I am, once again, struck by the fact that I’m living in the future. Here’s how I prototyped a product in 14 days, while away visiting my family.

I. Find a problem.

On the 15th, I stepped on my Kindle, and cracked the screen. It’s the second time I’ve had a kindle with a broken screen.

II. Try to Buy Solutions (“Research the Competition”)

I replaced the broken Kindle immediately, but then I went on the hunt. I wanted a hard-sided kindle case —- something that could survive being stepped on getting out of bed. I’ll be darned if I couldn’t find one. Even Otterbox, saviour of iPhones across the globe, didn’t make a case that would protect the kindle’s screen.

III. Design Solutions

I’m leaving the country on the 31st, so I actually designed two cases: my ideal case, and a case that could be made before I left. Here’s my sketchbook:

Keep in mind, not more than 16 hours have passed since I broke my kindle; I doodled these things in my sketchbook before I slept that night. (What else could I do? The novel I was reading was… indisposed.)

IV. Measure (twice)

I popped open Inkscape; CAD is way overboard for such a simple task.

Then I grabbed a ruler. As it turns out, the Keyboard Kindle is 1/10 of an inch wider than the published specs suggest. Always measure.

Flat-pack design is easy to do and cheap to manufacture at short notice. Here’s the SVG I made the next morning. There are three different shapes; 6, 4, and 2 of each respectively made for 12 parts.

V. Get a quote

I knew Pololu did one-off laser-cutting runs, and that they had a fine variety of materials already at hand (of which I picked the cheapest). I had not used their services before this, but I had heard good things.

I sent in my SVG, and a query about time —- I had only 15 days before I left this half of the planet.

VI. Approve; Pay

24 hours later, I had a PDF of the final pattern ready for my approval, and a recommendation for expedited shipping.

I printed out the pdf, cut out the parts, and test-fit. It looked good.

For $38, they’d cut the parts —- well inside the range of kindle cases I’d considered two days before. (I did, alas, need to pay FedEx handsomely; the total was just under $50).

This was on the afternoon of the 17th, 2 days after I broke my kindle. The new one hadn’t yet arrived.

V. Laze About

I proceded to hike, watch movies, read, paint, draw, and generally carouse for the next 10 days, while my work was done for me.

I also picked up a bottle of superglue and a yard of elastic.

VI. Assemble

Gluing the parts together took all of 20 minutes. The result? A close-fitting, hard-sided, clear acrylic kindle case, produced days before the deadline and on budget:

Are there things I would change? Sure! I designed it in one morning, and so I forgot some obvious amenities: you can’t charge the kindle while it’s in the case, for instance. But I’m happy with it, and I’m confident it will protect my kindle while I traipse around New Zealand.

Please comment and discuss on HN!

Posted on 27 January 2012