What specific point were you saying this in relation to?
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NEW Injection Molded - iMac G3 Inner Bezels
- Thread starter maceffects
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Probably calling him a liar? At a guess.
What specific point are you referring to
Seriously LOLing at this thread 
Honestly, is it worth preserving a G3 iMac? I had two of those fuckers over the years: a slot-loading Graphite and the original Bondi Blue. The Graphite had very high hours on it (it was owned by some IT firm and there was significant burn-in on the CRT) but it was near my house and I got it for a song. Had it for a few months when I noticed the frame holding the CRT had some large cracks in it on both sides (there's probably a thread on here from 2010 or so). Sold it not too long after and moved on to the Bondi, which also had a host of failing plastics (the final straw was when the cover for the CD drive broke off). Saved the HD and sold it.
Personally, I like the G3 for its aesthetics, and there's the nostalgia factor as I remember when these things were new back in elementary school. Otherwise, there's not much else going for them, and I rather prefer my B&W G3 (w. G4 board) to run OS 9.
Honestly, is it worth preserving a G3 iMac? I had two of those fuckers over the years: a slot-loading Graphite and the original Bondi Blue. The Graphite had very high hours on it (it was owned by some IT firm and there was significant burn-in on the CRT) but it was near my house and I got it for a song. Had it for a few months when I noticed the frame holding the CRT had some large cracks in it on both sides (there's probably a thread on here from 2010 or so). Sold it not too long after and moved on to the Bondi, which also had a host of failing plastics (the final straw was when the cover for the CD drive broke off). Saved the HD and sold it.
Personally, I like the G3 for its aesthetics, and there's the nostalgia factor as I remember when these things were new back in elementary school. Otherwise, there's not much else going for them, and I rather prefer my B&W G3 (w. G4 board) to run OS 9.
Seriously LOLing at this thread
Honestly, is it worth preserving a G3 iMac? I had two of those fuckers over the years: a slot-loading Graphite and the original Bondi Blue. The Graphite had very high hours on it (it was owned by some IT firm and there was significant burn-in on the CRT) but it was near my house and I got it for a song. Had it for a few months when I noticed the frame holding the CRT had some large cracks in it on both sides (there's probably a thread on here from 2010 or so). Sold it not to long after and moved on to the Bondi, which also had a host of failing plastics (the final straw was when the cover for the CD drive broke off). Saved the HD and sold it.
Personally, I like the G3 for its aesthetics, and there's the nostalgia factor as I remember when these things were new back in elementary school. Otherwise, there's not much else going for them, and I rather prefer my B&W G3 (w. G4 board) to run OS 9.
fixing things is satisfying.
Yeah but you need to know when to call it a day. Can't save them all.
Perhaps. But I think the iMac for a lot of people tends to be a very special machine. Inherited or owned since youth, vs purchased as a collectible. So fixing tends to be more prioritized vs other models. I’ve anecdotally noticed this to seem to be the case. It is with mine for example.
Also fixing something can be a matter of leaving it and doing it later. That is preferable to do for a lot of people vs throwing out or selling a broken product.
I worry that pointless arguing over this will dissuade maceffects from pursuing these great projects in the future. I see both sides here to a degree - I 100% get why having an STL for people to experiment with would be useful, and I also 100% get why maceffects doesn't wish to release one.
If @derekdavidkent is able to pull off making one, that would be great. A 3D printed part certainly wouldn't have the same strength and precision as an injection molded part, but there's definitely room for a middle ground for those who don't need something precise/perfect and just want their iMac to stay together. For those who want to preserve the original fit, color, and strength of the iMac, maceffects part is a godsend. I will likely be ordering one myself once they're available.
Again, I just really wish we could discuss these things without personal attacks to either party as that never leads to anything useful or productive, and will only harm both parties' motivation to provide these great resources to the community.
If @derekdavidkent is able to pull off making one, that would be great. A 3D printed part certainly wouldn't have the same strength and precision as an injection molded part, but there's definitely room for a middle ground for those who don't need something precise/perfect and just want their iMac to stay together. For those who want to preserve the original fit, color, and strength of the iMac, maceffects part is a godsend. I will likely be ordering one myself once they're available.
Again, I just really wish we could discuss these things without personal attacks to either party as that never leads to anything useful or productive, and will only harm both parties' motivation to provide these great resources to the community.
Do you think they might've done it wrong? There's a reason they ended up using injection moulding.
This is exactly right. If making new projects causes arguments and attacks from the community (re: BlueSCSI), then where is the motivation to make these projects going to go?
All it does it damage the hobby and causes more problems then it solves. We need to understand that sometimes not everything will be open source and sometimes the creator might just say no.
I also think having an STL would be useful, but I think that MacEffects has a good point in not wanting to potentially release a file that will result in someone's iMac collapsing internally due to the 3D print not being strong enough, or to get bad publicity as a result of this.
Nobody really wins here, and I think derek is free to do what he wants by making his own bezel but if it results in his iMac falling apart then who cares, he did it to himself.
No need to slander MacEffects though, he's done so much for the community already.
Most likely yes. I’m an additive and subtractive manufacturing expert. It’s what I do professionally. Properly done ABS FDM prints are enormously strong. They can be used to print firearms, car parts and other directly load bearing and impact/impulse interacting parts. There’s no reason why it wouldn’t work to hold an iMac together (it’s also why ABS is being used in the very kickstarter we are discussing here)
I’m curious to hear details on how their ABS print tests were done and why specifically they failed.
I hope you aren’t referring to me. I never slandered anyone. Maceffects made a few assertions that were false and I pointed that out. That’s not slanderous at all. I also never called him a liar as someone else here has suggested. Pointing out false statements isn’t calling someone a liar.
You're right. Here's in the US, written defamation is called "libel."
Defamation - Wikipedia
This was about a year ago and I hired a 3d print house to do analysis and do the prints. They did the ABS prints and we found that 1) the six holes on the side that mount the rear case were not precise enough while maintaining the fit for the lower left and right plastic assemblies 2) they needed to add structures to support it to prevent warping and it still warped. Each one they did has a problem. The plastic was pretty strong from the print but could never get it to be precise enough. I had their lead guy review it and he said it’s just not a design that lends itself to 3d prints. ABS prints would be the strongest option outside of injection molding. If you can master it and solve all the problems, surely you’d have dozens of people wanting prints in the $40-$60 range.
I had the company that made the mold do SLA which was very precise and fit good but was weak and couldn’t support the CRT.
SLA is not an appropriate process for this application.
You are describing a failed print in your ABS testing. Did you have any successful prints?
It sounds like ABS print testing wasn’t completed for this product if the people you hired didn’t successfully print the object.
I was told in advance it probably wouldn’t be suitable for 3d printing and accepted the risk. I cannot hold them liable for the several failed prints at my request. I did the 3d prints mainly to validate my design for fitment purposes before tooling. They, and probably you, have more knowledge in the area of 3d printing so I trusted their expertise.
I can’t speak to their level of knowledge if they were unable to successfully print that object. It is fairly rudimentary for high quality modern FDM printers. Was this recent or years ago?
Also to clarify an ABS print of this object was not tested.
Just want to make sure that’s understood here.
The company being unable to produce the part doesn’t equate to the part failing in testing in the iMac. It’s a very important distinction that’s being explained here.
Testing of an ABS printed part was not performed.
I tested a couple of the prints personally and had major fitment issues and that was on ones they thought may be good enough. This was just over a year ago. Not a single ABS sample fit correctly enough to totally assemble. It’s possible that a high quality ABS print could sustain the weight but it would, of course, be lower in strength than an injection molded part. The bigger issues for ABS is getting all the fitment issues resolved and I have a strong suspicion that would prove difficult and have many failed prints.
If this site wasn't the Mos Eisley of Mac forums, admins would have stepped in by now.
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