3D Printed "NeXT Soundbox " for N4000A sound board

[mattsoft]

Hi all - recent NeXTer here with a couple of nice NeXTstations and only 1 very, very, very dim N4000A monitor. My plan is use an LCD in place of the aging monitor and I'm hoping that I can place the LCD panel inside the N4000A case to retain that "authentic" look.

But if I can't (like the panel doesn't physically fit), my goal will be to remove the sound board from the N4000A and create my own "sound box" that connects to the NeXTstation via the DB19 cable but also provide a VGA dsub for my LCD. If I go this route, I plan to design and 3D print a sound box to house all of this.

My question is, does anyone know of an existing 3D model of the sound box? I've searched around for some STLs but haven't found anything.

Thanks!

[krazycat]

A company is making a 3D print of a shell for me, but the final version is not ready yet. I do not know if it will also give me STL files in addition to the 3D printed Soundbox.

[mattsoft]

A company is making a 3D print of a shell for me, but the final version is not ready yet. I do not know if it will also give me STL files in addition to the 3D printed Soundbox.

Are you having these made for a project? the model looks pretty good!

[krazycat]

I had these shells created like the originals, with the same dimensions, to fit inside the PCB that had been removed from an old N4000A monitor.

to avoid 3D printing even the piece that holds the speaker as in the original soundbox, I did design a special cover with the edges to fix the original speaker.

I think I'll have the final Soundbox printed in ten days, so I will post some photos.

[barcher174]

Awesome work! Would be great to modify this for the custom sound boards under development.

[mattsoft]

Very nice indeed. Did you design the STLs or did you have the 3rd party printer design them? If you have obj or types of files, they can easily be converted to STLs for printing. If you designed them, it would be great to put a GPL-type license on them and distribute them. Modifying them for barcher174's custom sound board would be super easy then. Regardless, nice work. I'll hold off designing my own then.

[krazycat]

Awesome work! Would be great to modify this for the custom sound boards under development.

Sure, I can make the changes to adapt this shell to the new boards. But for a good job I should have a prototype of the new board, in order to create a system of joints to fix it perfectly to the structure.
My repro-Soundbox is designed to hold the original card in position when inserting the connectors (without using any screws).

[Rob Blessin Black Hole]

Hello:  It would be awesome to have the faceplate stl as well  , will the face plate work with the original soundbox shell? Best Regards Rob Blessin

[krazycat]

Very nice indeed. Did you design the STLs or did you have the 3rd party printer design them? If you have obj or types of files, they can easily be converted to STLs for printing. If you designed them, it would be great to put a GPL-type license on them and distribute them. Modifying them for barcher174's custom sound board would be super easy then. Regardless, nice work. I'll hold off designing my own then.

Unfortunately I did not do the 3D drawings, I'm not able.
The work has done for me by a professional, I explained to this designer all stages of project development step by step to achieve a beautiful and functional result  :wink:

[krazycat]

Hello:  It would be awesome to have the faceplate stl as well  , will the face plate work with the original soundbox shell?

I can ask him to design a new faceplate, but it will take some time: we need to understand how to fix it to the original case without the two metal brackets with screws.
Keep in mind that the original faceplate is made of metal, and the plastic does not have the same resistance to create two supports for those two large screws.

[mattsoft]

Yeah, see if you can get the 3D files.

Here is how far I've gotten on modeling the sound box. I have a long way to go! Plus I don't have an actual sound box as my "muse".

[krazycat]

Today I received the first definitive shell, I like the result  
Obviously for a perfect result the pieces will have to be sanded and painted, but I like them too (but I will finish the holes in the grid because they are not perfect).
The board is fixed to interlocking but if I wanted I could make two holes on the bottom and put two screws.
I still don't know how much this soundbox costs, but I don't think it's more than 20-25 euros. Unfortunately, the service that developed the 3D model will not give me the STL files, so I will have two or three shells printed.
We are working to create a replica lid adaptable to the original shells, I think next week they will tell me something.  

[barcher174]

Wow, that looks awesome! One suggestion is to ask how much it would be to release the STIL. If it's not too much we could pool together some money to compensate. That way this could be printed locally instead in the US or Asia.

[mattsoft]

Wow, that looks awesome! One suggestion is to ask how much it would be to release the STIL. If it's not too much we could pool together some money to compensate. That way this could be printed locally instead in the US or Asia.

Those do look quite nice. I'd pitch in monetarily as well to get these STL files into the hands of the community so we can print them.

I do have a bottom that I've designed that looks close. Haven't done a test print of it cuz my 3D printer is giving me grief but I've uploaded it to Thingiverse if anyone wants to give it a try. It should fit the sound board from a N4000 just fine. I've test printed the ports and they align perfectly. I don't know how close it matches an original sound box dimensionally as i don't have one. Maybe someone could take H x W x L dimensions (in mm) and post them here?

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3409085

[krazycat]

The design of a new cover, 100 % compatible with the original SoundBox is over, I hope to receive the first piece printed at the end of next week.
Stay tuned!