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Appreciating Sinclair and Shrinking down Tech'

cstanton

This BBC spotlight/documentary caught my attention recently, from the manufacturing processes to the technology that Sinclair created in the earlier years of their products.

It's no surprise that some of the products mentioned go for, frankly, crazy prices online.

Though I was also distracted thinking "what if I wanted to create something like this?"

image

While we may be able to create prototype electronics from the home of the internals, the enclosure of something so small may be trickier. Unless you have perhaps a resin 3D printer, I haven't seen many people create something like this from say, small-scale, thin sheet metal(s).

Perhaps there's still some way to go for homemade fabrication? Especially when it comes to enclosures.

How do you handle enclosure design?

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  • Hi Christopher,

    Probably I'd want to make a friend who works with CNC, say on a trading estate, if I wanted to make such a watch case. Apparently it's not too expensive to get things machined, especially if you ask for 50 or so to be made, since once the machine is programmed, they may as well churn out many parts. Someone I know made their money back on just three pieces, which were for a car part that the manufacturer wanted several hundred £ for. They used one part on their own car, and sold the other two pieces.

    I have a cheap hand-mill so it's not difficult to machine basic shapes (from aluminium, or more preferably delrin or acetal, since they are great to machine with), although I cannot manage some features that may need (say) a rotary table, or CNC. Polished (e.g. mirror) finishes are easy to do, whereas the rippled effect isn't. The milling machine was the best tool purchase I have made in ages, it has worked well for 7+ years, but if I had to do it again, I would have saved up a bit more and got a slightly larger model. I paid £600, but prices are higher now (about £750 nowadays).  

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  • Hi Christopher,

    Probably I'd want to make a friend who works with CNC, say on a trading estate, if I wanted to make such a watch case. Apparently it's not too expensive to get things machined, especially if you ask for 50 or so to be made, since once the machine is programmed, they may as well churn out many parts. Someone I know made their money back on just three pieces, which were for a car part that the manufacturer wanted several hundred £ for. They used one part on their own car, and sold the other two pieces.

    I have a cheap hand-mill so it's not difficult to machine basic shapes (from aluminium, or more preferably delrin or acetal, since they are great to machine with), although I cannot manage some features that may need (say) a rotary table, or CNC. Polished (e.g. mirror) finishes are easy to do, whereas the rippled effect isn't. The milling machine was the best tool purchase I have made in ages, it has worked well for 7+ years, but if I had to do it again, I would have saved up a bit more and got a slightly larger model. I paid £600, but prices are higher now (about £750 nowadays).  

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