The Machines Behind the VCSp

I get a lot of questions asking how I made the case for the VCSp, so here we go! The machine you see pictured above is a computerized router sold by Gerber Scientific Products. (not to be associated with baby food)

You design things you want to make in a program called "Composer" (which Gerber also provides) and send the jobs down a cable to this machine. All the grooves, holes, notches, text, graphics and everything else for the Atari were designed as vector objects, which basically means line drawings. (see below)

Recognize that wireframe object?

The router can move the drill spindle left and right, forward and back. It can then plunge the bit up and down whatever height you want. It can cut a variety of materials including aluminum (as shown). It also has a coolant system that sprays on the drill bit to keep it from melting when cutting tough materials.

The control pad for the router.

Cutting into a one-inch slab of acrylic to make the Atari VCSp's case didn't overheat the bit, but we had to go slow in order not to break it. The bit doesn't just go up and down, it goes sideways, plowing through the material! But if you plow too fast, the bit breaks. (Think: trying to scoop hard, frozen ice cream and the spoon bends) And probably the biggest problem was flipping it. We had to flip it because I wanted details on the front of the unit as well. (such as the ridges and the indent around the screen). It was tricky because the plastic had to end up in the EXACT SAME PLACE after being flipped so the machine could remember where things were. That single problem caused 2 of the attempts to fail. By the 4th try we perfected our flipping method.

Here is a slab of acrylic. You can see the faint shape of an Atari VCSp in it. Limitations with the router, coupled with the fact that none one has ever really done this before, (and that pesky ozone layer) caused us to have several 'false starts' as we attempted to make the case. The rear half of the case we actually got on the first try. The front half, however, had a LOT more stuff to it and was double-sided, so it took 4 attempts before we nailed it. This was attempt number #2 I believe...

This is that slab of plastic close up, and from both sides. The front of the slab had to have slots for the batteries, the indentation around the screen where the wood grain goes, and the ridges near the control pad that simulate the ridges from an original Atari. The rear of slab case had to have the screw holes to attach circuit boards and the gaps to put things such as the TV, 9 volt, game cartridge and everything else. (see VCSp Story). 

Something else I get asked about are the decals on the Atari.

This wonderful machine is called the Gerber Edge. It's a thermal transfer printer that is used to create images on vinyl. Special rolls of material called 'foils' (they look like huge typewriter ribbons) are inserted into the machine which uses a heat process to transfer the color from those foils INTO (not on) the vinyl. Therefore, images cannot be washed off or removed. Many colors of foils are available, and you can print full-color pictures by using a set of CMYK foils. (also know as four-color process, like how they print magazines). I used the CMYK set of colors to print the multi-colored stripe that is on the VCSp. After you print something, the vinyl can then be cut out into shapes by an automated plotter and applied to whatever you want. If you see fancy graphics on a business vehicle, chances are they were made with this type of machine or something very similar. You design the text or graphics you want to print using the same program that works with the router, only you spool it to a different place (obviously).

   The HS 15 Gerber plotter.

The vinyl comes in many colors. Shown above is white, but for the Atari I used something called Clear Enamel Receptive. Which is basically just clear vinyl. (Think: A roll of Scotch tape, but stronger and a foot wide) Using that, I could print things with a transparent background. (Think: kind of like a GIF image). All the text, colors and logos on the Atari VCSp were done this way. Also, over-laminating the wood grain with the clear enamel receptive made it look nice and shiny, like stained wood. Even the wood grain on the Atari was a vinyl-type material. It was real wood, but pressed flat and with a sticky back. If you look closely at a lot of 'wood grain' things you can see it's usually just printed dots. But not my Atari!

   A decal, shown for transparency.

My thanks go out to my boss, Jim Greeley, for allowing me to use his machines after hours to complete my project. And he only poked me in the eye once!