My BLACK 4160 ST

[Robson]

Hi all,

Instead of long introduction here is the end result of my latest project, inspired by an ST2 concept you can find on the internet.
I’ll update this thread with info and pictures about the progress.

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RT_Atari_01.jpg

Technical info:
- Atari ST 4160 full black with LED backlit keyboard (The custom made Atari badge is actually a button controlling the brightness)
- Blitter
- Switchable 1/4MB RAM
- Switchable 8/16Mhz CPU booster
- Switchable Mono/Stereo audio
- S-Video out
- Lotharek Floppy drive emulator
- TOS 1.04 upgrade
- Black mouse + custom made mouse mat

Also available here:
http://tercsirobi.byethost14.com/index.php?p=1_7

[Faucon2001]

Wow!!!
Impressive work and much nicer than the original grey.
I love it.

[paul92706]

Holy Moly!!! wow that is very NICE!!!!!! very nice work there! very attractive indeed.

[paul92706]

wow, i just noticed the mouse pad, man oh man very nice again.

[christos]

Amazing work! Did you document the process? I'd be very interested in reading it and eventually following your lead.

[Shredder11]

I cannot stress enough how stunned and impressed I am by this!

[Atari030]

Just stunning, wonderful job.

[Fletch]

Awesome Sauce!

That is beautifully done.

[DarkLord]

Very nice! That's a real showpiece there.

I've always liked black. Redid my Falcon like that (there are pics floating around
all over the place here, so I won't repost it).

In fact, I'm only using black until something darker comes along.

[Robson]

Thanks for all kind words.

I've always liked black. Redid my Falcon like that (there are pics floating around
all over the place here, so I won't repost it).

I completely missed that when I was looking for resources can you please drop me the link?

I'll update the thread with the pictures, close-ups soon. but first I have to make a nice dinner to my wife celebrating that we have the dining table back.

[qq1975b]

Impressive!
It really looks very well done.

[wongck]

Whoa... Nice one!!

[fusionsynth]

Very nice, what kind of paint did you use?

[Robson]

As promised here is the first part of the progress, this will show the HXC Floppy emulator related hacks.

The Emulator itself is the HXC REV C version from Lotharek’s. I love the design of this board, it is very clever and has everything I needed: removable display, adjustable brightness, fixing points at ST’s position and soldering points for external buttons.

Floppy cable: this was not long enough because I had to turn it around to be able to plug into the emulator, so I had to extend it. I carefully removed the top plastic of the header, then the cable and used longer piece of cable from the one I had available. Using a screwdriver I pushed the cable to fit between the pins to make contact. Be careful, the top plastic brakes easily, I managed to break one end so it is super glued. Make sure your cable works before moving on.

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Power: power connector is only extended and modified because I use its wires to feed other voltages to different parts. I used the 4pin “socket” from an old FDD panel to make the male connector and soldered another fdd power lead to it but also made the connectors for the other cables.

Let’s stop here for a moment. I wanted to use connectors wherever it is possible. The easiest way for me was to buy these prototyping jumper leads. When you cut them half way and solder the wires to the 2 points you want to connect you get a nice colour coded connection. When I needed a longer run I simply used 2 of them but 40 wires leave you plenty.

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Mounting the board: The board has the holes in the right position so I only needed to find the right spacers to get the correct height for the SD card socket. I used 35mm black spacers (ebay) and 50mm M3 bolts. Please note that the top right leg of the floppy drive is a copper spacer so you need to drill a hole through the bottom case. This height will leave you just enough space for the floppy cable.

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Modding the top case for SD card: I used a black piece of plastic to mark the position for the opening but also to hold the filler, this is glued to the inside of the case. I applied the car body filler with hardener to fill the old floppy opening. As you can see this is not my strongest skill however once it’s sanded down it doesn’t matter how ugly it is. Make sure you cover the bits you don’t want to lose. I taped down the floppy icon to protect from the filler and sanding. Do not rush. I had to remind myself couple of times to calm down and not to rush. Once the filler is dried I used different size of files to shape the opening until it was good enough for me.

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[Robson]

Selector buttons: I studied the existing hacks and decided to go with their positions in terms of button and display placement, however I wanted to have buttons that work better with my design. So I purchased the remote below and used the Enter, left/right arrows (cut the the rubber all together).

remote.jpg

The buttons are 1.5mm tactile switches. They are soldered to the correct position on the HXC board. It’s easy to find these points on the board using a multimeter. The switches placed to a piece of stripboard which is soldered on the top because I didn’t want the panel sitting on the cables once it is in place. This board also have another switch and a little extension (to balance the Atari badge button) what is used for the backlit control. Please note that those tactile switches are 4mm ones but I had to adjust (file ) them slightly during final assembly to get the atari badge to the correct height.

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As you can see I did not use dremel for cutting the case, I used Stanley knife and endless minutes cutting through the plastic but this way I was able to use the correct part of the case later as a button.

Modding the top case for buttons: this is easy, drill a hole, then use the precision file set to get the result. No it’s not easy but you have got to be patient and it will look good at the end.

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Display: for some reason I didn’t want to hack the original display so just bought a similar type naked display from ebay without the connector. This is the same type as the HXC uses, 1602A, 16x2 blue LCD. The connection between this and the board is straight but not using all the pins. At first I got scared when plugged this in, because it was too bright but using the board’s brightness control I was able to set the brightness to the correct value (very clever design indeed).

Modding the case for the display: once I marked the correct position I used a Stanley knife to cut the plastic. I cut 2-3mm away from the line to be safe and used the files to get the final shape. I believe this is where you can use the dremel. It was painfully slow to cut this bit.

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[Robson]

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[paul92706]

Thanks for posting, i hope to try this sometime! awesome!

[Scarlettkitten]

That looks amazing, I'm interested to see how you did the black keyboard.

[MrMaddog]

Best ST case mod ever...

[qq1975b]

Best ST case mod ever...

I agree!



Thanks for sharing Robson

[Robson]

Thanks.

I aim to cover all important steps don't worry .

BTW does anybody know how to add more than 6-7 pictures in one go when posting, is this due to overall size or the number of attachments?
(Sorry if it's in the FAQ )

[exxos]

Why not put together a webpage on this as things tend to get "lost" on the forum after a while. I would be happy to host the page. I do hope to put in a users section for other peoples guides on my site in due time as I think its worthwhile keeping things like what you have done as its not something people dare to do

[Atari74user]

Well, it has been said before, that is a machine of beauty. A lot of pain staking hours I imagine, but worth it, it is amazing, congratulaitons

[troed]

Many thanks for this. The HxC display placement + buttons is on my todo as well and the more guides available the more I trust my handiwork

/Troed

[Robson]

Why not put together a webpage on this as things tend to get "lost" on the forum after a while. I would be happy to host the page. I do hope to put in a users section for other peoples guides on my site in due time as I think its worthwhile keeping things like what you have done as its not something people dare to do

That would be the next step. Btw thanks for your help with the booster I bought from you. I will give you the credit at that part too. I dont mind talking about some sort of cooperation, maybe crosslinks between pages once the website once it is up an running. Mine can come under your satisfied customers tab .
I will finish publishing the steps here as well.