The Mini-Centurion is Back!
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- čas přidán 4. 06. 2024
- With VCF East all wrapped up, it’s time to start prepping for VCF Southwest, which is coming up very, very soon! The party piece I want to have on display is the mini-Centurion, which we had on display last year at both East and Southwest. But, all the travel has taken its toll. Couple that with us swapping the CPU6, 128k MEM and Hawk drive with the Desk System CPU5, 32k MEM and Hawk drive up at Butler Tech., and we have a serious mountain to climb before we’re ready to display. So, let’s get to work!
If you want to know more about the Centurion, the wiki is full of just about everything we know:
github.com/Nakazoto/Centurion...
Check out John’s shop, Kad Industries, here:
kadindustries.com/
Check out Butler Tech here:
www.butlertech.org/
If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon: / usagielectric
Also, we now have some epic shirts for sale!
my-store-11554688.creator-spr...
Come join us on Discord!
Discord: / discord
Intro Music adapted from: Artist:
The Runaway Five Title:
The Shinra Shuffle ocremix.org/remix/OCR01847
Thanks for watching!
Chapters
0:00 Time for VCF Southwest!
1:33 Where did all this different hardware come from?
5:42 Woodworking
9:32 And now, the news!
10:38 Paintwork
12:21 Side panels
15:18 Getting them mounted
17:45 Yeah, that turned out alright!
20:27 We love you and miss you Chibita! - Věda a technologie
Back in the Warrex days the Centurion wood panel cores were covered with contact cement then covered with Rosewood Formica from Wilson Arts in Temple, TX. The Warrex employee that built the wood panels in-house use a table saw the a router to trim the Formica to fit. Be careful with the contact cement... The Warrex "Fire" that almost but us out of business in 1976 was caused a a spark from the table saw cutting the wood cores setting the fumes on fire...! We lost the PCB artwork for one of the CPU4 boards that was on the engineers drafting table when the fire started.
That contact cement is no joke, the fumes alone were making us light-headed, and we were in a well ventilated space! Thankfully, we were pretty careful around and no fires that took out PCB artwork here.
A lot of say radio cases or record player cabinets would either be made "in house" by some companies, others would order pre assembled from wood furniture specialists saving on some of the wood working and gluing risks,
"It seems really strange to get super excited about a square piece of metal..." I'm sorry sir, you're clearly lost. That's precisely the kind of thing we get excited about around here.
My people!
it's a beautiful job :)
@@theelmonk Yeah, that's not the sort of "laziest designed option" that I'm used to seeing. Nicely done.
Holy hell I remember seeing that Centurion when I passed Hall’s class. I was 17 at the time and I thought it was just a desk lol. I was in that program back in 2018-2020 but I had a different teacher by the name of Thomas Newman. Definitely going to share this with my mates who were all in the same class as me. We were all Newman’s pets basically lol. Also if you see this Mr. Hall, Hi :)
Releasing the bunny back to the wild is both a victory and a sad day.
It had to be done, but boy do we miss the little guy!
@@UsagiElectric I thought it was your pet
@@paulstubbs7678He does have pet bunnies, but this was a baby wild one they rescued.
Saw this and thought "an Usagi Electric video on a Saturday? what a treat!"
Then I realized I didn't know what day it was. ...I should get some more sleep.
Hahaha, I had the exact same thought this morning right before I set it to public. I was going "wait, is it really Sunday?"
Honestly, if you and the Centurion have made it this far in history, give it as much love as possible. This computer might become one day part of somebody else's collection. The more beauty it has the more love it will get !
Someday, if I ever find the time, I'll build a proper cabinet from scratch that's designed to hold all the front and side panels, just like Centurion did. I feel with enough time, I can make this replica almost indistinguishable from a genuine machine, which would be very awesome (and confusing for future collectors, haha).
@@UsagiElectric what differences compared with a 19in Rack chassis ?
Hey, Dave, as somebody who works with laminate daily for work, I definitely reccommend scoring as a cutting method; however there is a specialised scoring knife that is much better for the job than your boxcutter, the version I prefer is an Olfa PC-L; it presents a sharp triangular point to the surface that digs out a groove that can be snapped along very effectively.
Oh interesting, I figured the laminate was just a little too tough for slicing through it, but a scoring knife makes way more sense!
@@UsagiElectric it also could have worked to point your utility knife's blade straight up and down too, but running the cutting edge parallel to the surface really won't do much.
the bunny is so cute. thank you again for a grand video. just makes my day seeing old tech find a new use or life. cant wait to see what that hawk drive may have on it.
We already miss the little guy so much!
The Hawk drive is coming up real soon!
Glad you're feeling better! Great job!
Thanks!
I hope Chibita lives a healthy happy life, and glad you're feeling better too :) Astounding work as always.
There's a special tool called a laminate cutter. It has a very hard triangular tip that scores a v-groove, which means the outside corners are naturally chamfered. I'm glad you got away with the saw but there's a high risk of chipping and cracking, and the straight cut may not be ideal either. Laminate cutters are also good for cutting FR4 if you don't have a guillotine.
Glad that both you and the Mini-Centurion are feeling better. 👍
We're both getting there!
It's refreshing when people build simple things beautifully, out of pride.
As a D/FW resident, looking forward to seeing you and the mini-Centurion next month! Glad you are feeling better!
A little trick you could do on the corner seams of the top is to sand the rough spots along the edges a bit (hold the sanding block at a 45 deg angle to the faces) and then take a dark (brown or black) permanent (like Sharpie) maker and color the edges of the laminate.
Take a drink when David says "Stunning". Double shot for "absolutely stunning". :)
I was shocked to find out VCF Southwest is being held at my old college!
Hi David..... glad you're feeling better. That was a great ending! We all enjoy playing with our toys/electronics/hobby, but thank you for sharing Chibita's return to mother nature.... that's awesome 🙂
I noticed a Austin Healey 3000 in the background. Great old sports car
CZcams ate my last comment which was posting a CZcams link to an earlier video from this channel. If you look at the recent videos, you will find one of reworking the carbs and taking the AH 3000 for a spin...
pickup some colour match stain markers and run around the edges of the laminate to give a better finish.
Yup, the edges of the laminate definitely need some more finish work, I just put that aside until I was certain I could finish the video in time. I'll give those a bit more love in the future before the event!
thank you to mention that , i also noticed that
Colour-matching is a pain. Metamerism (reflectance under differential lighting, angle, etc.) and undercoat colour can all make a huge difference. Still the result looks fantastic. Great work!
You should make a centurion shirt with the phrase “Just Stunning” on it. 😂 I design shirts so I may make one for the Commodore Vic 20 or Mac SE.
They make a type of shears specifically for Formica. It's still a challenge to work with, until you get some experience
I totally get the excitement for the side panels. I have have two Northern Telecom SG-1 PBXes from the early 70s; I have the side panels for one, but not the other. Seeing your side panels gives me hope that I can get copies made.
That battery operated ryobi router is adorable 😍
Thank you for your effort caring about the Centurion and uploading the video for us. Retro Computer Festivals usually taking their toll. Went to one myself recently. It costs me two flat tires, one broken harddisk and several damaged plastic parts.😁
Nice work!
A 45 degree chamfer bit will make the laminate edges look even better. You only need to take off a tiny bit.
14:13 The community working together. Beautiful, gorgeous side panels. A restoration/modification (resto-mod) done right! mini-Centurion getting closer to a honest to goodness real deal every day.
My father used to do some Formica laminate work at home and he used a specialized carbide bit cutter tool, akin to a tile cutter. This thing is really hard to cut!
Nice video! Glad you are feeling better. And in the "absolutely stunning" count in this video, I counted three. 😀
Its time to make some custom shipping crates, if anything to protect the corners of the cabinet, with proper handles for maneuvering and maybe wheels or casters.
Happy to here you feeling better. The Mini-Centurion is looking great!! Can't wait for the next step along the way.
Thanks!
We've still got a lot of work to knock out on it before VCFSW, but I definitely think we can get there.
Holy cow, i forgot there was an Usagi video last weekend. Well, well, well. Double the fun THIS Sunday! ^-^
Absolutely beautiful work with your tech and your bunny! Thank you for all you do!
Thank you so much!
Before I managed to find laminate shears I would rough cut Formica with a circular saw set to a shallow cut, which always worked great.
The vinyl stripping looks like what Baumgartner Restorations (another You Tube channel) does to get old backing material off of painted canvases.
Some actual walnut would look absolutely spiffy, but I highly doubt any of these cabinets would have come with anything other than laminate, so it's one of those cases when spending MORE money would be less period appropriate. Also nice that you were able to get some proper side panels!
Formica is best , easy to clean compared to a radio veneer
And during travel a veneer might get scratched or dented or cracked.
@@alylu-to-esutej Probably would help if you use padding between the unit and the cargo straps.
They also make circular saw blades for laminate, but either way slow is the key to the game. You can also put the pretty side down so the blade is cutting up into the finished surface. That way if there's chipping it's on the back side of the laminate where you can hide it.
I mean, if you look at the LED top panels on the other centurion machines....theyre also a lighter shade of blue than the drives. I think you matched it pretty well on camera.
Great work!
I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention in the past centurion videos, because I didn't realize you had created that cabinet from a startech rack and MDF panels. they really do look period correct, and it seems like an incredibly adaptable design.
I can't see that blue color and not think of classic tektronix. I even ordered racks for both work and home in the same color.
The grand prize winning display!
Glad the bunnie is doing well 👍
We were so sad to see the little guy, but he was happy, healthy and ready to go back!
You've done a great job! I can't imagine how much time it took to do all of that!
Thank you so much!
It took about six days of work, but I spread it out because I was still trying to recover from the con-crud I caught at VCF East. Not too bad considering the results!
I wish there was a computer show in Sandusky, OH. We've got a Kalahari that hosts Colossalcon every year, which is kewl. But not as kewl as seeing you and your hardware.
For future ref Laminite is best cut with a laminate knife it has a diamond shaped tooth that cuts a triangular groove in several passes You had the right idea with the razor knife and board Do the final passes on the edges with a sharp file always cutting down key to perfect edges
6:50 Use a hairdryer on it to soften the glue!
I've recently had some issues with a decal on my arcade cab. Spray adhesive first, decal, followed by 3 coats of an acrylic clear coat... tough as nails.
I would take a small bit of wipe on wipe off dark stain and go around the edges of the laminate to hide the bright color coming through. It also hides any not so perfect cuts. Otherwise it looks great
Amazing garage!
Thanks!
Looking great! Perhaps some dark brown should polish on the seams of the laminate? There are still some lighter spots on the edges…
Yup, the edges of the laminate definitely need some more finish work, I just put that aside until I was certain I could finish the video in time. I'll give those a bit more love in the future before the event!
Moving blankets from the Horrible Fright Tools.
I have a silhouette cameo and an excess of stencil vinyl. I can probably help with the graphics on the front panel if you'd like.
If i had a centurion, i think i'd splurge on read solid wood panels, stained and finished properly. That thing is rare as heck, and should be treated like the piece of history it is. I.E. It deserves better than MDF and stick on vinyl. ^-^
Not to mention it would stand up to travel abuse much, much better if it was actual hardwood panels. Heck, even finished plywood would be better than MDF.
Just clocked the Tilt 5 shirt. Niiiiiice.
You know it! Gotta represent!
@@UsagiElectric hell yes!
20:30 - toć zara go coś zji i wszystko jak krew w piach!
Health and enthousiasm. Great video! Since it's brand new, you can bring it to France now ;-)
Thanks!
Shipping to France might be a bit tough given how heavy it is, haha.
@@UsagiElectric Just put it in your hand luggage, noone will notice :p
cannot wait for Hawk Drive/s .
Same, can't wait to see them being worked on and then spun up -- and gotta back up the precious data on the platters first! Wow!
I wish we had a decent vintage computer fair here in the UK. You are spoiled over there!
Oh of course you have a Samurai. :D
8:10 you got a bug!
Yup gotta debug that ruler first!
Excellent, and very interesting. Glad you're feeling better.
I look forward to further updates.
FWVLIW: If you ever need to do a laminating job again, might I suggest real veneer? More expensive and a faff, but it will wear it's age better.
The Tilt Five shirt is too cool.
Man, I'm glad you're up and around again. That Mini Centurion is looking better by leaps and bounds, and having it working properly is just the gravy on top. Good hunting on the Hawk drive!
As they say in one of my favorite anime', "Panzer Vor!" (it's from _Girls und Panzer,_ which is just unbearably cute.) Be careful on the road and stay safe.
Seems to me like there's still a slight alignment error in the top, back, right corner. Dunno if it's the top or the side, but it looks like an adjustment would make it better,
I wonder if you would have used a black primer before the blue?
Thank you for saving the bunnies :)
You should go along the edges of the laminate with some brown permanent marker or something.
Yup, the edges of the laminate definitely need some more finish work, I just put that aside until I was certain I could finish the video in time. I'll give those a bit more love in the future before the event!
Like the Tilt 5 T Shirt! Such a shame Jeri is no longer on CZcams :(
🎵Nah nah nah nah nah nah Halk Drive Hlak drive Halk Drive🎵
It’s a bit of a shame we can’t get big computers that look like furniture, but back in the day, we made everything look like it would fit in the Living Room!
Sure you can, you just have to build it yourself.
The fractal north case looks really nice, it could easily fit into a living room
Why am i Living so far away in Denmark ? 😵💫 Boy i would love to be at VCF and see that blue beauty fired up 😃
DFW is a single hop flight from most major European airports :) There are several hotels around the venue too.
🤘
I like the lighter blue tone and darker beige is ok. But now the top plate looks bad... :)
It was quite a leap to build a custom CPU out of bit-slices. If you have a DEC floppy disk drive, I think the built-in controller is a bit-slice design. AT least the DSD knockoff was.
Wait, two Hawk drives? Someone warn VCF about power requirements!
The vinyl would have come off easier if you had warmed it up with a hair dryer beforehand..
well, i'd like to see vcf east, if only i didn't live at the other side of the planet
👍
It may feel a little less personal, but those face masks we all had to get during the covid pandemic, also help against con-flu.
Shame there’s no way to get this thing across the Atlantic so it can be at Electromagnetic Field at the end of the month
You had problems with the wood grain vinyl because you are a amateur! You need a professional! Outsource it to LGR!
Glad to hear you are feeling better.
Better wear a mask at the next conference !!
little buneh
Automotive paint may be better they can colour match insanely.
Uh, I would have expected some cooperation with one of the woodworking channels for proper new panels and top... Something that can take a punch... Wood and resin or acrylic? Plastic on plywood is a bit disappointing even it may match the original a bit more then my idea...
good sheet metal work should never show seams. that's why the buffing and grinding pit exists.
2 hours ago
plastic scraper while you pull...
Blue is a notorius bad pigment. Just keep on putting coats it will be darker... i paint cars for a living.
If you need to build a cable for the school, stop by the shop. I have a Panavise Arbor press and spools of ribbon cable. I have some ends, but Mouser delivery is either 24 hours away for shipping or a couple hours drive for will-call.
Amazing work! That's Hellorld to VCFSW :)