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Speech syn for beige TI-99/4a


hloberg

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I got a beige TI-99/4a with a NanoPEB and really like the looks of it. I just got a the standard silver and black speech syn for it and it looks really bad with the beige TI-99. I thought about painting the speech beige but really don't like that idea. also thought about installing the speech in the case, but that looks too complicated. another idea was to make a new case for it that looks like the Hexbus adapter. no idea how to build one though. don't own a 3-D printer so that's out. thought about cutting sheets of plastic then pasting together but doubt that turnout looking good. Any ideas?

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If printed with supports, it could be done. 

 

It's something I might try my hand at.  I dont' have a shoe to measure though.  I can get most of the data from my 99' with calipers, if you can give me a distance from the front of the 99' to the front of the shoe. (I can then calc out the vertical measure at the end of the shoe, the overall length of the shoe, and the distance from the back of the 99' and all that fun.)

 

 

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OK, I am going to TRY my hand at this.  Using a reference for the physical size of a DIP28, (the large ICs on the speech synth board), and the nice image of the innards of the speech synth at mainbyte, I will attempt to derive a rough outline of the speech synth module's mainboard and its outer profile, including the orientation notch. 

 

I will then whip out my calipers, and measure on my 99', and see if I can throw together a quick and dirty set of printable models.

Edited by wierd_w
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First, here's the trace of the speech board, with the nominal IC dimensions (mm) entered, then scaled and framed by eyeball.

 

 

Spoiler

image.thumb.png.db21110e203ab68b6005c59bdb6614ad.png

 

This profile will be used to roughly produce shell retainer peg locations and sizes (with a 1mm tolerance zone, because "EYEBALLED"; I do not have a speech board to measure!) and to define the width of the shoe enclosure.  

 

Quick and dirty measurements with digital calipers gives this as the rough profile of the side of the 99'

 

Spoiler

image.thumb.png.0fcce87988809afa0b4514b911c1f617.png

 

Combined, I can now produce a rough shell with positioned component mockups, and gives me this for the bottom half of the shell...

 

 

Spoiler

image.thumb.png.613b8745f31dc32e0fc5b4feae8c8dd0.png

 

And this for the top

 

 

Spoiler

image.thumb.png.7b4f5f17cb9939d70fe6ee928ea2eb97.png

 

 

Giving me these models. Available in STP and STL formats.

 

These are untested, and probably need revision.

 

Length of the shoe is a guestimate.

 

 

Top.stptop.stlbottom.stpbottom.stl

 

 

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If somebody gives me a proper length for the shoe, I can easily amend the above models.

 

I am going to print these, and set them next to my 99 to see how they look. They will not be beige, as I do not have beige. They will be bright electric blue, because that is the color of the nylon filament I have lots and lots of, and can afford to sacrifice.

Edited by wierd_w
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@wierd_w I thought someone here had done up an STL for the beige side-car box.  From the proto HexBus interface, IIRC, or am I imagining things, again?  Would need some internal supports to match the SS, but I could loan you one for that if you need.

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I just need to man up and go buy a speech car, really.

 

I have just resisted, since I now own a PEB. True, I could just plug the PEB into the side of the speech, but meh.

 

 

I have this quick and dirty prototype printing ATM.  The print speed for the nylon is "Glacial", so to print both parts it will take about 3 days.

I will take pretty pictures then.

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1 hour ago, wierd_w said:

I just need to man up and go buy a speech car, really.

 

I don't have a lot of time to put into this (and there's like 6 posts after your first ask for dimensions).

 

Doug

 

EDIT: 3rd photo added but not a bunch of helpful information, perhaps positioning.

P1030309.JPG

P1030314.JPG

P1030317.JPG

Edited by helocast
add 3rd photo
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2 hours ago, wierd_w said:

If somebody gives me a proper length for the shoe, I can easily amend the above models.

 

I am going to print these, and set them next to my 99 to see how they look. They will not be beige, as I do not have beige. They will be bright electric blue, because that is the color of the nylon filament I have lots and lots of, and can afford to sacrifice.

they can be painted. the beige is a standard Krylon color, best i can remember when I was going to paint the Speech, you can get anywhere. that more tan on the bottom of the console was much harder to find and I found only at a paint store.  so if you want to two tone like the console, that might be a bit more challenge and pricey.

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2 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

I have an idea for you:

 

  1. Remove both from their casings
  2. Mount on MDF
  3. ...
  4. Profit!

 

:D

I don't know why someone hasn't come up with a beige case for the speech already. I would think it be a good seller.

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@helocast

 

That is quite sufficient I think--  I will double-check my eyeballed profile against your measured dimensions, and amend the models, but not today.  I have to go to sleep early, because my workplace needs me to come in a whole hour early tomorrow.

 

I have 2 days off after that though. I will see about doing the corrections then.  Bottom half of the "as-modeled" prototype would be finished by then.  The prototype does not really have provision for the faraday shield, though..  Clever application of conductive paint to the inner surfaces would probably get much of the same effect if you desperately feel it is needed.

 

@hloberg

Nylon is a whole other beast from ABS.  If you insist on painting I would suggest acrylic rather than enamel, as nylon is completely impervious to hydrocarbon based solvents. What it DOES have, is a surplus of hydrogen bonding sites on its surface, however.  Heat gently in the oven at 250f for a few hours, then paint with the acrylic paint.  I would use the kind they use for miniatures.

Edited by wierd_w
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10 minutes ago, hloberg said:

I don't know why someone hasn't come up with a beige case for the speech already. I would think it be a good seller.

Back when I was searching for a beige unit, I noticed a good bit of dislike toward the model and color. Seems nothing beats the original black-and-silver design.  I dig it.

 

I know I have seen marketing photos of the Speech Synth in beige, but I cannot recall if anyone has such a beast in real life.  I think a 3D-printed replacement based upon the HexBus case, but I dislike 3D-printed objects due to the striations used for flat-side surfaces, borders needed for edges, and the stepped angles.  I think they are useful for prototyping and quick-and-dirty work-ups, but otherwise ugly, not commercial-quality, and not products I would purchase deliberately.

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9 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

Back when I was searching for a beige unit, I noticed a good bit of dislike toward the model and color. Seems nothing beats the original black-and-silver design.  I dig it.

 

I know I have seen marketing photos of the Speech Synth in beige, but I cannot recall if anyone has such a beast in real life.  I think a 3D-printed replacement based upon the HexBus case, but I dislike 3D-printed objects due to the striations used for flat-side surfaces, borders needed for edges, and the stepped angles.  I think they are useful for prototyping and quick-and-dirty work-ups, but otherwise ugly, not commercial-quality, and not products I would purchase deliberately.

 

The solution is cast resin, based on a filled & sanded 3d printed prototype.

 

Rustoleum makes a very nice sandsable filler-primer in a spraycan.  It is compatible with other spray products from them, including high gloss topcoats.  Sand the prototype, fill with filler-primer, sand at 2000 grit or finer, highgloss top coat.

 

Let dry for several weeks.

 

create pour mold with vacuum chamber and 2 part pourable silicone.  (abuse legos. They help the sections of pour mold align later.)

 

Mix automotive/marine grade polystyrene resin with a suitable beige filler. Pour into the pour mold, then place in vacuum chamber, and slowly evacuate. 

 

Allow to cure completely.

 

Unmold.

 

You now have a glossy surface, high quality resin part, worthy of retail.

Edited by wierd_w
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18 minutes ago, wierd_w said:

@hloberg

Nylon is a whole other beast from ABS.  If you insist on painting I would suggest acrylic rather than enamel, as nylon is completely impervious to hydrocarbon based solvents. What it DOES have, is a surplus of hydrogen bonding sites on its surface, however.  Heat gently in the oven at 250f for a few hours, then paint with the acrylic paint.  I would use the kind they use for miniatures.

I should have thought when you said Nylon, you are right. Nylon can be painted, I have done it successfully, but it does need prep and considerations.

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Another option would be khaki dye from Rit, in the DyeMore variety, used on white nylon. It permanently colorizes nylon.

 

(Sadly, my nylon is BRIGHT BLUE. Not white. I could do black, but that is not what you want.)

Edited by wierd_w
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I am in the midst of doing the amendments now.  I was quite close actually-- board eyeball measurements were within 1.5mm, at the most extreme. (which can be caused by camera distortion in the mainbyte image)

 

 

My shoe was longer and wider than the original speech enclosure. I have corrected those gross measures already. Just dealing with internal geometry with Helocast's data now.

 

 

How's this look?

 

Spoiler

image.thumb.png.673795ab0a0aa7ddcb67045c5cf8fd09.png

 

Edited by wierd_w
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I am continuing work on printing the rev [--] prototype. (before the amendments to bring it in line with standard speech module's enclosure geometry).

 

The bottom printed, but tried to adhere itself like superglue to the build plate. (rather, to the PVA interface I lay down before each run with the nylon, because the nylon wont stick to the aluminium bed at all.)  Had to remove the bed and soak the thing in hot water and pry on the part to get it to come off.  As a result, the bottom looks a little shitty.

 

I did an experiment with heating and sinking in brass motherboard stand-offs though.  The model has small pilots at the center locations of the retainer holes, which i widened with a reamer, then half-assed tapped with a fine threaded cdrom screw.  I backed those out, and threaded in a fine threaded brass stand-off, then inserted a (cheap walmart garbage special) soldering iron into the recepticle of the stand off, and carefully heated and pushed the standoff down into the material. (it was printed with 25% gyroid infill, so there was gap inside the material for the melted material to migrate through as the brass was forced down.)  Once the head of the standoff was flush with the top of the part, I once again threaded down cdrom screws, and pressed down again with the iron. This caused the plastic to fully envelop the standoffs, fully encasing them in the nylon material. (it flowed up around the top of the standoff and under the screw, but could not go down the recepticle hole, because the screw was in it.)  I let it cool, removed the screws, then cleaned up the rough surface with a razor blade.

 

It seems to have worked pretty good, but the walmart irons lack a temperature control, so the nylon scorched a little.  However, it was quite successful in producing a reliable screw-down fastener point on the part.

 

Observe!

 

20200706_133630.thumb.jpg.cddb022046b6f4bedc800aba162a37cd.jpg20200706_133821.thumb.jpg.c8ec6dfc6005711d01362c576f19c285.jpg

 

A naked speech card could neatly be held down in there and have good mechanical holding this way. 

Tight area though, the iron touched one of the legs the top part mates up with, but it's not a big deal. Cleaned the burr off with the razor. The top part fully conceals that anyway.

 

Time to get the bed cleaned up, re-PVA coated, re-leveled, and off on printing the rev [--] top.

 

 

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