6 ms·

I do lots of crazy CNC machining, own a mechanical engineering/industrial design company, and think this housing is unreal if its really machined from a solid b

by hop 16y ago

I do lots of crazy CNC machining, own a mechanical engineering/industrial design company, and think this housing is unreal if its really machined from a solid block of aluminum. The undercuts, the thin walls, the perfect finish, a mass produced part... they are really pushing the boundaries.

pavs 16y ago
Not a big mac fan boy, but I have to agree they are really pushing the boundaries in design and products in almost every aspect of personal computer market that I can think of. Even their server looks sexy as hell: http://www.apple.com/xserve/ http://www.apple.com/xserve/
wmeredith 16y ago
Would you mind expanding in this a bit? I think it's really interesting.
- hop 16y ago
  For a unibody macbook pro, they stamp the underside curvature (I think...), then put it in a fixture and hog out the aluminum in similar fashion to this- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHTQG_7bdbg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHTQG_7bdbg, then they finish the sides, add tapped holes and cut out the cd slots and ports from the side with a small endmill. For this, http://s1.guide-images.ifixit.net/igi/SiKdJKFBvUOZvqYK.huge http://s1.guide-images.ifixit.net/igi/SiKdJKFBvUOZvqYK.huge, they either put it on end and machined the inside with a big, long endmill, then followed with some smaller ones to get those inside radii... or came down through the big round hole with an upside down T-shaped cutter and hogged out the material with underside cuts. Then cut out those little features near the end opening, somehow I don't know, and then detail the mounting features on the disk opening and cut the slot for the CD and laser cut the the little eject pin next to it. Then they sandblast them, probably robotically b/c its so perfect, and then hard anodized.
Andys 16y ago
Would it really be machined? or just cast?
- hop 16y ago
  CNC Machined, you cant die cast with that accuracy or get all that inside geometrey - http://www.apple.com/macmini/design.html http://www.apple.com/macmini/design.html
spotter 16y ago
Clearly apple does the design and value-add but these are the people actually pushing the boundaries of machining: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn
- hop 16y ago
  Foxconn certainly pushes the limits of mass production, but Apple's engineers make their designers visions come to life and figure out how to do manufacturing no one else has done before. Johnny's CNC play ground - http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/blog/uploaded_images/ive2-712809.jpg http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/blog/uploaded_images/ive2-7...
  - ugh 16y ago
    That photo is from a documentary [1] in which Jony Ive said that a big part of his work was designing fixtures that hold the parts in the machines. I always figured that Apple designed the process and others merely implement that, they don’t seem like the kind of company that works with many ready made parts. [1] http://www.objectifiedfilm.com/ http://www.objectifiedfilm.com/
mikepurvis 16y ago
I'm pretty blown away too. I've always assumed that "solid block of aluminum" really meant that these things were cast and then cleaned up, but I can't imagine how that would be cast... in any case, it really is nuts.

by hop 16y ago

pavs 16y ago

Not a big mac fan boy, but I have to agree they are really pushing the boundaries in design and products in almost every aspect of personal computer market that I can think of. Even their server looks sexy as hell: http://www.apple.com/xserve/ http://www.apple.com/xserve/

wmeredith 16y ago

Would you mind expanding in this a bit? I think it's really interesting.

hop 16y ago
For a unibody macbook pro, they stamp the underside curvature (I think...), then put it in a fixture and hog out the aluminum in similar fashion to this- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHTQG_7bdbg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHTQG_7bdbg, then they finish the sides, add tapped holes and cut out the cd slots and ports from the side with a small endmill. For this, http://s1.guide-images.ifixit.net/igi/SiKdJKFBvUOZvqYK.huge http://s1.guide-images.ifixit.net/igi/SiKdJKFBvUOZvqYK.huge, they either put it on end and machined the inside with a big, long endmill, then followed with some smaller ones to get those inside radii... or came down through the big round hole with an upside down T-shaped cutter and hogged out the material with underside cuts. Then cut out those little features near the end opening, somehow I don't know, and then detail the mounting features on the disk opening and cut the slot for the CD and laser cut the the little eject pin next to it. Then they sandblast them, probably robotically b/c its so perfect, and then hard anodized.

Andys 16y ago

Would it really be machined? or just cast?

hop 16y ago
CNC Machined, you cant die cast with that accuracy or get all that inside geometrey - http://www.apple.com/macmini/design.html http://www.apple.com/macmini/design.html

spotter 16y ago

Clearly apple does the design and value-add but these are the people actually pushing the boundaries of machining: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn

hop 16y ago
Foxconn certainly pushes the limits of mass production, but Apple's engineers make their designers visions come to life and figure out how to do manufacturing no one else has done before. Johnny's CNC play ground - http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/blog/uploaded_images/ive2-712809.jpg http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/blog/uploaded_images/ive2-7...
- ugh 16y ago
  That photo is from a documentary [1] in which Jony Ive said that a big part of his work was designing fixtures that hold the parts in the machines. I always figured that Apple designed the process and others merely implement that, they don’t seem like the kind of company that works with many ready made parts. [1] http://www.objectifiedfilm.com/ http://www.objectifiedfilm.com/

mikepurvis 16y ago

I'm pretty blown away too. I've always assumed that "solid block of aluminum" really meant that these things were cast and then cleaned up, but I can't imagine how that would be cast... in any case, it really is nuts.