[Coco] New CoCo Cartridge CAD Preview

[Joel Ewy]

On 04/15/2013 11:07 PM, jmlaw at iprimus.com.au wrote:
> Hey Joel,
>
> Looks cool :) I had the same idea a while back but was looking at the 
> Cube 3D printer: http://cubify.com/cube/
>
> Like SHF, I couldn't justify the cost after I found a site online who 
> I could send the 3D files to and have it printed in various materials 
> and colors (including metal and stone options) with far more intricate 
> detail. Can't remember which site it was in particular, but there's 
> many of them. That said, having my own 3D printer to play around with 
> is still very high on my wish list. I'm with you in that if you 
> already have one then heck yeah, use it :) I'm sure once you have your 
> own too, you'd start to think if heaps more custom things to make with 
> it. When they come down in price, I'll be getting one too no doubt.
>
> Good luck with this project, sure to be a lot of fun :)
>
> JasonL
>

Maybe you are thinking of Ponoko?  I did have an item laser cut with 
them, just to try them out.  I was pleased with the result, but it took 
a long time (like 3 weeks) to have it made and delivered (most of that 
waiting in the queue) and it was fairly pricey.  I think it ended up 
coming out to around $40 to cut their smallest sheet of clear acrylic 
into 1" hexagons with slots.  I haven't tried their 3D printing, but 
last I looked it was a lot more expensive per unit than using the 
Makerbot (with the cost of the machine factored out).  If I only wanted 
to make a few one-off things for myself, or wanted to make some parts 
that I couldn't yet make with the equipment I have, I would definitely 
use somebody like Ponoko or Shapeways.  In that case you definitely have 
to factor in the cost of the machine.  But if you intend to use it for 
many different things, that cost is spread over a much larger product 
base and a longer span of time.

I've been thinking about desktop manufacturing for almost as long as 
I've been using the CoCo.  In fact, my first use of Telewriter 64 with a 
DMP-105 printer on my upgraded TRS-80 Color Computer, around the same 
time my Dad was setting up a new/old Tree mill in the shop, is what 
first got me thinking about personal CNC.  So I'm committed to the 
technology, and I plan to make all kinds of things with it. It wouldn't 
make sense for one product, but I'm ultimately after a whole new way of 
living and working.

You're definitely right that once you have one of these things, your 
whole outlook on the world changes, and you see all kinds of things that 
you could make.  And it changes the way you value mass-produced items as 
well.  On the one hand, it hardly pays to use a 3D printer to make cheap 
commodity items like cable clips.  It would probably take 45 minutes or 
more to run off a small batch of them.  On the other hand, how much time 
and gas is consumed if you get in the car and go to the store just to 
get one small item?  And if you could start printing them now you can 
get a cup of coffee and watch the machine (more interesting than 99% of 
what's on TV) or go work on another project while you wait.  Some of the 
"fundamental" equations are beginning to change.

JCE
> -----Original Message-----
>> I posted a screen shot of a preview of the CoCo cartridge housing I'm
>> designing in OpenSCAD on my blog:
>> http://8littlebits.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/cartridge-housing-cad/
>
>> It isn't quite finished, and I haven't printed it yet, but this should
>> give an indication of the basic design.  I have it so that the depth of
>> the cartridge is parameterized.  As depicted in the screen shot, it is
>> the same size as a game cart.  (I'm using Quasar Commander as my
>> model.)  But by changing one variable, I can make a longer cart.  At the
>> moment, the longest one I can make will be just a little over 100mm,
>> which is in between a game cart and the vacuum-formed cart they put the
>> DS-69 video digitizer in, which is about 112mm long.  I intend to build
>> a RepRap printer, which I believe has a bigger build platform, so I
>> could probably make something as long as a FDC or an RS-232 Pak with
>> that.  Given that I have printed a case for my Raspberry Pi, I might
>> just be able to fit one in a housing printed on the Makerbot, but there
>> probably wouldn't be room for a whole lot else.
>
>> Next I just need to design cutouts for various connectors and whatnot.
>> Then the housing could be customized for a wide variety of applications.
>
>> If you're working on a project involving the CoCo's cartridge connector,
>> what would you like to see in a 3D printed housing?
>
>> JCE 
>
>
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