Re: Producing translucent plastics for case parts

["Leslie Ayling" <redskulldc@yahoo.com.au>]

Hi Bryan,

I tried this a couple of years ago with an Amiga 500 case.

Firstly I made a mould of the upper and lower case halves using
an orange fibreglass tooling gelcoat with wooden backing to keep it
rigid, plus with guide pins to be able to line up the halves later.

I then experimented with clear resin, and several plastics.

The resin case looked the best, but was too fragile.

The plastic varieties were not quite as transparent though still
pretty good. Could have been my fault in the preparation,
since it was my first try using plastics.

The resin was poured in from the top and allowed to settle, where
as the plastic versions were pumped in from the bottom until
the mixture exited the top of the mould.

Your local fibreglass (fiberglass for you yanks) store should have
info pamphlets on making moulds and working with resin/plastics.

Good luck,
Leslie

"Bryan Villados" <news002@macgeek.org> wrote in message
news:3d031738$2_4@news5.nntpserver.com...
> Hi!
>
> I'm curious to see if anyone on this group has ever worked with casting
> customized plastic parts, particularly translucent plastics that could be
> used to create translucent cases?
>
> I started researching this after seeing an clear-cased Apple Macintosh
Color
> Classic that was mentioned as being a prototype. Though I don't believe
that
> it was a true prototype, I did some research and found out that creating
> customized translucent parts is growing in popularity, especially in
Japan.
>
> Here are several links I've found that discuss about the subject:
>
> http://www.powerbook.org/duo-zone-e/danger/project-s.html
>
> http://www.powerbook.org/duo-zone-e/danger/clear-parts.html
>
> http://www.tangal.com/clearcc.html
>
> http://regnirps.com/SEF/seitem.htm
>
> One of the things I've always wanted to do was make a clear Apple IIgs, or
a
> clear Apple II+.
>
> Aloha!
>
> --- Bryan
>
>
>