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Desktops (Apple) Printer

Endangered Classic Mac Plastic Color Returns As 3D-Printer Filament (arstechnica.com) 49

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Tuesday, classic computer collector Joe Strosnider announced the availability of a new 3D-printer filament that replicates the iconic "Platinum" color scheme used in classic Macintosh computers from the late 1980s through the 1990s. The PLA filament (PLA is short for polylactic acid) allows hobbyists to 3D-print nostalgic novelties, replacement parts, and accessories that match the original color of vintage Apple computers. Hobbyists commonly feed this type of filament into commercial desktop 3D printers, which heat the plastic and extrude it in a computer-controlled way to fabricate new plastic parts.

The Platinum color, which Apple used in its desktop and portable computer lines starting with the Apple IIgs in 1986, has become synonymous with a distinctive era of classic Macintosh aesthetic. Over time, original Macintosh plastics have become brittle and discolored with age, so matching the "original" color can be a somewhat challenging and subjective experience.
Strosnider said he paid approximately $900 to develop the color. "Rather than keeping the formulation proprietary, he arranged for Polar Filament to make the color publicly available [for $21.99 per kilogram]," adds Ars.

Endangered Classic Mac Plastic Color Returns As 3D-Printer Filament

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  • Endangered? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ThurstonMoore ( 605470 ) on Thursday June 05, 2025 @07:14AM (#65429062)

    I don't think that means what they think it means.

    • PLA is biodegradable. Good luck.

  • I thought it called Smoker Yellow?
    • I thought it called Smoker Yellow?

      I think that was what we called the beige cases that seemed to be required for PC's until Apple broke the rule.

      • I thought it called Smoker Yellow?

        I think that was what we called the beige cases that seemed to be required for PC's until Apple broke the rule.

        Which consequently raised a beige alert among the community.

      • by KGIII ( 973947 )

        For a while, we had some choice, depending on one's definition of PC. As I recall, the Micro, ZX Spectrum, and Amstrad were all black.

        If we only include IBM and clones, IBM had some models dressed in black from fairly early on.

        But, yes You're still correct. I'm just remarking because they did exist, but were not so great in number. It was a sea of beige and the age of the cubical.

        A video-editing friend of mine had some fancy computer dressed in blue. I forget the make/model and I guess it'd be a PC but was

        • by unrtst ( 777550 )

          A video-editing friend of mine had some fancy computer dressed in blue.

          Just a guess, but likely an SGI (indigo, octane, O2, Indy, etc..).

          • by KGIII ( 973947 )

            That sounds right. They worked for a very famous studio at the time, perhaps even a couple of them, doing things like CGI.

            Said machine was a beast in its day. The specs and specifics have long been forgotten but I recall that performance levels were quite high. They worked on some pretty famous movies and were good enough that they did so via remote work even back then. He did have high speed internet to his home but I think it was just a T1 or maybe some ISDN line. I don't think he had a full T3 but he mig

            • That sounds right. They worked for a very famous studio at the time, perhaps even a couple of them, doing things like CGI.

              Said machine was a beast in its day. The specs and specifics have long been forgotten but I recall that performance levels were quite high. They worked on some pretty famous movies and were good enough that they did so via remote work even back then. He did have high speed internet to his home but I think it was just a T1 or maybe some ISDN line. I don't think he had a full T3 but he might have. It's not like he was paying for it out of his pocket. We're talking 25 years ago, or something like that. So, the details are quite fuzzy.

              I've never been into video manipulation or creating graphics but he was quite skilled and worked on movies I'm sure you're familiar with. I guess it's not doxxing him to point out that he worked for Pixar for quite a while. So, whatever Pixar used might be what he was using. I haven't heard from him in decades. He would sometimes talk about making his nest egg and getting out. He may have done that.

              Yeah, as I think about it, SGI sounds right to me. The case was blue-ish but I'm partially colorblind.

              Yes, it was a blue/teal case, not a bad looking computer.

              • by KGIII ( 973947 )

                Yup. That's the one. I'm reasonably convinced (from pictures and Wikipedia) that was an SGI Octane.

                I was impressed with the RAM that it had. At the time, there were still some servers that had less RAM and only expensive workstations had that much RAM.

                • Yup. That's the one. I'm reasonably convinced (from pictures and Wikipedia) that was an SGI Octane.

                  I was impressed with the RAM that it had. At the time, there were still some servers that had less RAM and only expensive workstations had that much RAM.

                  Yup, that's the one we had. It was a babe of a PC.

                • by unrtst ( 777550 )

                  It worked at a business class ISP in the late 90's that had several models from SGI - they were a *nix shop. They must have picked them up second hand cause the NOC guys were using them as desktops, myself included. I enjoyed working on them, even with the dated UI. In retrospect, it was quite an opportunity to get to work on SunOS, Solaris, Irix, HP-UX, FreeBSD, Cisco IOS, and a variety of Linux. FWIW, I remember using a purple one the most - I think it was the SGI Indigo 2.

                  Once, someone gifted me a couple

    • With the relative decline in smoking it's easier to tell that this is just how the polymers degrade in these plastics (especially in UV/sun light). It just takes longer without the chemical deposits from the smoke. This is also why you couldn't just wash the stains away.

  • Especially in the solder all the things era plus internet dependencies being remotely disabled. The fact that Apple IIs are being repaired almost 50 years later should give you insight into Apple's modern "obsolete after 7 years" model. I've argued on both sides of the debate, but all "end of support deadlines" are business decisions and not technical.
    • And thus corporations try their best through OS capture to force users onto a subscription plan to use their own hardware (which they think shouldn’t be legal) which quickly becomes incompatible with the OS version required to run all the major corporate software and thus you need to repurchase a thousand dollar machine that’s only slightly incrementally improved.
    • My Apple 2+ is still going strong. My VIC-20 won't power up anymore. Probably bad capacitors, but I haven't had a chance to troubleshoot it.

  • Endangered? (Score:1, Flamebait)

    So we are considering beige iconic now? Just because you call it "Platinum" doesn't make it any less generic than any of the million other beige computer models that came out in the 80s. This is literally the same bland color scheme that Apple's running away from with all their might with the first iMacs finally led to the era of distinctive-looking computer cases.
    • So we are considering beige iconic now? Just because you call it "Platinum" doesn't make it any less generic than any of the million other beige computer models that came out in the 80s. This is literally the same bland color scheme that Apple's running away from with all their might with the first iMacs finally led to the era of distinctive-looking computer cases.

      You need to go to the link to see the difference. https://vintagemacmuseum.com/w... [vintagemacmuseum.com].

      Two Macs, the one on the left is that boring beige that seemed to be required at the time. The one on the right is the Platinum colored Mac. The white color was a real breath of fresh air. Beige ended up being looked at as slow and old.

      My favorite case is https://www.insanelymac.com/fo... [insanelymac.com]. (the black one is a User altered case), I had one of the G5 MacPros back in the day, Apple was on the verge of abandoning the Power

  • Spray paint? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Misagon ( 1135 ) on Thursday June 05, 2025 @08:54AM (#65429226)

    That's good, but I find that my prints have too many print lines and other imperfections. I prefer to fill and sand and then paint them, first with a layer of primer and then with spray paint.

    It would be nice if there was spray paint available in Platinum beige, or just anything that is remotely close. I have tried many brands throughout the years trying to mimic the vintage look but not really been lucky: it has either been too white or too saturated.
    The closest I've found to any vintage beige was a beige primer. My keyboard is in dire need of a touch-up.

  • > Hobbyists commonly feed this type of filament into
    > commercial desktop 3D printers, which heat the
    > plastic and extrude it in a computer-controlled way
    > to fabricate new plastic parts

    Gee i always wondered how it worked.

    But do the hobbyists really feed it into commercial manchines ? I'd have thought the professionals fed it into the commerical machines, and hobbyists fed it into hobbyist machines.

    • In this case they mean commercial as in commercially produced / mass manufactured. Some hobbyists assemble their own, though usually from mass manufactured kits. Shortening the phrase to just commercial does get confusing, without the very obvious context.

  • We'll all sleep easier tonight.
  • by Anonymous Coward

    >Rather than keeping the formulation proprietary, he arranged for Polar Filament to make the color publicly available [for $21.99 per kilogram]
    If only one seller sells his color, and doesn't publicize the spec, it's still effectively proprietary, isn't it?

  • We're wringing our hands about a freaking color?

  • That's disgusting beige, the cowardly color of the Democractic Order of Planets.
  • by ctilsie242 ( 4841247 ) on Thursday June 05, 2025 @02:37PM (#65430156)

    As an old time Mac user, the switch from the putty (Pantone 453, IIRC) color of the //gs in 1986 and Mac in 1987 was a nice change.

    Does it really matter to many people? Not really. However, it is nice to have the ability to 3D print retro stuff, be it relevant stuff like an external SCSI drive using BlueSCSI, or stuff that isn't as related, such as a USB HDD enclosure or NAS modeled to look like an external SCSI drive, especially the old school La Cie drives with the purple cylinder in it, or their other drives like the HD160 that Apple OEM-ed from them. Long lost styles that definitely would look unique.

    Of course, duplicating designs can be have its difficulties, because all plastics were injection molded, and 3D printing is a different manufacturing process, and translating plastic pieces from one to the other takes some thought. Slant 3D has some good YouTube videos on this. However, it is tempting to make something that looks like an old Apple SCSI drive, but actually is a NAS, and have it be neat and well-fitting item that actually looks like a store bought product from an alternate-timeline Apple (an Apple that never dropped its Time Capsule line, perhaps.)

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