Building a beautiful Acrylic Commodore PET
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- Опубликовано: 11 янв 2025
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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!
Transparent cases came way before LCD tvs. Transparent phones were popular in the late 80s
I agree. The acrylic case looks great with the LCD monitor.
Techmoans O3PfsndsihY video @ 12:49 is most fitting though
Everyone used CRT in the late 90's.
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.
That was I thinking too.
Was going to comment the same thing…
Beat me to it
Or bend the pins? Slowly.
yep i was just gonna comment this
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!
My thoughts exactly!
I think the image on the LCD looked the best too.
You might want to make a “center positive” label for your power supply, since it’s probably labeled center negative. :)
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
Also adding the power required in "mA" would be great.
Use a bridge diode then it would make no difference which way you plug it in. 73
@@zungalele Why milliamps?
@@DanTDMJaceThe miniPET probably doesn’t pull enough power to justify full amps over milliamps.
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.
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...
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.
Acrylic Guru...excellent band name
Soap is for lubrication and to prevent the acrylic from melting while drilling the holes
Thank you. I was wondering and it makes perfect sense
Why not oil like you use normally for drilling?
@@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).
@@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.
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.
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!
Don't you mean, the "IBook Guy"? ;)
@@TonyPombo 😃
@@TonyPombo That was 8 and a bit years ago. 😉
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.
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.
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.
@@ChrisKewl Drilling a small ciruclar patch of holes over where the speaker is to be fitted would probably surfice.
@@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.
@@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?
@@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.
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.
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!
That looks beautiful! I’d love to see a 64 or 128 case like this too!
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.
@@kenabi Sadly, those were for the C64C only, no breadbin case shells. They did look good, though, especially the clear, and black versions.
@@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..)
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.
you could say the tex is sharp
Lovely! Try using clear label tape for the rear connectors. That will keep the chassis as transparent as possible! :)
For the deluxe touch, print backward on transparent - then affix the labels to the inside...
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.
Симпатичный корпус получился! Видел разные самодельные аппараты из советских институтов с похожими прозрачными панелями, всегда интересно было поглядеть как оно внутри.
I think threaded inserts would be a nice edition for version 2 because I'd worry that those screw holes would strip over time
The Sharp monitor looks very good with that custom acrylic mini PET. Gosh it’s nice looking, good job!
Amazing looking case. Good ideia the connector and buttons in the back. The CBM drive works like a charm. The LCD is nice
12:20 In BASIC 4.0 you get get the directory for drive 1 by using DIRECTORY D1 or CATALOG D1.
Is it weird that I knew that despite having a COMPLETE lack of other Basic knowledge?
@@scruffythejanitor1969 yes
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.
@@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.
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
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 RUclipsrs
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.
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.
Love the musical touch at 3:27. In the right key too!
This is incredible! Love the design choice and it is really cool and i like seeing the inside a bit
This is clearly one of your most WOW videos!
Seeing the Commodore in a clear acrylic case made me think of prison tech. They had stuff like see-through TVs.
Really appreciate you using the vacuum desoldering gun. Best money I spent. Never need a solder sucker again!
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!
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.
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
For whatever reason, 9VDC with a center negative is standard for guitar effects and most other stage audio gear.
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.)
@@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...
Well done for taking the effort
to prevent cracking of the acrylic
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.
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.
A simple bridge rectifier circuit can be used to make the unit compatible with either center-negative or center-positive plugs.
That's what I was about to comment as well.
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
@@electronicengineer Good to know, thanks!
@@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).
@@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.
Great project, great results... To quote the A-Team "I love it when a plan comes together"
That’s friggin awesome!
Use the LCD monitor. It’s just retro enough like the computer.
That's literally the most beautiful case for any Commodore product.
If there's anything we need more of, it's see-thru electronics. Ahh, a sense of nostalgia…
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.
@@alerey4363 See thru electronics were from the 80s. In the US we had phones with colored wires and we all wanted one.
The guts of electronics are an ugly mess to most people except those who are fascinated by how things work.
Techmoan did a video on the special electronics devices made with clear cases for use in prisons... no place to hide contraband.
I know right, that late 90s 2000s clear plastic was pretty cool.
Those holes are so clean looking! No cracks and the inside of the holes are so clear it looked like they were injection molded.
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!"
Retrobriting clear acrylic would turn it invisible. He would never find the case again.
Awesome video! Your work (drilling, neatness, attention to detail) are first rate and is an artwork by itself. An 8-bit hero!
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
This looks beautiful and quite special!
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.
becaue that means having to order another part that may not be here by the deadline that he had
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
@@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 🙂
@@geekwithsocialskills i never said you said anything wrong. I simply answered your question
@@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!
This is not only a computer, this is calculating Art! Great video!
I love a good crt but I think that lcd tv has an aesthetic that works well with the clear case.
A lovely looking job. I think the 4040 drive would look awesome in a matching acrylic case.
Or at least painted white to match the keyboard.
8-Bit Guy sure has been asking his audience to send him very specific things lately. Must be nice.
Oh yeah, that's pretty! Great collaboration and modifications. That Sharp monitor in combination would look really cool with its own acrylic case mod!
My same thoughts!! He needs an acrylic TV!!!
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!
The case looks awesome!.
If you still wanted to access the remaining DIP switch settings you could always put back a smaller DIP switch on the DIP switch PCB location.
To get easier access to the top, you could always sink some neodymium magnets into the case which makes a great re-sealable cover without requiring screws.
As for monitors, love the Samsung image & it looks fantastic on the Green video input acting as a luminance feed.
Fantastic project & God bless
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.
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.
Beautiful! Next we need one in bondi blue, tangerine, grape, lime, etc! Love the tandy monitor and disk drives!
Really nice job on that case! Nick does some good work!
Brave man, unscrewing screws from an acrylic case.
Whoa David, that's absolutely pristine.
Maybe drill a few holes or add a mesh above the internal speaker so it can sound a bit better?
Great video as always.
What better way to start a day off work than watching one of your videos. Great project!
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)
Such a treat to watch! Your shows are so relaxing in these crazy times. Thanks for the escape!!!
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!
Looks and sounds like a hakko, I used one for 20 years, fantastic tool.
Your Chanel should be an archive to the PC world. This is priceless inormation. If satellites go down because of an EMP these PCs will be making a come back.
Or if the satellites go down because someone decided that UNRESTRICTED SPACE WARFARE was a good idea.
Instead of desoldering it, why didn't you just bend the headers about ~45-90 degrees forward?
don't risk breaking them
@@SupremeNerd Yeah, else he might have to desolder them..............
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.
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.
For sure. You also saw the formation of the third reich, the ancient greeks and the dinosaurs. Old man with long beard.
Geez that 4040 brings back memories.
I can't believe I spent a lot of time on one and had it all to myself.
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?
Visited Electric Starship Arcade in Haltom this past Saturday and got to play your Petscii Robots arcade. So awesome!
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.
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.
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.
That LCD is surprisingly good for this application! I wasn't expecting that at all. I think it's doubly good for doing videos since it's not scanning!
That is amazing! The PET was my first exposure to desktop computers back in my high school days.
This is an example of quality work! amazing
Wow, what an amazing case!
Haha love it when i am watching an old 8-bit guy video and a new one pops up in the notifications!
That's a lot of work but very nicely done. I like the Sharp LCD monitor with the speakers attached the most. It just looks cool and clean.
Dave, an amazing episode! Thoroughly engaging from start to finish
Excellent work, Nick Dothage! The case is amazing!
8-Bit Guy, you never cease to amaze me. 😎
The transparant look is lit!
What an awesome project, 8bit! Dude, those dual floppies were expensive back in the day too, what a gift from Yue Fan.
Great video Dave, Also very educational tips on fixing some of my hardware!
Great finish on this! Love the clear case and seeing all the connections.
Awesome project! Glad to see you're uploading videos a bit more frequently as of late. Keep 'em coming!
I'm really envious of that de-soldering machine :O
Love this! Looking forward to that drive refurb too.
That looks amazing. Nice work David.
Turned out awesome. Looks great.
This PET looks quite stunning with that acrylic case.
Now all you need is an acrylic tv. Something that matches with it perfectly in look and practicality.
Nice work. Nick did a great job on the case, and your mod work wasn't too shabby, either. Now all you need is an acrylic case for the disk drives. Oh... now I've done it...
EDIT: Oh, yeah, the LCD is definitely the best choice for displaying this system, and for audio without bulky external speakers.
The Pet looks great, David - and I'd go with the Sharp TV as it looks like it is meant to go with the computer. Pretty cool.
10:42 I'm currently using a 55 inch TCL for a composite monitor for my IBM 5155 and I love it.
Great video as always, 8-Bit Guy never disappoints!
I was worried about the acrylic cracking but you handled it like a pro.
8 Bit Guy always coming out with the great content.
That clear case is fantastic very modern and retro at the same time looks like a museum piece! You should try nodding other computers in cases like these!
loving the frequent uploads 🙏
3:22
Amazing device, i'm in love with that desoldering tool !
Wait until you see its price.
@@Okurka. I don't get blown away, living in a third world country as i am, any price outside here seems cheap to me, i can't help. lol kakakak