how about little rubber feet on the bottom of the dock to keep it from moving?

Here's a status update for those watching the progress here.

The order queue currently has 38 docks on order. I plan to produce about 45 of this design, at the average rate of one or two a week, or faster whenever I end up without a Linux contract (got two "in negotiations" at present).

Unit #001 is completely wired and gracing the shelf of my office at present, and I will be hanging onto it for now as a "model" for assembling others. The internal dock fan is slightly noisier than I had hoped for, but still significantly quieter than the hard disk in the unit, so I'm not going to fuss with it anymore.

Unit #002 is currently having it's wiring hooked up (all connections are being soldered rather than just crimped -- slower, but better, at least the way I do it), and will ship shortly to a buyer who has jumped a few queue positions by offering a new home for my original Empeg Mk2 player -- I will ship those two items together this week.

Units #004 - #008 are completely cut out and awaiting assembly in the woodshop. That will take maybe two hours or so for the batch. After that, they require wiring of the various connectors and stuff, before I can consider shipping them out. They will probably hit the mail by the end of next week, but could suffer delays if the Linux contracts come through. These are all "Works" units.

After that, I need to cut out and machine another batch of parts. But since I now know how many are needed (tons!), I will endeavor to produce about 30 of everything this time around. It will take several days to cut out and assemble all of those units.

After that, I will hopefully find time to wire up one or two units a week until all orders are satisfied. Once I have exhausted my supply of docking connectors, production will likely cease.

Well, back to the wiring job now..

Cheers

Mark, will you be able to ship to the UK ?

I will happily ship to Canada, as well as the USA, UK, South Africa, New Zealand, Croatia, and anywhere else I also get orders from!

Cheers

One other small update -- while having my Best Beloved trial unit #001, the first thing that happened when she picked it up and tilted it to view the rear, was that the empeg slid out of the dock and hit the floor, hard!

We spend 20 minutes disassemblng the player and reseating the display cable to get it working again (whew!), and then I modified the dock slightly to give the player's latches something to grab onto.

As a result, the players now require a fair bit of insertion force to get them into or out of the dock. But your players are now much safer than with the original low-insertion force design.

Cheers

damn! how the hell did i get spot 32 of 38? i'm slippin'!! =]

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damn! how the hell did i get spot 32 of 38? i'm slippin'!! =]

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Uhm, hrm.. Were we supposed to get a confirmation e-mail sent back to us?
Uh-oh.. I don't think I got one.. Knowin' my status for the tuners, I'm prolly #112 or somethin'.

Me.

You are slippin!!!

Sorry, too many of you all at once.. so instead of a confirmation email, just go back to http://rtr.ca/dock/ and enter the email address you gave when ordering. If it comes up with your queue position, then that's the confirmation!

Cheers!
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Shame on you Loren.. but after all your TLC on the Hijack FAQ, one never knows what might happen..

how is everyone gonna cover their dock? what kinda paint is probably best to use?

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how is everyone gonna cover their dock? what kinda paint is probably best to use?

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I as going to wait until I got it to look at it. My two top choices are staining (depsnds on how the MDF(?) looks), or just painting it black.

Me.

I was planning to sand, stain black then use a laquer clear coat for the finish.

Or just use a dark laquer...

i was gonna go for a good matte black... anyone have any tips on how to get a good coated matte finish?

Sherwin Williams sells black laquer if you are interested.

Stu

I haven't finished my own yet, but I think a spraycan of enamel paint would likely do the best job, with some kind of clearcoat on top as the final layer -- to give it a nice gloss.

Cheers

Okay, Michael-J has the distinction of being the (someday) owner of dock #50. I cannot guarantee that I'll ever build more of these after the first 50 have been taken care of.. I'll still add names to the list, but no guarantees beyond the first 50 for now.

Cheers

Mark,
If you decide not to build more, would you consider selling the plans & BOM for a small fee to the make it yourself crowd?

-Zeke

Quite likely, for free even.

Cheers

[Cartman] schweet! [/Cartman]

Again: Man <-- You.

-Z

Yea for me!

Mark,

I mailed you a couple of days ago, but have had no repsonse.

I guess I have missed the boat ?

You don't get a confirmation email, go to the dockig station web page and at the top you put in your email address and it will tell you if you're on the list and what number you are.

Thanks for the prompt - position no 38 !

Wonder which of those little blocks of wood will find their way to my corner of the uk ...

, but no guarantees beyond the first 50 for now

More daunting task than you planned for eh?! heh. Glad i got in under the gun. Man, i would kill to have a workshop like that. How long have has it taken you to put it all together?

Hi Loren!

The shop began with a tablesaw (long since replaced..) back in 1988. I've been lugging new cast iron into it ever since -- no risk of our house ever floating away in a flood (like we ever even have floods here). The newest BIG toy is an 18" drum sander (for surface sanding, thicknessing, etc.).

Construction of the docks is using six basic machines -- tablesaw, router, drill-press, mortiser, belt-sander, and plate-joiner -- plus logs of jigs, fixtures, cordless drills, and hand tools. And, oh-yeah, my trusty soldering station.

As for the 50 Docks, when I started the concept, I figured I might be able to distribute as many as a hundred of them if I could ship them by Christmas..

Well, that date got missed, and I figured that perhaps only half as many might go now. So I have bulk ordered the parts needed for 50 docks, and that's what I'm making (for now). If sufficient waitlisted orders pile up by the end of the first 50, I might make another 50 units. Assuming I don't lose too much money on them -- costs really add up, and this is eating into my contracting time.

Right now, shipping is being held up while I find suitable packaging to protect the units as they sail through the postal system and onto the floor. Need to find a cheap local supply of 9x9x4" boxes with 1/2" bubble/foam liners.

Cheers!

sweeet!

I have access to a workshop like that. So if I had the plans I would definately make one or two of these for myself.

thanks man!

Man, that's my dream... just to have a garage with a shop in it. Oh the projects i could plan and never complete then!!! The mind boggles.

yup...My Dad's shop has all of that stuff. I'd be interested in the plans too.