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