Brushed alu/wood über case...

Mark A said:
Looks really good :) . The only thing i have noticed is that you haven't stained the inside edge of the timber and there is some light wood visible at the front where it curves. Other than that it looks great, well done.
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I noticed that too and hoped nobody else would until I got it done and changed photos :P
 
Looking good.

Some ideas :

Make sure its cooled - rear ventilation wont be seen, so 120mm fan, at the front, id go for holes (similar to the Mac you mention) but only on the underside curve, to the point it straightens up ? Keep them fairly hidden. No fan required at the front if not desired, though would help. You WILL need at least front and rear ventilation holes though.

Blugin power button essential. (White LED preferred ;) )

Consider how you mount the hard drives carefully, or they will vibrate like satans vibrator.
 
I would most definitely put feet on the bottom and put a 120mm fan or two down there as intakes. To do anything to the front would spoil it's awesome Bauhaus-meets-teak good looks. If you were to decide to perforate the front in anyway you should most definitely use an automated machine tool to do the cutting so the spacing is perfectly even to the eye.
 
jim_e, what method did you employ to bend the radii into the front corners of the aluminum? I'm inspired by your design and wish for a similar look for my project. :D
 
BillytheImpaler said:
jim_e, what method did you employ to bend the radii into the front corners of the aluminum? I'm inspired by your design and wish for a similar look for my project. :D
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Thanks :D

To choose the radius of the curves I just set the router to it's minimum radius when doing the wood, which cam to 75 mm.

Measured the centre of the curve on the aluminium and marked with a line and then took a section of pipe (the type that goes between your toilet and the magical poo land where it ends up) of radium 55mm i think. Clamped it all in with enough sticking out the end of the work surface to bend on.

Then the fun bit: Lined the mark on the metal along the pipe and pressed on both sides with heavy pressure, putting the pressure quite close to the line.
To get a decent curve had to move it around forwards and backwards a bit and kept bending until it all looked right.

Still wasn't perfect but screwing it into the wood solved that.

Do start a topic or something so I can see how it goes :D

Edit: Just been looking at those nice Bulgin buttons but can't see the one I want in a white LED. If anyone has one of these buttons: Are the LEDs swappable? If not, I guess red is next best.
 
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Hi mate there are places that sell the white vandal switch i was looking one less than 15 minutes ago keep looking my friend you will find them.
 
BillytheImpaler said:
To do anything to the front would spoil it's awesome Bauhaus-meets-teak good look.
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Sketched Bauhaus images - for them that don't know ;)
bauhaus.jpg


I Really like what you've done with the wood :cool:
The the design looks simular to the early Beomaster for B&O (just on it's side) and their the masters of wood and tech. But I like yours more, as it's bang up to date - nice work.

I must say it's a shame about that screws - as they destroy the sleak lines of the case for me, might have been better to design the sides as a push fit 'lid' but that would require a ridged core.

You might want to use - button hexagon socket, cheese or knurled head screws instead........but then again a neat counter sunk screw as the alu is quite thick would do the job - just be careful on the curves.

That said - for a first case build it's going to look the business with the drive bay covers and touch ups to the wood finished.
Great work and keep thoses picks coming.[/QUOTE]
 
looks nice :)

Have to agree with the posts regarding keeping the front clean.

Some suggestions for cooling etc:
- Assuming the psu (and depending on rest of the case layout) is at the top how about having a kind of in and out venting at the rear
by utilising a split in the case design. Imagine a U on its side with the air coming in at the bottom and then flowing around to the rear top, the natural curve of the case should help.

- Alternatively, some very thin slices at the front at the very edges (imagine a kind of bevel) and the fans at the rear only.

- Power switch, why not just do what apple does with the mac mini/imac and stick a normal power switch at the rear, you could then use the one that came in the case and keeo the front clean :)
 
Yeah I been thinking about the button and am just going to hide on round the back for now, may change it in the future.

The screws cost me £1 as a sort of intermediate stage, when I see nicer ones I'll try them out. (I did consider the no-screw method mentioned above but for me it detracted from the simplicity of the design - bracing and stuff sounds way too complex for my woodworking skills)

I've made some drive-bay covers out of wood with same finish as on the side but I'm not sure they look that great, I'll try them out but may end up making aluminium ones instead.

Will post more pics of the additions on sunday, at mates house tonight and wishbone ash gig tomorrow so no time really.

Considering project #2 already, possibly an aluminum/perspex guitar amp. If anyone has any knowledge of speaker/amp design, drop me a line!

Cheers for the support guys ;)


PS. As for cooling, intake fan on the base at the front (any good ideas for raising case up? Legs may ruin style)
 
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jim_e said:
Yeah I been thinking about the button and am just going to hide on round the back for now, may change it in the future.

PS. As for cooling, intake fan on the base at the front (any good ideas for raising case up? Legs may ruin style)
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why not put the button on the top of it, get a nice plain aluminium one like

and why don't you make a sort of leg things for it, use like aluiminium again and curve it, it's hard to explain, i'll try to a quick pic lol

EDIT:
here's a quick solidworks idea:

ok the idea def seemed better in my head lol but you get the general idea
 
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idea for lifting case up:
how about some metal cupboard handles from somewhere like homebase.

You can get different sizes, styles and finishes.

The other option is some stereo feet.
 
Thanks for your ideas.

I like the round wooden feet best at the moment, but I also like the quirkiness of the mirrored curve thing that Nick suggested - maybe in a mirror finish or something, I'll give it a think. (welcome to a live brainstorm!) This has also just given me the idea of refinishing all the aluminium in mirror. ARG! I think that would be bad. Anyway... I'll leave these thoughts to myself for now...

I would take a photo of the backplate, but it looks rubbish. Once I've splattered it with some kind of paint of something I'll let you see ;)
 
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