A concrete item that you can see today is the power switch on the IBM PS/2 Model 76, in the museum. It was broken at some point in the past, and I 3D printed a replacement. One way that you can deal with the limited number of colors available in PLA/PET/ABS filament is to dye the results. For an example, see this article in Make <https://makezine.com/2013/05/09/how-to-dye-your-3d-prints/> magazine. You can do quite a bit, and in very high quality, if you take the time to properly learn to design parts. All the things that are required for the design of professionally made injection-molded parts (clearance, tolerance, wear, etc.) are also necessary to get a good quality result out of FDM. And, of course, there is SLA, if you really need fine detail. And last, there are those, like myself, who also tinker in the subtractive manufacturing arena that is CNC machining. That produces quite a bit more robust parts, from any machinable material, including ferrous metals. The limiting factor in all these technologies is more the imagination and skill of the user, and less the technologies themselves. Sure, capabilities grow with time, but incredible things are made every day, with very basic tools. - Alex On Tue, Mar 6, 2018 at 5:16 AM, Dave Wade via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
-----Original Message----- From: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic- bounces@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> On Behalf Of Herb Johnson via vcf-midatlantic Sent: 06 March 2018 03:35 To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org
Cc: Herb Johnson <hjohnson@retrotechnology.info> Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] About Bill's message
Creating a library of open-source vintage computing parts * IS * a good idea. Bill: if you'd like to lead the effort then you have my support.
I agree, it's a good idea. If Bill agrees, I hope he changes the subject line! hint hint
There's a number of toggles that people try to 3D print, varying degrees of success. Maybe keycaps? Light covers? These are small parts and printing a few at a time gives some "scale" to the effort. Tricks like coloring the plastics are good to know.
I think Keycaps are better made with modelling moulding compounds.
Nice thing about collecting models, is that most all 3D printers use the same modeling language. There are some collections of models out there (no magic "git" thank goodness) so those could be pointed to. I think I know a few locations ....
I'm not against 3D printers - just skeptical about their results. But these are not a big stretch. And if there's cooperative colleagues among us to test, we can find out! IXR locally also has, or had, a 3D printer - Neil can speak to that. Our friend Matt with the $200 printer, can participate too. We might pass the hat to buy plastic noodles... it is OK to call them that? ;)
The results can be good, but its not just point and shoot. I think where they really com in is for new prts to adapt old machines. E.g.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1592139
Dave
herb
-- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT info