Custom Case for Zenith ZKB-7 aka Eazy PC

[ddrfraser1]

It would indeed be cool to have a "Skywalker" and "Vader" edition

[wanderhoden]

impressive stuff now i rly want a vader case to gimme gimme gimme

[Muirium]

Hail Sata… I mean Vader! Yeah Vader.

(It was close but I think I got away with it.)

[wanderhoden]

almost choke on that one

[Muirium]

Allow me to thumbs up your post.

[Lalaland124]

impressive stuff now i rly want a vader case to gimme gimme gimme

Heheheh

Thanks for all the feedback, I'm getting there with the model.

Just a bit of patience until I find a big a** 3d printer or service that doesn't charge like 200€ for one piece

[Muirium]

Screenshot 2021-04-03 at 10.50.27 am.jpg (181.24 KiB) Viewed 4953 times

Side.jpg (139.24 KiB) Viewed 4953 times

[Lalaland124]

Awesome thanks! This will definitely be useful

[Lalaland124]

Update: I completely remodeled the old Zenith ZKB-7 Case in CAD. Before I start finishing off the design with the metal plates I will check if all measurements are correct. Big thanks to TNT and Muirium for helping me out with these!

Right now all 3D-Services I saw online charged a minimum of 200€ for the case, so I will have to figure out how I can bring that price down..

Anyways I will post the more detailed renders here in a few days until then thanks for all the support. Looking forward to bringing Vader and Skywalker to life

Spoiler:

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c1.png (1.05 MiB) Viewed 4875 times

[derzemel]

I have one of these beautiful Zenith Eazy PC keyboards too, also with the case broken by the postal service around the cable cutout (in a very similar fashion to yours).

I did not have the heart to break it down for the switches, so I glued the case back (all the case pieces were in the package). I have not managed to get it to work with a modern PC yet (need to look closer into converters, as it seems it has the XT protocol)

[TNT]

I followed Hasu's instructions for his XT converter. It's a Teensy mod similar to a Soarer's converter with two pullup resistors. Normal Soarer isn't working with this board. All in all not too complicated to convert

[TNT]

Update: I completely remodeled the old Zenith ZKB-7 Case in CAD. Before I start finishing off the design with the metal plates I will check if all measurements are correct. Big thanks to TNT and Muirium for helping me out with these!

Right now all 3D-Services I saw online charged a minimum of 200€ for the case, so I will have to figure out how I can bring that price down..

Anyways I will post the more detailed renders here in a few days until then thanks for all the support. Looking forward to bringing Vader and Skywalker to life

Spoiler:

c2.png
c1.png

looks great! Looking forward to this

[Lalaland124]

Update: DHL refuses to refund the package which really sucks given that I got the whole thing for 190€ broken...
Anyways, I may have found a way to print the case very cheap by splitting it in half (the metal sheets would cover the line and would hold the two pieces together)

[Muirium]

Feel your pain. And hope the cunning new way works as planned.

[TNT]

How are they justifying this? Are they saying it's the vendors' fault for not putting enough protective stuff inside? Well, it clearly wasn't broken before they carried it to you. So what is that "insurance" for anyway? This is so unfair, smh.

I'd love to see a prototype, good idea with the split case. Maybe you could try to not split it into perfect halves, but still leave some kind of structure to give additional stability to the case. Some kind of form-fit connection.

[Lalaland124]

How are they justifying this? Are they saying it's the vendors' fault for not putting enough protective stuff inside? Well, it clearly wasn't broken before they carried it to you. So what is that "insurance" for anyway?

Yess, they wrote a letter where they explained that the thing wasn't well protected (The seller even put 8cm styrofoam in there so I don't get their point..)
Now the seller complained himself so we will see in how far this works.

I'd love to see a prototype, good idea with the split case. Maybe you could try to not split it into perfect halves, but still leave some kind of structure to give additional stability to the case. Some kind of form-fit connection.

That's the plan If everything turns out as I want it to, then it would be really easy for anyone with a 3D printer to make the case.

[Lalaland124]

Short Update: I found someone who can print the case for me for a reasonable price. Unfortunately I will have to split the case as expected but that doesn't matter really as the metal parts will cover the line where the two parts attach with eachother.

So I might have the first prototype in a few weeks

[TNT]

Great to hear that. Looking forward to the result!

[shallot]

Will totally buy one of these if it goes group buy

[Lalaland124]

Will totally buy one of these if it goes group buy

Awesome

Great to hear that. Looking forward to the result!

Yeah I'm very excited as well!

I'm on the hunt for a keyboard with the same layout and Alps mount, but with black or at least not yellowed keycaps. All black would just have such an amazing aesthetic.

Also does anyone have experience with painting coiled cables? Would love to make mine black.

[TNT]

Will totally buy one of these if it goes group buy

I second that

Also does anyone have experience with painting coiled cables? Would love to make mine black.

Have looked into it when I was doing my sleeper build but decided against it in the end. If the cable is fairly static, like a PSU or SATA cable it's possible but on a loose cable like a mouse or keyboard one, the paint is prone to flake off. At least that's what I've been told, I have no experience with those special plastic bond spraypaints. If I was you, I would just look for a nice, black cable to show up. Or you could try to turn a straight cable into a coiled one yourself. There are some good tutorials on YouTube, but don't forget to inverse the coil at the end: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWoGHc8yhOE

[Lalaland124]

Will totally buy one of these if it goes group buy

I second that

Also does anyone have experience with painting coiled cables? Would love to make mine black.

Have looked into it when I was doing my sleeper build but decided against it in the end. If the cable is fairly static, like a PSU or SATA cable it's possible but on a loose cable like a mouse or keyboard one, the paint is prone to flake off. At least that's what I've been told, I have no experience with those special plastic bond spraypaints. If I was you, I would just look for a nice, black cable to show up. Or you could try to turn a straight cable into a coiled one yourself. There are some good tutorials on YouTube, but don't forget to inverse the coil at the end: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWoGHc8yhOE

Thanks TNT, definitely worth keeping in mind!

[Lalaland124]

Quick update:

The first 3d printed prototype arrived and after having trouble removing some of the stabilizing material from the print I can show you a picture of how the case would look without metal.

Keep in mind that most of the surfaces will be hidden beneath metal sheets, which I hopefully will be able to laser cut or something.

The print was very cheap, but overall I'm quite satisfied, especially for a first prototype

Spoiler:

IMG_20210604_164823.jpg (3.09 MiB) Viewed 3769 times

[TNT]

Promising! How are the two parts connected in the middle rn?