Most computer case modders take certain liberties with their builds, to express their creativity and push the state of the art. Some, however, seek to recreate the original in as detailed a way as possible while still being unique. This faithful reproduction of a Commodore 64C in wood is a great example of the latter approach.
[Atilla Meric]’s experience with model airplane building came into play when he decided to leap into this build. Being used to making small, thin pieces of wood even smaller and thinner proved valuable here, as did working from templates and getting complex shapes cut out cleanly. [Atilla] used a miniature table saw to rough cut his stock; the wood species may have been lost in the translation from Turkish but it appears to be some variety of oak. Detail cuts were done with knives, and everything was held together with glue. The painstaking effort that went into the air vents is amazing, and the fact that they exactly match the vents on the original injection-molded case is truly impressive. We also like the subtle detail of the slightly depressed area around the keyboard opening, just like the original, as well as the smooth curve at the front of the case to comfortably support the wrists. The cutouts for connectors and the labels are top-notch too.
We appreciate the craftsmanship that went into this case mod, and the time and effort [Atilla] put into the build are obvious. We’ve seen wooden computer case mods before, but this one really pushes all our buttons.
[via Twitter]
seriously, a work of art! Beautiful.
I’m a die-hard C64 fan, and this is pretty nice – but “breathtaking”?? Please, stop being dramatic.
But I -might- call it breathtaking if it had key-caps made out of ebony wood with mother of pearl inlays. Now that would be next-level.
I never mentioned “breathtaking” and I’m certainly not being dramatic.
I hope that your comment encourage the craftman to do such a study.
Oh, cool. Let us know when you’re finished with yours. I’ll wait.
I especially like that the wood parts are so close to the originals, they fit together with the plastic parts.
Seeing the image on front page, I clicked through to see what kind of CNC they used. I couldn’t have guessed it was done all by hand!
I was thinking CNC too, but this make more sense.
Until you need to make a few more for friends.
Same here, the spacing on the grills looked too consistent to have been done by hand… at least by my hands!
Really impressive craftsmanship!
People have made things to great precision without CNC for quite a long time.
There’s a fine e line between genius and insanity. This is just the right side!
This would look perfect paired with a wooden modem: https://hackaday.com/2019/03/29/teardown-of-a-50-year-old-modem/
The difference being that at the time that modem was produced (and I know this because I was a user of one of those modems in 1970), it was a perfectly reasonable material choice for a case. Keep in mind that in1970, most home audio systems and even many TVs were in wood cases.
I know that, I guess my point was that the tail end of the 300 baud analog modem era *just* overlapped with the early 8-bit home computers and as such, from an aesthetic standpoint (though most C64s used for BBSing were used with less expensive digital modems as 1200bps with injection-molded cases not unlike the C64 case) if one were to make a wooden case for a C64 one could do worse than to use a modem in a wooden case as they’d be electrically compatable *and* look nice side by side. That was all.
Much better than the one on this page 😁
https://www.419eater.com/html/john_boko.htm
Website blocked due to trojan.
Oops, sorry! Accessed on my phone, which didn’t flag it as dodgy.
Atilla’s page:
https://atillameric.wordpress.com/2020/01/08/commodore-64-ahsap-versiyon/
There are many C64 peripherals made of wood in Atilla’s site. ;)
They used to (maybe still do?) make vinyl with adhesive backing, with various patterns printed on it. I know I had some “woodgrain” in the early seventies. If still available, one could just appky it to the plastic C64 case.
I think I still have my “I adore my 64” button, can’t remember how I got it ( but it was when tge 64 was current), and I never had a 64.
You’re in luck, it finally came back into wide availability again after Chrysler cornered the market for the Mark Cross LeBarons, and spiked it again for some models of PT Cruiser.
Search for 3M DI-NOC and you’ll find many woodgrains and other styles.