RE: Plastic moulding

> I haven't built it but it looks like it could do things like Tempest
> knobs
> and joystick handles. It uses old milk bottles as the plastic. From
> a
> quick reading of the book, it looks like it would be fairly cheap to
> make
> this gadget and one could crank out quite a few Tempest knobs.
>
Ehhhhh... Clay is skeptical. ;-) Since the Tempest knob is solid I
think you'd do well (with a LOT less work) to just cast it in resin. I
don't think a hobbiest machine could do a joystick handle. Probably
something like a Happ "ultimate" joystick type "bat", but nothing like
the Blaster clam-shell case. I could be wrong... (You'll notice that
they're using a machined aluminum mould for the more complex
round-thing... If someone has a good quality 3D CNC machine they want
to donate time on to make a mould... ;-)

> Also, as far as that housing goes for the Major Havoc, after looking
> at it
> I think that the easiest thing to do would be to break it into four
> pieces
> instead of two and then it should be possible to just sand cast it
> with
> aluminum or pot metal.
>
I'm trying to picture this... It's less complex than the I,Robot
joystick panel, no? Is it metal or plastic? If it's plastic I bet
Atari did it by vacuum forming.

For what it's worth, Mike thinks he could have a metal injection mould
made for about $500 for a Blaster Joystick handle... He also thinks
that a resin-cast clam shell type mould would be relatively easy.
Powdered metal can be added to resin to increase tensile strength too if
that's a concern. It's pretty tough stuff though...

-Clay
Received on Fri Nov 6 12:46:33 1998