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Endangered classic Mac plastic color returns as 3D-printer filament

arstechnica.com

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Re: Endangered classic Mac plastic color returns as 3D-printer filament

#71

Post by riskassessment »

bigfatfrock wrote: post #54
crazygringo wrote: post #49

> The PLA filament (PLA is short for polylactic acid) allows hobbyists to 3D-print nostalgic novelties, replacement parts, and accessories that match the original color of vintage Apple computers. > Over time, original Macintosh plastics have become brittle and discolored with age, so matching the "original" color can be a somewhat challenging and subjective experience. So it seems like the color is for 3D-printing s…

> Makes me wonder if there will be a "thirty years discolored" version as well, if you want to print a piece to replace something broken... or can you just leave it out in the sun for a couple weeks or something? Would probably just need to make this part of a build loop where you send it through a high intensity light/heat cycle such as when they beat up jeans for purchase by people who buy those. "Would you prefer…

I don't think you can assume that this color-matched material will discolor with age in the same way that the original material did.

Re: Endangered classic Mac plastic color returns as 3D-printer filament

#72

Post by thenthenthen »

amelius wrote: post #35

If Woz were still in Apple there would be Apple-run makerspaces, with Apple branded 3d printers and all the types of filament you could dream of. Too bad Jobs turned the company into a boring locked-down anti-consumer appliance factory.

You are invited to my makerspace to print with whatever filament we have on non-branded printers!

Re: Endangered classic Mac plastic color returns as 3D-printer filament

#73

Post by jchw »

crazygringo wrote: post #49

> The PLA filament (PLA is short for polylactic acid) allows hobbyists to 3D-print nostalgic novelties, replacement parts, and accessories that match the original color of vintage Apple computers. > Over time, original Macintosh plastics have become brittle and discolored with age, so matching the "original" color can be a somewhat challenging and subjective experience. So it seems like the color is for 3D-printing s…

> or can you just leave it out in the sun for a couple weeks or something?

I actually don't know if there's a good source for this, but I've heard that the yellow discoloration caused by UV rays actually happens because of the specific way that window glass is filtering the UV spectrum unevenly; that would at least partly explain why retrobrighting, where you literally put things out in the sun or expose them to UV-C light directly, seems to actually work, and some people claim that even just leaving yellowed plastic out in the sun with no cover also works to an extent.

Re: Endangered classic Mac plastic color returns as 3D-printer filament

#74

Post by jchw »

riskassessment wrote: post #71
bigfatfrock wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Makes me wonder if there will be a "thirty years discolored" version as well, if you want to print a piece to replace something broken... or can you just leave it out in the sun for a couple weeks or something? Would probably just need to make this part of a build loop where you send it through a high intensity light/heat cycle such as when they beat up jeans for purchase by people who buy those. "Would you prefer…

I don't think you can assume that this color-matched material will discolor with age in the same way that the original material did.

Yeah, especially since this plastic here is PLA and not ABS, and also the yellowing apparently comes from the brominated flame retardant added to it.

Re: Endangered classic Mac plastic color returns as 3D-printer filament

#75

Post by geerlingguy »

ThatPlayer wrote: post #27
peteforde wrote: post #18

This article is peak Jeff Geerling territory.

Looks like he did comment on the original post: https://bsky.app/profile/jeffgeerling.com/post/3lqt52wh4ec2t

Heh, this morning my roll arrived (looks good, but don't have time today to unwrap it and fire off a print). I checked HN, saw this post... the rest is history :D

Re: Endangered classic Mac plastic color returns as 3D-printer filament

#76

Post by testing22321 »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #3

Something that has been kind of funny for me, perhaps others are feeling this way: I see increasingly this "retro computing community" fawning over machines that I think of as ... just machines that I used once. Some of the machines were even kind of scorned at the time as I recall — now they're sought after, lovingly restored.... I don't know if my reaction is as one who is being made aware of just how old they are…

Some people are passionate about cooking. Some dancing. Others mountain biking, snowboarding, hiking, painting, music, gardening, …. Literally endless list of hobbies and passions.

These people are passionate about old computer hardware. I’m not, but it makes me happy to know they are happy doing what they want.

Re: Endangered classic Mac plastic color returns as 3D-printer filament

#77

Post by jameshart »

jchw wrote: post #74
riskassessment wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you can assume that this color-matched material will discolor with age in the same way that the original material did.

Yeah, especially since this plastic here is PLA and not ABS, and also the yellowing apparently comes from the brominated flame retardant added to it.

A lot of the yellowing of vintage 1980s era Macs comes from their spending their early life installed in smoking-allowed workplaces.

Re: Endangered classic Mac plastic color returns as 3D-printer filament

#78

Post by jchw »

jameshart wrote: post #77
jchw wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, especially since this plastic here is PLA and not ABS, and also the yellowing apparently comes from the brominated flame retardant added to it.

A lot of the yellowing of vintage 1980s era Macs comes from their spending their early life installed in smoking-allowed workplaces.

That's okay though; in that case it can just be cleaned off. Better, the residue probably protects it from UV damage, so the plastic underneath is probably not in terrible shape.

Re: Endangered classic Mac plastic color returns as 3D-printer filament

#79

Post by zargon »

wpm wrote: post #68
zargon wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Panchroma Muted White is the one that is somewhat similar to the Apple platinum color. Someone sent Polymaker an RGB color code instead of a sample, so it's pretty off in reality. That would be fine, because all machines are yellowed to some degree anyway, so colors vary widely. More importantly, it's just terrible filament. Layer adhesion is virtually non-existent, compared to Polymaker's Poly Lite filaments. I have…

Yep, you're right, I meant Muted White. I've not had too many issues with it on my crappy Ender 3 clone. I print at 225C with a 60C bed, which lowers to 55 after the first layer. Never had any problems other than typical bullshit with my Z-offset.

I don't have bed adhesion issues. The prints are just extremely fragile, features peeling off at the slightest provocation. The filament binds to itself a little bit better (but still not great) if I print at 230° with a cooling profile that tops out at a max 20% fan speed, but one can't print details or overhangs in those conditions.

Re: Endangered classic Mac plastic color returns as 3D-printer filament

#80

Post by alnwlsn »

amelius wrote: post #35

If Woz were still in Apple there would be Apple-run makerspaces, with Apple branded 3d printers and all the types of filament you could dream of. Too bad Jobs turned the company into a boring locked-down anti-consumer appliance factory.

Reminds me of this April Fool's hackaday article from some years back:

https://hackaday.com/2016/04/01/apple-introduces-their-answe...

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