5200 case

[pauljh]

Hi All,

  There are some old discussions about replacement 5200 cases (particular the hinged parts), anyone know if this project went forward?, any STL's, anything??  ta!

 

[Albert]

If you're talking about the smooth "hinged part" that covers the space where you can store the controllers yeah, I have broken those before which sucks.  Unfortunately, I don't think you'd get great results 3D printing that particular part unless you take the time to sand and smooth it down, and even then I'm not sure how good it would look.  I'd certainly love to see the results of anyone attempting it, though!

 

 ..Al

[+-^CrossBow^-]

29 minutes ago, Albert said:

If you're talking about the smooth "hinged part" that covers the space where you can store the controllers yeah, I have broken those before which sucks.  Unfortunately, I don't think you'd get great results 3D printing that particular part unless you take the time to sand and smooth it down, and even then I'm not sure how good it would look.  I'd certainly love to see the results of anyone attempting it, though!

 

 ..Al

Honestly the best options at this point are to use the texutred plates like what people are using for newer 3D printed cartridge shells. The 2-port units have textured translucent covers and aren't piano finish smooth like the 4-port units. I prefer the piano smoothness, but I think anyone would be happy to just have any replacement plastics at this point. And, I've seen several 4-port Atari Corp era made 5200s with textured plastics on them so it wouldn't be that far out of line if the replacements were all textured.

 

Maybe one of the newer resin 3D printers could handle these as well? I think another part of the issue is how to prevent warping on something that large when printing it as it cools etc.?

 

[Albert]

Just now, -^CrossBow^- said:

Honestly the best options at this point are to use the texutred plates like what people are using for newer 3D printed cartridge shells. The 2-port units have textured translucent covers and aren't piano finish smooth like the 4-port units. I prefer the piano smoothness, but I think anyone would be happy to just have any replacement plastics at this point. And, I've seen several 4-port Atari Corp era made 5200s with textured plastics on them so it wouldn't be that far out of line if the replacements were all textured.

I like the piano smoothness of the 4-port units, but that's not terribly important.  Especially if your cover is broken and isn't even sitting on the 5200. 

Just now, -^CrossBow^- said:

Maybe one of the newer resin 3D printers could handle these as well? I think another part of the issue is how to prevent warping on something that large when printing it as it cools etc.?

I bet a good resin printer would do a decent job, I assume you'd print it upside down so you wouldn't need (many) supports.  No idea about the warping, though and how to prevent that (I don't own any 3D printers...yet)  And you'd need a decent size 3D printer as that cover is pretty large.

 

 ..Al

[+-^CrossBow^-]

A resin printer would likely print it with it being sideways is my guess. But it might need more supports than you think because all of the plastic hanging down would get pretty heavy.

 

The best option and most consistent is to have molds made up. Might even be easy enough to just use a silicone mold and make them out of resin? That way you could likely recreate the smoke color translucent plastic better that way. Not sure how durable it would over time though as it would be pretty thin and likely very brittle.

 

 

[+sramirez2008]

Unfortunately, that's the easiest part of the console to break.  I had to re-glue one of my tabs and haven't had an issue with it since, but I treat my 5200's with kid gloves.  What I could use is another faceplate for my 4-port.

[0078265317]

The easiest thing in the mean time is ebay a dead cheap system and use it for spare parts.

[dankcomputing]

Not really, the prices on units in any condition are skyrocketing.

 

The big failure point on the controller compartment cover is the hinge, just replacing that part of it would be better than nothing. FWIW nobody, not even Best Electronics, has mentioned the part number for the controller compartment cover, which is CO18135A.

 

I don't have part numbers for the 2 or 4-port front cover, which cannot be removed non-destructively as it appears to be melt-tabbed/superglued to the front of the main upper case! How are so many of these things just falling off?

 

I'll ask the Best guy in my next order, but as of 2019 it appears he hasn't been able to track either part down. He's much more focused on controller parts, which is understandable.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I believe Bradley used to have replacement controller covers years ago but quickly burned through them. I still think it should be possible to create a silicon mold of an intact cover and use epoxy resin to create new ones. They won't be perfect and likely require a bit of trimming and some sanding but should be possible right? I don't a vacuum chamber or anything to do this myself, but I've seen plenty of other similar and larger things get recreated this way.