The transparent case looks great! And since it looks very late 90s-early 2000s with a transparent case I find the LCD monitor very fitting!

@retroman--

Жыл бұрын

Transparent cases came way before LCD tvs. Transparent phones were popular in the late 80s

@VarionJimmy

Жыл бұрын

I agree. The acrylic case looks great with the LCD monitor.

@e8root

Жыл бұрын

Techmoans O3PfsndsihY video @ 12:49 is most fitting though

@Okurka.

Жыл бұрын

Everyone used CRT in the late 90's.

@KaziiTheAvali_inactive

Жыл бұрын

agreed. the transparent plastic trend needs to come back.

The pin height could also be fixed by putting in a right angle pin header connector, that way it’s still detachable and will give you a height reduction.

@dorfschmidt4833

Жыл бұрын

That was I thinking too.

@jwalshmorrissey

Жыл бұрын

Was going to comment the same thing…

@xredhead7135x

Жыл бұрын

Beat me to it

@bonemar66

Жыл бұрын

Or bend the pins? Slowly.

@eazy1017

Жыл бұрын

yep i was just gonna comment this

You might want to make a “center positive” label for your power supply, since it’s probably labeled center negative. :)

@johnathanasiou9284

Жыл бұрын

And also a "centre positive" indication on the case as a final warning. An even better way is to solder inline a high amperage diode or MOSFET so any reverse polarity applied voltage gets blocked

@zungalele

Жыл бұрын

Also adding the power required in "mA" would be great.

@ronb6182

Жыл бұрын

Use a bridge diode then it would make no difference which way you plug it in. 73

@DanTDMJace

Жыл бұрын

@@zungalele Why milliamps?

@AshtonSnapp

10 ай бұрын

@@DanTDMJaceThe miniPET probably doesn’t pull enough power to justify full amps over milliamps.

The LCD looks best with the clear minipet. The mini pet looks modern and it sort of matches the color scheme/theme of the LCD monitor.. so 100% that is the best monitor to go with it.

I love the look of the mini pet in the clear case. And while I have a soft spot for the Tandy green monitor, I have to say the LCD goes very well!

@sierraromeoromeo2444

Жыл бұрын

My thoughts exactly!

@anon_y_mousse

Жыл бұрын

I think the image on the LCD looked the best too.

Soap is for lubrication and to prevent the acrylic from melting while drilling the holes

@SupremeNerd

Жыл бұрын

Thank you. I was wondering and it makes perfect sense

@StriKe_jk

Жыл бұрын

Why not oil like you use normally for drilling?

@igameidoresearchtoo6511

Жыл бұрын

@@StriKe_jk Oil can heat up to 300 degrees C before it vaporizes, not optimal for acrylic which melts at significantly less (depending on the composition though).

@anon_y_mousse

Жыл бұрын

@@StriKe_jk Aside from the heat, it's also harder to clean up. If you're using soap anyway, might as well just use it.

@jerther_

Жыл бұрын

About using oil, I'm not sure I'd want to use stuff that cleans oil on acrylic? Can't go wrong with soap on that matter anyway but I'm just curious.

A small amplified speaker in that top removable cover might be a good addition, with one more toggle to select either it or the external audio jack as output.

@ChrisKewl

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, you could do that for around $10, the only downside is you would need the guy to laser a new case top with the speaker grill. Otherwise that mod would be no more than $15 for the small amp and speaker.

@Arachnoid_of_the_underverse

Жыл бұрын

@@ChrisKewl Drilling a small ciruclar patch of holes over where the speaker is to be fitted would probably surfice.

@espressomatic

Жыл бұрын

@@Arachnoid_of_the_underverse Except using a laser he can have 100-200 super small holes that would be impossible by hand. And since I didn't see a drill press, I wouldn't recommend drilling even 10-20 holes by hand.

@chrisakaschulbus4903

Жыл бұрын

@@espressomatic I'm not an expert on retro sounds and 8bit music, but would it even be that bad if the speaker was just in the closed box?

@_f355

Жыл бұрын

@@chrisakaschulbus4903 it has nothing to do with how retro the sound is - speakers in closed boxes never sound good. a speaker is just a membrane that vibrates and pushes the air molecules around it. when it pushes to the front, the molecules in front of it get a kick, and when it retracts, it kicks the molecules on its back side, so you get two sound waves that have exactly the opposite phases. in an enclosed box, those waves have nowhere to go except to hit the walls of the box, and since they're in the opposite phase, they cancel each other and you get a very muffled sound outside of the box.

Overall a nice job. A few tips as an acrylic fabricator / laser cnc professional for over 20 years. If you decide to make an acrylic case for another product. Laser engraved acrylic should be done without the original paper on. There is a special paper you use to re-coat for cleaner cuts. I also would have flame polished and beveled the edges. Especially on the front so you don't have sharp edges when typing on your wrist. Also the seems look like there are bubbles. A proper glue should give an almost bubble free seam between 2 pieces. Also there are special acrylic bits that make it safer and easier to drill. If you know how you can convert existing bits to drill better. And a step bit is not needed generally. Also acrylic can really attract static. Bad for electronics. So polishing the acrylic with a proper spray will give some additional protection. An interesting thing. Acrylic fabricators are pretty protective as to techniques they use. So there are not to many diy videos on working with acrylic that I have found that really teach the secret sauce for a gallery grade product. I was one of the lucky ones and worked under a 35 year veteran as an intern, and he in the 80's was trained by a acrylic guru. After 20 years I still consider myself a novice.

@Jeal0usJelly

Жыл бұрын

Knowledge, especially expert-level, shouldn't just die with the person that possesses it but should be passed on and spread to help advance people's understanding of a given subject, otherwise what was even the point of learning it all. This used to be a no-brainer, I don't know why it doesn't seem to be anymore, again, particularly with advanced subjects like this...

@rbnlenin

Жыл бұрын

Maybe you should do some write-ups, pr try to communicate your expertise in some more extensive (long-form) way. Seems you have a lot of valuable knowledge that people would be interested in taking part of.

I hope this channel never stops. Since I found this Channel 8 years ago, I haven't stopped watching. Thank you The 8-Bit Guy!

@TonyPombo

Жыл бұрын

Don't you mean, the "IBook Guy"? ;)

@Musalam

Жыл бұрын

@@TonyPombo 😃

@crashk6

Жыл бұрын

@@TonyPombo That was 8 and a bit years ago. 😉

@MarkTheMorose

Жыл бұрын

Nice unintenional retro touch: over here in the UK, 'Channel 8' were one of many publishers of the Mysterious Adventures range of text+graphics adventures, such as Feasibility Experiment, on the old 8-bit systems.

That is by a wide measure the best looking Commodore PET I've ever seen, but then again, I'm a sucker for that late 1980s wedge design.

I missed out on Commodore's and Amiga's during that time period, and it's retro channels like this that makes me appreciate them that much more without ever having used one.

I think threaded inserts would be a nice edition for version 2 because I'd worry that those screw holes would strip over time

Lovely! Try using clear label tape for the rear connectors. That will keep the chassis as transparent as possible! :)

@horusfalcon

Жыл бұрын

For the deluxe touch, print backward on transparent - then affix the labels to the inside...

If there's anything we need more of, it's see-thru electronics. Ahh, a sense of nostalgia…

@alerey4363

Жыл бұрын

but see-thru cases are a thing of the 2000s, specifically PC tower cases with leds and big acrylic windows to showcase the coolers, multicolor pulsating lights, etc.

@retroman--

Жыл бұрын

@@alerey4363 See thru electronics were from the 80s. In the US we had phones with colored wires and we all wanted one.

@WinterInTheForest

Жыл бұрын

The guts of electronics are an ugly mess to most people except those who are fascinated by how things work.

@haweater1555

Жыл бұрын

Techmoan did a video on the special electronics devices made with clear cases for use in prisons... no place to hide contraband.

@adamspgoot

6 ай бұрын

I know right, that late 90s 2000s clear plastic was pretty cool.

That looks beautiful! I’d love to see a 64 or 128 case like this too!

@kenabi

Жыл бұрын

mostly useless info; in 2015 someone in texas found the original molds for the c64 shells, made a few colors in a large batch and then sold the molds to someone in i believe norway. that owner made a few runs including a black and a clear abs (both of which looked pretty awesome). sadly, that store has long since folded and who knows whats up with those molds now. i just was trying to find an active production case of any sort just yesterday. seems that there isn't any right now, and probably won't be unless someone else gets their hands on those molds (or finds another set). and as sexy as acrylic looks most of the time, it's a little too fragile for me to want a case in it for much of anything.

@DKTronics70

Жыл бұрын

@@kenabi Sadly, those were for the C64C only, no breadbin case shells. They did look good, though, especially the clear, and black versions.

@horusfalcon

Жыл бұрын

@@kenabi Shouldn't be too hard to take a set of molds from an existing case that 's in good condition. Of course, injection molding is done at pressures that might drive the cost of such molds way up. I'd only go that route if I anticipated enough of a market to make it worthwhile. Has anyone with a CNC router attempted to fabricate a Commodore case in wood? (Somebody alert LGR..)

Seeing the Commodore in a clear acrylic case made me think of prison tech. They had stuff like see-through TVs.

Center negative makes sense from an electrical standpoint, when you plug it in you always have the ground connected first no matter what. Sony is known for this so maybe they did it figuring everyone else were to follow but they didn't. I always double check with a multimeter nowadays since I have blown up too much stuff in the past!

@JacGoudsmit

Жыл бұрын

I would add "Arguable" to that. The problem with center-negative is that the exposed outer shell is positive. So if you use a metal socket like David did in this video, the socket ends up being positive. With a center-positive power supply, the exposed outside is grounded, so less chance of damage when there's a short circuit.

@jsncrso

Жыл бұрын

Negative is not the same thing as ground, the negative on most DC power supplies is left floating so it's not a true ground. Also, what you say is important for something like a 120V circuit, but basically means nothing at 9VDC

@mal2ksc

Жыл бұрын

For whatever reason, 9VDC with a center negative is standard for guitar effects and most other stage audio gear.

@VarionJimmy

Жыл бұрын

As a music-nerd I must add that centre negative is even standard for a lot of music-gear. (It started with Boss guitar-fx in this case.)

@SomeMorganSomewhere

Жыл бұрын

@@mal2ksc Yeah, this. The DC barrel sockets switch the OUTER contact so it makes sense if you want to automatically switch between battery and external power to have the outer contact positive. Certainly annoying though...

Even though you literally explained everything you were going to be doing. When you removed the motherboard from the case, for some reason, my brain instinctively thought "It's retrobrite time!"

@MammaApa

Жыл бұрын

Retrobriting clear acrylic would turn it invisible. He would never find the case again.

Great project, great results... To quote the A-Team "I love it when a plan comes together"

Симпатичный корпус получился! Видел разные самодельные аппараты из советских институтов с похожими прозрачными панелями, всегда интересно было поглядеть как оно внутри.

8-Bit Guy sure has been asking his audience to send him very specific things lately. Must be nice.

Had PET computer lab in our highschool in the 80s. Used to laugh at them once the Apple IIs and macs eventually took over. Boy do I miss the PETs nostalgia now.

@weedmanwestvancouverbc9266

Жыл бұрын

I used both at my school, starting out with a PET computer. I marveled though at the open architecture especially thespecially the IEE RS232 interface on the back. You could hook all kinds of equipment into that. I got a second hand one that was given to the school after our local pulp mail had these 4 sitting around and I was allowed to buy the non working 1 for $200 because it had a memory issue. I took the board out and took it to CONTI Computer in Vancouver and left it there for the day while they fix that.

Really appreciate you using the vacuum desoldering gun. Best money I spent. Never need a solder sucker again!

This is clearly one of your most WOW videos!

12:20 In BASIC 4.0 you get get the directory for drive 1 by using DIRECTORY D1 or CATALOG D1.

@scruffythejanitor1969

Жыл бұрын

Is it weird that I knew that despite having a COMPLETE lack of other Basic knowledge?

@mrb5217

Жыл бұрын

@@scruffythejanitor1969 yes

@customsongmaker

Жыл бұрын

I was going to say that maybe he's used to using a PET with Commodore BASIC 1.0, but 1.0 didn't have any disc operations at all. So maybe the way he did it is the only way to do it in 2.0 on a C64. Most home users would be more familiar with that, while anybody who used PETs in a computer lab with a disc drive was using 4.0.

@JacGoudsmit

Жыл бұрын

@@customsongmaker He used the CATALOG command which is a BASIC 4 command. I knew this PET replica uses BASIC 4 ROM (at least by default) anyway. It also has a ROM with extra commands that let you do things on disk with even less typing but I'm not thoroughly familiar with it. Either way I always found it silly that with BASIC 3 it was necessary to wipe the program in memory with LOAD "$",8 or whatever to see the list of files on a disk. Bottom line: David is evidently well aware of how to use BASIC 4, he just didn't remember how to do the operation on drive 1 instead of 0.

@8bittimes

Жыл бұрын

You can actually address a drive unit 9 by adding U9 in the same way. That works (not sure with or without comma) on all the new BASIC4 disk commands

The Sharp monitor looks very good with that custom acrylic mini PET. Gosh it’s nice looking, good job!

Geez that 4040 brings back memories. I can't believe I spent a lot of time on one and had it all to myself.

My son asked me what language you were speaking. I said you were speaking geek and that he should be proud because he comes from a long line of geeks. Great stuff. Thanks for the videos.

Brave man, unscrewing screws from an acrylic case.

Beautiful case! I love the fact that we can see the PCBs underneath. I would also choose that Sharp monitor, the text looks very clear, definitely readable and usable. Plus, it gives the whole setup a retro-modern feel.

@varahunter68

Жыл бұрын

you could say the tex is sharp

this guy is the whole reason im into old tech, revisiting him for the first time, his videos are awesome! from the bottom of my heart, i love your videos! keep doing what your doing, man!

Those floppy drives bring back good memories.

A simple bridge rectifier circuit can be used to make the unit compatible with either center-negative or center-positive plugs.

@mme725

Жыл бұрын

That's what I was about to comment as well.

@electronicengineer

Жыл бұрын

While inserting a full bridge rectifier at the 9 Vdc input would certainly make the computer polarity indifferent, you have to also keep in mind that regardless of the power connector's polarity, you will be introducing a 0.650 Vdc insertion loss on both the positive lead and also the negative lead by doing this. That adds up to a 1.300 Vdc voltage drop in total, since both of the active diodes in the bridge rectifier will be in series. A 1.3 volt drop may or may not cause a problem in this particular application, I honestly do not know, however I thought that I would at least mention the parasitic losses inherent with doing this, possibly causing issues, if/when you might consider other use cases, Fred

@mme725

Жыл бұрын

@@electronicengineer Good to know, thanks!

@chaos.corner

Жыл бұрын

@@electronicengineer Correct. In fact, for many laptops, the reverse polarity protection is a diode that *short-circuits* the power with a fuse inline (though the diode may not make it either).

@Okurka.

Жыл бұрын

@@electronicengineer There is no such thing as a "full bridge" rectifier. Use Schottky diodes and the voltage drop is less than 0.5 volt total.

This is incredible! Love the design choice and it is really cool and i like seeing the inside a bit

Well done for taking the effort to prevent cracking of the acrylic

Such a treat to watch! Your shows are so relaxing in these crazy times. Thanks for the escape!!!

Great looking case. It's really good to see everything working. There's something nice about the sound of floppy drives but they have to be 5 1/2" or 8". The PET was my dream computer, my reality was a the Sinclair ZX80 and ZX81 with 16kRAM pack. The PET was 18 months gross salary for me back then, I just couldn't afford or justify it.

ooh, looks super cool! i saw a set of commodore-style keycaps floating around on the mechanical keyboard internet. i think they were maybe on drop? if they match the pet layout for the most part they’d be worth considering. they’re dye sub, not doubleshot, but that’s not really too big a deal. i think i’ve even seen some clone sets on aliexpress

Haha love it when i am watching an old 8-bit guy video and a new one pops up in the notifications!

Amazing looking case. Good ideia the connector and buttons in the back. The CBM drive works like a charm. The LCD is nice

I like the LCD monitor a lot here, its design somehow matches the old-but-new aesthetic of a PET in a lasercut acrylic case.

That’s friggin awesome! Use the LCD monitor. It’s just retro enough like the computer.

Absolutey awesome, cheers to Nick for his artwork!

Love them old floppy drives, they were like, bigger is better.

Maybe drill a few holes or add a mesh above the internal speaker so it can sound a bit better? Great video as always.

I love a good crt but I think that lcd tv has an aesthetic that works well with the clear case.

Excellent work, Nick Dothage! The case is amazing!

Now all you need is an acrylic tv. Something that matches with it perfectly in look and practicality.

Great job as always, glad you found the acrylic guy. Hopefully my tips also helped with the case as well. Would love to see a video on the restore of the 4040!

That turned out pretty awesome! Nick did a great job on the case design. As for the keyboard pin height, why not use a right angle pin header connector? That way it’s still detachable and should give you the proper height reduction.

@SupremeNerd

Жыл бұрын

becaue that means having to order another part that may not be here by the deadline that he had

@SupremeNerd

Жыл бұрын

Plus there was nothing wrong with the way he modded it. I understand y'all just looking at original parts but the value was sorted the moment he decided to put that acrylic on the computer. Good thing he knew what he was doing

@geekwithsocialskills

Жыл бұрын

@@SupremeNerd I never said anything was wrong with how he did the keyboard connector. I simply asked a "why not do it this way" question. Also, since this isn't an original PET motherboard, it's not something that needs to stay original per se. I have zero issues with him or anyone doing mods or adjustments to make somehing work. I've done similar things with my hardware in videos on my channel as well. At the end of the day it's awesome what he did with the project and I clearly said so in my original comment 🙂

@SupremeNerd

Жыл бұрын

@@geekwithsocialskills i never said you said anything wrong. I simply answered your question

@geekwithsocialskills

Жыл бұрын

@@SupremeNerd My question was for David (8-Bit Guy) not you ;-) but I do appreciate your opinion and your hot take on it. Unrelated, I checked out your channel, specifically your Top 20 Atari 2600 games video since I've been a Atari player since the 1970s. I agree 100% Galagon is one of the best homebrews to come out on the console in a long time. Galaga is my favorite arcade game. Keystone Kappers is another 2600 favorite of mine. Cheers!

Great finish on this! Love the clear case and seeing all the connections.

You madman! You literally reversed the polarity! 1970s science fiction television monsters don't stand a chance against SUCH SCIENCE!

@RobKMusic

Жыл бұрын

He soured the milk!

Beautiful! Next we need one in bondi blue, tangerine, grape, lime, etc! Love the tandy monitor and disk drives!

Some IDC connectors and a piece of ribbon cable would have keyboard connection perfect. No need to de/resolder all kinds of connector headers. Either way, I totally would buy that enclosure and keyboard (I already have a MiniPet)

That is amazing! The PET was my first exposure to desktop computers back in my high school days.

Really nice job on that case! Nick does some good work!

I'm old enough that I was using these things when new, so I'd normally go with retro to make things match. But in this case, I'd say the Sharp monitor wins hands-down. This is based partly on it having quite decent video, but mostly on styling. It is simply the best match for that ghost-white keyboard and the clear case.

@chrisakaschulbus4903

Жыл бұрын

For sure. You also saw the formation of the third reich, the ancient greeks and the dinosaurs. Old man with long beard.

awesome case, and great mods. could you have replaced the built in speaker, with an older tv speaker (the small cone ones you see on crts) or a laptop speaker. then have mounted it to a wall or the underside of the top-plate and drilled some sound holes?

Dave, an amazing episode! Thoroughly engaging from start to finish

I was worried about the acrylic cracking but you handled it like a pro.

My guess is the reason for the enter negative connector, is there a huge availability of low noise power supplies used with guitar effects pedals. Very much a standard in that world.

Hello, I am really impressed with regards to your de-soldering pump. Can you tell me the model you are using? Thank you very much!

@saltyz72

Жыл бұрын

Looks and sounds like a hakko, I used one for 20 years, fantastic tool.

Turned out awesome. Looks great.

That looks amazing. Nice work David.

Instead of desoldering it, why didn't you just bend the headers about ~45-90 degrees forward?

@SupremeNerd

Жыл бұрын

don't risk breaking them

@buserror1

Жыл бұрын

@@SupremeNerd Yeah, else he might have to desolder them..............

I feel like a lot of the problems with this case could've been solved by just communicating with the case designer a bit more. Like you could've asked him to make sure there was a spot for a power switch, some holes for connectors, and to make sure the wires could fit properly.

Whoa David, that's absolutely pristine.

This looks beautiful and quite special!

I always like when David adds his own mods to his cases. Nowadays, people are used to restoring old computers to brand-new, fresh from the factory condition. However, in the eighties it was common for customers to mod their cases to add new features, solve problems, or just to customize them. After all, the first computers were actually sold as kits that people had to assemble piece by piece. Kit computers like the KIM-1 didn't even come with a case at all, and some users would build their own out of wood or scrap metal. Taking a drill to a case to add new ports was a very common thing back in the day.

Love this! Looking forward to that drive refurb too.

This is an example of quality work! amazing

That smooth acrylic top plate is begging for an etched version of those logos you've currently got as stickers.

@peter-william

Жыл бұрын

I second this

The transparant look is lit!

Strangely enough, I've grown up watching the 8-bit guy, and it was always entertaining watching him fix electronics, and interesting because your learning in the process. He is one of my favorite KZreadrs

I really like clear cases! They look really nice!

Awesome video! Your work (drilling, neatness, attention to detail) are first rate and is an artwork by itself. An 8-bit hero!

Wow, what an amazing case!

What an awesome project, 8bit! Dude, those dual floppies were expensive back in the day too, what a gift from Yue Fan.

Visited Electric Starship Arcade in Haltom this past Saturday and got to play your Petscii Robots arcade. So awesome!

WOW, those holes you drilled like like they were laser cut.

Super clean finish. Nice job guys.

The case looks fantastic.

That looks amazing, great work to you and case maker!

Awesome project! Glad to see you're uploading videos a bit more frequently as of late. Keep 'em coming!

Nice job with the case. Even with the additional mods, it looks very clean!

That thing is way cool. One of my first jobs was as a CBM repair tech but I only saw them used as business machines. I never knew they could play games with sound. Thanks for cool vids.

That turned out to be a great build.🤩

that looks 10x better than i was expecting, beautiful!

8-Bit Guy, you never cease to amaze me. 😎

Such a nice looking build. Great job everyone.

Love the musical touch at 3:27. In the right key too!

So cool! Nice work David!

Those holes are so clean looking! No cracks and the inside of the holes are so clear it looked like they were injection molded.

This PET looks quite stunning with that acrylic case.

Wow! That turned out nice.

Once again, a job to be proud of. Well done 👍👍👍

That looks really cool, great work!

Acrylic catches the light beautifully! I love the stuff, but I'd forgotten about it in the decades since I last did anything like 'making'. I'll definitely have to use it if I do anything like that again. Acrylic panels and chrome toggle switches... yes. :) Ooh! It does look good.

You finally got the holy grail of beginner desoldering tools. The Hakko FR-301. That thing is amazing. I bought one about two years ago and it has served me very well.

What better way to start a day off work than watching one of your videos. Great project!