New A4000 Project, building from Spare Parts! =D

[fitzsteve]

So today another project is born! Using my spare A4000D Motherboard, a chassis, Busboard I picked up from a wanted thread on this site as the base for this new setup.

It will be a little twist on the usual A4000 as I plan to keep all the hardware on show with some kind of viewing panel setup, perspex panels with fans mounted for good ventilation/cooling.

Special thanks so far to Zetr0 for the PCI/Zorro Bracket, Justin for the CSMkI, esc for the Busboard, D.B for the chassis, support bar and plastic insulation mat. Also big thanks in advance to MerlinKV who is sending me the front plastics, lid, HDD Brackets and PSU

So ths first thing is to mount the Motherboard in my new chassis:

I have a slight mixture of screws, but it's all ok and fits nice and tight. So this will be the base for my new project.

I made a little trade with Justin for his old CSMkI which I thought would be ideal for an 'on show' project since this is one beast of an Accelerator, especially with the Ram/SCSI kit's in place

For some reason I can't get the Cyberstorm to work with above 32mb Ram (Ram don't show up even with correct jumper settings) but this isn't a big problem since I have a spare Fastlane Z3 with 128mb Ram onboard

Sadly I can't power it up today for you as the PSU out of my old Elbox Tower needs the Elbox Busboard to deliver power so I'm about to order an ATX adapter from Amigakit so I can start testing the setup.

At the moment I also have a spare DKB3128 which I might install just for some more Ram I don't actually need! and a buddha IDE to drive a CDROM

I'm also thinking of doing the PIO2 Mod to this Motherboard as I have the kit here from Cosmos but for now I'll use a CF on the IDE and SCSI-IDE off the Fastlane

One more pic, this is it for now till I get the PSU/Adapter or the bits from my good friend MerlinKV

Enjoy!

 

[DonAmiga]

Great to see another project on the way

All the best

 

[Gouldin]

Your commitment to bring these beasts back to life is impressive.
Should look pretty cool, haven't seen a Perspex A4000 before

Though, have you thought about painting the chassis a matt black?

 

[fitzsteve]

Great to see another project on the way

All the best

Thanks mate

Your commitment to bring these beasts back to life is impressive.
Should look pretty cool, haven't seen a Perspex A4000 before

Though, have you thought about painting the chassis a matt black?

Thanks for the kind words

Yeah I think I will paint the chassis, I was thinking aluminium/silver to relflect the lighting I will install inside the case but Matt Black does sound like a great idea

Cheers!
Steve.

 

[Gouldin]

For led strip lights etc, get nice satin finish black. Shines nicely without looking oot

Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk

 

[johnim]

nice to see a 4000 being built from scratch mate thanks for sharing another fine machine

i still might have my own one day

 

[Phipscube]

This is a great idea Steve! Good for shows and stuff so folks can look inside without any accidents. Where you inspired by Phil's PPC A1200 proj? His A1200 is awesome on show!

 

[fitzsteve]

nice to see a 4000 being built from scratch mate thanks for sharing another fine machine

i still might have my own one day

This is a great idea Steve! Good for shows and stuff so folks can look inside without any accidents. Where you inspired by Phil's PPC A1200 proj? His A1200 is awesome on show!

Thanks guys, indeed Phils project at replay was inspirational.

I was going to put a viewing Window in my Elbox Tower but since replacing that with the A4000T I was wondering what to do. I had no intention of selling the spare motherboard so decided to do another project with everything I have spare!

Also if the A4000T dosen't work out with the CSPPC I may return that to a stock A3640 machine and put all the PPC stuff in here

Steve.

 

[Rakeim132]

Again, a nice way to keep staying busy on the weekends...
Great project too !

 

[fitzsteve]

Again, a nice way to keep staying busy on the weekends...
Great project too !

Thanks my friend

Also I have a small project update today, I received an ATX-A4kD adapter from my good friend Justin so I was able to power the system up for the first time.

Booting into a simple classic workbench but I think I have some busboard issues (maybe slots need a clean) as I'm seeing defective cards occasionally.

But once running it's fast and smooth, 15pfs solid on ADoom

More to come soon...

 

[User2921]

Looks good Steve. Glad to see the busboard put to use

One of these days I'll snap some pics of my projects for everyone to see...

 

[fitzsteve]

Looks good Steve. Glad to see the busboard put to use

One of these days I'll snap some pics of my projects for everyone to see...

Thanks again my friend

 

[anagrama]

How about taking the A4000 case lid to a plastics workshop and asking them to make a complete perspex replica. I would imagine that would look pretty cool, maybe with a clear red finish, internal red light and Amiga logos down the side. Have the front fascia and chasis professionally sprayed black to.

 

[fitzsteve]

How about taking the A4000 case lid to a plastics workshop and asking them to make a complete perspex replica. I would imagine that would look pretty cool, maybe with a clear red finish, internal red light and Amiga logos down the side. Have the front fascia and chasis professionally sprayed black to.

Sounds awesome, bet it would be expensive tho!

 

[anagrama]

I wonder how much it would be to get perspex replicated. Just an A4000 cover should be fairly simple to do for a company that does that kind of thing so it might surprise you. Then again you might have to sell the new tower to cover the cost

Anyone here have an idea?

It might be worth looking for local firms and just taking a cover in to ask for a quote

 

[rkauer]

A cheap substitute is fibreglass resin without the fibreglass itself. Notice the result will be a little in the brittle side of things.

 

[Gouldin]

If requesting a batch, then yes it can be reasonably cheap to reproduce, for a solo unit however, you're looking at about £150 minimum.

A cheaper option would be to make the chassis yourself, not hard to do at all, just requires good cutting tools and some strong glue

I wonder how much it would be to get perspex replicated. Just an A4000 cover should be fairly simple to do for a company that does that kind of thing so it might surprise you. Then again you might have to sell the new tower to cover the cost

Anyone here have an idea?

It might be worth looking for local firms and just taking a cover in to ask for a quote

 

[Buzzfuzz]

If requesting a batch, then yes it can be reasonably cheap to reproduce, for a solo unit however, you're looking at about £150 minimum.

Well I would be very interested in full unit, if such a thing could be done :-D
Very cool, a fully seetrough A4000D :-D

 

[Gouldin]

I'm not offering services to do it myself, but when I had access to the equipment a few years ago, that was about the going rate.

Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk

 

[D.B]

*cut*
Also if the A4000T dosen't work out with the CSPPC I may return that to a stock A3640 machine and put all the PPC stuff in here

Steve.

Your A4KT will not make your PPC as hot as the A4KD will.

Do not use a resin as rkauer suggests. It will yellow.

If you do get someone to make you a perspex lid (great idea btw) be sure it's a perspex that doesn't react to UV and other natural rays. I expect it will be more expensive, but you only get what you pay for these days.