Okay, I have a mold struck on my C1000 and I've put in a material order for a small sheet of kevlar.
To this point I've had difficulty finding a reliable carbon vendor whose prices don't suck, but I'm getting closer.
With regards to added features, modifications...
I don't know what you want, and I want everyone to have *exactly* what they want. For now I am re-creating the sharp body panels exactly, from a struck mold in composite. The idea with the internal CF access is a good one, as well as some of the other thoughts. Keep in mind, though, every modification to the relatively simple base design complicates things pretty heavily. Each hole/opening in the composite requires it either to be laid in (as in, the material is layed with a hole in the desired area prior to any finishing) or machined in. Machining is easier, laying looks prettier. But still, I chose to do this only because the case of the zaurus is relatively simple in shape and angles. The challenges will be the CF/Headphone/IrDA ports, battery door mechanism, and speaker outlet.
If you want to submit a custom design, that's fine. However, I cannot tell just what you want and where you want it by you telling me 'do this'.
I will need you to provide a mold for the design you wish, and hopefully a CAD model or just a detailed drawing of how you want the finish product to look. If you want to go nuts with accessability and extra ports, you may want to look into an option such as plate CNC machining. CNC machines can take your CAD model and mill it exactly from a solid chunk of aluminum (or other material) to your specs. The upside, it may be cheaper, and it will be faster and more precise. The downside is, it will be heavier, less durable, and won't look nearly as cool (although brushed aluminum does look nice and hides scratches well).
I personally would go for a CNC job if this is what you are looking for.
Right now I am thinking of carving a mold for two variants, a slightly fatter version to accomidate integrated electronics such as bluetooth, wifi, and a larger battery, and the normal sized exact duplicate shell.
But I'm jumping the gun. We'll see if I can get my hands on some raw materials first. If anyone knows a source for thin, non sandwiched CF fabric, normal carbon color, 2x2 pattern preferably, let me know.
I'll keep the thread updated.
Update: Found a few rolls on eBay... checking out the sources, may have it sooner than I thought, although the proto model will almost definetly be in kevlar.
