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NEW Injection Molded - iMac G3 Inner Bezels

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A lot of discussion appears to be going on about MacEffects intentions and it's offensive that one would imply we are doing something only for profit and don't care about the community. The Kickstarter alone did not cover the costs, about 60% and the rest was self-funded. We are taking a huge capital risk for the hope of at least breaking even, let alone a profit.

I will give an official position at this time: The STEP files (not STL) will not be released to the public for a couple reasons 1) Given the measurements and tolerances of the bezel it would not be suitable for 3d printing and we don't want to give any implied warranty that it can be done (we tried and failed - as have others) 2) You will see from a Kickstarter update tonight that the beta testers found some tiny fitment issues that are causing problems because of the extreme tolerance requirements mentioned in #1 so the STEP file we have is not even perfected yet and needs a few tweaks.

We have no problem with anyone wanting to create a STL file, however, unless someone has an industrial machine capable of really high resolution it would be a fruitless effort. We know this and don't want to open up the can of worms of disappointed people spending time and money to do something we know has a high probability of failure.

We respect those who feel we should manage our projects differently, but this is our position taken based on an understanding of the risks involved.
 
No parts on the iMac G3 have extreme tolerances. Your statement doesn't make any sense. You don't have to imply or explicitly give a warranty or guarantee. You can release 3D meshes as-is with no warranty implied and allow people to try their own hand at printing them. Since when has 3D mesh data released for free or for money ever carried an implied guarantee of any sort?


No Macs from the 90s have extreme tolerances of any sort in their designs. Certainly not anything that cannot be reproduced with modern high end enthusiast printers (either FDM or Resin) with correct slicing settings and nozzle diameters.
 
derekdavidkent said:
No parts on the iMac G3 have extreme tolerances. Your statement doesn't make any sense. You don't have to imply or explicitly give a warranty or guarantee. You can release 3D meshes as-is with no warranty implied and allow people to try their own hand at printing them. Since when has 3D mesh data released for free or for money ever carried an implied guarantee of any sort?


No Macs from the 90s have extreme tolerances of any sort in their designs. Certainly not anything that cannot be reproduced with modern high end enthusiast printers (either FDM or Resin) with correct slicing settings and nozzle diameters.
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3 Revisions on our tooling is certainly enough evidence that the tolerances are tight. The front bezel provides structural connection to several areas of the iMac. Anything an LLC provides whether free or for a fee comes with an implied warranty and is difficult to disclaim. We have tried printing these bezels and it just doesn't work. You are welcome to prove us wrong by creating your own.

We will not be releasing any design files for the aforementioned reasons. There will be no further discussion on the subject and we'd appreciate your understanding.
 
maceffects said:
Anything an LLC provides whether free or for a fee comes with an implied warranty and is difficult to disclaim
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That is factually incorrect. LLCs may sell goods with clearly disclaimed warranties in writing. Your making this objectively false assertion is extremely strange.
 
finkmac said:
it's a very sad response, but such was expected. hopefully someone can Step Up and Help The Community.
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Unfortunately that inner bezel is for adapting an LCD screen into an iMac G3 sort of custom gut/case mod.
However what I may do is order an OEM new old stock iMac inner bezel and use its measurements to remix that linked object into a viable replacement for the OEM item.
If I do so I’ll print it and test fit to verify and then release it to users.
What a shame to have to do all this nonsense when a perfectly good mesh already exists.
Incredibly shameful and very baffling.
 
derekdavidkent said:
No parts on the iMac G3 have extreme tolerances. Your statement doesn't make any sense. You don't have to imply or explicitly give a warranty or guarantee. You can release 3D meshes as-is with no warranty implied and allow people to try their own hand at printing them. Since when has 3D mesh data released for free or for money ever carried an implied guarantee of any sort?


No Macs from the 90s have extreme tolerances of any sort in their designs. Certainly not anything that cannot be reproduced with modern high end enthusiast printers (either FDM or Resin) with correct slicing settings and nozzle diameters.
Click to expand...
Derek, I agree entirely with what you're saying but I recommend you stop while you're ahead, for your sanity. MacEffects isn't about "preservation," or if they are, only if it's financially beneficial to them. Take a look at a prototype Lisa 2 they sold on eBay not that long ago, and note the fact they deliberately did not post publicly the unpreserved ROMs inside, making it "the owner's choice" to do so, presumably to increase the value for prospective collectors. I imagine it's similar to arcade people and their fiefdoms of undumped prototype games they deliberately do nothing to archive because that would affect the value, and we can't ever have a hobby or history without it being profitable for us!

Also, note -in that listing- it is all of a sudden not difficult to not provide a warranty for something apparently the MacEffects LLC is selling. I wonder why it is different now with these bezels? I'm not even getting into the Lisa 1 bezel fiasco, or the downgraded Lisa 2s with no Twiggy drives and a reproduction bezel they were oddly shifty about declaring - not using "reproduction" or mentioning it in the title, only in the description - if you went to an auto parts store and saw a Ford logo on a part, and had to really look hard for the "non-original part" declaration...what exactly is that company trying to portray their product as? Makes you think.

Artificial scarcity is one of the stupidest problems to have in this hobby and yet the Apple community suffers with it hardcore. Somehow for decades every other community is full of people more than happy to put lots of time into projects they don't expect to get money from and do for the love of the hobby, but in Apple land all of a sudden you're a bad person for thinking it's kinda silly to produce bezels or (ahem) accelerators in limited quantities, then refuse to release design files, so at the end of the day the reproductions are just as hard to get (and expensive!) as the originals. You're all of a sudden ENTITLED and SAYING PEOPLE SHOULDN'T GET PAID FOR THEIR TIME. Because, you know, two things can't be true at once. So just don't bother, it's not worth your sanity. Some people really don't like their fiefdoms being criticized.
 
The response seems reasonable to me. It seems unreasonable to feel entitled to the product of someone else's work as well as to question their completely reasonable approach to something akin to computing history preservation and restoration in producing a high quality version of these Bezels.
 
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Utterly shameful. Revolting.

Well. I guess I’ll order an OEM bezel and get to work either remixing designing from scratch, 3D scanning or a combination of these techniques.
 
I'm not going to argue the UCC § 2-316 with randos on the internet. Zero benefit but tons of risk for something we know will not work in most 3d printers would be unethical and could expose us to liabilities. Please, by all means, create your own.
 
Given that none of the people complaining ever bother to create anything of their own for the community at any price, speaks a lot more of them than us. Please lead the community by example if we are not providing enough value to the community.
 
maceffects said:
Given that none of the people complaining ever bother to create anything of their own for the community at any process, speaks a lot more of them than us. Please lead the community by example if we are not providing enough value to the community.
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I already stated I am going to take on this project and release the mesh once reproduced and tested. I have CAD experience but am not an expert, so it will take time.
Sadly this is just reproducing work that is already done and withheld arbitrarily (and per the description of your historical behavior, perhaps not arbitrary and in fact calculated)

Good luck with your kickstarter, hopefully all the people are happy with the bezels and don't give you too much trouble over that imaginary compulsory warranty you mentioned as the justification for the withholding (y)
 
maceffects said:
I'm not going to argue the UCC § 2-316 with randos on the internet. Zero benefit but tons of risk for something we know will not work in most 3d printers would be unethical and could expose us to liabilities. Please, by all means, create your own.
Click to expand...
Does the section of code you just referenced not explicitly state that if you say "there's no warranty," there's no warranty? What am I missing here? Genuinely not being hypothetical here - I am kinda bewildered.
1722365725310.png
I'm fine being a random on the internet though. Being famous is overrated.
 
cj_reha said:
Does the section of code you just referenced not explicitly state that if you say "there's no warranty," there's no warranty? What am I missing here? Genuinely not being hypothetical here - I am kinda bewildered.
View attachment 76459
I'm fine being a random on the internet though. Being famous is overrated.
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The reason you're finding Maceffects comments confusing is because he's not telling the truth.
 
derekdavidkent said:
I already stated I am going to take on this project and release the mesh once reproduced and tested. I have CAD experience but am not an expert, so it will take time.
Sadly this is just reproducing work that is already done and withheld arbitrarily (and per the description of your historical behavior, perhaps not arbitrary and in fact calculated)

Good luck with your kickstarter, hopefully all the people are happy with the bezels and don't give you too much trouble over that imaginary compulsory warranty you mentioned as the justification for the withholding (y)
Click to expand...
derekdavidkent said:
Utterly shameful. Revolting.

Well. I guess I’ll order an OEM bezel and get to work either remixing designing from scratch, 3D scanning or a combination of these techniques.
Click to expand...
derekdavidkent said:
No parts on the iMac G3 have extreme tolerances. Your statement doesn't make any sense. You don't have to imply or explicitly give a warranty or guarantee. You can release 3D meshes as-is with no warranty implied and allow people to try their own hand at printing them. Since when has 3D mesh data released for free or for money ever carried an implied guarantee of any sort?


No Macs from the 90s have extreme tolerances of any sort in their designs. Certainly not anything that cannot be reproduced with modern high end enthusiast printers (either FDM or Resin) with correct slicing settings and nozzle diameters.
Click to expand...

Derek,
Not sure what on earth you’re talking about. You’re keen to fight over something because you seem to not want to actually have to put in your own time, money and effort but ride on someone else’s dime, time and coattails.

Why not go ask Apple to release all their files and code. It should all be free.
Nothing should be withheld.
All because you want to not have to do it yourself because you have a right to it?

The reason projects like these occur is because the many many members of the community spend tens of thousands with a private enterprise to get them made, professionally and correctly. Not some two bit on demand product.

If you just give away your work all the time for free, then you are nothing more than a slave.

Your little rant about the ROMs.. well guess what, if he doesn’t have the time, equipment or want to dump those ROMs, that’s their prerogative - not some attack on the community.

So go ahead, create your CADs and put them out there for free. And when some random produces them and sells them at a massive markup without referencing your work, I don’t want to hear boo from you.
 
digitalrampage said:
Derek,
Not sure what on earth you’re talking about. You’re keen to fight over something because you seem to not want to actually have to put in your own time, money and effort but ride on someone else’s dime, time and coattails.

Why not go ask Apple to release all their files and code. It should all be free.
Nothing should be withheld.
All because you want to not have to do it yourself because you have a right to it?

The reason projects like these occur is because the many many members of the community spend tens of thousands with a private enterprise to get them made, professionally and correctly. Not some two bit on demand product.

If you just give away your work all the time for free, then you are nothing more than a slave.

Your little rant about the ROMs.. well guess what, if he doesn’t have the time, equipment or want to dump those ROMs, that’s their prerogative - not some attack on the community.

So go ahead, create your CADs and put them out there for free. And when some random produces them and sells them at a massive markup without referencing your work, I don’t want to hear boo from you.
Click to expand...
Nobody at any point suggested giving anything away for free. You are rambling utter nonsense
 
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