I have deployed my Mothbox Pro for a few weeks now and I had some thoughts on the current design configuration involving the target and front lid design. I found that the front lid is a bit cumbersome and wont stay attached easily when carrying it to my deployment locations. Zip tying it to the box is not the biggest of issues but the process is a tad tedious and then I am stuck with zip ties to carry and have to remember to bring them back along with the front lid when collecting my box. Also having to pack the felt target separately seems unnecessary and is again just another thing to carry.
My thought was to combine the front lid and the targets functionality into one part. This way there are not additionally things that are needed to be carried for deployment and collection. My new target/front lid design folds in half with a 3D printed hinge when acting as a front lid. When its time to set up the target, you can remove the front lid and unfold it, and then slot into the target arms. The felt is folded inside to protect it from the environment while acting as a front lid.
This prototype is fully 3D printed and I made sure that each part was designed to print without supports.
I added 4 extruded arms to one of the lids that slot into the existing holes on the outer shell. This provided a much more secure attachment while avoiding the need for additional zip ties.
I do have some slight interference with the target arms. It is still much more secure than the original design and my next prototype iteration will address this.
The middle hinge is secured to each half of the lid using raw 3D printed filament as a hinge pin.
The first hinge design made the assembly have a slight gap in the middle at the connection point and a gap near the bottom when folded. the current hinge now is printed at an angle to minimize this gap.
I attached some test felt using super glue. I only glued the felt to the lids to maintain full mobility. To remain folded while in transport, my first though was to add Velcro patches.
Velco might not be strong enough to keep the lid folded. I am also worried that the velco would be picked up by the Mothbot when processing photos. I am currently looking for other ideas.
The other design issue I am running into is that when the lid is folded, the glued felt scrunched up. I expected this to happen. I am looking into better ways of attaching the felt to avoid this.
I am open to any and all suggestions!