3D printed Macintosh Plus created with 'Steve Jobs-like attention to detail'

A guy who calls himself a big Apple enthusiast and a “designer and tinkerer”; has created a meticulously accurate 3D printed Macintosh Plus.

With what has been described as “Steve Jobs-like attention to detail,”” it even boots (and ejects) the floppy disk and the monitor remains off until the Mac emulator starts and displays the smiling Mac icon …

ArsTechnica's Kevin Purdy writes lyrically about his awe and admiration for the project.

Have you ever worked on a hobby project where modifying and compiling the source code for a Linux-based emulator was perhaps the easiest and most straightforward part of it all?

Kevin Knockey really, really wanted to a working Macintosh Plus with a working auto-eject drive that could boot from […]

Noki, for what he calls “months,” has essentially been working backwards from 2024, using all sorts of tools and maker skills to get back to a functioning 1986 Mac. Not just “classic Mac OS on an AliExpress monitor of the right size”; mind you. We're talking about a box of the right size, color and texture that draws power from the mains, swallows 3.5-inch disks, works with both a phone cable and an Apple ADB keyboard and mouse, has a screen dimmer and makes a startup sound (audible signal). , not a chord). This is not love”; tribute; it's creepy and potentially unnerving.

Here's a list of just some of the tasks he had to complete to pull it off:

Carefully measure every surface and corner of the Macintosh Plus .
Recover these measurements and model them in AutoDesk Fusion 360.
Print a four-piece Mac case using a modified Ender. -3 with gray PLA thread.
Apply one-part plastic putty and sand the joint surfaces of the housing parts.
Drill registration holes in the housing parts for the metal pin connectors
Drill holes in the housing parts for attaching the metal pins
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Use cyanoacrylate (CA) glue to join the pieces together and sand each piece a few times to expose the 3D layers.
Spray paint with a primer and a final beige color on the pieces facing outward.
Use a vinyl cutter to protect parts of the case that should be smooth.
Apply textured clear coat to imitate the rough texture of a Mac.
Take apart 10″ screen that was a thrift store find.
Replace the CCFL screen with an LED backlight.
Rewire and solder the dimmer knob to the screen to create a dimming control.
Unsolder and modify the laptop charging brick to create a power supply.
Modify the powered USB hub and its AC adapter
Paint the physical power switch to match the color of its case
Use WAGO connectors to securely connect power components.
Disassemble a $13 thin client computer and replace its power connector with the XT60 connector.
Connect a resistor to supply power. Supply of work with an external adapter
Replace the thin client's power button with a relay controlled by Arduino.
Assemble the front keyboard and mouse connector from a Teensy USB board, an RJ11 connector, and TMK keyboard firmware.
Solder and connect the internal speaker.
Rebuild a USB floppy drive using a stepper motor controlled by the Arduino (which you programmed) to remove the drives from the software control.
Create an ADB Peripheral Board with KiCAD design, Teensy board and Arduino Pro Micro.
Configure the ATtiny85 to control powering the motherboard and screen, as well as playing a startup sound.
Create a modified Mini vMac Emulator on a Linux system.
Create your own Brewintosh stereotype with raised text and foil it with laminator.
Create custom multi-color Brewintosh decals, print them, apply UV resin. for a glossy finish and cure them.
Create and print a replica of the back of the original Mac.
Record yourself doing all these steps and turn it into a fun video