STFM case remake
Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2017 11:55 am
As many know I have tried to look into manufacturing replacement Atari ST cases . Before people get excited this is unlikely to happen.
The problem is in order to get a reasonable price per case injection moulding has to be done. This means manufacturing a steel injection mould cast which costs tens of thousands to manufacture.
The alternative is 3-D printing, where I am not sure what the quality will be like. The problem is cost per case ends up being unrealistic also.
I have however funded myself instruction of files for STP moulding. These are the files required for injection moulding. It is probably pointless at this point, but I may look into seeing if these files can be converted to 3-D printed files. I do know a couple of people overseas who have a large 3-D printer capable of this but we are not sure of the results until tried. But of course it is also assuming the files can actually be converted which I am doubtful.
STP files should be finished in about a weeks time. As it cost a lot of money for these to be created I am reluctant to currently placed these as free documents. But I will keep investigating methods of manufacturing these cases. Release these files will be completed should have some point it be possible to manufacture a proper mould.
The initial goal of this project is to create a totally accurate STFM case. It has been discussed before that people would like to have a square cut out the floppy drive, and also a lot of other suggestions. These have all been already discussed elsewhere. Initially a start has to be made somewhere, not everybody wants changes made to the case, some people do some people don't. So it made no sense to make a revised case even before making a accurate replica of the original case.
The problem is in order to get a reasonable price per case injection moulding has to be done. This means manufacturing a steel injection mould cast which costs tens of thousands to manufacture.
The alternative is 3-D printing, where I am not sure what the quality will be like. The problem is cost per case ends up being unrealistic also.
I have however funded myself instruction of files for STP moulding. These are the files required for injection moulding. It is probably pointless at this point, but I may look into seeing if these files can be converted to 3-D printed files. I do know a couple of people overseas who have a large 3-D printer capable of this but we are not sure of the results until tried. But of course it is also assuming the files can actually be converted which I am doubtful.
STP files should be finished in about a weeks time. As it cost a lot of money for these to be created I am reluctant to currently placed these as free documents. But I will keep investigating methods of manufacturing these cases. Release these files will be completed should have some point it be possible to manufacture a proper mould.
The initial goal of this project is to create a totally accurate STFM case. It has been discussed before that people would like to have a square cut out the floppy drive, and also a lot of other suggestions. These have all been already discussed elsewhere. Initially a start has to be made somewhere, not everybody wants changes made to the case, some people do some people don't. So it made no sense to make a revised case even before making a accurate replica of the original case.