A1200 3D Case Project

[Steve T]

Hey all, I'm building this for rendering and a 3D printed item, or possibly other processes, thought I would share some of my progress in here as it's perhaps starting to become worth showing.

It will take a while but I'll probably replicate all the internal components too!

Early days, here's a render of the rough shell....

[crazyc]

Cool.

[Steve T]

Thanks!

Test of some keys, I think they need more work

Also installed one of my 3d printable expansion covers, because why not

[crazyc]

How about LED cutouts and the indented bit for sticking on an Amiga 1200 badge?

[Steve T]

Still to come, this will be a 1:1 replica, as exact as I can make it, see more details added as it progresses.

[crazyc]

Looking forwards to it. !

[Steve T]

Originally Posted by crazyc

Looking forwards to it. !

I'm glad someone is!

testing out some raised text, and the led board is modelled then placed into the casing and cutouts made...

[BarryB]

Why not get a real 1200 case 3D scanned and save all the work

[Steve T]

a 3d scan would be a useful reference, but would only be part of an approach to accomplishing this, but feel free to obtain one which is large and accurate enough to accomodate it, then see what you're left with.

[tassel]

Looks good
Which 3D modelling program do you use?

[Steve T]

All of them

I see you're an experienced 3d guy yourself, You can check out some of my other work here:

http://coolhandgraphics.blogspot.co.uk/

and some other 3d print work:

http://coolhandcustoms.blogspot.co.uk/

starting to look the part, also got rid of the 'classic' yellow hue for something a bit fresher...

[ElectroBlaster]

Brilliant work on this!

Having recently seen those C64 and Atari Jaguar case moulds I am wondering if a kickstarter could bring the funds to make a new metal cast mould. Then later on getting things sorted to begin forming new cases.

One can only dream lol

[spudje]

Is this activity related to this topic? http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=77587
I would love to see new A1200 cases, but as discussed in the thread, preferably a little bit revised to house multiple addons.

[Amiga1992]

The keys have too soft borders, if you print them they will feel a bit weird!
The case looks great so far though

[Steve T]

Appreciate the support fellas,

Akira, they probably should be a little harder, but I'm not happy with the keys shape yet overall, once i'm happy with the keypad area i can start populating the rest of the board, and the plastic and metal parts of the board itself will be modelled separately too.

btw its a real plain typeface and I could take an educated guess but does anyone specifically know the one C= used for the keys themselves?

spudje, it began long before then but was a much rougher model until very recently, I think before considering anything else its worth understanding and documenting the original case, after that we'll see.

EB, thanks, I think give it a few years and see where the technology and costs are at for bigger prints which have the look and feel of injection molding, the costs of original replacement cases (which are insufficient for many of us anyway) are probably only going to go up, and get more yellow/brown, while 3d printing on demand comes down and can be any colour or shape you want.

[Steve T]

test render of the basic upper shell, still missing the all the features, vents, drive cutouts, clips etc.

i'm aware of that rendering error, indicates a problem which could prevent printing, but easy to fix.

always thought it would be nice to have a hinge so the casing can be rotated at the rear and just held at the front by clips or just a couple of screws, for easier access like the bonnet / hood of a car.

*edit* I also uploaded a test version of just the upper case to shapeways, in their white nylon sintered material its coming to around £120, or if feeling flush, around 1000 for stainless steel

[eXeler0]

SteveT what software are you using?
User Tommes has done some pretty epic 3d models and renders of C64s and pretty much all big box Amigas, unfortunately still no A1200 but one day maybe. Anyhoo he's modeling in Autodesk Inventor and models look printer friendly.

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=75525

Anyhoo take a look at the other thread about new Amiga cases.
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=77587
Long story short, original moulds are lost, new would cost A LOT.
So a proper/accurate 3d model is the best first step in any case.

[Tommes]

Originally Posted by Steve T

test render of the basic upper shell, still missing the all the features, vents, drive cutouts, clips etc.

i'm aware of that rendering error, indicates a problem which could prevent printing, but easy to fix.

always thought it would be nice to have a hinge so the casing can be rotated at the rear and just held at the front by clips or just a couple of screws, for easier access like the bonnet / hood of a car.

*edit* I also uploaded a test version of just the upper case to shapeways, in their white nylon sintered material its coming to around £120, or if feeling flush, around 1000 for stainless steel

Nice!

[MrFluffy]

Interesting, I'm not really into replicating a case personally because the yellowing doesn't bother me and I don't have a 1200, but I have done reverse engineering and modelling then manufacture of motorcycle parts and the weapon of reverse engineering choice there is to take sample points with a cmm arm and then import it into 3d cad program of choice, solidworks, inventor etc using the measured reference points to establish the critical locations of fasteners etc accurately in reference to some established plane. So if you know someone who works in quality control at a manufacturer, they often have a portable cmm for final verification purposes which could measure your case in work one lunchtime or something.
3d scanning I'm not so taken with also, it takes a age to clean up the part into a form suitable for processing and manufacturing from if its the sole source.

[Steve T]

If you don't own a 1200, then a case for one would be pretty un-interesting

Its personally very dear to me, and many others here who grew up with the machine, I worry about the crazy people who voted it worst machine in a recent poll, hopefully the relevant authorities have been notified

Particularly exploring 3d printing possibilities, most interesting for me is that everyone can get something unique. As for engineering tolerances, I think its perfectly possible to get close enough by analogue measurement for something like this, really very few individual components and not many dependencies, like making sure the motherboard fits is almost a 2d task, it being such a flat plane.

If making an engine block for a kawazaki Ninja, yeah i'd pump some coin into a different solution, for sure 3d scanning has a way to go, esp for tasks like an Amiga case, I think you would struggle to make sense of it and it would be quicker to build a new, clean structure around it.

Tommes, Hey thanks, I think it is nice also, though a long way to go, as is your own work, err, nice I mean

I'm sure seeing your great work on the big boxes helped motivate me