Interest Check: Atari plastic upper/lower housings

GF323

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I always have a badly worn logo or 720 or hall effect stick in dire need of all kinds of parts, namely the upper and lower housing. Sourcing the parts has become a chore for me. I know there are still some nos parts available, but I'm not going to pay $85 for a NOS lower housing. I'm tired of waiting for someone else to make them, so I'm giving it a try myself. I've already had 4 each of the two different types of lower housing parts machined last week and they look good, fit against NOS parts and work great. I just had a chance to check them out today. I'm so stoked to see these parts! See attached photos.

I'm trying to see if there's any interest in having these parts made beyond my own use, I'm thinking via injection mold? If I can get enough interest, I can get the price down. For instance, I ESTIMATE that the final sell price of a 720/he lower housing would be around $45-50ea with at least 200 units produced. The upside is that I will be able to have more of them made anytime more is needed down the road. I'm willing to front the cost to get this done if I can get some people interested. I'm not asking for a prepayment or anything, just a show of hands. Before I proceed, I'd like to know who wants these, what type: upper housing and/or 720/he lower housing and/or assault/logo lower housing, how many of each they might want and what price range is acceptable. These can be made and I'm done waiting for someone else to do it. The molds will take 3-5 days to have made and I can have parts run immediately.
 

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It would be nice, but you'll never sell enough to even cover the cost of having the tooling made, unless you have a diy injection molding machine. I take logo stick lower housing and machine them in a lathe to use for my 720 sticks. I have about 80 logostick s that I use the upper housing for them also. I have yet to see a logostick plastic housing that's worn. The plungers are usually trashed, but the pivots show little wear.
 
Love your work Mark. Thanks for the input. It never occurred to me to modify the logo stick lower housings. That's definitely food for thought. In the meantime, I'll leave the interest thread open and see just how much interest there is, if any. If it doesn't go anywhere, no harm. I can still have parts machined for myself as needed.
 
I was thinking black PA66+15%GF. The machined samples pictured above are made of Delrin, though.

I'll take at least 2 if/when you have the lower housings.

What are you planning to making them out of?
 
I was thinking black PA66+15%GF. The machined samples pictured above are made of Delrin, though.



I was just thinking of getting some made out of Delrin or metal but I'd be happy to buy from someone else.

Why pa66 over Delrin?

If you don't proceed with the project is it possible to buy some machined delrin lower housings off you?
 
I'm more familiar with injection molding with PA66 than Delrin. I'm more familiar with machining Delrin than PA66. If the project doesn't go forward, I'll just run off housing components as needed and I'll make them available. Send me a PM.

I was just thinking of getting some made out of Delrin or metal but I'd be happy to buy from someone else.

Why pa66 over Delrin?

If you don't proceed with the project is it possible to buy some machined delrin lower housings off you?
 
marks spot on

It would be nice, but you'll never sell enough to even cover the cost of having the tooling made, unless you have a diy injection molding machine. I take logo stick lower housing and machine them in a lathe to use for my 720 sticks. I have about 80 logostick s that I use the upper housing for them also. I have yet to see a logostick plastic housing that's worn. The plungers are usually trashed, but the pivots show little wear.

I totally agree with mark.

you'll never sell enough to even coming close to breaking even. I've been fooling with 720 sticks and parts for years and its a loosing battle.

good luck and keep me posted

chad
 
It would be nice, but you'll never sell enough to even cover the cost of having the tooling made, unless you have a diy injection molding machine. I take logo stick lower housing and machine them in a lathe to use for my 720 sticks. I have about 80 logostick s that I use the upper housing for them also. I have yet to see a logostick plastic housing that's worn. The plungers are usually trashed, but the pivots show little wear.

you have 80 logosticks? lol you need help

chad
 
I've been rebuilding the atari sticks for years. I'm mainly looking at having a source for these parts for my own use. Obviously, I can't justify making an injection mold for my own use as there's no way I'd ever need that many. I was putting my feelers out to see if anyone else wanted them other than me so I could at least subsidize the project. I don't have 80 spare logo sticks to part out, so I need to look elsewhere. :)

BTW, I've seen your rebuilds and I think they're beautiful!! I built (not rebuilt) a single 720 from the ground up just for the sake of saying "I did that!" I was waiting on these last pieces to put one together. I'm testing it out now and I'll show pictures later. Obviously, since it's a one-off, the price is way over the top.

I totally agree with mark.

you'll never sell enough to even coming close to breaking even. I've been fooling with 720 sticks and parts for years and its a loosing battle.

good luck and keep me posted

chad
 
good source and quality

I've been rebuilding the atari sticks for years. I'm mainly looking at having a source for these parts for my own use. Obviously, I can't justify making an injection mold for my own use as there's no way I'd ever need that many. I was putting my feelers out to see if anyone else wanted them other than me so I could at least subsidize the project. I don't have 80 spare logo sticks to part out, so I need to look elsewhere. :)

BTW, I've seen your rebuilds and I think they're beautiful!! I built (not rebuilt) a single 720 from the ground up just for the sake of saying "I did that!" I was waiting on these last pieces to put one together. I'm testing it out now and I'll show pictures later. Obviously, since it's a one-off, the price is way over the top.



seems like you have a good source that is fair and honest. the quality of work looks great.

I would say put me down for 10 but I'm all out of sticks and parts.

thanks for the kind words.

good luck and keep me posted.

chad
 
when you say built from the ground up what's that mean? you machined all the parts?
 
Exactly. I guess the correct terminology would be "scratch build", but yes. All the main parts were machined and no NOS/OEM parts were used. I ran off a small number of blank PCB's using Pad2Pad. I sourced the Q4815 optical encoders through netcomponents. The sheet metal parts were laser cut at a friends place when I could slip them in one weekend. Though, I still had to pay for it. Funny, but the most expensive process was the anodizing work I had done. It was super steep! I'm going to post about it in the restoration area right now.

when you say built from the ground up what's that mean? you machined all the parts?
 
I'll probably just go through with making these parts via injection mold process, regardless of the show of hands. But, it would be nice to see that there is some interest. It occurred to me that I can justify proceeding with this simply based on all the rebuilds I do on a regular basis. Plus, that scratch build 720 controller has me amped up right now. It might take me awhile, but I can see how this will pay for itself over time.
 
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