{"id":533739,"date":"2026-07-05T05:15:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T05:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/533739\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T05:15:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T05:15:10","slug":"hw-labs-dockframe-heads-to-crowd-supply-with-swappable-tool-cards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/533739\/","title":{"rendered":"HW Lab’s DockFrame Heads to Crowd Supply With Swappable Tool Cards"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Warp<\/a><\/p>\n

Crowdfunding is one of the best ways to turn an idea into an actual product. A creator pitches something, sets a funding goal, and backers decide whether it is worth building.<\/p>\n

While most campaigns stay small, a few do break out completely. The original Pebble smartwatch<\/a> asked for $100,000 in 2012, walked away with over $10 million, going on to ship more than two million watches. It has since returned<\/a> as an open source-focused outfit.<\/p>\n

HW Media Lab<\/a> already knows that path. Its first product, WebScreen<\/a>, a hackable secondary display for gamers and creators, asked Crowd Supply for $5,250 and came back with $10,718, more than double its goal.<\/p>\n

Now they are back again with a new creation that focuses on modular, repairable USB-C docking.<\/p>\n

Just a generic USB-C hub?\"laying<\/p>\n

Not quite; the DockFrame<\/a> is a modular USB-C hub built around Framework<\/a>‘s open source Expansion Card<\/a> slot standard. Instead of a fixed set of ports, it gives you four open slots that accept the same cards Framework sells for its laptops and desktops.<\/p>\n

The hub itself operates on USB 3.2, with USB-C DisplayPort and Power Delivery passthrough up to 100 W on the downstream ports. The case is injection-molded and translucent, supports Framework’s Desktop Tiles<\/a>, and has a LEGO-compatible stud grid on the bottom so multiple units can be stacked once four slots stop being enough.<\/p>\n

Slot in any of the Framework Expansion Cards<\/a>, and DockFrame will treat them like they belong there. This means any spare USB-A, HDMI, Ethernet, or storage cards left over from a laptop upgrade do not have to sit in a drawer; they can go straight into the hub instead.<\/p>\n

HW Media Lab builds its own Tool Cards too:<\/p>\n

The Multimeter Card can read DC\/AC voltage, current, and continuity.The Mini Hub Card adds four USB 3.0 ports, each capable of 5 Gbps transfer speeds.The Power Supply Card is a programmable buck-boost supply with USB PD input up to 100 W.The BreadBoard Card carries a Seeed Studio XIAO board and standard 0.1 inch headers for prototyping work.\"an<\/p>\n

If none of the four fit what you need, you can design your own card using the same open slot standard or build a custom host app that talks to the onboard MCUs over USB serial, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or ESP-NOW.<\/p>\n

Repairability is also a focus here, as the DockFrame is held together with screws instead of glue. Makers, embedded engineers, educators, and anyone tired of keeping a dock, a multimeter, and a bench supply as three separate boxes are the target audience here.<\/p>\n

While you wait\u2026<\/p>\n

The DockFrame is yet to receive an official release date or a price tag. While you wait, you can keep an eye out on the Crowd Supply<\/a> page for it, and if you want to share feedback, the official product page<\/a> has a form you can fill out.<\/p>\n

All the hardware-related files, like schematics, layouts, firmware, and the FreeCAD case files, should be available on GitHub<\/a> once the crowdfunding campaign ends. You can track development by joining HW Lab’s Discord<\/a> server.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Crowdfunding is one of the best ways to turn an idea into an actual product. A creator pitches…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[61,60,80],"class_list":["post-533739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}