There is definitely some fun we could have with designing a ridiculously robust case, although, simply ensuring everything is very rigidly mounted and reasonably tough is probably sufficient. We don’t actually expect to be routinely dropping, kicking, or dragging it. It’s an expensive bit of kit and we plan to be very careful with it, the goal is just to make sure that if something does happen, it will hopefully be ok.
the problem is what if it is submerged into water
ATM I think the discussion is more on "what do you need to do if you want to make the device ip 67 proof)
Which frankly is overengineering. He probably can walk away with ip 65 definitely.
In that case simply get the fans some duct and draw/dump air from the bottom of the machine, and make light seals where the duct meet the current cooling stuff so in case water accidentally get in it will not fry the logic board. Add some simple grill/filter for protection against sand/rock particles.
Requirement 1.2 goes towards IP65.
Requirement 1.3 goes towards having 20mm tall laptop feet hahahaha 
Requirement 2.2 goes towards sending someone to the GoldGym.
1 Like
I would imagine him putting it on like a collapsable stand/table/working surface since, well, if you are field testing something you probably have more than just a laptop (e.g. battery charger, monitor for fpv cameras, etc)
A few feet. not just a couple centimeters.
That’s just for when, for example, the wind blows. or when the rocket (or whatever he is testing) blasts some off.
Snow/rain should not be a big problem, since you can just make sure the vent/intake will not have water go back up in to them. which, because gravity, can be fairly difficult.
Resin on connectors? No. You need thick rubber pads on corners and plastic “exoekeleton”, or a internal chassis/shock absorbing frame (much like the ones in the Casio G-Shocks) to take on some of the impact.
Never use glue or epoxy on electrical connectors. The contacts can potentially be accidentally isolated, or bridged/shorted.
You can tape them down (with fabric tape), if you wish. Although I don’t think it will help significantly.
Soldering (directly to the board) will not help significantly, as repeated flex is known to cause BGAs to fail. Add additional support (plastic pillars) to the board if necessary.
Although, I don’t think said system is/will need to focus on shock absorption.
2 Likes
Haha, always good to question what the requirements dictate. If our our team wants to hit the gym and get jacked then yeah I guess I can make this thing pretty heavy.
As much as the feet where a joke, not a bad point, putting it on something like 10-15mm feet is a good way to give it a bit more protection. I was trying to figure out spacing of the connectors, which I only trust to IP65, without making the whole thing thicker, and this is a good solution.
@Xavier_Jiang you are correct, the nominal use case for this is being used on a folding table for mission control operations, well above the mud/snow/whatever. However it will also get used for field debugging of systems, which means it will get placed on just about any possible surface, including soft ones like wet grass and snow, so it does need to be sealed at the bottom, even with feet. (no bottom mounted fan vents 
, heck I nearly overheat my regular framework by accidently leaving it on soft surfaces all the time.)
1 Like
aah. so …
yeah. not sure how the cooling will play out.
I think you will have to passive the sides (and bottom). Which isn’t a huge deal, except you also need to consider shock absorption. Although heat pipes are at least somewhat flexible, so you can get away with it so long as there is no rigid support for them near the CPU. You don’t want to crack the die.
I would imagine you will have long-boi pipes stretching from the CPU block to “transfer blocks” on the inside of the walls, so you can remove the pipes for service.
1 Like
I was half joking knowing that some rugged laptop feet measures anything between 8 to 14mm thick.
Thing to consider: Consider everything, no matter how stupid or low-tech they sound. Don’t prematurely eliminate an option until it’s been carefully considered. Solutioning isn’t always about technology.
1 Like
Update: I’ve finished some rough CAD of the laptop. the Internals are mostly missing and the ports are sort of wrong (no I don’t need 3 ethernet ports lol), but the point is to show roughly what the final product will look like.
3 Likes
Doing the work needed for this is time-consuming and while it might be cheaper in the end, getting something made from the start for this is going to be more durable and easier to maintain, than doing mods. I bet you can use a mini-pc in there together with a Jackery battery, and it would be better.
@prepaidpyramid without spending a huge amount of money on one of those cool military laptops that was sent a while back (don’t know what they cost but I guarantee we can’t afford it) there isn’t an off the shelf solution that does what we want.
As for chaining a bunch of off the shelf modules together to build this and putting it in a case, that’s basically what we are doing except for where it isn’t practical.
1 Like
Really loving the updates on this thread!
4 Likes
Thanks so much! 
We’ll make sure to keep them coming!
2 Likes
That looks amazing! Love the three display setup. 
Are the keyboard, trackpad an displays going to be sourced from a third-party or bought from the marketplace?
Also, it looks like you’re going to be building your own battery pack. Is that gonna use the battery connector or have it’s own controller and plugged into a usb-c port?
Loving the project thanks for the frequent updates! Always love people using the framework laptop’s mainboard in super creative ways. 
1 Like
The Keyboard is probably going to be a cheap silicone keyboard off amazon, since that seems to be the cheapest decent option for a water/dust proof keyboard. The trackpad and displays will be Framework parts (or equivalent), but that’s still somewhat up in the air.
The gaps around the trackpad will be waterproofed using a protective film covering the trackpad and surrounding area.
The goal is to use the battery connector to allow normal USB-C charging, although actually tracking down a source to buy the connector has proven a challenge. We also need to do some work, since the battery may be too large for the mainboard to handle, and may require an external charging system.
2 Likes
Didn’t think about dustproofing the amazon keyboard’s probably your best way to go.
@FrameworkBee Might be able to talk to someone internally about that connector for you!
Keep up the good work, it already looks great in that pelican case.
2 Likes
There are industrial-grade waterproof/dustproof keyboards and touchpads.
Some are expensive, others not so much.
And yes, you can just glue plastic flim over it. Tactile feedback will be trash, but better than nothing.
www.mouser.com/c/connectors
I will be surprised to hear Amphenol/Amass do not make them. You will need a decently priced crimping tool, however.
Good luck with your custom battery pack.
1 Like
Hi all,
Sorry for no updates for a while, but I’ve got an exciting one. Framework has been gracious enough to provide additional support for this project as part of the developers program. They have provided a full framework laptop along with two displays which have some cosmetic damage for us to re-purpose into the Operations Laptop (OpsTop). The cost of these components was a major barrier for the project, so this is a huge help. We have now received the hardware so hopefully progress and updates will be faster going forwards.
New Hardware:
I’ve also made some progress on the block diagram of the system and I believe it should be reasonably near complete:
There are many USB hubs that should work with the system but probably going to go with this one to start since it’s cheap:
https://www.amazon.ca/Lasuney-Docking-Station-Ethernet-Compatible/dp/B08CHCCP5S/ref=sr_1_55?crid=1JZ4WMA37YU0E&keywords=usb-c+ethernet+4+usb&qid=1665099382&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIxLjUzIiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=usb-c+ethernetn+4+usb%2Caps%2C79&sr=8-55#customerReviews
10 Likes
I just found this thread, and while I would never need anything remotely this extreme, I’m now very invested. Keep up the good work!
1 Like
Great to see Framework supporting this effort! Out of curiosity, would it be possible for you to share your battery specs? From your diagram it appears to be connected to the board directly, rather than one of the usb-c ports. One of the design issues I ran into was attempting to power the board purely with an offboard battery, so I would be interested to see if someone elses solution could be of some help.
Just go with off-the-shelf, maybe:
and
https://www.princessauto.com/en/product/PA0009064460
This particular IM2500 already has a cable port fitted as well.