{"id":20893,"date":"2020-08-27T18:07:13","date_gmt":"2020-08-27T16:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/?p=20893"},"modified":"2020-08-27T18:07:13","modified_gmt":"2020-08-27T16:07:13","slug":"mil-spec-looks-without-defense-department-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/2020\/08\/27\/mil-spec-looks-without-defense-department-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Mil-Spec Looks Without Defense Department Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While hackers and makers have a tendency to focus on functionality above all else, that doesn&#8217;t mean there isn&#8217;t room for some visual flair. A device that works well <em>and<\/em> looks good will always be more impressive than the bare bones approach, but the extra time and money it usually takes to polish up the visual component of a build means it&#8217;s often overlooked. Which is exactly what <a href=\"https:\/\/back7.co\/home\/back7co-mil-plastic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">[Jay Doscher] wanted to address with his Mil-Plastic project<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On the surface, the Mil-Plastic is yet another entry in the rapidly growing and often ill-defined world of cyberdecks: custom computing devices that forgo the standard laptop and desktop dichotomy and instead explore the road not taken by mainstream consumer electronics. To that end, it&#8217;s a solid build more than worthy of praise. But more than that, it&#8217;s also a lesson on how 3D printing and some clever design can create a truly impressive visual for little more than the cost of a spool of PLA.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_429229\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-429229\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/1_milplastic_detail.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"429229\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hackaday.com\/2020\/08\/27\/mil-spec-looks-without-defense-department-budget\/milplastic_detail\/\" data-orig-file=\"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/1_milplastic_detail.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"750,500\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"milplastic_detail\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/milplastic_detail.jpg\" data-large-file=\"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/1_milplastic_detail.jpg?w=750\" class=\"wp-image-429229 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/milplastic_detail.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" data-srcset=\"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/1_milplastic_detail.jpg 750w, http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/1_milplastic_detail.jpg?resize=250,167 250w, http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/1_milplastic_detail.jpg?resize=400,267 400w\" data-sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 400px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 400\/267;\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-429229\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The modular design allows parts to be printed in parallel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Mil-Plastic, as the name implies, looks like it was pulled from a Humvee or an Abrams tank. While the gorgeous olive green PETG filament that [Jay] has stumbled upon certainly helps, his eye for detail and design chops aren&#8217;t to be underestimated. He&#8217;s given the case a rugged and armored look that simply screams &#8220;Your Tax Dollars At Work&#8221;, complete with faux cooling fins running along the back and a generous application of low-profile stainless steel fasteners. <a href=\"https:\/\/hackaday.com\/2019\/08\/19\/milspec-teardown-id-2124-howitzer-data-display\/\">We&#8217;ve taken a close look<\/a> at the <a href=\"https:\/\/hackaday.com\/2018\/04\/30\/milspec-teardown-ah-64a-apache-data-entry-panel\/\">decadence of military engineering<\/a> in the past, and the Mil-Plastic could hang with the best of them.<\/p>\n<p>Most importantly, [Jay] has given us all the tools and information we need to recreate the look on our own terms. You don&#8217;t have to be in the market for yet another Raspberry Pi gadget to appreciate the Mil-Plastic; the design can serve as the backbone for whatever you happen to be building. The printed case not only looks impressive, but can easily be modified and expanded as needed.<\/p>\n<p>[Jay] kicked off a minor revolution late last year <a href=\"https:\/\/hackaday.com\/2019\/11\/11\/a-mobile-terminal-for-the-end-of-the-world\/\">with his Raspberry Pi Recovery Kit<\/a>, and has continued to <a href=\"https:\/\/hackaday.com\/2020\/01\/24\/a-raspberry-pi-terminal-thats-always-within-reach\/\">produce well-documented designs<\/a> that illustrate the incredible power of desktop 3D printing. If you can look through his portfolio and not get inspired, you may want to speak with a doctor.<\/p>\n<p>source <a href=\"https:\/\/hackaday.com\/2020\/08\/27\/mil-spec-looks-without-defense-department-budget\/\">https:\/\/hackaday.com\/2020\/08\/27\/mil-spec-looks-without-defense-department-budget\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While hackers and makers have a tendency to focus on functionality above all else, that doesn&#8217;t mean there isn&#8217;t room for some visual flair. A device that works well and looks good will always be more impressive than the bare<span class=\"ellipsis\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/2020\/08\/27\/mil-spec-looks-without-defense-department-budget\/\">Read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Mil-Spec Looks Without Defense Department Budget<\/span><span class=\"meta-nav\"> &#8250;<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20893"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20898,"href":"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20893\/revisions\/20898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cornay.co.za\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}