Coca Cola Can PC

Hiya guys, i should have a few more pics tonight.
I am planning this build as a recycling project. I own it so coke can go swivel. I would let them take me to court and fight it the whole way then just take the stickers off! LoL (look up the fake ferrari 355 MR2's, in the end they just slightly tilted the horse by a few degrees and they got away with it scot-free)

Ive not set a budget on this but with the tools and the custom pieces i think im looking at around £1200. Its not a money issue though because im just spending a little each month. I could sell it on and maybe for more but will no doubt keep it as it can be upgraded as time moves on.
Im building this cause it was an idea from my childhood, if im honest i dont need a new PC so its all about getting something i always wanted.

Im sure there is no issue with coca cola and recycling this anyway cause lots of people are selling coca cola stickers on ebay, which they printed and are not endorsed. Basically the only thing coca cola about this is the stickers on the outside, although i am paying stupid money for 8 coca cola badged bolts for the rear fan covers and coca cola badges for the doors.

I cant see me building another one as most of the stereos are selling for £200-£300 on ebay. Plus the headaches, swapping and changing designs.

Ive previously added a hard drive, iphone dock, USB hub and hdd hub into an old playstation console, recycling again.
I love taring things apart and recycling them with electronics.

My carbon fiber turned up today along with my amp i think, i will have to pick them up from the post office but you will start to see this project coming together over the next few weeks more to how im visualizing it to be.

Well i will try and get another load of pics on, ive been holding back to take some better pics with my camera but i cannot find my charger and its dead. I only have the iphone and the pics are too grainy :(
 
Hiya guys, ive not had a chance to get on the last few days.

More Pictures

My replacement monitor has arrived, so i should be getting on with spraying them red this afternoon.
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I taped off the buttons this time to avoid the buttons sticking.
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I have an amp now to power the speakers in the doors. I searched everywhere to find speakers that would be a good replacement but im going to have to risk it and go for the same size speakers only 3 way models for cars.
The amp arrived without a power lead so im waiting for a 12v 2A power supply to arrive in the post. Heres some pics of the amp and plans.
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It was only £13 but had good reviews and it was the ideal size to fit inside the bottom cupboard. (Sorry some pics are blurry i didnt notice when taking it)
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I plan for it to go under the cupboard.
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As in my first post i liked the look of the blue/white glow on the coke machine to form the swoosh. To recreate this i ordered this piece of plastic.
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To go behind this i have bought an Electroluminescent panel (£60) i got an awesome deal online from EL wire craft i worked the panels out for £105, when i called him up he shown me other ways to get what i wanted for only £60 and they look great. Ive included a video in this post of the EL panels.
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I know its pink but this will be hidden behind the frosted clear plastic piece.
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Here it is all lit up.
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Here is the box that powers the EL panel, i tried to make a sound proof box to cover this but it had no effect. The box has a squealing noise but it wont be too noticeable once its packed inside.
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They also chucked in the extension cables i needed to wire around the insides of the can.
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The switch is attached to a red and black cable that goes to the box, i would like to swap this to a 12v switch for the front display panel.
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Here is a video of the panel.
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Ive had a load of quotes for the PSU box, i was hoping to order last week but didnt get a chance but here is some pictures of my plans.
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I will be cutting the larger panel into pieces to fit into the sides of the psu box with coca cola stickers in the middle.

More to come later guys im off to enjoy the sun while its out.
 
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Yeah your not wrong. I wanted to make it completely unique. The EL panels are great for any build and hopefully when complete will give my PC the look I'm after. My biggest problem is getting the front lift up door to seal airtight when closed and I'm soon going to start creating the front control panel. I have a few more pics to load later of the doors.
 
Hiya guys, ive got a few more pics uploaded.
I have my SSD now it turned up from america already not bad considering it said a month. The holes saw has arrived today too so i will get round to sorting the coke pattern back ground and the rear fan holes.

Ive been busy this week so not got much done at all but i ordered a new power cable for the amp and tested it on some old 6x9 car speakers. It was a little tinny but very loud however it was only the fm signal, ive not tested it on better speakers or an mp3 track yet. Its got a crap light on it but atleast its red and not the blue as advertised.

So here is some more pics of the bits ive been accumulating.
I first cut a hole for the pipe to fit into the top, im hoping to hide all the psu wires in the top of can.
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Next i have started to bend the fan grills to fit around the outer casing.
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Ive also had the badges arrive..... Eventually. Had issues with postage on these but they fit perfectly in the doors and will look great once i have wrapped the doors in carbon.
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The orange film.
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Its hard to get the light right to show the colour of this.
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Since ive had the work done in the house this has attracted a hell of a lot of dust. I will take care of this and have plenty of ways to get rid of the dust before i put the motherboard inside. However i have bought a lot of cans of this to help along with use of an airline if its really bad.
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Im shopping around now for the cables for the doors i.e usb sockets. Monitor cable extenders, power cables, speaker wires etc.
The problem im scratching my head about is how to fit these into the front post from the edge of the door.
Heres what im working with.
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I have to mod the existing holes to get the cables to fit through.
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On the can itself
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I have removed the old speakers and am planning on buying some 3 way coaxial car speakers as its difficult to buy panel speakers without testing them locally first which i cannot and i have tested these car ones on the display in halfords and it will give me what im after. Plus the amp is variable in ohms so i can change them later.
Now i need to fit them back in the doors hopefully the same way they were fitted originally.
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I mentioned the pipe inside for the cables. Ive fitted a red LED strip inside so that will light up the holes in the pipe.
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I fitted rubber edge trim round the holes on the pipe too.
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I have this piece left over, does anyone know if i can reuse the cables on this for the switches? They have all the connectors for the motherboard on.
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This is an earlier pic but i plan to add two carbon wrapped post either side of the opening for the front panel to help make it an airtight seal. I have a sticky foam to fit so that the front panel (when closed) will be fitted tightly and not let any air escape or mess with the air flow. It will also hold two gas strut lifts to make the front panel open and close.
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I have also taken some pics of the door EL panels.
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The heart shape will be hidden and only the red dots in the shape of a coke bottle will be showing (im ordering a laser cut plastic piece to cover these).
The panels were from america and were £30 in total but it was the only way to get what i wanted.
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They are battery powered and im planning on adding the sound activated box inside the door. So changing batteries is going to be an issue but i will find a way round that in the design.
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They do light up the whole way but it was a bugger to time tapping the box and take a pic but they look good in the dark.
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Only problem is they are a bit smaller than i was lead to believe. So im having to resize the the plastic laser cut bottle design to fit. I just hope it dont look too small.
Here was an old template i made a while back but the original size i wanted.
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So to sum it up i have a lot more work ahead of me but as all the pieces are arriving im able to start getting it looking the way i want and ready for the motherboard and the front panels. Its time i need but its better not to rush things.

Enjoy the pics, hopefully you can see what im aiming at but im no photographer :p
 
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There's a lot more work going into this than I had initially thought when you started this log, I just assumed you were gonna whack an mATX or ITX PC into the case and be done with it. BUT NO!

Nice work - lots left to do by the looks of it!
 
jimbaw said:
That's a great idea! Keep up the good work it's gonna look amazing!
Click to expand...

Im hoping so. Ive got the weekend almost free so i reckon i can get on with it a bit.


There is lots to do walderx but im glad its fun doing it.
Im hoping once the case is done, i can upgrade the parts effortlessly.

I will try and get some more pictures taken over the weekend guys. Have a good weekend! :cool:
 
Thanks Jpod. Always nice to have a fan.
I was hoping to get round to doing some more this weekend and ended up only spraying the monitors surrounds and laquering them. Along with wrapping the other monitor.
Im a little worried the curved plastic outside will snap if i cut the two 114mm holes and add the fan covers.
I will be covering the inside in two layers of vinyl so im hoping that will stop it from snapping down the middle when both holes are cut. The plastic is very thin but flexible.

I wanted some coca cola license plate bolts on ebay. I messaged the seller to ask the size/thickness of the bolts to ensure they fit and i got a reply to basically say dont bother buying them? I reckon he could not be bothered to post to the uk as advertised. However he is the only supplier so im stuck now. May just buy some fancy red bolts now.

I have a few other goodies in the post and i will add pics when they arrive.
Thanks for following all.
 
Looking good matey :)

Great idea with the graphic and coke can, maybe you could leave a gap at the top as coke bottles sometimes have some air in the top and maybe a small gap at the bottom.


then do a cap for it in gold or white LED

please forgive the bad artwork and colors used lol

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if you make the bottle a bit smaller you could remove some of the white parts at top and bottom.

but if it looks good small then just forget it :D
 
Hey sorry ive not been on for a while, ive had a busy week. Ive not had a chance to do anything in the end. I should be able to get on with it soon this week. Im waiting for the usb extenders for the doors and im just looking at some speakers for the doors now.

Thanks for idea deblow, i see what you mean. Im wondering if i can do this with EL panels as you can buy some to cut the shapes how i want them. Im going to try a smaller bottle first but i was thinking of adding something else to use the rest of panel like the words COCA COLA eitherside but im not so sure it would look great.
Or i could turn the bottle on its side and have a longer piece but im not sure if it will look great either.

I will bring another update soon. Thank you for your comments guys!
 
yeah EL panels should work fine, but not sure you can make them act like a equalizer,
if that was the effect you was wanting
you could just make the coke from red/clear perspex or very thin plastic and use some LED's to light it up maybe
 
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