Atari 800 replacement shell

[stushug]

I'm looking to replace my 800 (non xl) top shell. My granddaughter broke it so I may have to sell her off to replace it! I know they don't exist anymore so I'm wondering if anyone knows of a 3D printing service that could scan and replicate this piece. I bought another 800 on fleabay, but it arrived two weeks late, packed horribly and shattered in shipment. I've already submitted for a return and full refund. I thought that was the way to go, but any used unit I buy is just as old as mine and the plastic will be just as brittle as the one I already have. I've had mine since it was brand new and really want to fix it.

[invisible kid]

Maybe someone can donate the part from a parts 800. I had like 5 800s, but got rid of them when I got rid of the bulk of my stuff.

[DavidMil]

You might try My Atari.  I bought one (a top and bottom case together) from him a couple of months ago.  I told him that they didn't

need to be in perfect condition.  When I got the two pieces they both had some minor scratches on them, but nothing serious.

 

DavidMil  

[Kyle22]

Ask @bob1200xl He may have something.

Good Luck. I have some pieces of my 800 held together by krazy-glue (for the same reason).

 

[+bob1200xl]

I have a couple of 800 cases, I expect, but I am very slow at this type of thing.

 

What do you need, exactly? Can I see a picture?

 

Bob

 

[stushug]

9 hours ago, bob1200xl said:

I have a couple of 800 cases, I expect, but I am very slow at this type of thing.

 

What do you need, exactly? Can I see a picture?

 

Bob

 

Hi Bob,

The top half of my shell is broken. There is a crack in the center above the keyboard, it's missing some of the tabs that hold in the side keys (system reset, etc). Some of the posts that the screws go into are broken also. There's a big piece missing below the space bar. A few of the posts broke when I was removing the screws to disassemble. There are some broken pieces in the ram area, but they are under the door anyway. The bottom half seems to be ok, but it's probably just as brittle as the top so I'd be willing to purchase a complete shell. Thanks!

 

Stu

[stushug]

11 hours ago, Kyle22 said:

Ask @bob1200xl He may have something.

Good Luck. I have some pieces of my 800 held together by krazy-glue (for the same reason).

 

Thanks Kyle!

[+bob1200xl]

PM me your name and address?

 

Bob

 

[stushug]

While I was removing the keyboard from the top shell, a metal piece fell out onto the table. I didn't see where it came from, and I was wondering if anyone recognizes it and can tell me where it goes. I'm posting a picture for reference. It is just over 3 inches long and 1/2 inch wide.

[Beeblebrox]

@stushug  I don'th think that is originally part of the 800.  Having taken mine totally apart very recently for the Incognito install I never came across that shaped metal plate at any stage. There is of course the metal sheild plate that lines the cart bay door, but that definitely doesn't look like that. I would imagine what you have there was added by a previous owner? Can you see if the plate for the cart bay doors is still on yours?  

[invisible kid]

It looks pretty close. Here's what mine looks like. It's from my original 800.

 

[stushug]

1 hour ago, Beeblebrox said:

@stushug  I don'th think that is originally part of the 800.  Having taken mine totally apart very recently for the Incognito install I never came across that shaped metal plate at any stage. There is of course the metal sheild plate that lines the cart bay door, but that definitely doesn't look like that. I would imagine what you have there was added by a previous owner? Can you see if the plate for the cart bay doors is still on yours?  

I'm the original owner, I don't remember ever taking it apart before so I have to assume it's original. I'll look at it closer when I get the replacement shell.

What is the Incognito install?

[stushug]

14 minutes ago, invisible kid said:

It looks pretty close. Here's what mine looks like. It's from my original 800.

 

Mine doesn't have those bends, it's flat.

[invisible kid]

I know.

[Beeblebrox]

@stushug  Sure. I think what I was getting at was that maybe the metal plate was created a replacement for the standard cart metal plate as per invisible kid's posted images. However if you are the only owner of the machine I guess not. Of course it could have just found it's way in at some stage heh heh (You'd be surprised - I did some work on a 600XL a few months back and found a brown colouring pencil inside!)

 

Incognito install is basically the wonderful Incognito upgrade made by the legend that is Candle that gives the Atari 800 1MB of U1MB memory and all the wonderful functionality, allows it to function like an XL/XE machine, (but be switched to 800 mode, (Colleen I believe); has the compact flash card PBI HDD functionality, SIDE loader for loading XEX and ATR, etc etc. Fairly regular Firmware updates for it courtesy of Flashjazzcat, although the upgrade is around 10 year old if I recall. Plenty of info on the subject on AA. I sourced my first ever Atari 800 last month and undertook the Incognito install (took me 4-5 hrs all in). Amazing transformation. 

 

Check out this vid as it'll tell you all you need to know about the current long available Incognito

 

Candle is working on an Incognito lite for the Atari 400 at present, and I understand an Incognito v3 (bypassing v2) which will have some amazing functionality including SiDE3 loader tech I believe. Again search on AA as plenty to read on the subject.

 

Few pics of my 800:

          

 

 

 

 

My handywork (ok so maybe not particularly pretty - in my defence it was my first 800 upgrade and I was a little too generous with the wiring length heh heh): 

          

 

Here is the Incognito board itself which plugs into the edge connector where the original 10K rom board went:

 

 

BTW the two colour picture images in the above pics are standard Rastaconverted pics that will display on pretty much any Atari with at least 48K. (In other words the Incognito doesn't boost the graphical spec unlike, say, Electron and Candle's amazing VBXE board upgrade (just in case you were wondering)).

 

 

Edited December 1, 2021 by Beeblebrox

[cbelcher]

10 hours ago, stushug said:

While I was removing the keyboard from the top shell, a metal piece fell out onto the table. I didn't see where it came from, and I was wondering if anyone recognizes it and can tell me where it goes. I'm posting a picture for reference. It is just over 3 inches long and 1/2 inch wide.

I believe that is the flat spring that pushes the top door latch closed.

[Beeblebrox]

@cbelcher  ahhh, makes perfect sense! ?

[invisible kid]

Yep! At first I didn't catch the measurements in the post.

[stushug]

I just found out where that flat metal strip goes. See pics below.

[stushug]

I received my "new" shell, and the 800 is now up and running! My next problem is the need for a disk drive. I thought I still had my old one, but I can't find it. I think it was an 810. I'm not sure where to find one other than fleabay. I did find my printer, though, an Atari 1025 dot matrix. Any suggestions for a drive will be appreciated. I'd like to find an original Atari drive, but I'd settle for anything for now as long as it works and is compatible with my 800.