Minimerc

Mechanistic · 2001–2001 · Consumer Electronics · Core Team of 2 stakeholders

Mechanical redesign of the 'Mercury Low Cost' (MLC) set-top box for Microsoft/WebTV, compacting the HDD mounting bracket to resolve depth, thermal, and EMI shielding constraints ahead of FCS release.

Mechanism
Forensic Summary
Trigger

Urgent need for a 'Mercury Low Cost' (MLC) unit requiring significant mechanical compaction and thermal/EMI resolution.

Intervention

Redesigned the HDD mounting bracket to reduce system depth to 265mm and resolved vent/EMI shielding issues in the Pro/ENGINEER database.

Result

Database released on schedule for final prototype photos, closing the Depth Redux and Hitlist Fixes ECOs in a single 58-hour push.

Mechanical lead on the Mercury Low Cost (MLC) set-top box compaction for Microsoft/WebTV.

  • Redesigned the HDD mounting bracket to cut system depth to 265 mm, resolving thermal and EMI shielding constraints in the Pro/ENGINEER database.
  • Closed the “Depth Redux” and “Hitlist Fixes” engineering change orders as a single HDD-bracket intervention.
  • Logged 58 hours to bring the database to release-ready state, delivering final prototype photos on schedule.
  • Modeled entirely in Pro/ENGINEER — no additional toolchain required for the compaction redesign.