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IBM Cover Plates

L

lyonadmiral

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Joined
Jun 3, 2009
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I've seen over the past few days, maybe weeks, that some of the members here have been looking to get IBM coverplates for their 5150 or 5160's. I'm just wondering how difficult would it be to make a batch of cover plates without the IBM logo on it and just the textured front.
 
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Laser cutting may be the answer for this. We'd need a DXF drawn up, but the problem is likely to be finding the textured base material. The hammerite idea is worth a look, usually I think they are glossy though.
 
I'm wondering how difficult it would be to recreate the look and functionality of that part with one of those polyester resin casting kits. I'd imagine the process wouldn't be too difficult, make a mold, mix/pour resin, maybe set a couple small screws into the backside for mounting and paint it black. I'm not sure, but dyeing the resin black might be a possibility too.

Alternatively, from looking at the texture of the original, I think any smooth material could be painted to match by using a spray gun at too low an air pressure and a little practice. I've seen similar results before when trying to paint with too small of a compressor.
 
The finish on cover plates is called "haircell". You most commonly see this on ABS sheet goods. Just search for "Black ABS Sheet haircell" (without the quotes) and you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about. Should be a walk in the park to use the stuff--it glues up well if you want to add mounting bosses on the rear.
 
Really depends on the price, if I would be interested or not. ATM on my 5150 I use 2 seagate drive bezels glued together, 1 turned 180 degrees. Created a close enough look that I am happy, and gained me a full height 360kb drive for my 5162 mutant! =)

If somehow they end up getting a single LED , i'll likely buy 3 if the price is good! I guess I could drill them and file the rest, and reuse the lenses, seems like alot of work though. hrm maybe I can make a super tiny 1mm hole for an led, like they do nowadays... hrmmm.... :p Ponders:

I'm pretty sure if you made a batch of 100-200 they sell out quick if you get word out and are a good price. =)

Know what else be nice, floppy bezels that are the same color. I ended up paying alot more then I should have for a 3.5" floppy, because it was meant for XTs (on drive bios, and color and texture match, more the ladder).
I can take pictures of my drive if necessary, but instead of your typical beige /brown 3.5" w/ 5.25 adapter, this is a full 5.25 bezel, which looks 100% stock, and works on the stock controller.
 
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I used some AT rails with success, if you put them on the right angle (like 45deg) they work great for 2 half height drives. Can only fit 1 rail per side though. For the side you can't fit a rail I usually use aluminum tape :D
 
i've seen a couple of the early 5160ish IBMs discussed on the scrap metal forum in the last few weeks
 
I did a rebuild of an IBM 5150 for my best friend about 6 months ago. He only wanted one floppy drive in his, and of course, the face plate. The computer is working fine, and after I finally receive the hard disk I'm buying, I'll be passing on a blank hard drive face plate I got from a friend online here in VCF. The thing is though, It would be a much more "realistic" and cosmetic solution if there were some of these replicas around. I would probably buy 2 or 3 just in case. You never know when a hard drive crashes and needs to be removed. Then of course, if one of mu floppy drives fails at least the cover would be there until the driv/s were repaired.




lyonadmiral said:
Well that's great, of course the question is now, is there enough demand for it from people on VCF to get a fabricated batch of replicas?
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