Are there any 3d models for the Atari 800 case?

[scm2000]

I bought a powers on/untested Atari 800 on ebay. hasn’t arrived yet. 

but the photos show it has a broken out case, on the back bottom and some of the back side. 

 

i was thinking i could 3d print a piece to blend in to the case, but that will be easier if there already exist a faithful 3d model for the case. 

 

i looked on thingiverse.com but only see miniatures or approximate model’s. 

 

anyone know of an existing model?

Edited May 23 by scm2000

[Beeblebrox]

42 minutes ago, scm2000 said:

I bought a powers on/untested Atari 800 on ebay. hasn’t arrived yet. 

but the photos show it has a broken out case, on the back bottom and some of the back side. 

 

i was thinking i could 3d print a piece to blend in to the case, but that will be easier if there already exist a faithful 3d model for the case. 

 

i looked on thingiverse.com but only see miniatures or approximate model’s. 

 

anyone know of an existing model?

 

Nope..nothing out there. 

I had enquired and looked a few months back. 

Remember most 3d printers are 200mm.x 200mm or 400mm x 400mm. So anything available will be within these dimensions. 

It would be great if someone was to be able to scan and create a full top and bottom casing, as well as the cart bay assembly, and internal cart bay plastic assembly cage, but for the top and bottom main casing it would be in sections to join together if it was. It's a major undertaking. 

 

The 40+year old 800 plastic casing is notoriously brittle and only extra care taken packing it will keep it safe in transit. I've a lot of experience shipping Atari 800s.

 

Edit : BTW where are you based? 

Edited May 23 by Beeblebrox

[scm2000]

29 minutes ago, Beeblebrox said:

 

Nope..nothing out there. 

I had enquired and looked a few months back. 

Remember most 3d printers are 200mm.x 200mm or 400mm x 400mm. So anything available will be within these dimensions. 

It would be great if someone was to be able to scan and create a full top and bottom casing, as well as the cart bay assembly, and internal cart bay plastic assembly cage, but for the top and bottom main casing it would be in sections to join together if it was. It's a major undertaking. 

 

The 40+year old 800 plastic casing is notoriously brittle and only extra care taken packing it will keep it safe in transit. I've a lot of experience shipping Atari 800s.

 

Edit : BTW where are you based? 

 

In my case the size would not be a problem, as the piece broken out is less than 200x200x200mm.   Usually when making new versions of broken parts, I just make lots of precise measurements to come up with an original unbroken model.   if the two back and bottom sides are similar I might be able to measure the good side to make a mirrored model of the broken side.

I'm located in the North East US.

[Beeblebrox]

2 minutes ago, scm2000 said:

 

In my case the size would not be a problem, as the piece broken out is less than 200x200x200mm.   Usually when making new versions of broken parts, I just make lots of precise measurements to come up with an original unbroken model.   if the two back and bottom sides are similar I might be able to measure the good side to make a mirrored model of the broken side.

I'm located in the North East US.

Sure. So do you have the means and experience to recreate the part you need in a cad program? 

I've tried my hand at creating parts in cad and found it very tricky. 

 

One guy who is good and who has created A8 parts is here:

 

 

[Overange]

I seen this C64 Case design, I know its adapted for use with a different board, but what is interesting is that JLC can Resin print something this size

 

 

In normal cheapo resin for both sides thats not a bad price.

 

If someone can 3D scan the 800 case, get the 3D image tidied up etc, could be a low cost way of recreating the case??

[Overange]

just to update - i set the quote to FDM ABS and it quoted at over 200 USD

[scm2000]

27 minutes ago, Beeblebrox said:

Sure. So do you have the means and experience to recreate the part you need in a cad program? 

I've tried my hand at creating parts in cad and found it very tricky. 

 

One guy who is good and who has created A8 parts is here:

 

 

3D printing and 3D modeling is my thing.   Its always better to check to see if someone already made a model before making one from scratch.

[scm2000]

25 minutes ago, Overange said:

just to update - i set the quote to FDM ABS and it quoted at over 200 USD

Ouch! that's way more than I paid for the actual 800.

[Beeblebrox]

36 minutes ago, scm2000 said:

Ouch! that's way more than I paid for the actual 800.

I am not surprised. I wonder if we got a load of us together, how much per unit they'd charge if we had 25 to 100 people interested? Economy of scale and all that.

[Overange]

Putting those numbers in for ABS, based on a C64 case, it does not change much.

 

It would be interesting to see if we could get any of the Atari cases 3D scanned and see if it is achievable??

Once you have the 3D files, it would be easier to add things like additional expansion fixing etc.

Could be a more realistic way of getting new after market cases with out going down the injection moulding route.

 

This is interesting for on offs, they do blind resin printing

 

 

the price comes right down.

 

You can then paint it in what ever colour you want.

Edited May 23 by Overange

[scm2000]

in my case i would just design an alternate case and print it myself rather than buy one. it would have seams because my printer cant print much bigger than 200mm but that can be made to look nice.

[Beeblebrox]

7 minutes ago, scm2000 said:

in my case i would just design an alternate case and print it myself rather than buy one. it would have seams because my printer cant print much bigger than 200mm but that can be made to look nice.

cool. Go for it if that is the case, (no pun intended). I have an Ender pro 3 and use it all the time for Atari 8 bit stuff.  Thanks in advance. 

Edited May 23 by Beeblebrox

[scm2000]

Just now, Beeblebrox said:

cool. Go for it if that is the case, (no pun intended). I have an Ender pro 3 and use it all the time for Atari 8 bit stuff.  Thanks in advance. 

i feel a project coming on….😊

[aeberbach]

I think I saw that case on eBay, most of the ventilation on the left bottom side broken inwards? It should be fairly easy to clean up the broken edges and then model and print something fit in place. It's a nice flat area.

[scm2000]

11 minutes ago, aeberbach said:

I think I saw that case on eBay, most of the ventilation on the left bottom side broken inwards? It should be fairly easy to clean up the broken edges and then model and print something fit in place. It's a nice flat area.

yeah thats the one. theres a chunk out of the side too. assuming theres no more damage in shipping that fix was my first thought. more important is to get the machine in working order hopefully no physical damage to the electronics

[Beeblebrox]

57 minutes ago, scm2000 said:

yeah thats the one. theres a chunk out of the side too. assuming theres no more damage in shipping that fix was my first thought. more important is to get the machine in working order hopefully no physical damage to the electronics

Most of the time the internals are really robust, so unless something catastrophic happened which impacted the internals as well, it's likley just the casing. The casing can crack really easily, especially as the decades pass. 40 year old plastic on these is very brittle. Transit, badly stored or unloved machines, etc, is usally the obvious cause.

 

Also the keys can take a hammering and (with the stackpole and hi-tech plunger varieties), their plungers can split. (I've never seen a cracked keycap - they are bomb proof!)  

 

Also, the more rarer mitsumi mylar type keyboard has a mylar prone to issues. There is a tried and tested fix for this I've don't many times on both the 800 and 1200xl mitsumi mylar keyboard types - (see Flashjazzcat's (FJC's) Youtube channel for a video on this).

 

You are more likely to find issues with core custom chips or logic chips and/or (on rare occasions) the big capacitors - with these beasts, rathern than with the pcbs or passive components. The build quality is amazing on the pcbs. Not to mention the presence of the bullet proof aluminium faraday cage.

 

Take loads of pics to post here, and also see my incognito install blog post linked to in my signature, which has incorporated into it a comprehensive step by step guide on how to take these things apart, put em back together, etc  (Plus links to FJC's videos). Oh, and of course how to upgrade to incognito, which is widely regarded as one of the best things to do with the 800. 

Edited May 23 by Beeblebrox

[scm2000]

44 minutes ago, Beeblebrox said:

Most of the time the internals are really robust, so unless something catastrophic happened which impacted the internals as well, it's likley just the casing. The casing can crack really easily, especially as the decades pass. 40 year old plastic on these is very brittle. Transit, badly stored or unloved machines, etc, is usally the obvious cause.

 

Also the keys can take a hammering and (with the stackpole and hi-tech plunger varieties), their plungers can split. (I've never seen a cracked keycap - they are bomb proof!)  

 

Also, the more rarer mitsumi mylar type keyboard has a mylar prone to issues. There is a tried and tested fix for this I've don't many times on both the 800 and 1200xl mitsumi mylar keyboard types - (see Flashjazzcat's (FJC's) Youtube channel for a video on this).

 

You are more likely to find issues with core custom chips or logic chips and/or (on rare occasions) the big capacitors - with these beasts, rathern than with the pcbs or passive components. The build quality is amazing on the pcbs. Not to mention the presence of the bullet proof aluminium faraday cage.

 

Take loads of pics to post here, and also see my incognito install blog post linked to in my signature, which has incorporated into it a comprehensive step by step guide on how to take these things apart, put em back together, etc  (Plus links to FJC's videos). Oh, and of course how to upgrade to incognito, which is widely regarded as one of the best things to do with the 800. 

thanks. i recently bought a not working 1200xl. turned out it only needed the keyboard fix. watched a lot of videos and performed the fix.  

 

it encouraged me and so i went on ebay looking for a likely broken 800 to have as a repair project.

 

your guide to take apart and put back together sounds like a great resource to have!

[aeberbach]

Yeah, welcome to the 800 owner's club! It's the one I always wanted in the 80s and I'm happy I finally bought one. Incognito highly recommended, as is Beeblebrox's guide.

[aeberbach]

Hey, this could be something you need @scm2000: https://www.ebay.com/itm/156225200850?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=HsWpnEvFTHu&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=c-t2gfUzTm6&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[NorbertP]

Not immediately helpful, but the case for my 800XL has seen better days so I've been mulling over how to produce a printable replacement. Initially I was going to aim for a 1:1 replica (or at least close enough that the parts would be compatible with an original case) but I am now veering towards a sort of "maintains the design language of the original, but with some modifications" philosophy, partly because I don't have anything fancy like a 3D scanner so it would be a tall order to achieve the required precision, partly because the shape of the original is kind of awkward for extrusion printing, and partly because once you've installed a few mods it gets a bit cramped in there and more room wouldn't go amiss! So far all I've actually produced is a bottom plate with appropriately positioned mounting holes, but once I've fleshed it out a bit I will share it to get some feedback...

[scm2000]

On 5/26/2024 at 10:43 PM, aeberbach said:

Hey, this could be something you need @scm2000: https://www.ebay.com/itm/156225200850?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=HsWpnEvFTHu&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=c-t2gfUzTm6&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Well the unit arrived in a pretty crushed condition, so it's beyond just getting a bottom cover.  I'll post some photos.

[ScreamingAtTheRadio]

On 5/23/2024 at 9:17 AM, Beeblebrox said:

Remember most 3d printers are 200mm.x 200mm or 400mm x 400mm. So anything available will be within these dimensions. 

I have an Anycubic Kobra Max, which has a 40cmx40cmx45 build volume. You can (and often should) print at a 45 degree angle and/or diagonally which allows for some larger cases to be printed, too.

Edited May 28 by ScreamingAtTheRadio

[Beeblebrox]

5 hours ago, ScreamingAtTheRadio said:

I have an Anycubic Kobra Max, which has a 40cmx40cmx45 build volume. You can (and often should) print at a 45 degree angle and/or diagonally which allows for some larger cases to be printed, too.

Very nice.

[NorbertP]

OK, here's a render of the work in progress bottom half; some of the measurements are a little off and I haven't done any cutouts for the ports (I may actually make the back cover a separate piece so that people can customise it depending on what mods they have), but it's a start.

 

Given that 200x200ish is the lowest common denominator for 3D printers I'll probably do a "split in half" version once it's complete, and I may make the top portion of the case (the big flat bit with the cartridge port) a separate section a) to simplify printing, and b) to make it easier to prod around inside the machine without having to dismantle the entire thing.