First post, by wiretap
- Rank
- Oldbie
I felt like designing a 386/486 style case that people could expand upon, modify, remix, etc. So first off, feel free to contribute to or modify this open source design by me -- just reference this thread or my username in your mod/design. All Sketchup design files and the parts list is included to get you started. Not sure if I'll have time to finish the rest of the case soon, since work is getting busy, but I wanted to share this with the community to inspire some more builds like this, and allow people to modify the design to make it better since I have almost no 3D modeling skills.
Design files in 2nd post.
Overall size of the case faceplate is roughly 275mm tall by 175mm wide. I just printed it and gave everything a rough test fit. It is by no means perfect, but should go together ok if you have a well calibrated 3D printer. Minimal to no sanding/filing/drilling out required.
It features a single 5.25" bay and a single 3.5" bay, turbo display, turbo/reset buttons, keylock switch, rocker power switch, turbo/power/hdd LED's. It is somewhat miniature, designed to fit easily on a 300 x 300mm print bed. I'm using the Longer LK5 Pro 3D printer I picked up for $188 shipped from Aliexpress on their 11/11 sale. The filament I used is Printed Solid Jessie #500 -- an Amiga 500 retro beige.
So first off you need Sketchup if you want to open the design files. I use Sketchup 2017 since it is the last free desktop version I believe. (maybe someone could port it over to Fusion 360 or something) Then you'll need a 3D printer slicer program to prep the STL files (I used the latest Cura).
Here's the parts list for everything that will fit in the faceplate as-is:
Turbo Display: ATTiny85 2-digit Turbo Display -- Re: Fabricating a New Turbo Display
Turbo Button: Latching green version of this -- https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000882790991.html
Reset Button: Momentary red version of this -- https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000882790991.html
LED's from this, or 5mm LED's of your choosing -- https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000345599216.html
5mm LED holder: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001382340508.html
Keylock Switch: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FWN8GXM or https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FS2Q931
Power Switch: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000987280507.html or https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MF4GV6W
Case badge: 1" x 1" standard
Mounting Hardware: M3 screws, 10mm x 10mm x 10mm M3 mounting cubes -- https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001307756906.html
Misc: Super glue gel, Gorilla Glue, epoxy, etc to secure the drive bay to the front faceplate.
Case Feet: Stick on rubber bumpers, drill some holes and mount some fancy ones, or design and 3D print some.
Rest of the case: 1/8" thick acrylic, standoffs for mounting the motherboard, etc. The U-shape shell can be 3D printed to make it mostly complete. Just add a clear acrylic window and some sort of rear plate/bar for ISA/PCI mounting.
Case hardware note -- I recommend using a PicoPSU or Meanwell to power the system. There is no room in this for an ATX/SFX power supply.
The main faceplate can be printed rear side down with supports.
The drive bay holder can be printed with supports and a brim to prevent warping/lifting. This piece is thin and tall, so it can lift/warp if you don't have a heated enclosure, ymmv. Print with the mounting tabs side down.
The u-shaped shell is best printed with all the long flat sides vertical. Use a brim to adhere the thin edges down.
For my slicer/print settings (latest Cura was used):
- 0.2mm layer height
- 220C nozzle temperature for the Jessie Amiga 500 PLA
- 80C bed temp with 125% flow for the first layer, and normal 100% flow with 60C bed temperature thereafter
- 50mm/s print speed, and blower fan off for the 1st and 2nd layer, 100% blower fan speed starting at layer 3
After printing, you'll need to install the buttons, switches, drive bay, etc. The drive bay may need a little bit of edge filing and brim cleaning (ymmv), then it can be glued in place. The 6-way threaded cubes can also be glued into the cutouts on the back side corners of the faceplate. The cubes will allow you to screw 1/8" thick acrylic or the cover shell STL to make the rest of the case. The length of the rest of the case depends on your motherboard size and add-in ISA/PCI/VLB/AGP/PCIe cards. Just note the drive cage size so your cards don't get blocked by it. If using a small Baby-AT motherboard like a Zida Tomato, the side panels need to be at least 16 inches long. With a 4-ISA SBC backplane, you can keep it to 10-12" long panels which cuts down a lot of cost.
The U-shaped cover shell has been added to the ZIP in the second post. This is designed to fit on a 300x300mm print bed, and will likely only fit SBC backplanes. You may get lucky with some really small Baby-AT boards fitting if the CPU/RAM is low enough.
Timelapse video of printing the face plate:
https://youtu.be/zNnTFA47jHw
Timelapse video of printing the drive bay:
https://youtu.be/JnXoMyAnuvQ
Pictures: