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Author Topic: Manufacturing plastic replacement parts for the Enterprise (Read 9291 times)

Offline C5484

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Hello,

Being my first post i try to keep it short. I was discussing the SD adapter with SzörG, and it came up that a new cartridge case could be made for it. It also came up that there are not really replacement parts for the Enterprise. Getting all enthusiastic about this i ran downstairs to my lab and after one week of misery (some of my chemicals are beyond due dates by years), it seems i can make replacement parts for the machine.

Unfortunately i was unable to get my hands on a mint condition cartridge, so on the attached pictures you can see:
-original cartridge
-original cartridge after wet-sanding, polishing and painting
-reproduced cartridge (this is not perfect yet, i was focusing on the finish and the shore D hardness of the material)

Once i get an SD adapter from SzörG, i can design and make a specialized cartridge housing for it in same quality.

Since the chemicals and the manufacturing process doesn't come cheap, the cheapest part let's say a joystick knob comes out to around 8GBP while the cartridge around 13GBP
I have a lot of project plus family, so i'm making these in my spare time.

This post is mainly to see if anyone is interested, the technology is there to create even a full computer case.
« Last Edit: 2020.June.15. 13:49:34 by C5484 »

Offline pear

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Re: Manufacturing plastic replacement parts for the Enterprise
« Reply #1 on: 2020.June.15. 16:19:29 »
I just finished yesterday :)
I won't get any more details from the 3D printer.

Offline geco

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Re: Manufacturing plastic replacement parts for the Enterprise
« Reply #2 on: 2020.June.15. 16:46:36 »
I would be interested 2-3 cartridge and joystick cup, and one EP case if there are enough candidate to start producing any of them :)

Offline C5484

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Re: Manufacturing plastic replacement parts for the Enterprise
« Reply #3 on: 2020.June.15. 17:26:21 »
@pear: Very nice design! I'm experimenting the combination of technologies where for example i could design the enterprise text, and combine it with the master to produce the molds...

@geco: I'll be working on these at the weekend, and will let you know if i have something finished.

Offline SlashNet

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Offline C5484

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Re: Manufacturing plastic replacement parts for the Enterprise
« Reply #5 on: 2020.June.18. 07:12:41 »
Update: A por szinezo pigment nem volt kompatibilis a folyadekkal, igy legyszi a szint most ne nezzetek. Uj specialisan ehhez a vegyszerhez valo 'kompatibilis' szin erkezik ma vagy holnap postan. Ez csak egy meretazonossagi teszt, es ugy nez ki hogy jo lesz. Nem volt erom tegnap este munka utan meg a lezer vizhuteset is osszerakni, igy afeliratozassal kapcsolatos otleteim valoszinu hetvegere maradnak...

Update: The powdered pigment was incompatible with the liquids, so please don't look at the color. New special coloring pigment is arriving today or tomorrow. This is just a test for the dimensional accuracy, and it seems perfect fit. Last night I had no energy left after work to put together the water cooling unit of my laser, so my ideas about the text on the button will have to wait till this weekend...

Offline gflorez

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Re: Manufacturing plastic replacement parts for the Enterprise
« Reply #6 on: 2020.June.18. 09:52:19 »
You are great!

It is amazing to see the detail perfection of the cloned key. I don't have any of them broken, but I can say that you will make happy a lot of people.

Offline gflorez

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Re: Manufacturing plastic replacement parts for the Enterprise
« Reply #7 on: 2020.June.18. 16:05:30 »
Maybe we could replicate the serious "Harrods Enterprise"


Offline C5484

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Re: Manufacturing plastic replacement parts for the Enterprise
« Reply #8 on: 2020.June.18. 18:21:31 »
Lol, actually mixing out gray is 50x easier than the other colors... :P

Here's the latest rendering... the color still doesn't match, will do a test strip tonight and see where r we going...
« Last Edit: 2020.June.18. 18:45:20 by C5484 »

Offline C5484

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Re: Manufacturing plastic replacement parts for the Enterprise
« Reply #9 on: 2020.June.19. 09:32:27 »
Few samples, i almost got the color right.... (the middle one is the original key)
« Last Edit: 2020.June.22. 09:38:02 by C5484 »

Offline C5484

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Re: Manufacturing plastic replacement parts for the Enterprise
« Reply #10 on: 2020.June.24. 09:24:53 »
Hi,

Sorry for not keeping the UK thread up-to-date, for extra pictures and stuff please check the HUN post.

I ran into a problem, a separator liquid was not compatible with the molding material (despite the fact that it supposed to be created for it), and it also reacted with the paint on the master.
So i had to re-sand and re-paint the master, and i run a test to see if the cast lip was damaged, and as you can see on the pictures it is bad... :(
Don't look at the color, i was in a hurry to see the damage, and it didn't go through the vacuum system, and probably i didn't mix well the FeO [Iron(II)-Oxide]

I'll try it again with the lessons learned...

Offline gflorez

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Re: Manufacturing plastic replacement parts for the Enterprise
« Reply #11 on: 2020.June.24. 10:08:12 »
Don't worry very much... comparing your detailed replicated results with even the best dotted 3D printing is an abyss.

Keep with your good work.

Offline C5484

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Re: Manufacturing plastic replacement parts for the Enterprise
« Reply #12 on: 2020.June.27. 20:09:35 »
Thank you! :D

I just messed up a week's worth of work by doing something while being tired....
I forgot to add a chemical and ....... .. . ...... .....

Will see at 10pm tonight if the saving attempt is successful or not.

Offline C5484

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Re: Manufacturing plastic replacement parts for the Enterprise
« Reply #13 on: 2020.July.04. 21:03:57 »
...not much, but the edges came out well, so this seems like a viable solution...

Offline C5484

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Re: Manufacturing plastic replacement parts for the Enterprise
« Reply #14 on: 2020.July.16. 13:25:08 »
Hi,

I wasn't updating the UK forum lately, so here are some points so far:

-cartridge is still under development, it's a tougher cookie than i originally thought, but good progress is made, only thing missing is time...
-Joystick: I include some pictures of the joystick project, the goal is to reproduce a complete joystick, including the rubber bell, and interior. I've received some pictures detailing the parts of the Enterprise (from Zozosoft), and while the pictures can't be used directly in image form due to the poor quality and wrong angle (it's not scanned), so i built a parametric model of the bell in CAD, also some profiles to keep the original bell in original orientation for copying.... we will see which one wins...