The Story of FiiO M17-From @JamesFiiO
Link: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-story-of-fiio-m17-from-fiio-james.960565/
Chapter 4 The process of designing the M17 leather case, and relevant answers about some suggestions from our users
The design of the M17's leather case was a challenge. In this chapter, I would like to introduce our design process and some eliminated solutions.
The first challenge came from its mech-style appearance. There are many diagonal planes on the body of the M17 while the leather material is rather soft than the body of the M17. Therefore, a lot of just-needed materials need to be pressed to ensure the case is not too thick. Otherwise, it will affect the grip comfort and operation. The other challenge was that the 6 sides of the case have functional requirements of buttons, connectors, volume knob and heat dissipation. Also, it needs to protect the whole M17 comprehensively.
1. Design and manufacture of the M17 leather case
The design of the M17 leather case is the same as that of the M17. It also includes a large number of hexagonal elements on the hollow at the knob, the press button, and the stainless steel heat dissipation grille on the back. Even if the entire leather case protects the M17 strictly, we can still sense it.
Let me share with you the interior design and production process of the leather case, and then talk about why we would finalized it. In order to maintain a soft touch while strengthening the back cover with stainless steel grilles, the leather material should be processed as thin as possible. First, we tailed an expanded view of the M17, as well as openings of every connector and port out of a whole piece of cattle hide.
After finishing the cutting of the case, the next step was to hot-pressed the buttons with copper-formed mold. So did the FiiO logo.
To make the case a mech style, we pasted a manganese steel sheet that has already been molded to every side of the case. This key step not only achieves a mech styling, but also makes it more resistant to fall.
Finally, through the hand-made process by craftsmen, the final case fits perfectly with the M17.
From the expanded view of the case above, you may be curious why we did not fill in the button positions on the leather case? The picture below well explains it. If the buttons were protruding from the leather case, then the M17 cannot be pushed into the case.
2. Other schemes
Before choosing the above schemes, we had discussed several other schemes.
(1) A design with full openings on the side
Since leather is soft, it will be easily deformed with over-long openings when cutting it, and the subsequent processes will be more difficult. The leather can be better shaped with the help of manganese steel or other hard materials. Over-long opening edges will be easy to flange and warp, and will affect the grip comfort during using. In addition, the larger the opening, the weaker the protection when the device falls down.
(2) A design with semi-openings on the side
It will also be easy to flange and warp with semi-openings on the side. In addition, it will cause another problem, i.e. the leather between buttons will be very narrow and weak to fracture.
(3) Partial openings of the button
This design also has narrow links between buttons. And FiiO is an international brand, so we have to meet most users' needs by making the opening size fit as many users as possible around the world.
Link: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-story-of-fiio-m17-from-fiio-james.960565/
Chapter 4 The process of designing the M17 leather case, and relevant answers about some suggestions from our users
The design of the M17's leather case was a challenge. In this chapter, I would like to introduce our design process and some eliminated solutions.
The first challenge came from its mech-style appearance. There are many diagonal planes on the body of the M17 while the leather material is rather soft than the body of the M17. Therefore, a lot of just-needed materials need to be pressed to ensure the case is not too thick. Otherwise, it will affect the grip comfort and operation. The other challenge was that the 6 sides of the case have functional requirements of buttons, connectors, volume knob and heat dissipation. Also, it needs to protect the whole M17 comprehensively.
1. Design and manufacture of the M17 leather case
The design of the M17 leather case is the same as that of the M17. It also includes a large number of hexagonal elements on the hollow at the knob, the press button, and the stainless steel heat dissipation grille on the back. Even if the entire leather case protects the M17 strictly, we can still sense it.
Let me share with you the interior design and production process of the leather case, and then talk about why we would finalized it. In order to maintain a soft touch while strengthening the back cover with stainless steel grilles, the leather material should be processed as thin as possible. First, we tailed an expanded view of the M17, as well as openings of every connector and port out of a whole piece of cattle hide.
After finishing the cutting of the case, the next step was to hot-pressed the buttons with copper-formed mold. So did the FiiO logo.
To make the case a mech style, we pasted a manganese steel sheet that has already been molded to every side of the case. This key step not only achieves a mech styling, but also makes it more resistant to fall.
Finally, through the hand-made process by craftsmen, the final case fits perfectly with the M17.
From the expanded view of the case above, you may be curious why we did not fill in the button positions on the leather case? The picture below well explains it. If the buttons were protruding from the leather case, then the M17 cannot be pushed into the case.
2. Other schemes
Before choosing the above schemes, we had discussed several other schemes.
(1) A design with full openings on the side
Since leather is soft, it will be easily deformed with over-long openings when cutting it, and the subsequent processes will be more difficult. The leather can be better shaped with the help of manganese steel or other hard materials. Over-long opening edges will be easy to flange and warp, and will affect the grip comfort during using. In addition, the larger the opening, the weaker the protection when the device falls down.
(2) A design with semi-openings on the side
It will also be easy to flange and warp with semi-openings on the side. In addition, it will cause another problem, i.e. the leather between buttons will be very narrow and weak to fracture.
(3) Partial openings of the button
This design also has narrow links between buttons. And FiiO is an international brand, so we have to meet most users' needs by making the opening size fit as many users as possible around the world.
