More tales from Bandley 3

[adespoton]

And then there were the last minute RFI issues. Originally all was supposed to be well, but the far-field tests indicated that the case seams leaked a bit more than was allowed -I remember the term "slot antenna" being used.
The solution was to spray a coballoy (paint) coating inside the case -some were actually done using an arc-spray (metalizing) process. Both added some thickness and that caused interference at the seam, which caused difficulty on assembly. The solution was to put each Mac face down and push the back onto the bezel with a large arbor press -a stunningly manual step in an otherwise automated factory.

Hah! I remember trying to get some electronics (with a slot) through the FCC process in the late 90s, same issue. For the test piece, we wrapped it in copper, but for the production pieces, we did the same thing with coballoy. Amazing how many problems "slot antennas" can cause.

 

[Mike68k]

Love these stories. Thanks so much!!! I read the whole folklore.org and the book that had the same content. Love love these stories. Would love to hear your persona story as well. How’d you join Apple. Your different roles. Etc.

 

[KURB]

Cool man thanks for sharing. Such an interesting and pivotal time in the history of all of humanity in my opinion. The 80's were sweet. The days before technology was invasive. And people still went outside lol.