http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrixcreate/sets/72157624298560337/

I can do this for you too, if you want. I can't guarantee perfect registration of the etching on the plastic, though I try.

I'm charging a flat $20 per slidecase if you want me to order one from TI, engrave it, and ship to you. (TI does not sell plain black replacement slidecases, for some reason.)

It's $15 if you send me your calculator parts. Any part is acceptable. This will probably get faster turnaround.

I can engrave any vector graphics (EPS) file. Make it one color and convert all text to paths/curves. If you're not sure whether it'll work, email it to me and I can say for sure. I've got a template file for the standard slidecase mostly finished, I'll post it if anyone actually bites at this.

I would totally go for this; I just need to decent whether I want a straight Cemetech case or a Doors CS 7 case. If I were to design one or both of those, would other people be interested in those?

I would like a DCS one. I don't know about buying one, though. I want to build a laser cutter, though, so please post the files if you do do it.

Fair enough, I hear that. Would anyone else be interested in a Cemetech or Doors CS one, or otherwise, would be interested in a laser-engraved case but of something else?

I want a DCS one

I was thinking something like a big DCS logo and a small Cemetech logo on the DCS one; assume that the slide case it sideways, top to the right, and that the cross is the axes for the sine graph:


Code:

This is a great idea, and I would totally go for it if I had spare cash. Could you also do 84+SE cases? I'm sure the material is different and it might not work.

It is indeed different afaik, but I'm pretty sure it would work anyway.

Yay! If I ever get money on my card, I might buy an 84+SE case.

Any thoughts on what you might want on such a case?

Maybe my username, cemetech logo, some EPS drawing.

Oooooh, that would be cool too, have them personalized with your name or handle.

hmm... this is a pretty neat idea!

i would love such a customization!
and i would go for the DCS7 one...

though unfortunately i own a TI-84... :/

Why is that unfortunate? As far as I can understand Chronomex would be able to etch those cases as well. We should get him to confirm that, though.

yeah... but it wouldn't look as cool if it were not transparent...

A good point; too bad there are no transparent 84+/SE cases that I know of.

To clarify, yes I can engrave any plastic that TI molds. So far as I know they only use ABS and Polycarbonate; I can laser both.

If you want, I can cut stencil-like patterns all the way through ABS. Polycarb is a bit iffier for cutting, since it rather likes to melt instead of burning.

To figure out what plastic you have: Inspect the inside of the part closely. TI uses two different ways to designate what plastic a part is:

• When they use the same mold for both plastics, there will be a little circle around which are written "PC" and "ABS", there's an arrow inside that they rotate to point to the right plastic. You'll see this inside an 89Ti/84+ Silver slidecase.
  
• The other method, most obviously used in the older style slidecases (89 and 83+), is a small triangle with the letters ">PC<" or ">ABS<" underneath.

If you want something other than your slidecase engraved, you can mail me the whole calculator and I'll disassemble it carefully. :)

As to payment, um, I haven't figured out how I want that to work. I don't like paypal but I may have to use it anyway. Any suggestions? I'll totally accept cash or a check in an envelope, regardless.

That sounds good; I think I've seen you in the community long enough to be able to trust you with either of those forms of payment. Just at quick glance, I see that the slide cases of my TI-83+, TI-84+, and TI-84+SE are all ABS.

*Bump*

Whatever happened to all this? It seems that everything was cut off... Did you every get that calc engraved, Kerm? If so, can you post the svg?

Is the deal still on chronomex? I have a fx calculator which I would be interesting in getting engraved, but I don't know what type of plastic it is.

I'm afraid I never followed through, no. I still would like to get one of my calculators so modified, though!