MFX mass-storage add-on - Original Thread

[Dave]

It wasn't in a locked filing cabinet in a disused toilet with a sign on the door saying, "Beware of the leopard" thankfully.

I had to Google that one! Ha ha, hhgttg !

[Dave]

With respect to the prototype end plate, it works well, though I had to drill the screw holes out to 3.5mm, matching the original, so as to give enough "wriggle room" for all three screws to line up. It's a bit fiddly getting it on but it's good once it's there.

I didn’t have to drill Martin’s end plate to fit it to my MTX, but I agree, it was a bit fiddly to fit. That’s probably to do with it being such a neat fit over the I/O ports (which I like).

I think that Martin made the holes slightly undersized due to the material being a little less forgiving than the original Aluminium end plate, but for me, he’s got the balance just about right. Any bigger and they would likely be too close the the edge of the material.

[stephen_usher]

The problem I found was the tolerances on the actual case screw hole made it impossible to get the lower-rear screw anywhere near the thread.

Anyway, given that the plate is in compression between the screw head and the case at that point the edge has little or no stress so it's unlikely to break, especially as it's only reduced by ~0.25mm.

[acsi]

In anticipation for this I may have slightly over paid for a second MTX512 which is currently in transit.

[gunrock]

In anticipation for this I may have slightly over paid for a second MTX512 which is currently in transit.

Totally know what you mean. I "accidentally" bought a third MTX earlier this year when I bid on one expecting it to go waaaaay higher and wouldn't you know, I bloody well won the auction.

[stephen_usher]

Totally know what you mean. I "accidentally" bought a third MTX earlier this year when I bid on one expecting it to go waaaaay higher and wouldn't you know, I bloody well won the auction.

Anyway, I've sanded down the prototype 3D printed end plate (could have done it a bit more actually) and sprayed it with sealant lacquer. At first glace it looks like a normal aluminium plate. If I had sanded it for longer it would have looked better. Still, what do you think?

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[Dave]

It looks pretty good!

Just get rid of the rusty screws and it will look great

(The "professionally" printed end plates in resin are very smooth to begin with, though slightly greyer in colour)

[Dave]

As an aside, I won't think of supplying one with MFX, but what do people think about using a right handed VGA cable adapter?

Steve's cable looks quite small and flexible, but some of the heavier cables might be better going back the way without needing a large radius of cable being sat to the right of the MTX?

It would likely make SD card insertion/removal more difficult, but might look neater.

VGA_ra_crop.jpg (41.12 KiB) Viewed 34392 times

[Martin A]

That's a nice looking gadget. I'm currently using a seriously chunky cable, good for signal integrity but not so much for flexibility. Takes a good 8 or 9 inches of desk space to make the turn back towards the screen!

And yes I know Dave doesn't approve of the gold end plates on that MTX

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The printer here has a textured bed so doesn't do a smooth finish, but the shiny PLA makes up for that. What you can also see in the 2 pictures is the little bit of tweaking Dave did with the connector postions between the pre-production PCB and the V1.1 build. The power socket being the biggest mover, the PCB is no longer in view.

[stephen_usher]

It looks pretty good!

Just get rid of the rusty screws and it will look great

(The "professionally" printed end plates in resin are very smooth to begin with, though slightly greyer in colour)

It's not rust it's "patina".

They'd probably look best spayed with satin black and then sealant then. Maybe scratched once along the length before painting to simulate the brushed aluminium of the original.

With regards to the right-angled socket, I'm not sure. A more flexible VGA cable is probably better and signal quality isn't going to be affected as it's only a low frequency 640x480 anyway.