Recasing an 810 drive - was that a thing to do?

[6BQ5]

I found this on eBay :

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Refurbished-Working-Atari-810-Custom-Wood-Enclosure-External-5-25-Floppy-Drive/123773776814?hash=item1cd17df3ae:g:d5YAAOSwu6xc4gMZ

 

It's an 810 drive inside a wooden case. This imagery jogged my memory and I want to say I remember others doing something similar in the 80's. Am I just imagining that?

 

Or, is this a one of a kind Frankenstein creation?

[tschak909]

B&C had acquired a tremendous inventory of Atari 810 parts, everything but the cases.

 

They realized that they could build a quick case and assemble parts together to make a slightly cheaper Atari 810. You won't see too many of these around anymore, but if you do, you'll see them in various case variations as cases were literally assembled by what was on hand.

 

This seems to be one of those units that has been put into a custom wood case. very nice.

-Thom

[JR>]

Maybe you are remembering the B&C 810 drives?

[griff3125]

Part of me with wood grained retro glasses on wants to say "Wow, that is really cool looking, $99, hmmmm".

 

The other part is saying "Holy hell, that thing is ugly as sin, who would do such monstrosities to a 810?!?".

 

I think I'm leaning towards the holy hell part....

Edited May 20, 2019 by griff3125

[6BQ5]

Ok, so recased drives were a thing.

 

I don't remember any recased in plastic.

 

I think I'm also leaning toward the "holy hell" slant.

[+mytek]

B&C re-cased a bunch of them in a black painted steel case they had custom made. This all began when B&C picked up several pallets of 810 mechanisms, boards, and components from Atari for pennies on the dollar. The only thing missing was the case.

[256 colors]

Looks awful

[_The Doctor__]

using a router and beveling the edges or adding a little flair would make it go from hellish to nice. It just lacks finishing touches and flourishes. the front panel needs to be planed thinner and routing done on the openings as well... Good bones.

[Urchlay]

The wooden drive case might look better with silver trim, like an old

stereo receiver.

 

The black one... with apologies to the Rolling Stones:

 

o/~ I see a black drive and I want to paint it beige o/~

[+ZuluGula]

Looks awful

Looks like a typical enclosure for the 70's electronics.

[+Nezgar]

Looks like a typical enclosure for the 70's electronics.

It would not look out of place next to an Apple 1.

 

[+slx]

It would not look out of place next to an Apple 1.

 

That must have been cased by the guy who invented steampunk

[KLund1]

I was the guy that this 'unit' 's lap fell into. It did not look even close to this good when it dropped in my figurative lap.

It was a mess of cob webs, dirt, dust, dead spiders, moths, other 'bugs'.

It took a while to get just the drive in working condition.

Then the case.....

I took it apart. It needed wash. ...

After a long dry, I sanded it with 800. The re-sprawled the varnish a couple times.

Then put it back together, then to find the drive sat off-center, and not level.

I hit the local Loews to find the right sized stand-offs, and some correct screws.

This 810 took some time to get looking good for a HS project. Probably less the the person that originally made it.

But I think it appropriate to bring back some kids fix for a broken or dropped 810 case.

It was fun to do. and I hope the person that now owns it, appreciates it.

KL

[Forrest]

I think the drive looks great. It looks big enough to sit an Atari computer on top.