This is awesome. If I’m lucky someone will do something similar for the base shell.
Looks great might have to print this one and give it a try
I haven’t done scientific testing yet–but I can say that running a demanding game when plugged into a 180W power supply, on max performance power settings seems to have my CPU peaking at about 85C and GPU at about 75C with these on–no thermal throttling, and the fans aren’t hitting max speed.
When sitting on a flat surface without the feet, I know I was hitting thermal throttling… but yeah, not super scientific yet.
On a somewhat related note, I’m also working on a version that has a storage slot for extra modules. I’ll post more about that later today.
I’m working on an expansion of this–it’s not ready for prime time yet, but thought I’d share a preview:
How long till you plug the charger into that one and wonder why it doesn’t charge XD? (would almost certainly happen to me there)
You may also need a bit more flow or a few more top layers, and maybe a bit higher pressure advance.
Nice work :3, looks really nice.
You know, with the right extension cable, maybe it would help someone move the rear usb port to the side so they don’t have to reach beind to plug/unplug a monitor? Something like this maybe? https://www.amazon.com/JUXINICE-Pliable-RightAngle-Supports-Charging/dp/B0CTDNBZ5S
Something LIKE this would work, this particular example usb2 so no display for you there.
Yea, I meant more the form factor. The 90 degree angle could go straight down and around to the expansion card.
I thought something similar to what @Adrian_Joachim said. Then I thought, this would be a great place for a SNACK DRAWER! Maybe Snack Drawer v2.1!
What do you think @XenoCow ?
You summon my superior SNACK solutions. Are you thinking an embedded drawer? If the slot is tight enough, you might be able to just put a normal SNACK drawer in there no problem.
I could look into making a version of these feet that have latching divots and a corresponding slightly larger drawer slide that could fit into the whole expansion card space, allowing it to still be used as a normal expansion card storage slot.
Alternatively, I haven’t touched it in a while, but I had previously developed a Tall SNACK Drawer that when used in pairs, could lift the back of the laptop up off a surface. I decided to not sell them since the tiny locking lugs for expansion cards weren’t holding the drawer frames in place well enough. I could maybe give that one another look.
That would be pretty trick. It is pretty impressive how lifting the back of the laptop up a little on the FW13 and the FW16 really increases the airflow to keep it cooler.
I used to have an old laptop plate? that had two little fans in it that blew upwards, it was powered by the USB port and worked remarkably well to keep your lap from getting warm and pushing just a little bit of air on the underside of a laptop. It was great to use in bed at night so it did not cook among the covers. It was almost silent too.
Your Snack Drawers have this special place in my mind because they are so simple and the perfect thing when you do not need all the ports and can have little things stored neatly away.
Keep up the great work!
Well, if @Jamon_Terrell finishes up his storage version, or wants to share with me, I could give one of the first two methods I mentioned a shot. I don’t have a FW16, but I don’t think it would be necessary for testing.
quick heads up–I’ve noticed the current version is rubbing on the plastic around the GPU cooling fins a bit more than I’d like, so I’m working on adjustments to reduce that. It’s probably fine in TPU, but if you print in PLA, I’m afraid it might cause some damage eventually.
New version with module holder is up! Should also be less friction against the case. I have not updated the non-module holder one with reduced friction yet, though.
Do not put SNACK Drawers in these feet!
I just printed one of the feet out to see how a drawer would fit and while it was possible to get it in, I was unable to get it out. It seems the friction between the plastics is too much.
Make sure your printer is tuned correctly. This is a common issue with miscalibrated printers. There are hole and peg test prints out there to help you find this problem.
They are designed to not lose your module–since the USB-C port tension isn’t available to hold the module in, I apply a slight ramp of a couple degrees near the back of the port. I was a little concerned that for some 3d printers, it might result in them getting stuck–so that’s why I put the little hole in the back to be able to push it out (if the thumb spot doesn’t give you enough grip).
I’ll take a look at the snack drawers and see if I need to make a tweaked design just for them–or if I can make some slight adjustments to make them work together better.
Uh oh @XenoCow!
Maybe the humor is just in my head…The fact that one of the Feet “ate” a SNACK Drawer and would not spit it out is amusing to me. NOM NOM NOM!
Just the friction alone should be enough to hold it in place, I can not imagine someone is going to tuck one of the feet with a module under their arm a’la American Football style and go charging around. I read that @Jamon_Terrell put a few degrees of slope to tighten it up, maybe a little too much!
Great job testing it out though!
I’ll try that and report back when I have. It may have just been the PLA I used for the foot. It has been sitting out quite a while and it has been very humid here lately.
Do you have any recommendations for specific ones?
In order to make the best use of the expansion card space, the drawer frames do not have a back face, only sides and bottom. So, that hole could not be used to push the card out as there is nothing to push against.
Also, I hope I am not distracting too much from the purpose of this thread. Although the SNACK drawers are kind of a silly use case for what to put in those storage slots, this investigation might help those that have other custom expansion cards.