Ok, empeg sled may get punched today, but not bent. So, a picture of a finished product may not be 'till next week. But, here is the next best thing:

Click here to see an interactive 3D drawing of our sled design (Please read the rest of this post first though)

When you click the above link, a SolidWorks 2003 viewer will automatically be downloaded and installed on your system. You must be using at least IE 5 for this to work. If you do not want this viewer (uninstallable through Add/Remove programs), then do not click the link.

The original sled design had to be redesigned a bit to work on our machines, so it may look a bit different to you. Have fun!

Too bad the installer for SolidWorks pagefaults when I say "yes" to install it...

Hmm... It uses MSI, so maybe your installer is out of date?

It doesn't even get far enough to invoke MSI, it just page faults after I hit "yes, trust content from SolidWorks".

If this is an MSI problem, then I will say that this is the best example yet of why MSI is such a stinking pile of dog shit.

Sorry. Bad mood this morning. Working on it.

On the system I tested the installer on, I did not have to hit 'yes' to startup MSI. It just went on its own. I am not all-trusting so I am not sure what the dirrerence between yours and my system is. I am using XP Pro here.

This is the software that gets installed. You can attempt to download it from there, but you may have to give them your life story. Sorry for the difficulty.

We were thinking of distributing drawings of our real products this way, so the feedback on how this thing doesn't work is actually good.

Yeah, I did have to tell them my life story.

Fortunately, every time a web site asks for my life story, it's easy to type:

asfdasdfasghasfyhasFDASD
ASGDSFHGKSADKLJAHSDF
SDJSDLKSDFJTRUIHZSLDGKHJASD
JKLASGLKJSDKJLG

Okay, the eDrawing software installed OK from the full-download installer you linked. The problem was somehow in their ActiveX control for installing from the web. Oh well, wouldn't be the first time.

But now when I click on the link to the CAD itself, the edrawings software comes up and seems to work, but there's no picture displayed of the sled. Blank white window with the X/Y/Z indicator in the corner...

Oh, OK.

The SECOND time I clicked on that link, then it worked. Cool.

Still... wow, that was a lot of trouble to get a 3D drawing up on my screen. Did you say your company was planning ond distributing stuff that way? Ick.

Did you say your company was planning ond distributing stuff that way? Ick

Yeah. This is good feedback. This software doesn't seem ready for primetime yet.

Not to mention that I can't see it at all since I don't have a Windows machine. And remember that there are a lot of people doing CAD/CAM on Unix machines.

Worked flawlessly for me, although it was rather disconcerting that it didn't ask if it was ok to install...it just did it. Which of course was fine, as Rob was nice enough to warn us. I'm using Winblows 98SE with Internet Exploder 6.0.

This may be an idiotic question, but the sled does have a top right? I'm assuming it's just cut away so that we can see the detail of the sled?

The sled top is a totally seperate piece that will be welded onto the piece in the drawing.

And remember that there are a lot of people doing CAD/CAM on Unix machines.

Our CAD/CAM work has been done in Windows for about 10 years now.

Didn't know to whom you were intending to distribute these files.

Nice job Rob...loaded perfect the first time with XP Professional.

Looks good here. Loaded fine with win xp pro. IE 6.0

Loaded fine here on Win2k, IE6SP1.

On my old, tired win 98 (not even SE) box with IE6, it installed correctly immediately; did prompt to ask if OK to install.

Impressive piece of work, by the way. If it's not too late, would it be an idea to open up the area right next to the sled connector hole, to allow for Tos-Link and/or RCA SPDIF outputs as per Eutronix' modification?

Ideas for enhacements are in the works. Docking ethernet, I think, is the most valuable option at the moment. The eutronix toslink will likely be next in line. Docking an RCA connector is probably not a good thing.

Speaking of which, how hard would it be to do as suggested way back when and replace the mic line for S/PDIF Coax output? Wiring from the Eutronix sound card to the harness within the player I mean, not replacing the pins/wiring on the back of the sled.

Would we even want to try to mount toslink in the sled for repeated removal/insertion? There are transceivers to change a coax signal to optical if you are worried about interference. I think this would be a better approach for those that use the Eutronix for digital output.

But this is just my $.02

Would we even want to try to mount toslink in the sled for repeated removal/insertion?

I think if you grind the male connector so it doesn't "click" into place, docking toslink should be fine. The difficult part is that I have no Eutronix board and no need to install one. Also, cutting the holes on the empeg itself (I think) can vary from installer to installer. So, wiring the SPDIF to the mic line may be a much better option.

Other than the fact that the installer prompted me to reboot, which I quite normally ignore (and rightfully so, as it wasn't necessary), and the fact that the rear holes are not punched when looking from the front, looks beautiful to me.

As far as CAD ppl operating on non-M$ os', this is apparently more for academic, not scientific review; I doubt there would be much hubub or post-editing.

I want one.
Let me know when they're built...

New 3D drawing:
http://www.tslight.com/misc/empeg_sled/Assem1.htm

Now shows what it will look like with the top cover on.

Grr:



Whats this top cover part? Guess I need to find a Windows box to see this on.

Top cover was missing from the original 3D model. This one has it attached:

cutting the holes on the empeg itself (I think) can vary from installer to installer. So, wiring the SPDIF to the mic line may be a much better option.

If everyone follows the template provided on the website, it should be consistent. The only one unable to use the hole for TOSlink in your sleds would be me. (The very first installation had the connectors in a slightly different position.)

Stu

Top cover was missing from the original 3D model. This one has it attached:

Ahh, ok. I thought you were talking about some sort of cover for the front hole when the empeg isn't docked. Thanks for the picture, that helps.

cover for the front hole when the empeg isn't docked

ahh.... hmmm... that's an excellent idea. Needless to say, the first sleds will be replicas of the original, but there are many doable ideas here.