Macintosh IIcx/IIci 3D printed case

[zigzagjoe]

Here's a quick thing I've been working on: a testbench style case for IIcx/IIci and related designs. Quadra650 board could fit, but some of the mounts will need to be removed as they're in the wrong place. Don't know that i have it in me to finish it out into an actual complete case but figured I'd post in case it's useful to someone. 3MF and STEP files in attached zip.

Designed to be 3D printed in 4 pieces, and then glued together. Requires around 350-400 grams of plastic (depending on infill setting). All sections should be printed with support enabled in order to support the teeth of the PCB mounts. Mind that you get your extrusion dialed in just right - I made the dovetails to fit tightly together so if they're slightly out of whack it'll be impossible to get together.

Some minor issues with it, I had to file the rear right mount a little to fit my IIcx board, and it could do with being a little longer if more than one extremely long card is needed (radius rocket...). Overly long cards will overhang the front in the first slot, or hit the front in the other two slots.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

That's just beautiful from every direction. Very nice!
Is that prototype Rocket #1, #2 or #3? Red-n-Green looks like Christmas!

Wondering if the size of your printer is what has the Rocket and your Mac ATX hanging off the sides? Also wondering if you might be planning to put a clip for retention of a DC power cord feeding a PicoPSU in that adapter? That's the only thing possible that I can think up for simplifying the setup and keeping your bench cleared for action.

Simply amazing!

 

[zigzagjoe]

That's just beautiful from every direction. Very nice!
Is that prototype Rocket #1, #2 or #3? Red-n-Green looks like Christmas!

Wondering if the size of your printer is what has the Rocket and your Mac ATX hanging off the sides? Also wondering if you might be planning to put a clip for retention of a DC power cord feeding a PicoPSU in that adapter? That's the only thing possible that I can think up for simplifying the setup and keeping your bench cleared for action.

Simply amazing!

This would be -1, as I arranged with Max long before the TP post went up knowing I wanted to trade for one

Regarding sizing, I simply did not consider that there might be a nubus card longer than the logic board. Nothing a bit of dremeling couldn't sort, and I added a front support for the rocket anyways on mine. To be honest, this was mostly made so I could keep the cards mounted (and somewhat protected) rather than disassembling the when I was done playing. I got my IIcx logic board as a new-old-stock apple service part so I only have the LB.

I put off putting any accommodation for the power scenario as there isn't a simple and clean way to feed it. I tried a PicoPSU briefly they are not suitable for my application. Quality concerns aside, they don't have the cajones to run a machine with a rocket. I measured about 60 watts at the DC input of the one I (briefly) tested with, which means it was easily pulling over 10 amps on the 5V rail, exceeding the maximum rating of any picoPSU model I've seen. It'd be fine without the rocket but still not my preference for anything but quick testing.

As I usually have an ATX PSU on my desk I would use that to feed it anyways, even if it is rather inelegant.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I put off putting any accommodation for the power scenario as there isn't a simple and clean way to feed it. I tried a PicoPSU briefly they are not suitable for my application. Quality concerns aside, they don't have the cajones to run a machine with a rocket.

Du-oh! Forgot all about the Rocket by the time made my way thru the pics and noticed a Pico cord might clean things up on the bench just a teensy.

Congrats on that pre-prototype release Rocket. Methinks -1 is a fabulous serial number, I'd be even more jealous if it had a bit longer sticker covering that EPROM porthole. Dearly loved the liftoff sound of that second boot in the early 90's. Still have it, a second one and finally the SCSI II Daughtercard of my dreams in the day. So I'm good.

Lovin' your handiwork!


edit: maybe I should do a pic workup of my Duo testbed to post for you? It started life as a metal Makita toolbox.

 

[zigzagjoe]

Du-oh! Forgot all about the Rocket by the time made my way thru the pics and noticed a Pico cord might clean things up on the bench just a teensy.

Congrats on that pre-prototype release Rocket. Methinks -1 is a fabulous serial number, I'd be even more jealous if it had a bit longer sticker covering that EPROM porthole. Dearly loved the liftoff sound of that second boot in the early 90's. Still have it, a second one and finally the SCSI II Daughtercard of my dreams in the day. So I'm good.

Lovin' your handiwork!


edit: maybe I should do a pic workup of my Duo testbed to post for you? It started life as a metal Makita toolbox.

Properly speaking I believe it would be #2, as Max of course would have #1

I was not prepared for the startup noise. Not quite sure why my Macs keep ending up with bits of dell in them, this one has a speaker stolen out of a dell laptop due to the need to hastily cut off the originally designed speaker mount to fit the rocket.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Properly speaking I believe it would be #2, as Max of course would have #1

I was not prepared for the startup noise. Not quite sure why my Macs keep ending up with bits of dell in them, this one has a speaker stolen out of a dell laptop due to the need to hastily cut off the originally designed speaker mount to fit the rocket.

That one would be an illogical -00, you're safe with a Serial #-1 DeclROM sticker I think?

 

[Jockelill]

Nice stuff!! Well done! This will be very useful for the bench !

 

[olePigeon]

@zigzagjoe You should go full-on Frog Design prototype next. Macintosh IIc Pro: the compact workstation.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Suddenly back on my silly PicoPSU suggestion again.

Not for powering the entire system in this case, that's a no go. But powering just the rocket and whatever else might be cobbled together on an SE/30 PDS pileup might be a different story, no?

 

[zigzagjoe]

Suddenly back on my silly PicoPSU suggestion again.

Not for powering the entire system in this case, that's a no go. But powering just the rocket and whatever else might be cobbled together on an SE/30 PDS pileup might be a different story, no?

I personally wouldn't condone the use of a PicoPSU for anything but quick, non-authoritative bench testing. The ripple of the 5V rail is typically poor and usually provides more like 5.2-5.3v which for my testing use cases mean I'm testing for an ideal scenario rather than a lowest-common-denominator one. Trusting a cheap PSU with my expensive vintage bits doesn't sit well either.... but, that's just my opinion.

Even for a one-off project, every PicoPSU I've seen states a requirement for active cooling (without specifying how much) when 5v load exceeds 6a and still has a low peak current value of usually 8A. In my testing the rocket alone was happy to pull ~ 5 amps easily, so with a LB that usually pulls a minimum of 4A unloaded you've already shot the budget.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Duly noted. Was hoping to avoid requirement of beefing up the SE/30 PSU to handle a RocketStacked PDS. Still a good thing to provide for tapping power from a higher output PSU to a connector on the PDS Riser with cutoff, no? Power's a beyotch on that thing.

Sorry for the tangent. Time to slow down, getting a bit manic with all the fun and all.

 

[zigzagjoe]

Duly noted. Was hoping to avoid requirement of beefing up the SE/30 PSU to handle a RocketStacked PDS. Still a good thing to provide for tapping power from a higher output PSU to a connector on the PDS Riser with cutoff, no? Power's a beyotch on that thing.

Sorry for the tangent. Time to slow down, getting a bit manic with all the fun and all.

The little meanwell module-based retrofit boards are a good idea, though they still tap out at 10 amps of 5V. it's good quality and still relatively compact.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Nice, but officially overloaded with info input, crazy notions and mania balancing efforts.

Got linkage to something that'll run a Rocket, if not an entire PDS stack?

 

[zigzagjoe]

Here's a low effort Wombat testbench, less the nubus slots. It's not fantastically retained, but it's still better than a bare PCB.

Nice, but officially overloaded with info input, crazy notions and mania balancing efforts.

Got linkage to something that'll run a Rocket, if not an entire PDS stack?

Not immediately... I usually use a seasonic flex ATX that used to live in a SE/30 PSU before being evicted.