Macintosh (1984) chrome finish

[bibilit]

I have been looking at a Macintosh (1984) a couple of weeks ago, and was surprised because the bottom cradle (the part where the front casing is bolted to) was chromed, don't know if this is standard because in another, the same part was standard.

So the question is, was that part chromed in the very early models ?

 

[unity]

They are never chromed, never have been. If it was, it was done by a third party. Pic?

 

[MJ313]

Pics, Pics, Pics!

 

[bibilit]

Is no longer with me, but i have asked for pics.

I was really surprised when i cracked open the casing, IIRC even the floopy drive support was polished / chromed.

 

[olePigeon]

Whoa.  That'd been a sight to see.

 

[bibilit]

Here some pics:







Original or Chrome plated by the customer ?

 

[olePigeon]

Huh.  I think you're right.  Looks like someone chrome plated their chassis. :lol:

 

[Macdrone]

chrome plated by customer, as the drive sled is not plated. 

 

[unity]

-E revision, so not an early unit anyway. -B would be early, first runs.

Anyway, thats pretty sweet looking but I doubt if factory. It something I would expect from the models with clear windows from Hyperdrive. Was it Hyperdrive that had the demo units with windows?

 

[olePigeon]

Yeah, GCC's HyperDrive demo.

 

[Bunsen]

Well I guess that's one way of making sure it doesn't rust.

 

[CompuNurd]

I painted the inner chassis pieces of my SE/30 black, but the chrome looks so much better!

How does one go about chrome plating a chassis, anyway?

 

[olePigeon]

Take it to an electro plating shop.  You could also do other metals, not just chrome.

I'd be interested in powder coating some stuff.  Would be fun to do that to each part in the Picasso Mac colors (blue, green, yellow, red, and black.)  Maybe on an SE or SE/30?  Main chassis could be blue, red HDD sled, green floppy sled, and maybe yellow peripheral support thingy (the metal bracket that you often use for ethernet or video adapters.)  Guess you could paint the CRT yoke.

 

[bdurbrow]

Do be aware that powder coating adds some thickness to the parts, and they won't necessarily fit back together well afterwords - depending on the parts in question, of course.

Just as an art project, it might be kinda' fun to make a set of silicone moulds and cast a case in clear resin, to show off the powder coated colors on the interior parts.

 

[olePigeon]

I explored that idea, but apparently the clear resin shrinks too much.  Nothing would line up.

 

[bdurbrow]

Bummer.

Hmm... vacuum formed polycarbonate or acrylic? That's what they use to do stormtrooper armor...

 

[olePigeon]

That'd be too thin.  Your only options are injection mold or CNC milled plastic.