Issue 1 vs Issue 2 ZX80 case
Posted: Sun May 07, 2017 2:16 am
Well, I've been hunting a while now for a US issue 1 ZX80 and found it this week. It just was delivered a little while ago and I'm happy to report that it works and looks pretty good. Here's a pic:
It's a funny coincidence that it arrived today. I've been thinking about trying to reproduce the issue 1 case and took a vacuum forming class today at the makerspace where I'm a member.
The issue 1 case is waaay thinner than I remembered and feels really fragile and brittle compared to its slightly younger brother, the injection molded issue 2. I measured the thickness of the material on both and the injection molded ones are nearly twice as thick at 2mm whereas the issue 1 is just a hair over 1mm. Again here are some pics (not to scale) for comparison: But it's also interesting that side-by-side the issue 1 looks whiter that the issue 2. It surprised me as I thought it was going to look the most yellowed in comparison. I read an article recently (I think it was from 2011) that mentioned that there were possibly three different manufacturers of the vacuum cases before the injection ones came along. I wonder how much variation there is between vacuum cases?
So now I have to work on forming a mold that duplicates the case halves in a material that can withstand approximately 200 degrees F and start testing various plastics (as well as develop some skills with the vacuum forming machine.)
Ok, now back to scanning.
Best,
-mark
It's a funny coincidence that it arrived today. I've been thinking about trying to reproduce the issue 1 case and took a vacuum forming class today at the makerspace where I'm a member.
The issue 1 case is waaay thinner than I remembered and feels really fragile and brittle compared to its slightly younger brother, the injection molded issue 2. I measured the thickness of the material on both and the injection molded ones are nearly twice as thick at 2mm whereas the issue 1 is just a hair over 1mm. Again here are some pics (not to scale) for comparison: But it's also interesting that side-by-side the issue 1 looks whiter that the issue 2. It surprised me as I thought it was going to look the most yellowed in comparison. I read an article recently (I think it was from 2011) that mentioned that there were possibly three different manufacturers of the vacuum cases before the injection ones came along. I wonder how much variation there is between vacuum cases?
So now I have to work on forming a mold that duplicates the case halves in a material that can withstand approximately 200 degrees F and start testing various plastics (as well as develop some skills with the vacuum forming machine.)
Ok, now back to scanning.
Best,
-mark