George Gray Posted April 2, 2003 Share Posted April 2, 2003 Nice touch adding the 3.5 inch drives to the Northstar... Did'nt the Channel F also originally come with 'woodgrain' paneling? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharky Posted April 2, 2003 Author Share Posted April 2, 2003 Wow! George Gray You came aross another Northstar Horizon That one looks like wood but for this photo is looks like what Mintyfresh says a "wood-colour decal" But the other picture i found on Old-Computers really does look like wood and according to someone on the previous paage says - it is real wood. Its look quite different, were they sort of HomeBuilt Computers ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharky Posted April 2, 2003 Author Share Posted April 2, 2003 Just take a look inside the Northstar Horizon without the Wood. You'll think it would get awfully hot inside there. And it certainly looks Home-built. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerGnome Posted April 2, 2003 Share Posted April 2, 2003 well.. to venture a guess.. you got a big ass cooling fan behind the power supply up there in the upper right hand corner, now, with a simple wooden box cover like that, I would install cooling ports on the bottom of the metal chasis. that would draw the air from the bottem, over all the parts, then out that fan and should do a rather adiquite job of evacuating the hot air. Now.. I think woods all kinds of classy.. so I'm gonna quote myself froma previous forum and thread... hmmm.. a wooden computer tower...... intrigueing.. I don't see why that would be a bad idea at all.. might even look a little classy, some nice milled oak, stained nicely with a gloss urithane finish. i could just retain the eternal steel "skeleton" of the case, and build a shell to go over it for the external case. seems like a kick ass case mod design to me! as for wood cart cases.. seems fairly easy.. cut and shape a block to the same external demensions of the original cart case, then route out the back of it to accomodate the PCB, and pin mechinisms, for simplicity we'll omit the retracting dust cover. the shaping of the contact end of the case would be a bit tricky, I think theres only about an 1/8" to play with in the area where the cart mates up to the console... next you have a small block that locks the PCB contact to the center position, then theres a thin cover that closes it all in, you can then lock that all down with skrews so you can get in there if you need to.. or.. seal it all in with epoxy, fill any seams with a matching filler, sand smooth all around, stain, and seal. of course, for the graphic, I would make a branding stamp, and hand script the end label with a wood burning pen, or, have another stamp.. something like this would have to be hand carved, fitted and assembled. unless maybe you had access to a digital milling machine. the hand made route.. I wouldn't make any more than fifty.. and charge out the ass for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Gray Posted April 2, 2003 Share Posted April 2, 2003 The Horizon was sold both as a kit and an assembled product. I also found a magazine article that did, in fact, state that the cover WAS wood. I stand (er, sit) corrected. The chassis, though, was metal. I agree, the wood look is very classy. The pictures I found are of machines that have been modified over the years. Those 3.5 inch drives were not around when that machine was new. On that same site they show the hard disk unit. A real behemoth, sadly, though, no wood on that one. The replacement machine was shipped in a cabinet very much like the TRS 80 Model 3. Very sterile. There was another computer that came in a woodgrain cabinet, but it's name escapes me. The cabinet was very similar to the Northstar Horizon but did not have any disk drives at all. I *THINK* was something like Ohio Scientific. It had dual processors (Z80 and 6800, I think.) Any one know what I am think of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharky Posted July 25, 2003 Author Share Posted July 25, 2003 Hmm if the Atari 2600 console has no wood on it what-so-ever, wonder why some people perfer to it as "2600 4-switch woodgrain" like here http://atari.room34.com/systems.phtml No wonder why this all began to confuse me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Posted July 25, 2003 Share Posted July 25, 2003 Hmm if the Atari 2600 console has no wood on it what-so-ever, wonder why some people perfer to it as "2600 4-switch woodgrain" like here http://atari.room34.com/systems.phtml No wonder why this all began to confuse me. Because while it has no wood, it DOES have a woodgrain look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharky Posted July 25, 2003 Author Share Posted July 25, 2003 Hmm if the Atari 2600 console has no wood on it what-so-ever, wonder why some people perfer to it as "2600 4-switch woodgrain" like here http://atari.room34.com/systems.phtml No wonder why this all began to confuse me. Because while it has no wood, it DOES have a woodgrain look. I guess thats why then, Althought I wish it was REAL wood, maybe someday, something might replace Plastic, I wouldnt miss plastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Posted July 26, 2003 Share Posted July 26, 2003 Hmm if the Atari 2600 console has no wood on it what-so-ever, wonder why some people perfer to it as "2600 4-switch woodgrain" like here http://atari.room34.com/systems.phtml No wonder why this all began to confuse me. Because while it has no wood, it DOES have a woodgrain look. I guess thats why then, Althought I wish it was REAL wood, maybe someday, something might replace Plastic, I wouldnt miss plastic. Hey, don't knock the plastic. Recent systems are heavy enough WITHOUT being made of wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasoco Posted July 26, 2003 Share Posted July 26, 2003 At least it's not metal. Can you imaging an Xbox if you couldn't even lift it? Wait.. I guess it doesn't make a difference, in that case, does it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Posted July 26, 2003 Share Posted July 26, 2003 At least it's not metal. Can you imaging an Xbox if you couldn't even lift it? Wait.. I guess it doesn't make a difference, in that case, does it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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