Discussion:
[rescue] SPARCbook replacement plastics
Connor Krukosky
2018-03-29 19:32:49 UTC
Permalink
Hi all,

I've been a lurker here for awhile, tipped off about the list by Dave
McGuire a few years ago now.
Recently I've acquired a few... Well ok maybe quite a few Tadpole
laptops mostly from the 3 series, a 3, 3GX, and a P1000G.
These are all projects of their own and I have gone through and taken
high resolution photos of the guts of each of the systems and gotten
board scans for almost every board in the system for documentation purposes.
I'll share these later when I get them all together and hosted somewhere
for all to see.

But the primary point of this post is to announce that I am working on
designing and making replacement plastics for (as of now anyway) the 3
Series chassis.
So this would include, the following machines/models:
SPARCbook 3, 3LC, 3XP, 3GX, 3TX, Server, 3000XT, 3000ST
The P1000, P1300 series Intel based laptops
RS/6000 N40
ALPHAbook

Here is a tweet with a short video of me showing the replacement hinge
latch grips that I made for the SPARCbook 3 I have that was missing one
and the other broke off...
https://twitter.com/ConnorKrukosky/status/979393925231403031
The next piece I am working on is the PCCARD/PCMCIA card door.
Other pieces I am planing on making:
Bottom feet, the left middle and right click buttons that always break
at the back hinge piece!, and the battery cover latch as this seems to
break as-well causing the bottom door to not stay latched on.
The I/O cover I will attempt to make but will be difficult due to two
reasons:
A) Its a physically long piece, and will likely need to be two pieces,
in which case may not be a strong enough piece depending on how I
conjoin the two pieces.
B) Would have to be different for every different model if you want the
I/O labels in them like the originals had, of-course I will do what I
can for the models I have and probably make a blank one for a
"universal" part.
Though I don't think having that back cover is really a super huge
concern since it probably gets in the way for most people's configurations.
And well its in the back, you can't see it too much so that's a
back-burner item.

Another piece I may try to tackle is the SCSI drive enclosure since the
latch/cover breaks off... At-least it has on two of mine already.
I don't want to really tear my enclosures apart right now though because
my drives all work as of now...
And I am pretty sure tearing it apart will be a pretty destructive
process to the enclosure and I want these machines running for the time
being so I can image the internal drives and such.

Oh and for how you can get these as I make them, I will be putting the
models up for free to grab so you can print them yourselves if you have
a 3D printer.
And if not I will likely be making some and selling them for a small
amount+shipping.
I don't know exactly what I will price things like or what demand might
be, but it takes some effort to print these nicely on my printer (have
to baby sit some of the prints and get a fan cooling the print part of
the way through, etc.)
So I guess please let me know if your interested in any pieces or parts
and what parts those may be! If "all of the above" that's enough of an
answer too :)

Anyway, I hope this is of some happy news to folks who may have these
laptops and definitely probably have broken plastics.


-Connor K
_______________________________________________
rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
Patrick Giagnocavo
2018-03-30 07:26:52 UTC
Permalink
I have access to both a large-ish (about 12" square build area) and a
very large (18"+ square build area) 3d printer. Would be willing to
help with this (but I don't have any of those systems) on the
3d-printing side.

On Thu, Mar 29, 2018 at 1:32 PM, Connor Krukosky
Post by Connor Krukosky
Hi all,
I've been a lurker here for awhile, tipped off about the list by Dave
McGuire a few years ago now.
Recently I've acquired a few... Well ok maybe quite a few Tadpole laptops
mostly from the 3 series, a 3, 3GX, and a P1000G.
These are all projects of their own and I have gone through and taken high
resolution photos of the guts of each of the systems and gotten board scans
for almost every board in the system for documentation purposes.
I'll share these later when I get them all together and hosted somewhere for
all to see.
But the primary point of this post is to announce that I am working on
designing and making replacement plastics for (as of now anyway) the 3
Series chassis.
SPARCbook 3, 3LC, 3XP, 3GX, 3TX, Server, 3000XT, 3000ST
The P1000, P1300 series Intel based laptops
RS/6000 N40
ALPHAbook
Here is a tweet with a short video of me showing the replacement hinge latch
grips that I made for the SPARCbook 3 I have that was missing one and the
other broke off...
https://twitter.com/ConnorKrukosky/status/979393925231403031
The next piece I am working on is the PCCARD/PCMCIA card door.
Bottom feet, the left middle and right click buttons that always break at
the back hinge piece!, and the battery cover latch as this seems to break
as-well causing the bottom door to not stay latched on.
The I/O cover I will attempt to make but will be difficult due to two
A) Its a physically long piece, and will likely need to be two pieces, in
which case may not be a strong enough piece depending on how I conjoin the
two pieces.
B) Would have to be different for every different model if you want the I/O
labels in them like the originals had, of-course I will do what I can for
the models I have and probably make a blank one for a "universal" part.
Though I don't think having that back cover is really a super huge concern
since it probably gets in the way for most people's configurations.
And well its in the back, you can't see it too much so that's a back-burner
item.
Another piece I may try to tackle is the SCSI drive enclosure since the
latch/cover breaks off... At-least it has on two of mine already.
I don't want to really tear my enclosures apart right now though because my
drives all work as of now...
And I am pretty sure tearing it apart will be a pretty destructive process
to the enclosure and I want these machines running for the time being so I
can image the internal drives and such.
Oh and for how you can get these as I make them, I will be putting the
models up for free to grab so you can print them yourselves if you have a 3D
printer.
And if not I will likely be making some and selling them for a small
amount+shipping.
I don't know exactly what I will price things like or what demand might be,
but it takes some effort to print these nicely on my printer (have to baby
sit some of the prints and get a fan cooling the print part of the way
through, etc.)
So I guess please let me know if your interested in any pieces or parts and
what parts those may be! If "all of the above" that's enough of an answer
too :)
Anyway, I hope this is of some happy news to folks who may have these
laptops and definitely probably have broken plastics.
-Connor K
_______________________________________________
rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
_______________________________________________
rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue

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