701c New Body/Plastics

[cchisholm]

So I have a Thinkpad 701c, a particularly rare variant with the AMD X5 processor, and not the mod either, original manufactured board.
The problem is that while the guts, screen and keyboard are in decent shape, the shell and most other plastics on it are completely ruined.
For anyone not familiar with the 701c and cs, the biggest problem with them is that over time their rubberized coating on the outside just turns into a sticky mess. The batteries also tend to leak dramatically.
The shell is done for, theres no restoring it, its brittle, its been coated in dust, mold and battery acid, it keeps cracking apart, I tossed it already. Theres just not enough bondo in the world, ive tried all I can with it but It would take weeks to clean it up and restore it to bare plastic, but even then its still brittle and would have to become 99% bondo.

So im looking for a new shell. But not an original one, im looking for someone who can 3D print the shell for a 701c. In a proper ABS plastic, potentially even aluminum if its cheaper to CNC something like this, though I think SLP aluminum printing would be more reasonable.
If anyone has any info on who I could contact to have something like that manufactured, I would appreciate it. Someone has to do it eventually, its been discussed for years that there needs to be 3D printed shells for the 701c/cs.

https://i.imgur.com/8UGUg6l.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/NkC8qhT.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/i1fcPrY.jpg

[Thinkpad4by3]

Pics are wayyyy too big. It makes it impossible to read. Please read rule 5.

And don't even think about 3D printing it. Unless your considering using a 1 million dollar machine, it will never work. Trust me, I have a 701C and a 3D printer.

[cchisholm]

Pics are wayyyy too big. It makes it impossible to read. Please read rule 5.

And don't even think about 3D printing it. Unless your considering using a 1 million dollar machine, it will never work. Trust me, I have a 701C and a 3D printer.

Is it 2003 again? Is the average resolution 1024x768. Im on a sub 1080p display and its fine.
3D printing it would be possible but obviously not flat face down for the two major parts. Its gonna have to be vertical just because large flat surfaces can be a pain on 3D printers. But the parts aren't horrendously complicated, and any fine detail could be done as touchup.
Its just a matter of finding someone or a company that can replicate the parts properly, because im just not equipped to make a 3D model of the 701c's shell at home and have it shapeways printed.

[dr_st]

Is it 2003 again? Is the average resolution 1024x768. Im on a sub 1080p display and its fine.

On this forum, it's forever 2003. But even disregarding that, one of your images was 2822 pixels wide, the other 3024 pixels wide. It stretches the entire post horribly, and makes it hard to read.

If you want to post inline images, please add a warning in the title as per the forum rules, and make free use of the imgur automatic thumbnail generation - you can show a small thumbnail which is a link to the larger image.

[BillMorrow]

i have packed up most of my remaining 701C parts, accessories and two complete excellent thinkpad 701C's..
all to be sent, next week, to hwattys who has been rebuilding other thinkpad 701C's i have previously sent to him..
these last two are survivors of the paint issue and last time i booted them up they worked fine.. also send about 6 OEM HDD's with good win 3.1 OS's and one or two win95 OS's..
i say all this because it is time to distribute my mass of thinkpads to others who can appreciate them..
contact hwattys here on the forum if you want some case parts or even most of a case..

SOME forum members log in on smartphones with small screens.. thus it will be 2003 for a long time to come.. or until i sell out and someone else takes over..

[Thinkpad4by3]

3D printing it would be possible but obviously not flat face down for the two major parts. Its gonna have to be vertical just because large flat surfaces can be a pain on 3D printers. But the parts aren't horrendously complicated, and any fine detail could be done as touchup.
Its just a matter of finding someone or a company that can replicate the parts properly, because im just not equipped to make a 3D model of the 701c's shell at home and have it shapeways printed.

Unless your using an HP MultiJet Fusion machine which prints in nylon, you are sore out of luck. The layer strength will never be good enough,

[TheForgottenKing]

Might want to find a 3d scanner to make it easier on you

[Thinkpad4by3]

Might want to find a 3d scanner to make it easier on you

Never will be accurate enough. It's barely good enough for little sculptures, but even that isn't great. 3d replication in CAD is THE ONLY WAY. 3D printing may be pretty cool, but it isn't this miracle do-all process.

[TheForgottenKing]

Might want to find a 3d scanner to make it easier on you

Never will be accurate enough. It's barely good enough for little sculptures, but even that isn't great. 3d replication in CAD is THE ONLY WAY. 3D printing may be pretty cool, but it isn't this miracle do-all process.

The 701c has quite a lot of open area. Assuming one has a good scanner and printer it should work. Strength is another issue.

[Thinkpad4by3]

Never will be accurate enough. It's barely good enough for little sculptures, but even that isn't great. 3d replication in CAD is THE ONLY WAY. 3D printing may be pretty cool, but it isn't this miracle do-all process.

The 701c has quite a lot of open area. Assuming one has a good scanner and printer it should work. Strength is another issue.

No...a scanner won't work. It doesn't even have anywhere near the dimensional accurate you'd need, plus the black plastic wreaks havoc on the scanner. 3d scanners generally are piles of garbage.

[TheForgottenKing]

The 701c has quite a lot of open area. Assuming one has a good scanner and printer it should work. Strength is another issue.

No...a scanner won't work. It doesn't even have anywhere near the dimensional accurate you'd need, plus the black plastic wreaks havoc on the scanner. 3d scanners generally are piles of garbage.

Shame, never had tried one. 701C plastics aren't the most insane part to model up though

[Thinkpad4by3]

No...a scanner won't work. It doesn't even have anywhere near the dimensional accurate you'd need, plus the black plastic wreaks havoc on the scanner. 3d scanners generally are piles of garbage.

Shame, never had tried one. 701C plastics aren't the most insane part to model up though

Yeah they wouldnt be too hard, but someone would have to sit down for a few hours and crank it out.

[axur-delmeria]

Yeah they wouldnt be too hard, but someone would have to sit down for a few hours and crank it out.

Someone with a 701c and a good digital caliper.

[TheForgottenKing]

Yeah they wouldnt be too hard, but someone would have to sit down for a few hours and crank it out.

Someone with a 701c and a good digital caliper.

I have both of these things, and a dream of a modern-spec 701C that I have spent $200 on (not including the actual 701C and parts)

The time is now

[axur-delmeria]

I have both of these things, and a dream of a modern-spec 701C that I have spent $200 on (not including the actual 701C and parts)

The time is now

If you pull this off, you will be immortalized and not be TheForgottenKing anymore.

[TheForgottenKing]

I have both of these things, and a dream of a modern-spec 701C that I have spent $200 on (not including the actual 701C and parts)

The time is now

If you pull this off, you will be immortalized and not be TheForgottenKing anymore.

I already have the NUC, display (9.7" 2048x1536 iPad LCD), display adapter (runs off displayport+usb), what I need is the body (wip in autocad), keyboard (painful, probably going to be a custom layout mechanical one), and battery (four or eight lithium cells, nuc can run off 12-19V)

[TheForgottenKing]

So I have a Thinkpad 701c, a particularly rare variant with the AMD X5 processor, and not the mod either, original manufactured board.

They made them OEM? Thought they were all modded

[Thinkpad4by3]

If you whipped up something in CAD, send me the files and I can show you what they'll look like compared to the real thing

[TheForgottenKing]

If you whipped up something in CAD, send me the files and I can show you what they'll look like compared to the real thing

I have multiple 701C pieces. A few broken 701C machines were sacrificed for this project, especially as I needed the keyboard mechanism

[Thinkpad4by3]

If you whipped up something in CAD, send me the files and I can show you what they'll look like compared to the real thing

I have multiple 701C pieces. A few broken 701C machines were sacrificed for this project, especially as I needed the keyboard mechanism

If you can start with the keyboard cover...that'd be nice. I can test that one out super easily because my machine currently doesn't have it installed.

[TheForgottenKing]

I have multiple 701C pieces. A few broken 701C machines were sacrificed for this project, especially as I needed the keyboard mechanism

If you can start with the keyboard cover...that'd be nice. I can test that one out super easily because my machine currently doesn't have it installed.

I think I have a few spares in meh condition, but i'll look into it. The 701R is differently shaped, and quite a bit thicker.

[Thinkpad4by3]

The 701R is differently shaped, and quite a bit thicker.

What is a 701R?

[TheForgottenKing]

The 701R is differently shaped, and quite a bit thicker.

What is a 701R?

701R is my name for the 701C with modern internals. The plan is to use my nuc with an i5-5250U for now

[Thinkpad4by3]

701R is my name for the 701C with modern internals. The plan is to use my nuc with an i5-5250U for now

How'd you setup the keyboard?

[TheForgottenKing]

701R is my name for the 701C with modern internals. The plan is to use my nuc with an i5-5250U for now

How'd you setup the keyboard?

That's a work in progress. Probably going to be a custom split keyboard using Kailh Low Profile switches. Managed to pull the mechanical part out of the electronics

[Thinkpad4by3]

How'd you setup the keyboard?

That's a work in progress. Probably going to be a custom split keyboard using Kailh Low Profile switches. Managed to pull the mechanical part out of the electronics

If your making a replacement board, you'd be 1000x easier just to make a custom Arduino board for the original keyboard. They're just two small matrix switches.

[TheForgottenKing]

That's a work in progress. Probably going to be a custom split keyboard using Kailh Low Profile switches. Managed to pull the mechanical part out of the electronics

If your making a replacement board, you'd be 1000x easier just to make a custom Arduino board for the original keyboard. They're just two small matrix switches.

Do you have any places to know how to do that? I don't know how to get the pinout properly. I'd much rather do that.

[Thinkpad4by3]

You don't need the pinout. As long as you hook up all the pins to a Teensy or Arduino like device, there is a program that will find the matrix for you. (Well it just tells you which pins are bridged when you push a key, and you can get the matrix easily from there. Don't need to tell is row or columns or anything. )

[axur-delmeria]

This might work for the keyboard: https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to ... ontroller/

As for the Trackpoint, it might be better to use one of the later modules, as they're complete, standalone PS/2 devices, though it might be a challenge to install due to the split layout of the butterfly keyboard.

[Thinkpad4by3]

This might work for the keyboard: https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to ... ontroller/

As for the Trackpoint, it might be better to use one of the later modules, as they're complete, standalone PS/2 devices, though it might be a challenge to install due to the split layout of the butterfly keyboard.

Its just a set of resistors in a quad configuration. Use a two-channel high resolution ADC and you should be fine.