19 Jan
2006
19 Jan
'06
3:59 p.m.
From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at
sydex.com>
On 1/19/2006 at 3:06 PM Dwight Elvey wrote:
Hi Chuck
The early intel ones were just painted with the Intel blue.
It wasn't until after the static discharge problems became
recognized that they started to use the internal coat and
connected it to ground.
But, yes, it was not plastic. It was a lot lighter than
plastic but the entire unit is still quite heavy. It was
still using linear supplies.
Dwight
Yes, Intel did this on their Series II machines
after
they had static problems. It killed two birds. Both
the static problem and the RFI.
IIRC, the Intel boxes weren't plastic per se, but rather high-density
structural foam. I recall that the model shop guys built the first
enclosure for our prototype using acrylic (Plexiglas), which being clear
looked pretty nifty, but then moved to foam once the design was finalized.
The foam was funny--the shop devised a gag of making root beer ice-cream
floats in paper cups and interspersing a couple in the bunch filled with
structural foam, complete with straw and plastic spoon.
AFAIK, all such enclosures are painted--the native color of structural foam
is an unappealing yellow brown. Most of the paint shops added zinc arc
coatings once using foam caught on.
Cheers,
Chuck