My case for the FloppyEmu!

[olePigeon]

I was at the doctor's office today for an upper endoscopy, so I got the day off cuz of the anesthesia.

Here's what I worked on, I'm gonna attempt to print it when I get to work tomorrow, see how it fits. It's a case for BMOW's FloppyEmu.

The two square holes in the front are for LEDs. I'm gonna solder a red and green to the status and power LEDs on the board so they'll blink up front. I'm also making buttons that'll fit in the holes on top. Unfortunately I don't think my 3D printer is fine enough detail to put embossed lettering on the case, so I think I'll use water decals.

I added the grooves and rounded corners typical of vintage Macs. Kinda looks like a Lisa from a certain angle... Ooo. Maybe I could make a miniature Lisa case that sits vertically. :lol:

 

[techknight]

oo That looks neat. Definitely a better artist than I, which is one of the reasons why I never got onto the 3D printing bandwagon boom over the last year or so. Takes an artist.

 

[bigmessowires]

NICE! I'm definitely interested to see how well it fits.

Instead of replacing the buttons, can you make a "peninsula" in the top cover above each button, that bends downward when you push it and makes contact with the button underneath?

Looks very cool!

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Very cool, oP! how about putting a logo on it if you can't do fine lettering . . .

. . . hrmmm, lemme think . . .

[] ]'>

 

[bigmessowires]

The tomato is just my random avatar, if you need a logo use this: http://www.bigmessowires.com/bmow-title.png

But shouldn't it have the olePigeon logo?

 

[uniserver]

it looks like something from frog design

how much do you think it would cost to make one? i'd like one

 

[olePigeon]

I'm gonna stop by the stationary store on my way home and get some water decal paper. I'll make a Tomato (like the Apple logo) with the BMOW logo next to it.

We got some new colors in for the 3D printer. We have transparent (which I think I'll start with) plus blue, green, and... a 3rd color I can't remember.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

The Tomato fits better with the fruit motif, it is a berry after all . . .

 

[uniserver]

sorry that is a lot of tomato!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato

According to FAOSTAT, the top producers of tomatoes (in tonnes) in 2011.[20]

Rank Country Production

(MT)

1 China 48,572,921 <-----------------------------

2 India 16,826,000

3 United States 12,526,070

4 Turkey 11,003,433

5 Egypt 8,105,263

6 Iran 6,824,298

7 Italy 5,950,215

8 Brazil 4,416,652

9 Spain 3,864,120

10 Uzbekistan 2,585,000

I got side tracked looking up if they still call them a fruit

lol:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nix_v._Hedden

Nix v. Hedden, 149 U.S. 304 (1893),[1] was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that, under U.S. customs regulations, the tomato should be classified as a vegetable rather than a fruit.

one more tidbit:

Italy

The recorded history of tomatoes in Italy dates back to 31 October 1548.

Tomatoes were grown mainly as ornamentals early on after their arrival in Italy. For example, the Florentine aristocrat Giovanvettorio Soderini wrote how they "were to be sought only for their beauty" and were grown only in gardens or flower beds.

I should probably donate to wikipedia one of those days

 

[olePigeon]

how much do you think it would cost to make one? i'd like one

Good question, no idea. I'll see if I can figure out the cost somehow. There's gotta be a way to see how much filament is used during a print, then I can divide that into the cost of a spindle of filament.

 

[uniserver]

is that stuff super expensive? or can i just send you some weed wackier string to replace it? ) its bright florescent green

 

[olePigeon]

It's about $40 a spool.

I've successfully printed the bottom part of the case, snaps right in. It's perfect.

However, I'm having trouble with the top part. After it finishes processing the model, it wants to fill in the openings (like the holes, the window, and the grooves) with the infil pattern. I don't know why it's doing that. :?: They're supposed to be empty. It shouldn't be filling those areas.

I've set the inil to 0%, I'll see if that works.

 

[olePigeon]

So far, so good. Setting infil to 0% seems to have done the trick. Now I have to wait 20 minutes or so for it to finish printing.

 

[olePigeon]

Here's the prototype! I already found a few measurement issues, so I've fixed those on the model. Don't know if I'll have enough time to print another one. All in all, not too bad! It's even clear plastic, so you know it's a prototype.

Not too shabby considering I used a ruler to get the dimensions. Off by a millimeter or so for the opening to the SD card, and the case is a bit short. Was supposed to be flush somewhat flush with the connector (off by about 2 or 3 mm.)

I'll need to file the window down a bit, the LCD didn't quite fit so I had to take it off. I've made it a couple millimeters bigger on the new revision. It kinda bungled the holes, even at 0% infil. Not to worry, can just drill those out easy.

 

[olePigeon]

Solved the infil issue. There are inside and outside faces for objects, and Google doesn't care which is which. However, the software uses the inside and outside faces for determining where to fill in empty space. So I went through the model and found out that a lot of the faces were facing the wrong direction, so I flipped them, and am now printing it again, including the new adjustments.

 

[uniserver]

great job… looks good! This stuff is freaking CUTTING EDGE.

 

[bigmessowires]

Looks nice! You could get the exact dimensions and locations of stuff from the Eagle file that's on the "Build Your Own Floppy Emu" page. Or if there's a particular dimension you need, just let me know and I can tell you.

I can't tell from the photo - does the case cover the IDC-20 connector? Doesn't that prevent you from using the extension cable?

With the width of the case, is it still possible to plug it directly into the floppy port at the back of the Mac, without obstructing the neighboring ports for the mouse and stuff?

 

[olePigeon]

The IDC connector is if you wanna connect it internally, right? If so, you probably don't need the case.

I was going to use a 19 pin cable to connect to the floppy port, I didn't think about it being connected directly. I shoulda considered that. Oops. :-/

 

[uniserver]

maybe you could just make the hole bigger were the Floppy port exits, it just has to be thick enough to thread a IDC cable through…

my only other concern is the weight hangin off the back of the floppy port...