The Beautiful LouLou Box

Many thanks for providing the photos and the accompanying information about the LouLou Box story. We found Beat’s letter so lovely that we would like to publish it as-is:

Dear hörbert team,

first of all, a heartfelt thank you for offering a DIY kit – a great decision. It inspires people to develop and realize their own ideas and thus fosters creativity in young and old alike.

As a long-time tech hobbyist – and a grandpa for two years now – this was a perfect opportunity for me: a hörbert would be built for my granddaughter!
In the beginning, it was (almost) clear that I would make the case out of wood.

A few design drafts followed, and from these came the preliminary final design:

The requirements for the case were:

• As robust as possible
• Layering of multiple plywood panels, positioned with wooden dowels and glued, back panel screwed on
• As compact as possible (with the hope that the sound quality wouldn’t suffer too much)
• All controls as well protected as possible from damage and accidental activation
• Carrying handle made from a piece of climbing rope
• Loops for attaching a shoulder strap, a carabiner, or a rope for hanging in the treehouse or wherever else
• 3D-printed, colorful panels on the front
• Appealing design – the whole thing should look a little bit technical»
  (a matter of taste, of course)

Milling the plywood panels with my conventional milling machine would have been laborious but feasible.
However, partly due to the matching milling tools that still needed to be acquired, it would also have been quite expensive. ☹

That’s when I had the idea of also producing the panels additively with the 3D printer – while keeping the concept otherwise the same.

I also made the following adjustments:

• Rotary knob slightly recessed – in the event of a fall onto a flat surface, it is now always protected from impact by its position and by the right-hand loop.
• The panel by the keyboard was only added now.
  However, I updated the wood version accordingly (see image above) in case I decide to build a wooden case later on.

For the connection from the rotary knob encoder to the circuit board, I needed a longer ribbon cable.

Power is supplied by rechargeable batteries together with the USB-C Upgrade DIY Kit.

Finally, two pictures after completion:

It was really fun – thanks again!

Great, by the way, that with Butterfly 2 the browser setup mode is now also possible without opening the case

We sincerely thank you for sending in the story and for allowing the LouLou Box to grace our “Wall of Fame” of customer creations!