Classic Amiga cases - demand for fresh replacements?

[Mrs Beanbag]

I was looking at some spare A1200 cases on Ebay today and the idea struck me... I've been wanting to take up some kind of Amiga-related hardware project lately, but I don't have much experience with electronics (as much as I'd like to get into that) and so many of these projects seem to drag on forever and never released for sale.  But cases, that shouldn't be so hard.

I wouldn't mind replacing my yellowing A1200 case with a brand new one - maybe even with some modifications.  It would be cool to have a slimline CD drive in place of the floppy drive, for instance.  It could even be made compatible with mini-ITX boards as well.  And of course it could be made in any colour (personally I like white Amigas but I know that's not in fashion at the moment).

So I've been looking at companies that offer injection molding services.  There are places that offer to do very short production runs, although I haven't inquired about the cost yet.

Would anybody else be interested in this kind of thing?  If so what features or cosmetic changes would you like to see?

[Mrs Beanbag]

Yeah, kind of looks more like an Archimedes.  I think for me the Amiga's keyboard layout is a big factor in its looks.  The A1200 is that much different from the A500 but still recognisable on account of the keyboard, and the LEDs.  Not sure why he decided to put them in the middle, weird.  And the drives are on the wrong side.  Never did much like those Mac-style keyboards either, but they seem to be the fashion right now.

I'm pretty sure plastic should be cheaper than metal, but I'll see if I can get a quote.  Also bear in mind that requirement #1 is that it's a replacement for original A1200/A500 cases (i.e. fits classic Amiga motherboards), not a new case for a standard PC mobo.  Mini ITX/Flex ATX compatibility would be a bonus.

[Mrs Beanbag]

i fear a wedge case with genuine key layout is quite an enterprise to undertake. remember it has apparently be major and financially most demanding task for cusa to deliver c64 case replica with a custom keyboard.

Indeed, manufacturing a new keyboard isn't what I had in mind, but replacement keycaps could be do-able.  I have black keycaps on my Amiga from an old keyboard I bought from a flea market for £1, it turned out they were exactly the same fitting!  Except for the different shaped keys such as space bar, enter etc.. but we can't have everything.

[Mrs Beanbag]

Yeah that is my work. As I said on my webpage and youtube the X500 PLUS isn't really a replacement for the A1200 although it did start as one.

It's a tribute/homage to my first Amiga the A500 Plus and bits of other computers of that era.

Hey, no need to get defensive, it's a cool project, just not the sort of thing I'm aiming for.  Anyway looking like an Archimedes is no bad thing, I happen to think they are quite handsome machines.

I only intend to make a pure replacement wedge style case for A1200 with extra features.  Looking recognisably like an Amiga is an explicit design goal.

[Mrs Beanbag]

I'm thinking of the A3000:
http://www.retro-computing.org/exhibit-photos/243/lg__MG_5394.jpg

[Mrs Beanbag]

Could you use one of those 3D printers? They have made a lot cool things with those. Probably cost about $10,000 to get one.

They have one at Edinburgh Hacklab (they build it themselves), it's quite cool, but not big enough for a full Amiga case.  It could manage key caps though, not a bad idea.

Also they have a laser cutter, someone recently made a Mini ITX case out of MDF with it!

[Mrs Beanbag]

i actually like it, looks kinda classy, what age is t?

That is from 1989.  I quite like it myself, TheDaddy apparently doesn't though, oh well.

[Mrs Beanbag]

I just found this, is this anybody we know?

http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1033104784&postcount=16