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If it can't be repaired...

PostPosted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 3:50 pm
by kevman3d
...then turn it into a display piece. :D

The Warehouse had a sale on picture frames (well, all kinds of stuff as they do over Waitangi weekend). Found this nice inch-deep frame for about $13. I'm just tossing up how I lay out this old unrepairable machine before I mount it on the backboard - I plan to print some kind of nice card before I do (that's the cheap white paper that came with the frame) and a small info panel to go below... This was more my 'thinking about it' photo...

Luckily I can use the case screws from the speccy to mount it non-destructively (I'm only mounting the top, putting the base away safely in a box with the other speccys).

The PCB is worse for wear - a little rusty in places, some wear and tear on the tracks and I replaced the TR4/5 with new transistors when trying to repair it so I may cut them off as they look kinda messy. Hopefully a clean will help it look a little prettier.

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So there you go - in case you wanted ideas for arts-n-craft projects to do in your spare time and save an old PCB/case/set of chips from going in a bin... Plus its a nice way to present something that can be a conversation piece when you have young(er) people visiting... :)

Re: If it can't be repaired...

PostPosted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 4:10 pm
by LilJoe
Love it :D

Re: If it can't be repaired...

PostPosted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 7:06 pm
by tezza
Very cool! :)

Re: If it can't be repaired...

PostPosted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 6:36 pm
by kevman3d
Ok, finished it... I used a handful of mobo spacers to mount the PCB above the back board (I popped the top off the RF to expose it, but I may put that back as it feels like its missing when you can't see the cover). The background was a high-res (4k) scan of the ZX Spectrum circuit diagram I found online that I printed on an A3 sheet of card so I had something of interest to sit behind the machine. Wrote up a few small details, printed and glue-sticked on the bottom...

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I don't know what to do with the very thin piece of glass that came with it - the speccy is about 10mm above the frame, so I could add a few small clips or something to hold it above (it looks quite nice with glass in front - even when I sat it on top) otherwise the glass can probably go in the recycling... Someone suggested a sheet of acrylic and mount it with screw to sit just above... It won't keep dust out, but it'll at least keep sticky fingers from prodding it.

But looks ok without it nonetheless... Now, where in the house should I hang it - I could take down the wedding photo's... Ahem. :lol:

Re: If it can't be repaired...

PostPosted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 10:35 am
by snuci
That looks awesome! Great job. It's inspiring me to frame a KIM-1 that I've been meaning to do.

Re: If it can't be repaired...

PostPosted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 10:38 am
by tezza
Very nice. Great job!

Re: If it can't be repaired...

PostPosted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 8:36 pm
by kevman3d
snuci wrote:That looks awesome! Great job. It's inspiring me to frame a KIM-1 that I've been meaning to do.


If you can find nice simple frames cheap enough, may as well make the most of that old hardware and turn it into artwork for the office wall. I was just lucky the warehouse got in a collection of A3 sized frames (about an inch deep on the edges - it was the deep frames I was trying to find so was in luck) that were cheap... But could have been mounted on a flat frame as well now I think of it.

Re: If it can't be repaired...

PostPosted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 11:42 pm
by Carcenomy
You're inspiring me too, I've got a few ridiculous motherboards that deserve to be mounted and hung... a nice TMC dual Pentium board, my old ASUS Striker Extreme, a Commodore 64...

Re: If it can't be repaired...

PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 7:01 pm
by SeanKennedy
Hmmm... Several years back I set aside a pile of ICs thinking I could build some art with them. Completely forgot about it until I started clearing out the garage.

So, after an afternoon of sawing, sanding and gluing, I present Intel/AMD cube:

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Each face is opposite like a dice - 8088 vs Pentium, 80186 vs 486DX33 and 286 vs 386DX40.

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There was a bit of drama when I tried compressing a dowell into the wooden centre cube by sticking the epoxied CPU into the vice, Heard a crunch but could see any damage until the CPU fell off - exposing the die. A bit of chipping away and I stuck that one on backwards - which, due to the size, looks even more awesome.

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Re: If it can't be repaired...

PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 8:51 pm
by tezza
Totally cool. Thanks for posting that up. It would make a nice gift for a techie.

Re: If it can't be repaired...

PostPosted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 3:45 pm
by kevman3d
lol! Very cool... Now I'm inspired to find more old broken stuff I can mount on the wall...like a nerdy "wild game hunter" :lol:

Re: If it can't be repaired...

PostPosted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 7:06 pm
by SeanKennedy
Do eiiitt!!!

Re: If it can't be repaired...

PostPosted: Sat Jul 04, 2015 8:04 pm
by kevman3d
I got suckered by a sale at the Warehouse with cheap (but deep) picture frames again - in fact, this weekend its probably worth popping down to your local (tho not everybody has one) Warehouse and check...

These are small ones ($6, but the second one was half price), ideal size for a classic cassette case perhaps... Problem is that all my tapes are in great condition, and whether they should be turned into artwork is unlikely, though I may be inclined to find some kind of non-destructive method to mount one or two safely so I can remove them later. Kinda 'keep the safe, but also nice to look at'. Hmmm...

A quicky play with some bluetack to see if it would actually look any good...

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That said, small IC's could be nice in here - classic processors of the 80's - If I can find a faulty 6502, and I do have a spare Z80 (well, a few modern Z80C - though they look pretty much the same cosmetically). Thinking... :roll:

They also had larger frames on sale too, but I figure I shouldn't go too crazy buying stuff without a plan of what to do just yet.

Re: If it can't be repaired...

PostPosted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 1:40 pm
by SeanKennedy
I wonder how many hints I have to leave around the house before she cottons on to getting me one of these...

Re: If it can't be repaired...

PostPosted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 10:35 am
by kevman3d
SeanKennedy wrote:I wonder how many hints I have to leave around the house before she cottons on to getting me one of these...


Just set her browser's default home page to that link instead... :wink: