I was excited to see the release of the new CAD files for the Framework 16 the other week. I was a little disappointed to find they’d been hollowed out before posting, however, so much of the interesting internal detail is missing.
What I would find useful for creating new input modules (including new touchpad-area modules and spacers) is the STEP files for /the plastics/. For example:
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for the LED matrix input module, there’s a top plastic piece which covers the PCB and ensures that the module sits flush with the case on the sides and has a lip to interface with the top edge of the input module area. This is clear for the LED matrix but an opaque version would be a useful cover for whatever 3rd party input module you had designed: you’d just subtract the openings or whatever you’d need for your particular project and put it on top of your PCB. (We have a version of this included in the “design space” STEP in the InputModules folder, but that’s for the spacer not for an active PCB.)
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For the touchpad spacer, the released STEP file is just the thin metal L shape. What would be really useful are the models for the two pieces of plastic which sit inside it. The first is a rail which engages the bottom edge of the FW16 case, and the second has parallel rails which engage in the locking feature at the top half of the touchpad area. Precise measurements here are key to making a touchpad module with a good fit, and a model would be easily 3-d printable at the required resolution using a resin printer (or with a 3rd party 3d printing service). This plastic part also has a pocket for mounting a magnet in, which is not fully documented.
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Same for the touchpad area: we have the outer shell, but there are rail pieces at the bottom and top edge that were omitted from the released models but currently need to be laboriously reverse engineered in order to make a replacement touchpad module which engages with the latching mechanisms properly.
