make it a bit flat for your needs - in this way it is no base needed.


The next batch of spheres will have the flat bottom.


Kalle

[mexicanto]

Thanks Kalle,

You send me 2 translucent plastic rings, i will probably use one as a support/base

thanks again

another note:
the spheres came with a little piece of the edge broken in two different parts (not a big issue, i can glue it back), on the 3.5 mm plug in, the red came not soldered, and the black cable was somehow de-attached from the conncetor to he green block (not a big issue either), anyway, what is the purpose of this connector ?

This is just for the future shipments for customers. For me, not problem at all, i am pretty sure all this was caused in the transit process from the postal service.

thanks again

[Kalle]

Hi Daniel,


sorry if it is anything broken.
The connector is for an external IR Emitter (+ is the middle tip). The black cable goes to the green screw terminal minus (lettered on the PCB behind the green block) and the red cable goes to plus.
Yes it is a long shipping way and the packet is so small - easy to throw around or to put heavy things at the top by shipping 


For the next Sphere batch, I have a other solution to wrap it - but thanks for the info. Which part of the sphere is broken? Bottom or top? I can send you a new case if needed.


Yes the translucent acryl ring is to fit the Beam Sphere in, but I don't know why I put two of them in your package 


Again, sorry for the trouble
Kalle

[jitterjames]

Mexicanto. Can you please send us photos? I think it will help us to understand better and plan to do a better assembly and/ or packing job in the future.

I use a half used roll of black or white electrical tape as a stand for mine.

[mexicanto]

Here are the photos, as I said, is not a big deal for me. 

[Kalle]

Hi Daniel,


I'm sure the second acrylic ring is the part from around the RGB-LEDs.   
Anyway, I will send you a new housing 

[mexicanto]

It's Alive !!! It's Alive !!!

Thanks Kalle, but I don't think I will need a new housing, most probably I will play with the internal components
pretty often.

As you can see, I used the second ring as a base for BB-8 (that's the name I put it)

One recommendation as a beta tester, you can use a hot glue gun to attach the led to the holes, also, I used
a sand paper to sand the + terminal on the 3.5 connector, in that way, the solder sticks pretty good.

I will keep you informed on my experiences.

Thanks again James, Kalle, Dave, Nime and the whole team.

[Kalle]

Thanks Daniel,


yes correct, it was not easy to solder the 3.5 connector - good idea with the sand paper 


If you mean the IR leds? The intention was to use no glue for the beta testers and in the next sphere will the IR LED also fit in a screw terminal on the PCB.


your sphere is in the photo upside down ;-)

[jitterjames]

We wanted to make it as easy as possible to replace the IR leds so that users could try different types of emitters or in case they got burned out from too much current, since we don't have enough field testing to know if we are driving them in a way that will be safe over a long period of regular usage.

[jitterjames]

You send me 2 translucent plastic rings, i will probably use one as a support/base

For the sake of clarity:

The first ring goes around the RGB lights and is intended to diffuse the light so that you do not see bright spots of light on the sphere's exterior.

Kalle also sent every beta tester an extra ring to use as a base, if they wish.

[jitterjames]

By the way Mexicanto, was the package that the sphere came in crushed or otherwise visibly damaged?  I'm just wondering if we need to worry more about using a stronger box, or more about padding the sphere better inside the box to avoid it bouncing around.

A stronger box is an easy solution but will add weight which would probably add to shipping costs.

Better padding is something we are already working on.  We want to do it in an environmentally friendly way though.

[mexicanto]

Hi James,

Not visible damage outside, but who knows what kind of stress that box suffer over a mid-world travel

I attached a picture of the box

your sphere is in the photo upside down ;-)

  I put it on the right side, but I like it more upside down, because it remembers me BB-8

[mr.niki]

if you conceive a large-scale output
I can help with the production of
from issuance of printed circuit boards
to the final product

http://kompas-electronics.ru/about/aboutus/

[Junhglebeast]

I am very interested in this as well

[Junhglebeast]

how long  for the next bach?