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Documentation about the Vampire hardware

V4 Case Mod for External Access to CF Card.

Ben W

Posts 33
19 Mar 2022 03:01


Hi all,
I thought I would share my modification for my V4.
Unscrewing the case to access the CF card multiple times became tiresome, so I decided to remedy the situation by creating an external CF card port. 
The CF to IDE bracket was made in Fusion360 and printed on my 3D printer in PETG. 
A longer IDE cable had to be made to make the adapter stretch to the front panel.
Labels on the I/O panels are to make the sockets a little more user friendly.
Laser engraving would look a lot better, of course.
Hope this inspires a few people to modify their own Vampires.
FYI. Pretty sure this will void your warranty ;-)
   
  EXTERNAL LINK   
   
   


Thomas Blatt

Posts 200
19 Mar 2022 06:55


Really nice


Chris Green

Posts 29
19 Mar 2022 12:33


Like the idea of having external access to the cf card, but the way you have done it seems unnecessarily messy and destructive. As you 3D printed the bracket, why didn’t you simply 3D print a whole new end cap with cutouts for the existing ports and the Cf card, instead of cutting the existing end cap as you have done. Would have been tidier and allowed for reversion.


Ben W

Posts 33
19 Mar 2022 23:20


Thomas Blatt wrote:

Really nice

Thank you, Thomas.


Ben W

Posts 33
20 Mar 2022 00:26


Thank you for your point of view, Chris.

To answer your question as to why I didn't simply 3D print a whole new end cap with cutouts.

Short answer: I think it would look janky.

Long answer: The aluminium fascias produced for the V4 by the Apollo team look elegant and refined, as well as being structurally rigid at 1.5mm thick. 
A fascia printed out of 1.5mm PETG on the the other hand, will be flimsy and crude. 
If I replace one fascia, I would also need to replace the other one with the same material.  This seems to me, like I would be 'redesigning the wheel', whereas I just want to modify the wheel.


Ben W

Posts 33
21 Mar 2022 10:04


Chris,
  Your comment got my mind going, so I thought I would try to design and 3D print a front fascia with an imbedded CF-IDE adapter bracket. It worked, and looks a bit tidier than my first mod, but I still think it looks a bit janky.
 
  EXTERNAL LINK


Chris Green

Posts 29
21 Mar 2022 19:33


Hi Ben

The new version looks brilliant. Really neat, but still maintains the full support bracket for the CF-to-IDE adapter. Having that external access to the CF card will make life a lot easier.


Ben W

Posts 33
21 Mar 2022 20:12


Thanks Chris.
Having fast, functional access to CF card is really the key at the end of these modifications.


Alex Nihirash

Posts 4
26 Mar 2022 14:59


Ben W wrote:

Chris,
  Your comment got my mind going, so I thought I would try to design and 3D print a front fascia with an imbedded CF-IDE adapter bracket. It worked, and looks a bit tidier than my first mod, but I still think it looks a bit janky.
 
  EXTERNAL LINK 

Hello!

Can you please share 3D model for your mod?


Ben W

Posts 33
28 Mar 2022 07:40


https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5332734


Alex Nihirash

Posts 4
28 Mar 2022 23:08


Ben W wrote:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5332734

404 :-(


Ben W

Posts 33
01 Apr 2022 03:52


Sorry Mate,
      I give up!
      Trying to post links on this forum is a pain in the arse and without a forum help page, I forget the correct format to link to an external site.


Ben W

Posts 33
01 Apr 2022 04:52


:-(


posts 13