Over the past six months or so, several BBS people have emailed me inquiring about the likelihood of another run of Home Docks. Well, today I started cutting out the woody parts for a few more.

I already have a collection of email addresses of people who previously asked, and if/when I finish these ones I will offer to that list first, and then post again here on the BBS. Email has now been sent to those on the list.

Right now, the plan is to make four special edition docks with thick curly cherry tops and bottoms, fully finished with sprayed-on shellac, and fully wired and ready to go. These may (or may not) include rear-panel power switches as well.

In addition to those, I have cut out sufficient MDF to construct five more original design Works docks. I don't have the parts on hand to actually wire these ones up, though, so perhaps they can be sold assembled, but unpainted, and unwired, at a large discount over the normal cost.

The theory is that these shells would go to people willing to supply/install their own wiring (docking connector, fan, RCA jacks, and power jack). As before, a metal sled is not needed with this design.

I do plan to prewire the ethernet though, since that portion is more difficult for others to duplicate themselves (tricky tolerances and the like).

For pricing, I'm thinking about US$78 each, including shipping within Canada/USA. Outside of North America, shipping would be an extra US$20 or so (air-mail only -- surface would take months). By comparism, all of the previous fully-wired (Works) docks sold for between US$160 and US$180, plus shipping..

Any interest in the shells? Or do y'all think you'd be willing to forgo the discount if they could arrive fully pre-wired?

As for the four special edition curly cherry docks, well.. don't even ask!

Cheers

I will. Mark?

<homer> Mmmm... Cherry... </homer>
<marge> It's wood, Homer... </marge>
<homer> Mmmm... Wood... </homer>

Wu Who! More Docks!

I'd take a shell.

Here is the most recent photo from the shop. This one shows the bottom panels of the new docks being counterbored for the assembly screws. The supervisor is K2, our 16 year old calico, soon to be deceased, I'm afraid. She has been an excellent companion through the years, and will be sorely missed.

-Mark

[image tags don't seem to work any more, so just click on the attachment to view her]

I'd be interested in another "shell" please Mark.

Wiring up things is not a problem for me, but I don't have the wood working skills nor tools.

Mark's picture:

I assume she's named for the peak?

Looks like she's got a good mix of fascination of/respect for power pools...

Beautiful cat, the poor baby.

Yes, the peak K2. Her companion/adversary here for many years was an orange tabby named Anna-Purrrrna, also named for a peak.

Also, she is not actually allowed/wanting to be in the shop when loud noises are being produced, but the drilling machine is fairly quiet. I had the dust-collection turned off for the photo, since it is much louder (and it is the reason for the yellow hearing protectors).

Cheers

I would definately go for a shell, I have a spare dock here so I should be able to recycle the loom on that.

I'd be interested in a shell but what would I need for the wiring?Is the wiring from the sled connector sufficient?

The standard HUGE wiring loom from a factory sled will not fit into these docks. But one could snip away all of the non necesary bits from one, and then get the rest to fit -- basically just the docking connector itself and a few of the original wires. Everything else would go. Simpler to just buy a new connector and pins and wire it up from scratch.

Cheers

I'd suggest pulling the pins out rather than cutting the wiring off where possible.

I have a number of spare connectors and pins from when I was making harnesses. I can work out a price.

Digikey also have them which is probably easiest for those in North America at least.

I'd be interested in a "shell" too. I have a docking connector and pins.

Rod.

So Mark, is there anything I have to do to officially register my interest in a dock shell? I could PayPal you right now if needs be.

Unfortunately I think all of the docks and shells have probably been sold by now. There has been an overflow of replies from the email list for the cherry docks, and way more than five expressions of interest in the shells.

And the really neat thing is: that's it. No more dock parts. Nadda.

Well, except for one complete set of woody parts for use as a pattern should I ever want to make something similar for myself (we do have two cherry docks of our own here). Or perhaps to make another run from scratch in a year or so -- that would be much harder than this batch, where I still had enough of the tricky bits left from the previous huge batches, and the only way I'd do it again would be if more than 30 of them could be sold.

Meanwhile, the five shells are now in clamps, and have passed inspection by K2 (photo attached). If these turn out, then the cherry ones are next for the glue and clamps.

Cheers

This is so exciting. Those docks look so good! I can only imagine how the Cherry ones would look!

Oh, speaking of which... I have not yet selected the recipients for the cherry docks nor for the shells -- still waiting to hear back from a couple of others on the email list before assigning these to new owners.

The deadline for that will be about 24 hours from now, after which I will begin requesting payment from the various parties, and then mailing out the shells, and later the curly cherry docks (those will take 2-3 weeks longer to finish).

One exception thus far is that the first name from the email list has already replied and wants his curly cherry dock, so that person is now known.

Cheers

That person is also wondering how much trouble it would be for the sides to be cherry as well?



I think I already asked before, though, I just don't remember the answer...

Impossible. The cherry docks are now glued and in clamps for the night(!).
But don't worry, they look quite nice on the cherry docks I made earlier for myself, as well as on Paul's black walnut dock.

The side panels of the docks are the most difficult pieces to manufacture, and are the main reason why this batch is likely the last -- I've now run out of them!

The internal partition to which the fan and docking connector mount, is also very tricky to get right, due to the exact tolerances involved. But at least there's only one machine setup for each cut on those, compared with having to do individual Left and Right machine setups for the side pieces at every step of their manufacture. I think there are 13 separate cuts on each side piece..

Labour intensive, for sure, but a labour of love as well.. especially this final batch.

Cheers

Since I'm not on the list (and have my "production run" mlord dock sitting peacefully next to me), here's a curiosity question (which always always get me in trouble). Are the cherry docks being sold through bidding among the eligible parties? I'm so curious to see them, and see what they go for (I read "For Sale" religiously; it's some strange fascination with knowing the current market prices).

So are there any shells for sale or are they all sold?

The four cherry docks are being offered to those on my 2004 backlog list, in the original order in which those persons originally inquired about more docks. While I sense one could certainly use a bidding war to sell these, that's not how it will happen.

Once the docks are close to being ready, I will set a price for them ($200+), and then offer to names on the list until all three are gone. The shells will be allocated in a similar fashion, except (1) the price is already set ($78), and (2) one of them is already being offered as barter for something.

Cheers

Ah, cool. Glad to hear things are coming along nicely. Can't wait to see it!

Awesome, thanks for the info. Sorry I was nosey.

The attached photo is of a scrap piece of the curly cherry being used for the special edition docks. This particular off-cut is being used to fine-tune the surface profile chosen for the tops/bottoms of the new docks -- the normal design calls for half-inch thick tops/bottoms, but I have left the cherry a lot closer to a full inch, and thus it requires some relief around the perimeter to keep it from looking overly chunky.

Cheers

Another view of the same scrap piece of cherry. In both pictures, the surfaces have only been minimally sanded, and a single coat of blonde shellac has been brushed on. In the final product, proper sanding will be done, and 3-4 coats of the shellac will be sprayed on, weather permitting.

EDIT: and despite photographic appearances, the wood is not warped on the lower right (nor elsewhere) -- that's just the curly depth of the wood playing tricks with the light

Cheers

Wow, very nice stuff! Did you buy the cherry specifically for docks or was it from a previous project?

I recently laid out some big bucks for a very small stack of curly cherry boards -- just cuz they were available at somewhat less than the normal outrageous price. I really do think that cherry is the most beautiful abundant hardwood in these parts, and the curls just take it to a new level. It goes without saying (but since I'm typing not talking here..) that the photos don't do it proper justice.

These four docks are being constructed from a single 8' x 5/4 x 9" board, with grain matched top and bottom where feasible. Most cherry is sold in smaller widths, and the wider boards (anything over 8") are priced higher per-board foot, due to their relative scarcity.

I really do appreciate the chance to get into my shop and play with this stuff again. Thanks, all!

Cheers

Wow, looks gorgeous. Can't wait to see it in person.

Very nice. I'd be amazed if I could even *dream* of knowing how to use the tools that you have to create the edges (bevel?) on that raised section.

Mm, only 4 created. Maybe the "PCA TV Out board" is the only empeg thing more rare than these pieces. Perhaps I should have some of buttons cast from solid gold (or translucent gold?!) just to make my project interesting.

Can't wait to see the full docks!

It's called a router. They're actually easier to use than you think, especially if you have a router table.

Naw.. rooters are for managing my internet connectivity, routers are for edge treating the docks (and grooving out the airflow channel).

Cheers

Mmm.. my avatar seems to have gone missing.. uploading a new one here. Please ignore this posting.

Lots of old avatars still used the empeg.comms.net address. Hopefully it will come back shortly.

Also, the user control panel allows uploading of avatars now, though your profile may cause an unrelated bug that I hope to fix tomorrow.

Well, time for an update on these.

Yesterday was our 5th "Go and Get 'Em" geocaching event. I managed to log all 25 new caches in the 24 hour event period, including a healthy nine hours of sleep time, so all is well.

Both the curly cherry docks and the shells are now complete, at least with regards to the woodworking. Next, the shells need to be wired for ethernet, and then sold and shipped; the curly cherry docks will spend much of this week having blonde shellac sprayed onto them. My prototype looks better than I expected after a single coat, so there's still reasonable hope that these babies will shine.

Cheers

Here (attached) is one of the curly cherry docks, with one coat of clear shellac. These are currently light in colour, but cherry does darken with age (exposure to light), so over time they'll mellow to a nice rudy brown.

Cheers

*drool*

Yeah, I second that! *Drool!*

That is beautiful Mark.

It's just a model.

That looks great. I think I'd be afraid to use it!

WOW, very nice. That would look great in my cherry cumputer cabnet. Lets see 150 dollares plus my full works dock on trade in. Tony you do not really need a cherry dock.

Construction and finish look fantastic. It's a shame you didn't do the side pieces in cherry too. Still, quite nice!

I actually like the two-tone effect of using a different material for the sides, not the mention the extreme convenience of already having them on-hand from the last batch of 180 docks.

It takes about 24 individual cuts to make each side piece, along with associated machine setup times for each. And the left and right sides are *different* from each other (mirror images, actually), so not all setups can be shared between the two.

Thus, the only way I would ever make new ones (from cherry or anything else) would be for another VERY large batch of docks.

Cheers

Hey, Mark, if this really is your last batch of docks...

And, being a supporter of the open-source movement...

What do you think of the idea of open-sourcing the dock? (Creating and publishing a set of plans?)

If you have the skills/tools to create the docks the way they are designed, you should be able to reverse-engineer the docks Mark as designed without much problem. I lifted parts of his design for my dock, and the hardest part is just getting all your tools set up to make the precise cuts. The dimesions and general design should be easy to figure out. Not saying everyone should steal the exact design, though.

Okay, the four curly cherry docks now have enough coats of shellac for a nice satin finish. They look good enough to me that I'm thinking of holding one back for myself now.. heh heh. These now need wiring before they can be sold and shipped.

The five shells are also complete, with respect to the woodworking, and also now await wiring of the ethernet connections.

Meanwhile..

While spray-finishing the cherry ones, I had one extra cherry top piece that was used for machine setup/test and also for testing of the shellac finish.

It seemed just too nice to chuck at the end, so I've gone and made a dock out of it, with MDF for all of the other pieces. It took some scavenging of the scrap heap to find a lost pair of side pieces for it, but it's now glued up and ready to sell as a shell. Looks rather nice, I believe.

For now, I'll hang onto it, until all of the other docks have new owners.
Then, it will be time to figure out some way to put it up for grabs here.

Cheers

*gets down on his knees and prays he is lucky enuff to get one*
Please Oh please!!!

I don't think blowing you a kiss would work

Shhhhh....

Hi all,

Today I sent out payment requests for the curly cherry and MDF docks. After I hear back from the initial group, it is possible that some may go to the next few names "on the list".

In conjunction with that, there is now a list of parts and rough instructions on the Home Docks page for wiring up the "shells" that are being sold.

Cheers

The dock wiring info on my Home Docks page has now been updated, with a fresh diagram and colour coded wiring photos to match.

Cheers

Seven of the ten new docks will hit the postal system on Friday (today!), so those who have already paid for them can look forward to their arrival over the next couple of weeks. Still awaiting payment from SonicSnoop and one other, and then to sort out the "scrap heap" dock with the curly cherry lid..

Any takers on that one? EDIT: gone in a flash to The Land Down Under!

Cheers

dang these docks sell faster than a cheap woman in vegas.

Its sent! Got it right this time around too was too excited about getting it and copy pasted wrong address

Cool. That one will go out by express mail on Monday. All of the others are already in transit, and should arrive withing 2-14 days, depending on destination.

I have one other MDF shell here that I'm working down the list on, seeking a buyer who wants an unwired dock.

Cheers

Okay, all docks are in the mail, and some should be arriving at their destinations already. Christian just got his (the scrap heap cherry dock) in Australia, and I expect the Europe-bound ones should be there by now as well. The USA recipients of the curly cherry docks (Priority Mail) should also be receiving theirs by today or Monday. The shells will take another week or so (Regular Mail).

So.. who's got'em already? Photos?

Cheers

I still have to wire it up of course. Won't have time this weekend (AFL Grand Final and associated festivities will take up most of that), but Monday night is currently booked in.

After writing that, I've just realised I left it at work anyway so I couldn't have done it this weekend.

EDIT:

Although I thanked Mark privately, I feel I should thank him publicly also. Thanks Mark!

I just recieved my Dock today and I just have to say: "WOW!" I have never seen something so perfect. Im almost afraid to use it in fear of messing this work of art up My empeg fit in there all nice and snug like a glove. THANK YOU MARK!

Thanks to Mark, I'm the proud owner of a new dock. Just received it a couple of days ago and painted it this weekend. I used 2 coats of Kilz primer to soak into the MDF, then 8 light coats of Moss Green Sandstone finish spray paint, then 2 clear coats of poly (satin finish). All the spraying was done yesterday, and then I built up the rear panel today. When I hooked it up, everything worked the first time. Attached is a photo of the finished product...

Thanks again for the great dock, Mark. I hope to get a lot of good use out of it. Since I finally finished copying my music collection over to my new Empeg from my Central and fixed up all the tags, etc., I'm in the process of FTP'ing a backup copy of all the music files to my PC for safekeeping and easier re-loading...

Next weekend, the car install begins. More photos to come...

Randy

I received mine last week sometime. I've been remiss not to have mentioned it before, but the aftermath of a trip to Cincinnati seriously ate into my posting time this week.

Thanks Mark! Sweet dock. Now I've just got to order that connector...

Hey, your player's knobs look more silvery than usual!

Well, it's the first player I've had. After looking at some of the other photos that others have posted, it doesn't seem out of line...But you are the expert, would you say that these are after-market buttons/knob products?

I didn't think so....Thanks, Randy

I don't think those knobs are aftermarket. They looked normal to me, I don't know what Mark was talking about.

Must just be the light, and my poor memory then (all of my players have translucent buttons/knobs).

Cheers