XE Book Development

For archiving’s sake here’s a photo of the insides showcasing my cable management 😂

I think Martin at Brewing Acadamy still has some. I almost bought one from him his prices aren’t bad. I got my NOS LCD panel from him also for about $60

Alright here’s how the new lid came out. What yallz think? I guess it’s better than just blank 🤔

** dammit the spacing is off between the grill lines! One more round! 😂 🤦‍♂️

** I don’t know if it’s cuz the weather and my filament is wet but I had to tweak the flow rate on the first and last layers to get it to fill in smoothly without gaps. Weird. It’s been flawless til now.

Hang in there, you'll get it sorted out. 🙂

I think I paid $400.00 for my STacy, and that was quite a long time ago.

I hear you about the ST Book. STacy's are rare, but the ST Book is almost

mythical...

Well it’s been a fiasco. Start print, wait 5 hours, flaws in print. Rinse and repeat.

Yes I’ve been eyeing the ST Book for years. I think I’ve seen two come up in eBay in the last 5 years.

The one I just got those snaps from off eBay looks like it’s in pristine condition.

Yeah I can’t justify the thousands to have one when they do crop up.

I think I payed close to $1,000 for my STacy and that’s my limit!

Although I’m pretty sure I’ve spent more than that on this frikn XE Book! 😂

I havent been happy with the blank lid surface and just found a video of an STBook where he closes the lid so I got a good look at how they did the logo on it. So I am taking another shot at embedding a logo on it. I tried a Fuji in the center already kindof like the Apple logo on the Macbooks but that seem down the middle just made it look bad. Heres what I am going to try next... I'll see how it looks in 10 hours when the printing finishes...

Heres what the sirface of the STBook looks like:

And heres my version:

WHat do you think? I hope it doesnt end up looking like KRAP

Another "glamor shot" now that a few more kinks have been ironed out.. FIxed some warping issues, Improved the hinge tension with a TPU washer, and reworked the lid so it can take larger more powerful magnets to suck the display down better when closed. I am going to try to quit while I am ahead so i dont "fix it til its broke" before VCF Socal! 🤣

** final testing the battery, We're down to one green dot here in the photo and its been 5 hours! Once it shuts down I am going to time how long it takes to recharge while powered on.

--- If enough people were to want a kit version of this that would include the LCD panel, plastics, wire harness, battery pack, audio and power management board, nuts n' bolts, and you BYO motherboard and upgrades I think around 300 backers would cover the cost if it were to sell for $300 or so... Thats just a rough estimate But you could assume the plastic molding and production would be in the high $30K plus everything else.

Thanks it was a long haul. A few issues having to split it down the middle causing it to warp a bit. The hinge could be better it needs to be tighter will have to see how well it holds up. It needs to be injection molded plastics but that’s crazy expensive. Maybe if there’s enough interest it could be polished into a real product

It's Done!

Youtube Vid: : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYGtY7DnrUk

Alrighty I think it's done! Now for 100Hrs of final printing...

Back left hinge closup:

it really is... Best printer ive ever had in the last 15 years. And that is at .2 res... my final print will be at .08 but it can go down to .04 or somthing crazy.

Gotta love the Bambu Carbon’s color 3d printing 😁

All in its gonna be the SAME SIZE as a stock XE! Ahh yeah!

starting to mockup the display. This is where I am heading so far... a little ST Book inspiration but got to deal with the constraints / limitations i have. I switched to a micro hdmi and then cut off all of the housing on the cable to get it as this as possible so I can fish it through the hinge section.. That parts still an unknown but should end up pretty close to what i have going on so far.

Still lots of refining to do on the case but heres a few shots of it so far now with the surface buttons for volume/fujinet and both speakers installed.,

Ever since I added the speaker grill I can't unsee the face looking back at me 😵‍💫

Heres a crosee section of the side. Everything bolts together and I was able to use all of the existing holes already in the PCB.. No glue hacks here!

Some screenshots of the case so far... Its gonna be one chunky laptop!

Unfortunately that dange button bar left side came right into the centerline where I have to split the case in half so I had to offset the seam to the left a little bit. I hpoe that doesnt bug the heck out of me or look too weird. The right half will be slightly wider than the left half. It was also coming it ad a bad spot on the cartrige slots on the back.

Got to do the two speakers and hinge next and then onto the display.

Haha I did know that. Tearing up a 1200xl might cause a riot though lol. I wanted to keep it as authentic as possible vs using one of those modern boards, emulators, etc. have you seen Ben heck’s handheld he did years ago? His is a custom board he made but all the chips are original pulled out of an XEGS.

Well I wasn't expecting this but I think it is going to end up being about the same size as a stock XE, U1MB, Sofia, battery pack, Fujinet, speakers LCD display and all! Mabe a liiiitle bit thicker with the lcd panel, yet to be determined, but not much. Right now it sits a bit lower leaving room for the LCD panel.... It should definitely be the same size with the lid up!

The other cool discovery is itis smal enough to print in two halves only. My other one had to be split into quarters but the depth of this one is a around 9" so it fits on my build platform so there will only be one seam down the middle. and shouldn't be that noticeable with the keyboard and lcd. It will come out a lot smoother than it is now also when i print it at .08 layer height.

Bottom case almost done, then onto the lid, and then the lcd display and it should be ready to roll :)