Some equipment comes with a backstory so impressive, you can’t help but treat it with reverence. For instance, this Hantek scope’s front panel and knobs have melted when a battery pack went up in flames right next to it. Then, it got donated to the CADR hackerspace, who have in turn given us a scope front panel refurbishing master class (translated, original), demonstrating just how well a typical hackerspace is prepared for performing plastic surgery like this.
All of the tools they used are commonplace hackerspace stuff, and if you ever wanted to learn about a workflow for repairs like these, their wiki post is a model example, described from start to end. They show how they could use a lasercutter to iterate through figuring out mechanical dimensions of the labels, cutting the silhouette out of cardboard as they tweaked the offsets. Then, they designed and printed out the new front panel stickers, putting them through a generic laminator to make them last. An FDM printer helped with encoder and button knob test fits, with the final version knobs made using a resin printer.
Everything is open-source – FreeCAD knob designs, SVG stickers, and their CorelDraw sources are linked in the post. With the open-source nature, there’s plenty of room to improvement – for instance, you can easily put these SVGs through KiCad and then adorn your scope with panels made out of PCBs! With this visual overhaul, the Hantek DSO5102P in question has gained a whole lot more character. It’s a comprehensive build, and it’s just one of the many ways you can compensate for a damaged or missing shell – check out our comprehensive DIY shell guide to learn more, and when you get to designing the front panel, we’ve highlighted a few lessons on that too.
So, they spent 10 times the value of the O-scope to repair it?
B^)
Looks like it’s a 200$-ish scope, where does ut day they spent 2000$ on this fix?
Similar question comes up when poeple claim “I have made the 100$ CNC myself”.
Then those guys do not mention having spent thosusands of bucks that made them the workshop capalble of making those thing easily.
Ha ha.
Do you expect to pay for the thousands of dollars a chef invests in knives every time you order Boeuf en Croute?
O do course not.
The cost of reusable tools do t count in the cost of the project.
Silly.
Only really an issue if you want to start your own workshop from zero with a CnC as your very first tool. If that is you… you aren’t doing it right.
This is a sad comment on a hacker website.
They didn’t spend 10x the value of the scope, they already had all the gear and their costs were just the materials (resin for the knob prints, paper for the stickers etc).
Also this particular hackerspace appears to be in Russia which means the answer to the “does this make sense to repair” question is probably different to what it would be for a hackerspace in the west.
yeah! like, it’s a hackerspace, having a lasercutter and 3d printers around ain’t nothing out of the ordinary. Also, repairing things like these is seriously fun, which is something that might just override monetary calculations =D to top it off, indeed, in post-Soviet countries in general, there’s a good amount of pro-repair mentality that you’ll encounter, where repairing something is more… fitting? respectable? noble? than buying a replacement.
I guess some people did not see the “smiley” emoticon.
In other words; “It’s a joke, son!”