User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Thu Feb 15, 2018 7:55 pm

I know this seems trivial, but I've been looking for one of these things FOREVER.
DWHo6OIUMAAMH-t.jpg
Feels like, anyway. And no one just sells these things separately. If you're really really lucky, you might get one when you buy an A1000, but usually there's just a giant hole there on the side of your machine, as most of these things got lost ages ago. Once a family added some RAM to their machines, these little bits just got thrown into desk drawers and lost to the sands of time.

At the end of the day, I usually had a side-car expansion RAM in mine, so it didn't matter.

But once I put 8MB of RAM in my A1000 internally, I no longer needed (or could use) the sidecar RAM.

So, off it came. And then that hole was staring at me again. I had been using an awful 3D printed door I bought last year for the hole, but it was a pretty crappy print. It's not the designer's fault - the 3D printed materials are simply too thick, too brittle and just very coarse. I was planning on eventually sanding it down and painting it to better match the A1000, but look.

As soon as I put it into my machine's case (earlier in 2017) on the first attempt one of the plastic bits that hold it in place instantly broke off and flew across the room. So typical with these 3D printed things these days. Sigh...

But then, after a long time searching in vain, I broke a deal with fellow AmigaLove member @mattsoft. Some other gear was exchanged and "along for the ride" came this small strip of unassuming plastic. It doesn't look like much, but holy smoke!

It looks so good when it's in place. Man this machine looks sweet now, doesn't it? <3
DWHo6OJVMAAjs7G.jpg
DWHo6OHUQAA7-Nn.jpg
DWHpN-XUMAElP9Z.jpg
Now I just need to find a second one. For the Phoenix. ;)

User avatar
EzdineG
Springfield, MO

Posted Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:34 pm

I’m in the same boat. I picked up a 1000 with this cover missing a few months ago.

I’ve been working my way through restoring the system and am almost done, waiting only on a circuit board from a Chinese fab I designed to give it a kickstart ROM and move the CPU up+left enough to give her the MKL 8mb+IDE68k and keep the floppy / shielding stock.

I fear what’s coming, though. I’ll be staring at this big hole when I reassemble it. I’d even settle for a 3D printed cover in the meanwhile, but I know the off color would drive me nuts.

[edit]. I wonder if my unit used to be mattsofts? ;)

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Sun Mar 04, 2018 11:00 pm

HA!

No, I don't think so.
fab I designed to give it a kickstart ROM
Does your design require any soldering/modding to the motherboard? I'm guessing 'yes'. But if the answer is 'no' ... dude - please show and tell! I want in on that!

User avatar
Zippy Zapp
CA, USA

Posted Mon Mar 05, 2018 10:16 am

I had an A500 that I picked up that was missing the door. It is annoying. I also found a Genesis and it too was missing the door. It seems people take these things off and toss them. Arrrrg. My original Genesis has the door still, even though it is hooked up to a SegaCD.

Is this the 3d Printed variety that you used?

I have seen some people sand these down, paint with some Krylon Fusion paint or similar and get pretty good results for C64 stuff. I guess it might be better then nothing. The one above is made from nylon so maybe it is not so brittle?

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Mon Mar 05, 2018 10:23 am

Is this the 3d Printed variety that you used?
Yes, that's it exactly. I was planning on sanding mine down and painting it, too. The real issue is the lack of flexibility this type of printed plastic affords. The cover has two tiny clips on each end (larger in the 3D printed version due to limitations in current printing tech) and the lack of flexibility made one of my clips break off on my first attempt to put the door on.

Super annoying when I'd been waiting for weeks just to receive it. And then once I finally did get it, I was using masking tape to hold it up there after about 2 minutes.

User avatar
EzdineG
Springfield, MO

Posted Mon Mar 05, 2018 5:33 pm

intric8 wrote:HA!

No, I don't think so.
fab I designed to give it a kickstart ROM
Does your design require any soldering/modding to the motherboard? I'm guessing 'yes'. But if the answer is 'no' ... dude - please show and tell! I want in on that!
I'll do a write up on the mod.

You do have to make some modifications, but I was able to do them in a 100% reversible way. I have a few spare circuit boards now that I'm done, if you're interested.

User avatar
A1-X1000
Toronto, Canada

Posted Fri May 18, 2018 7:35 pm

@ intric8

lol I lost my original side cover for years when I got my first sidecar for ram expansion and then HD but luckily found it in a box of 3.5" floppies...I've seen other 3D printed ones but they look off compared to the original covers (at least the ones I saw the texture/colour was off)





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