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Atari XE Refurb Plant and New Case Badges


flashjazzcat

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It struck me today that my prolific Retr0Briting warranted a photograph. I am approaching the point (not sure if I'm quite there yet) when I'll have more machines than I need and I'll want to start moving them on. My mission: to get as many Atari 8-bits as I can back to factory condition.

 

post-21964-127005870259_thumb.jpg

 

The only major stumbling block is the fact that Best are limiting sales of new 130XE badges to one per order, and the complete exhaustion of 65XE badges (the XL badges rarely seem to need replacing). However, I'm looking at ways of manufacturing replacement badges. If I can pull that off, the main advantage is that we finally get to have badged up 320XEs and such like. I know I've mentioned this idea before, but I didn't get much feedback on it. How many people would pay $20 or 15GBP (these prices are a wild guestimate, by the way) for a 1088XE case badge? I know I would! A plentiful supply of case badges will have me churning out as-new 8-bits as if there's no tomorrow. I would even consider doing restorations to order, since I think I have the procedure down-pat:

 

post-21964-12700590314_thumb.jpg

 

That's the 130XE in the right of the top picture "before" (note that the new case badge isn't stuck down yet in the "after" photo).

 

 

 

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Jon, can You machine out anything off the hat i desire, or it has to be one thing per larger batch?

 

I don't know yet. I have two people in the UK making enquiries for me as to manufacturers, etc. It will probably take time. The costings are an unknown at the moment. I envisage largeish runs of 320XE, 1088XE, etc. We'd have to first decide absolutely on naming conventions for the upgraded machines. I imagine custom badges for 320K and 1088K machines would be quite desirable. Perhaps I'd run a pre-order thread to gauge interest once I have a quote for the work.

 

What did you have in mind?

 

You should remake this one too:

post-8775-127006210073_thumb.jpg

The possibilites would be endless. Perhaps I need to get out more, but I'm quite charged up by the idea. :)

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I envisage largeish runs of 320XE, 1088XE, etc. We'd have to first decide absolutely on naming conventions for the upgraded machines. I imagine custom badges for 320K and 1088K machines would be quite desirable

 

To stick with the Atari names, you'd have to multiply the K-bytes of RAM by 1.015625.

 

64K * 1.015625 = 65XE

128 = 130XE

320 = 325XE

576 = 585XE

1088 = 1105XE (not so appealing)

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Flashjazzcat:

 

1. What, if anything else, are you improving on besides RAM?

 

2. Will there be any NTSC versions that run on today's progressive-scan televisions? If not, will there be VGA versions so that I can hook one up to a standard LCD monitors?

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Flashjazzcat:

 

1. What, if anything else, are you improving on besides RAM?

 

2. Will there be any NTSC versions that run on today's progressive-scan televisions? If not, will there be VGA versions so that I can hook one up to a standard LCD monitors?

 

Heh. Dude.. He's only talking about remaking the CASE BADGES..

 

The ram upgrades already exist and there are tons of people who can do them for you.. If you want VGA output, you're gonna have to get an external box that converts it...

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Yes - I'm mainly talking about cosmetic restoration here. However, I am available to fit RAM upgrades etc. Once we get the badge problem sorted out, I'd be able to offer a complete restoration and upgrade service. That said, many of the restoration techniques aren't that complicated and I've already talked one forum member through the steps needed to bring his Atari back to as-new condition.

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I'm wondering... can it be a nice glossy sticker? Put that on either in place of the plastic badge piece, or right over top of it. I don't have any XE machines out to look again at what the badge looks like.

 

It would be a lot cheaper and probably still look alright.

 

 

That's an interesting thought. If you just made a nice glossy vinyl decal that perfectly copies the original, it would look fine and be cheap. Maybe you could use silver color or plastic "chrome" for the "130XE" that's kind of metal with spirals cut in it. This might make it so much cheaper it would be quite feasible. I imagine to get ones that are 3D like the original would be prohibitively expensive.

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I'm wondering... can it be a nice glossy sticker? Put that on either in place of the plastic badge piece, or right over top of it. I don't have any XE machines out to look again at what the badge looks like.

 

It would be a lot cheaper and probably still look alright.

 

 

That's an interesting thought. If you just made a nice glossy vinyl decal that perfectly copies the original, it would look fine and be cheap. Maybe you could use silver color or plastic "chrome" for the "130XE" that's kind of metal with spirals cut in it. This might make it so much cheaper it would be quite feasible. I imagine to get ones that are 3D like the original would be prohibitively expensive.

It is an interesting thought. Another idea I had was making a mould of an original badge and casting it in epoxy or something. But the simplest method would be to print a photographic image on matte vinyl and somehow include the chrome effect on it. I might try printing something out to see how it looks. I'm sure there'll be a company out there which will print photos of vinyl or acrylic materials.

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I had another idea today: either make an accurate mask so that an existing badge can be sprayed red, the Atari name then masked out and grey sprayed around it, and finally chrome effect paint sprayed over the raised part. This would remove the need to detach the badge at all when restoring a machine. Etched adhesive masks would be ideal. Alternatively, prepare a grey label the length of the badge with "ATARI" printed on it, with very accurate apertures cut for the Atari logo and model number: the chrome parts could be painted first, then the label carefully applied over the top. Seems perhaps more feasible that creating a new pressed metal badge.

Edited by flashjazzcat
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These days you can get automated acid-etching and engraving, so it opens up all kinds of ideas.

 

Maybe get the entire badge done on thin sheet alloy. Atari logo like it already is, and raised letters for the machine name. Then if the owner wants, they can paint it, or just leave as is.

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These days you can get automated acid-etching and engraving, so it opens up all kinds of ideas.

 

Maybe get the entire badge done on thin sheet alloy. Atari logo like it already is, and raised letters for the machine name. Then if the owner wants, they can paint it, or just leave as is.

It's just finding a suitable company to approach about the idea which is proving difficult.

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Nope.. To make the original, what you need is a hardened steel die with changeable numbers (like a printing press except for metal).. You stick the right numbers in (eg. 320) and the XE is already there on the DIE.. then you lay a piece of thin (like 1/32") aluminum plate over it and then place the top piece of the DIE (which has the inverse of the same numbers and XE in it) and also has a raised knife-like edge around the outside to shear off the excess sheetmetal.. Then you put it in a press (either hydraulic or mechanical) and crank the pressure down to a calibrated amount.. This will make the aluminum TAG perfectly.. After youve made say 100 tags or so, you put them all in an electric tumbler with really fine polishing media, and let it go for a few hours. This will give it the shiny look. Then all you need to do is mask off the silver 320XE part, paint the rest of it grey, and have the red ATARI silkscreened on it..

 

Optionally, you could opt to clear-coat the whole think to pretect the silver part from oxidization, but ATARI didnt bother with the original tag, so probably not..

 

As far as the tool & DIE goes, any competant machine shop could make this for you out of steel, and then harden it accordingly.. If used correctly, it would last for thousands of tags.. Having the DIE made is by far the major expense here.. It may cost you a couple of thousand dollars for that kind of precise machining.. There would be alot of manual work and various "setups" involved to make such a DIE on a one time basis..

 

In fact, with today's technology, it may be more suitable for something that small and precise, to start with an extrmemely hard alloy (like Inconel for instance) and have it made on a CNC EDM machine.

 

You'd have to consult a good machine shop.. First thing to do is draw blueprints of the tag you want.. Then consult a sheetmetal specialist, and create the corresponding blueprints for the DIE needed to produce the tag.. Then consult a machining service about getting the DIE made..

Edited by MEtalGuy66
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  • 10 years later...
On 4/3/2010 at 4:45 PM, flashjazzcat said:

It's just finding a suitable company to approach about the idea which is proving difficult.

Hi Jon, sorry to dig this from the bowels of the internet but did anything ever come of the badge idea, its purely that I'd love to get a badge for my 130XE...

 

If anyone else has any idea's re this then please say...

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Thanks for the reply Jon, I wonder now 10yrs since this thread if there's more interest out there..

 

If all else fails I may just get that badge you kindly linked just to replace the messed up on I have (it got scraped badly but thankfully just on the badge and not the case, mind you, that needs retrobrighting as it is)

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I remember seeing a red XE that someone had done and had a custom badge made. I thought the badge looked pretty good, just spent 45 minutes trying to find an image, don't tell my boss ?

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48 minutes ago, manterola said:

@Lastic has a contact regarding another option for badges. Those are not like the originals either , but still look great and much better than an "unbadged" beautiful Atari machine.

 

Edit:

Post #109

 

 

@Drakon is the person.

 

Thank you so much, I've contacted Lastic as Drakon has not been on for 4 years..Much appreciated!!!

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There is a member on Atari Forum, currently selling custom made badges for maxed Falcons. Notice the hardest part, that is embossed lettering with brushed finish, have been nicely re-created:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Metal-badge-for-Atari-Falcon-CT60-CT60e-CT63/164164208291

 

Maybe the guy even shared some details about technique used in process, unfortunately http://atari-forum.com is down atm :(

But apparently, there is a way to make a small batch of exact replicas of any ST/XE badge.

Edited by martinez
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