Lastic Posted November 16, 2019 Author Share Posted November 16, 2019 (edited) So no NodeMCU today but went to my parents house since they have a bigger terrace and a workbench ! After a good 2-3 hours of filing and remeasuring I'm happy on the progress and decided not to push my luck. \ Track Display PCB is now aligned with the corner of the top gril , Atari badge and power led. I had to file a little of the pylon but it is actually squeezing the trackdisplay PCB in place so no glue needed ( and removable if necessary ) Then I decided to file the inside of the righthandside where the floppy touches the topcover. What I wanted to achieve today was that the topcover already fits over the floppydrive (which is aligned with the bottom case ). This makes it easier for me to make the cutout for where the floppy enters the drive since I have better idea on the inside where the floppy is situated. An interesting win situation is that it was filed up to the point that the plastic became transparent and guess what sits behind it at exactly that spot ? Yes the floppy LED shines thru the thin transparent part, that's one less on the how to solve this list . The above pictures of the floppy LED are on a normal drive where the LED sits behind a plastic also in the bezel. This is a picture of my spare floppydrive whose bezel broke off so the LED sits free ( so I might remove the little plastic in the non-broken bezel floppydrive ) That's all for today, next endeavor , the actual cutout which will be of this type : ______ _____| |_____ |_________________| or _______ ____/ /_____ /________________/ ? Edited November 16, 2019 by Lastic 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lastic Posted November 20, 2019 Author Share Posted November 20, 2019 Next step the cutout for the floppy. Since I have a loose bezel from a floppydrive, I can use it to draft the cutout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lastic Posted November 21, 2019 Author Share Posted November 21, 2019 And another hour of filing yesterday but it is simply too cold to be doing this outside. The goal was to use the filed down part from the previous pictures to create a view window so I know that I'm filing at the correct height and size of the gap. Also now I can insert a file to move sideways. The topcover now fits perfectly, the drive is sandwiched between pylons and the edge of the keyboard. I'm using a floppy with a removed bezel , the second picture is with the disk not inserted completely . The disk is pushing against the inside of the topcase at the same height it would be when you insert it from the outside. This gives me a better indication of the cutout before you push the diskette down into the drive where it sinks down a bit. Thinking about using an angled iron to clamp down so I can't file too much downwards. Babysteps ... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lastic Posted November 21, 2019 Author Share Posted November 21, 2019 And since it's freezing outside and my back hurts too much to do something meaningfull ( learn Assembler and digest FujiNet source-code) , I decided to continue inside. Using an angled iron I was able to quickly file the bottom of the cutout knowing I would need a few more mm to have a floppy clear it. So after 2 hours and a half of filling and checking , the rough draft is here : The eject button came out a bit ugly , every corner is still square not rounded yet . I can insert a disk but have to use a pencil to push it the final millimeter , I will probably have to file more on the top middle so my finger can pass to push the disk. Vice-versa , ejecting a floppy , I also have to pull it out so might have to carefully file top and bottom of the cutout further so it passes. The drive LED is difficult to see but I can't remove much around that area without risking the bottom of the side breaking or falling off. Will think about a better solution ( remove the little plastic sitting before it , desoldering it and moving it somewhere else ???) But the cover fits perfectly so on to the final chapter, the track display buttons. @R0ger if you can tell me how much I owe you for the ST eject buttons and to ship/mail them to Belgium, let me know, I could start to use them. Thanks again once more for printing them. Once the track display buttons are installed, all wiring will be fixed in place and the case can be screwed together with the 3 bottom screws . One more thing, the SIO2MIDI LED , still haven't figured out a place for it ... 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lastic Posted December 5, 2019 Author Share Posted December 5, 2019 A big thankyou to @R0ger. My package arrived today. Everything arrived with no broken parts, the packaging was done so good it reminded me (being half German) of the Advent calendars where you have to open a flap to reveal a toy or a chocolate. I can now use these to further prepare/complete the install of my TrackDisplay buttons and decide what to do with my floppy cutout. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R0ger Posted December 5, 2019 Share Posted December 5, 2019 (edited) Haha, glad it's ok. Boxed packages are incredibly expensive, like 18eur for the smallest, so the envelope was the only reasonable solution. You will have to clean the edges of the buttons and such, I just removed the brim. And don't file too deep, none of this is completely solid inside. PS. Sorry for forgetting about the chocolate Edited December 5, 2019 by R0ger 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lastic Posted December 9, 2019 Author Share Posted December 9, 2019 In order not to ruin 1030XEfm version 2.0 , I decided to cutout my previous topcase to have an idea of how things would look. This is the 1.0 topcase in the pictures not the final one in the previous pictures. The idea is to use 2 ST eject buttons as buttons for the trackdisplay drive-cycle and memory preset button. I would situate them next to each other aligned with the Help button and label edge. The 2 LEDs which provide drive activity and storing your preset feedback would go above the reset button where I would place a bicolor LED under the transparent power-LED insert of this topcase. @Mq. I would need the 2 buttons to be next each other, can I transplant them using wires , you think ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mq. Posted December 11, 2019 Share Posted December 11, 2019 (edited) PCB with the buttons and side indicators LEDs is optional/exemplary. You can modern it every way you want, or eventually throw PCB and solder buttons/LEDs directly on the cables. There is no any electronics, it's only button, cable, LED, cable etc. Here is the schematic of wires connections: Edited December 11, 2019 by Mq. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lastic Posted December 14, 2019 Author Share Posted December 14, 2019 I might be able to pull it off with the original PCB. Today I enlarged the cutout for 2 buttons. And on the inside made room for the PCB. Also removed the plastic insert of this case's power led so I can use it again for the trackdisplay leds. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lastic Posted December 29, 2019 Author Share Posted December 29, 2019 Tiny progress report Still working on my test topcase, I was able to fit the microswitches. I will need to use the low profile one on the righthandside and LEGO-tile alike 3D printed buttons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyprian Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 nice badge 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lastic Posted April 9, 2020 Author Share Posted April 9, 2020 After a long hiatus of work and no play, I pre-ordered some Lego tiles the day I knew we would have to go into lockdown and predicted that postal services might be impacted. Since the weather is nice again outside, I can file and do stuff outside on my terrace also . My idea that these Lego tiles were the exact size of the depth in my cut-out was a good estimation , they are . So still continuing on my experimental topcase instead of the good one, this is what I came up with today. I took the rectangular Lego pieces and sawed of the corner to make the correct shape , if I use the lowest micro-switch I can press down on it using this Lego tile. Need to solder the identical micro-switches onto the PCB now and put it in place for a try-out. To be continued ... 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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