As much as I love the idea of printing an Expansion Card, I feel like it breaks the visual continuity that the first-party cards have against the metal chassis. It would be kinda neat to be able to purchase an empty Expansion Card with no electronics in it so that one could cut out the hole themselves, which would preserve the visual continuity of the frame. Idk, what do you all think?
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You could sell them but cutting a hole in one would be impossible, you could use the snack drawer as a filler
I think that what he means would be milling/filing out your own holes, which is actually feasible with the BENCH VISE
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Oh this would also be super handy for when you know you only need one or two ports (or none) and want to eke out as much battery life as possible.
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Maybe you can find a filament that matches the color. This one looks pretty close: Silky Silver MH Build Series PLA Filament - 2.85mm (1kg) | MatterHackers
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Besides a cleaner appearance next to the existing case, this would also be very handy for those of us who don’t yet own 3D printers or have access to one through friends who own one. 3D printers are becoming more and more commonly available, but they are still not yet ubiquitous throughout the world, nor is their price yet low enough for it to be trivial for those of us on the poorer end of the spectrum to buy one specifically for such a project.
The aluminum-and-plastic version also has metal components that are slightly thinner than the fully 3D-printed version would be able to be and still be strong enough, so that gives a slight bit more space inside, which usually won’t matter, but it can make a difference for some projects which push the limits of what will fit.
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I would like to add my support for this, they are already producing the expansion housing and I think it wouldl increase the community support for custom expansion cards. Not only does it allow those without access to 3d printers to experiment but but will make custom cards feel a little more durable and professional than 3d printed prototypes.
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This would be handy. Don’t always need those 4 slots and walking around with empty slots not only is a poor esthetics but also unpleasant for touch with sharp edges.
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I’d love a maker card case that was just the shell and metal shield. Heck, throw in the bare USB-C connector from a USB-C module, no PCB (or a tiny breakout PCB for USB 2.0 type-C). Make the face material something relatively easy to cut or drill, or just provide a slot for a 3D-printed face. I’d be all over that.
Why don’t people just use 4 USB-C Ports??
Although there is a bit of aesthetic gain I suppose from only having 1/2 ports…
Empty one would be much cheaper and would not drain any power.
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The USB-C card doesn’t drain power. It’s basically a 1" extension cable. But it would be a bit cheaper without the connector, that’s true.
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. As Paul said USB-C doesn’t drain any power.
You’d probably be saving a dollar on the lack of contacts and whatnot, but shipping is 30? Considering the overall price of the laptop as well, I don’t think anyone is actually annoyed with having to pay something like $12 for 2 USB-C ports.
They could give it for free when you buy a new laptop. It’s a benefit, which costs them 10 cent or less. Sure, shipping costs are currently far to high and need to drop, but this is a different topic.
It’s a small piece of cheap plastic. They could just use the existing storage enclosures without the electronics inside.
It’s about aesthetics, sure someone else could 3D print it, but it will not have the same look and feel as the original ones. It shouldn’t be your part to argue against it, because we would need to repeat again and again why it’s requested. There is a hight demand and Framework should consider it as a new offer for their customers.
We are running in circles here. There are obviously people who have higher expectations regarding aesthetics than you. This thread is about the demand and not about arguing against the demand.
Framework is reading their forums very carefully, other demands from these forums were already fulfilled, like 12th gen cpus and ethernet dongles. Other users can join the line in this thread and tell their demand too. That’s the main purpose of this thread.
Yep, we don’t get to every thread at the moment (though that is the purpose of this role we’re hiring for: Framework - Community Support Manager ).
That said, we don’t currently have any plan to do an Empty Expansion Card. We released 3D printable designs so that folks can either print their own spacers or get them printed by a services like iMaterialize, Shapeways, Treatstock, Hubs, or similar. The cards are tiny, so it is ultra-cheap to have them printed, even in materials that are normally expensive.
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It seems fairly straight forward to me. You can print a card reduced on three sides by 0.3 mm and use some aluminium sheet the same thickness to cover those sides. It will cut with a utility blade and should bend sharply around the edges as it’s so thin, but still thick enough to have some integrity. That’s pretty much how original cards are made anyway.
Just in case any ones interested here are two cases, one reduced by 0.3 mm and the other by 0.4 mm. The flat beams can be used on either side of the sheet to act as a bending jig.
a framework case reduc .stl (1.2 MB)
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