Recently TiVo came out with a new set-top box called Bolt and the internet had a lot to say about it. Because, well, it looks like this:
它对我们眨眨眼吗？我们不确定。但是我们是sure that we want to further investigate the design of this thing, as well as what lies beneath.
Packaging
The first thing we can’t help but mention is themassivesticker Best Buy slapped on, right over the hero shot. The nerve! Not to mention the box was totally mangled when we bought it—really degrades the unboxing experience.
很好地提醒您在设计包装时考虑零售和搁架协议（例如，将商店标签放置在哪里，您的产品是否需要挂在架子上，是否只有显示显示模型）。
But, you’ll be glad to know the packaging itself really wasn’t that spectacular anyways. Pretty cheap corrugated cardboard, die cut and glued with a lithography print on top. Based on the weight of the cardboard, it’s already evident that TiVo didn’t care much or think through the packaging experience.
Cable Box
Pulling out the cable box, our first impression is that TiVo is trying to be like Apple. They wanted to go from a plain ol’ black box to something beautiful and eye-catching with white high-gloss finish and rounded corners we’re so familiar with.
We can just imagine some executive talking with one of their designers saying, “you know… just make it more like Apple!透明
但是，我们应该注意，倾斜的底盘据说会增加盒子下方的气流，因此风扇可以更有效地冷却其双核CPU和3GB的DDR存储器。为了设计的目的，也许并不是全部设计。
The cable box is covered with a protective film, which is important when shipping the product to keep its surface prestine.
The photo on the right shows what happens when you scratch just your fingernail on the surface; we talk a lot with our customers to consider the surface both before and after you unwrap the product.
What’sreallybugging us in the design, however, is how bad the tolerances are, which results in this unsightly gap in the back.
在您在媒体上看到的主要英雄图像中，您可以在正面看到偏置分开线。
使大型注入模制零件完美地融合在一起是一个非常具有挑战性的，而且昂贵的要做。
从工程师的角度来看，我们将设计有目的的缝隙或分裂的线路，这样您就可以沿着线路保持均匀的边缘。
感觉也很便宜，就像我们可以打破它一样。在这一点上，我们想知道壁厚是多少，或者肋骨不够大。（好的，拿着盒子的家伙is6’5…)
在后面，我们找到了卡布尔塞德插槽。这是一个非常大的组件，很高兴他们可以使安装不同的电缆牌相对访问。
有趣的是，背面的规格信息被贴上贴纸（标准）（标准）拍打。
取下后壳，我们在主PCB的中间发现了一个巨大的散热器，通过对流过程将主处理器表面的热量从主处理器的表面上取走。我们还看到了现成的粉丝和500 GB的硬盘驱动器。
Taking a closer look at a portion of the back plastic casing, we find a ton of interesting info on how this thing was made. Each company has their own marking style for categorizing injection molded parts, which is what all the markings on the back are for. The dots show the volume of parts made on a specific injection mold tool, and we also see this is腹肌plastic。
We also noticed that some of the plastic parts came from a second revision mold (A2) and some came from a third revision mold (A3), which could be a theory on why the tolerances don’t quite match up…
Other injection molding 101 features: 3 snap fits, ribs for strength and rigidity + ejector pin with gates in the middle. This would have been made with a 2 part mold with 3 actions for the snap fits.
We also see that the walls here are at 2.1 mm thickness, a pretty standard wall thickness for consumer electronics. If TiVo wanted to make a more rigid body, they could have increased the number of ribs or changed the material.
On the side of the box we find a very interesting light pipe! Light pipes are awesome components many people don’t know a lot about, even though we see them in almost every consumer electronic device (Check out our guide to prototyping light pipes).
The wall thickness here is only .75mm (vs a nominal 2.1mm), which allows the light inside to shine through only the thin wall section.
The actual mechanism that directs the light is this LED shroud, which encases a clear PMMA plastic part to keep the light in. The basic principles of a light pipe is to have 100% internal refraction to direct the light to a specific point.
还有第二条轻型管，可以通过Tivo图标的中心引导光。这是一种非常酷的轻型管道机构，在机械上很简单，但非常有效。有一个简单的单个PMMS LightPipe，将光引导到半敞开的黑色Tivo徽标。在主壳体上，有一个Tivo徽标切口，可让黑色插入物与2个挤出销一起放入。然后，透明的PMMA LightPipe将光线从LED重定向到黑色Tivo徽标的边缘，以创建一个“神奇”的照明徽标。cool！
Here we have the antennas, spaced as far apart as possible in order to get the strongest signal possible. This is also why the antennas are facing different directions and we imagine there was close attention to detail during quality control to make sure the antennas were just so.
The antenna placing might have also contributed to constraints on the size of the device; a great example of design vs. engineering requirements.
天线对面是HDMI，RCA，USB等的连接端口。由于用户将在设备上压力最大的压力，因此Tivo（智能）决定在这里使用简单的盖章铝制塑料加固塑料。
The piece of aluminum is attached using adhesive —a very simple and low cost solution— and it’s important to note that alignment here would have been very important to get right. To help assist with the alignment, the TiVo engineers leveraged the ribs, which contact the connector plate, to make sure the metal plate matches up with the 9 holes.
Last, but not least, here’s a high-res image of the main PCB. We’re in the process of creating a BOM for the main components on the PCB, somake sure to signup for our newsletterto get the update!
+如果您爱EE并喜欢拆除，give us a shout— we’d love to have you contribute for the next one.
Controller
并进入控制器。控制器的设计是一个非常著名的，久经考验的过程。前壳是一个简单的2部分注入模制件，底部黑色外壳也是如此，而橡胶垫是压缩模压硅。
Ahh wonderful dremels, so useful!
打开控制器后，我们确切地看到了我们的预期 - 一个单个PCB利用硅垫连接导线以按下每个按钮。对于控制器而言，这是一个非常普遍的设计，我们鼓励您拆开一个旧的遥控器以自己检查！总的来说，这个华丽的新Tivo盒子的设计并没有给我们留下深刻的印象。就是说，我们认为工业设计并不是电缆盒的关键功能，而是需要工作。
Now time to put this thing back together to see how it functions…
