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Grimulkan
I do understand; been there/done that. There’s already no way you can win.
This weekend, I’m going to design and build a fixture to pop open the DR’s case w/o damage--I’ve already figured out and made a tool for the corner pieces (no damage). I’m hoping to post my results Monday; please wait before opening yours--If nothing else, someone could benifit from an undamaged case.
About that Tekkeon charger pack; I remember you talking about that elsewhere--at the time I thought, “That’s so COOL!” and considered the posibility of doing something similar in the pen storage area of my executive case. Now I’m wondering if the weight of the charger pack, with the way you hold your reader, contributed to the screen break.
Regardless of that, from other posts here and elsewhere, it seems that the DR’s case strength is an issue that needs to be addressed. iRex might redisign the DR’s case, but I doubt they would upgrade anything in the field. Until a better solution is found, I suggest DR owners who don’t have broken screens try to get hold of a Masonite (not plastic or cardboard) clipboard, and cut the Masonite down to roughly the DR’s size, and slip it into the cover behind the DR. To buy a piece of Masonite might require buying a full 4 foot by 8 foot sheet--but if anyone wants to go that way, be sure to buy tempered Masonite; it is very dark brown, smooth on both sides, and will be labelled (on a full sheet) ‘tempered,’ (Don’t trust the word of a chain-store employee; often they are trying to help, but don’t realize that they don’t know what they are talking about, or that the differences matter. Many just don’t care, and are shining you on enough so that you’ll leave the store happy, and they don’t get fired.) Regular (untempered) Masonite is lighter in color, and smooth on one side only. The un-smooth side is covered with tiny hair-like fibers. Do not use this; a piece of newspaper would work as well.
3/32 inch 5 ply Birch plywood would work very well also. It can be found in hobby shops that cater to model airplane builders/fliers (I would guess cost to be about US $20 for a 18 inch by 3 foot piece.) Don’t use wall paneling, cardboard, 3 ply plywood, or any wood less hard than Birch.
Perhaps best (IMHO) would be aircraft grade aluminum alloy sheet; it could be found at the Airframe Repair Shop that services your local municiple airport (at major airports you will likely only get the runaround). Try to buy a scrap; this stuff is sold in 10 foot sheets, and is very expensive. A metal supply house will charge a hefty premium for a small piece, but if one is close to you, they may have an area filled with scraps at a good discount. My recommendation: .060 inch or .080 inch 6061 (the metals grade) T6 (temper/hardness rating). Do not use hardware store aluminum sheet; it is easily bendable and untempered (T0, where T = temper, 0 = zero). .060 inch thick (< 1/16 inch, .0625 inches) should be (minimally) adequate. At this (the DR’s) size, maximum protection (meaning that a 1 inch thick piece wouldn’t do any better) would come from .080 inch (< 3/32, .093 inches) thickness. At this thickness, if you held the reinforced DR at top and bottom and pulled it’s back hard against your knee, the case would flex enough that your finger pressure on the case would crack the screen, the same as it would if it were laying on a concrete floor, and you pushed down hard on 2 opposite ends of the case. (Mental estimates, no testing.)
Enough of that!
I hope that those DR owners who are using slip cases for carry, and nothing for use, are following this thread, and are considering additional protection; STDs (Stress Trauma Dmages) on the DR000 seem to be on the rise.
Ciao, y’all (That’s Southern Italian)
Kent Walters
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