Lean and Green - modular dual PC scratch build

[evilpenguin]

o.O how doe people have this much skill??? wants! XD

 

[King Damager]

Yeah, I quite like the idea of Green 3. Looks very British Racing Green

Would go well with silver.

kd

 

[Duff-Man]

This build looks epic Kudos!

Just wondering why you decided to go with 3mm aluminium? Seems to be quite thick and unwieldy for jigsaw cutting, though it will obviously be extremely sturdy...

Anyway - can't wait to see the final product!

 

[waynio]

You is crazy sir

Why thank you lol

o.O how doe people have this much skill??? wants! XD

I don't know it all just started with me hacking up retail cases to add more cooling & led to more & more advanced things lol cheers evilpenguin.

Yeah, I quite like the idea of Green 3. Looks very British Racing Green

Would go well with silver.

kd

Fair way off about being decisive about colours though mate I don't particulary like it but I think grey might be a good main colour even though I would like a nice bit of colour in this, we'll see when I complete the rig & can sit back & think about it & discuss with people following it.

This build looks epic Kudos!

Just wondering why you decided to go with 3mm aluminium? Seems to be quite thick and unwieldy for jigsaw cutting, though it will obviously be extremely sturdy...

Anyway - can't wait to see the final product!

Cheers Duff-Man ohh yeaaahh
I like 3mm for it's nice rigid strength even when doing high volume cut outs like I'm doing, if I did this in 1mm it would be a quick job but would be very flimsy, I use 1mm for curved panels with it being more flexible & where strength isn't needed & 2mm for bits that would benefit from a little extra strength, the 10mm aluminium is my attempt at breaking away from overusing bars for my frames & so it can have nicer looks as well as giving it some tank like strength.


Not sure if I mentioned it here yet but I set a crazy deadline of 10th of March to get all of the aluminium cut & been grinding away like crazy to try & meet it.

Wowzers 8 days left to get all the aluminium cut ready for further stages, this is 1 ultra tight challenge.

Update as promised although not as progressed as I hoped for. I feel a slap incoming on the 10th if I don't dig deeper.

Trust me I'm very aware I bit off a little bit more than I can chew with ease at the time limit I set for myself but I'm still grinding through the damn thing XD, I know that once I get past these 3mm high volume cut out pieces the rest will be nice & easy (in comparison), just these gamer sides I absolutely underestimated the effort they would take, I did consider making it less cut outs but left it & now I really know how hard I made things for myself.

Here is where the first side panel is at, it seems to take a day per row but with each cut out taking a while I found myself moaning quite a bit in a state of bewilderment instead of just getting on with it so that's the key to getting heaps more done (shut up, stop thinking & mod not walking away for a quick break that turns into a couple of hours lol).

Had to rotate the picture upside down to show correct orientation.

I'll be extremely glad I chose to work through the most endurance pushing bits first but at this moment it's flipping tough going & a true test of patience to get through.

The 10th sure was too tight of a deadline, simples, but a deadline is a deadline or it's a fail deadline, looks like 5 more days or less if I don't muck about on these gamer sides, then a day each for the front & back & htpc back which makes 8 days leaving no room for the rest of the 3mm easy panels & 2mm & 1mm, only way I can do it all in the deadline is if I wake up each morning & go straight at it & only pause for food & light chores not slacking off 1 bit until it's done, I feel it is doable & I shouldn't burn out neither & I'm not rushing it, just dedicated.

 

[King Damager]

I think I'd be bored just drilling the holes to start off all those cuts! Never mind the cuts themselves!

kd

 

[waynio]

I think I'd be bored just drilling the holes to start off all those cuts! Never mind the cuts themselves!

kd

Nevermind the boredom, the sheer grind of keeping focus right up & spending a full day & only getting 1 of the rows completed is like a nightmare lol.

I really doubt I can meet my silly deadline without rushing & working myself into the ground so I'm dropping the deadline but I'll just keep progressing each day.

So I'll go back to a sane pace before I totally burn out & leave the project alone for who knows how long.

 

[waynio]

Peanut M&Ms & nice coffee & the remainder of a heck of a mission.

Worth every minute & now I have another 1 of these to make.

 

[alex2k10]

Wow that side panel looks amazing and so intracut. Glad you have ditched the deadline as I would have hated for you to make a mistake trying to keep to it or worse worn yourself out and loose all motivation to complete this epic build.

Are you going to/ need to sand each of those cuts or did they come out spot on?

 

[waynio]

Wow that side panel looks amazing and so intracut. Glad you have ditched the deadline as I would have hated for you to make a mistake trying to keep to it or worse worn yourself out and loose all motivation to complete this epic build.

Are you going to/ need to sand each of those cuts or did they come out spot on?

Yeah I'm nicely pleased with the outcome a realistic deadline would be ok but not a spur of the moment unsure deadline though.

They could use a tiny little amount of cleaning up & I have all the right bits to do this in a nice short time but the process I'll be doing this project is.

Cutting aluminium
Adding mounting points
Make free standing internal frame for the gamer rig
Add more mounting points
Sanding edges, internal & external
Cut acrylic
Sand acrylic
Stick any of the acrylic which will be used for some components
Wood - Need slicing into required thicknesses & gluing together to make panels & then the pattern cut outs, then finishing of the wood.
Do a test run with hardware inside for working out optimum wire work
Disassemble
Brush finish & polish
Take to the anodisers
Get it back & put it all together & do a nice photo shoot.



I'll relax for a few more minutes & then start on panel number 2 of these, it should all get easier the further I progress.

 

[Raventu]

This thread is a sure-fire eyegasm. I love the design. Subscribed .

 

[waynio]

This thread is a sure-fire eyegasm. I love the design. Subscribed .

Thanks Raventu

Panel number 2.

Didn't do much today so not much to show but when I was cleaning up around the saw I found some 10 TPI blades I forgotten about, 18TPI on the left, 12 TPI in the middle & 10 TPI on the right, they are far stronger than the others so can cut faster.

They are very good for making quick work of the cutting but not good at very tight turns & useless at U-turns so I wasted a bit of time before I got my thinking cap on.

I decided to take out the need to go from the opening hole to the sides with a curve by adding start holes close to the edges, this will allow me to do all the longer curve lines quickly with the 10 TPI blades & then go over them all with a more flexible blade to take out the ends, I expect I'll have this panel done tomorrow if I get a good session in, already taken out the most fiddly holes with 18 TPI blades.

So early night, early rise & intend to get through this panel, would be quite something managing what was taking 4 solid days in a day.

 

[waynio]

Enthusiasm, energy & focus was getting scarily low so had to let it recharge plus there are a few other things that's been making me not want to spend much time in the cellar so things have been on pause the past few days.

The 10TPI blades cut fast but easily get stuck to the aluminium so not a good option risking high damage to the panel, already know using a lube makes it impossible to see the cutting lines so not an option, the extra 5 packs of 12 TPI came today so can get right back at it & change blades regular instead of rationing them out until they wouldn't cut a thing.

I'll only do thick high volume cut pieces on metal now & again because of the time they take but will stay dedicated to doing the ones on this project.

I am going to sand all edges to get an awesome all over look but I'll do that after fixing parts together but of course I'll have to sand any connecting edges so they are perfect before fixing them but the disc sander & sanding drums & sanding blades will make quick work of that.

This is an update on the status & a little eye candy of what is done so far for something good as a last post for a bit because I'm going to be getting really stuck into getting the high volume cut panels done & then I'll start updating again once I've got through them because I'll be able to do regular significant updates then, think doing updates between the time consuming panels is making it seem longer.

Been having a big flood prevention job done over the past 5 weeks & the room I got sorted was soon filled with the stuff from the other room so has been like modding in a big bin so it's been pretty bad for keeping my mind in awesome mode really.

But when they finish the job which should be this week I'll be able to get it straight again & I'll be sorting the room with the saw in to be an awesome little modding room moving all my tools & bits into it I'll eventually make it a sound proofed room also so I can mod whenever I feel like it which will be awesome since my energy levels seem to mostly peak at night time.

Plus I'm going to make a really good photo booth soon, it's something that has been way overdue for quite a while.

 

[Judgeneo]

Sees build log from waynio.


Subscribes.


Reads build log.

 

[Shovinus]

Looks so awesome, I admire your love of patience to do this.

 

[waynio]

Sees build log from waynio.


Subscribes.


Reads build log.

Thanks neo & sorry for the delay on replying & getting on with this, was unavoidable though.

Looks so awesome, I admire your love of patience to do this.

Thanks Shovinus it does require a bit of patience this one lol.

First of all I want to point this nice project out that has been a big community fund raiser build for a very awesome long standing pillar of the modding community, if you are a member on bit-tech it would be awesome of you to check it out & drop a comment or even just check it out if your not, it's a truly awesome show of community spirit in the modding circle, probably the most heart warming project log ever.

And it would be even more awesome if you know people or have family in America who would like to buy a very good special custom Fractal Design Define R3, sweet modding by probably the worlds best known modder Bill Owen Mnpctech, eye poppingly good hand air brush art by Brad Galvin, super special hand made water block & pump cover by the awesome cheapskate, absolutely perfect sleeving by Lutro0 Customs, contributions from modders with brand new bits & modder rchiileea helping with getting some extra sponsors & contributions from companies to supply excellent tech to go inside it all which includes a GTX 580 amongst the components & to top all that awesomeness off with an epic cherry ultra modder Darth Beavis will be installing the system & handling the auction, really awesome pro team effort, all the funds will be going straight to John Hanlon who this is in aid for.

Link to the log.
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=226517








Ok back to this log & wow it's been a while since last update, not because I've been slacking but because we been having a big job done in the next room to where I mod now & was supposed to be 10 days but turned into 45 business days & it was too much of a mess to be able to mod there without getting miserable so figured I'd wait for the job to be completed which explains the 2 week gap.

The other room is done now & spent the night sorting the cellar so I can at least stand long sessions in there again.

Before

After

I can get on with the cutting now without feeling like I'm sat in a garbage dump, already feels a lot nicer in there so you can definitely expect regular updates to start rolling on again now but first I need a rest, just thought I'd update that it's waiting for me to spring back into action now instead of anything holding me back, think I'll continue doing all the time consuming stuff first as planned.

Still loads of hoarded useless junk that fills the shelves though & want to clear it all out ASAP & get some really cheap but decent kitchen worktops to go along 2 or maybe even 3 walls for all my main tools & have a nice dedicated assembly spot, then all I'll need is a load of chunky wooden beams to form them into tables already got a very nice piece of kitchen work top which I'll make my scroll saw table with as soon as I can with all the different blade types having their own holders because the silly long table I'm using is very prone to rattling & I'd much prefer a sturdy smaller table that I can bolt the saw to so it's nice & solid not a bit prone to rattling.

But really I think I can complete the project with the room as it is & will bring my other tools & the foldable workbench over later today & just use them on the floor for the time being, got the space now, woo hoooooo, can’t wait to really get stuck back into this.

I would get back to cutting right now but I am very knackered & really need a few zzzzzzzzzz lol.

 

[Sin_Chase]

Awesome work.

Cannot wait for more updates

 

[waynio]

Awesome work.

Cannot wait for more updates

Thanks Sin, updates should be regular again now.

After sorting the room & as soon as I woke up I went at the 2nd detail panel & what an awesome idea it was to do mirrored panels of ones that take ages to do lol ugh anyway with having plenty of spare blades can change them when needed so it still takes many many hours to do but can do a lot more in a shorter time, I'd say 1 big session left to do on this.

Progress rolling forward.

 

[waynio]

Holy moly I'm a happy chappy now this scroll saw endurance test is done.

So that's 2 pieces which I expect is easily the most time consuming bits cut & ready for sanding, still got the htpc back, gaming rig front & back to do which is all 3mm alu also but these side panels are definitely the most time consuming panels.

Overkill mesh lol.

Not only nice progress but a clear sky with some sweet warmth from the sun, man I've missed that.

 

[waynio]

Just acquired a load of this 2mm thick brass hex mesh stuff, more than I'll ever need lol, this is 1 tiny sheet of it & there are I think 4 much bigger sheets of it.

Also got started on the htpc back panel.

 

[waynio]

Woke up with clear intentions to complete the htpc back panel & keep pressing on with the build.

My dad mentioned about shifting some stuff from the garage to the cellar the other day but today I overslept a bit & he decided to shift most from the garage to the cellar so instead of making things I had to just go with the flow since he made it into a sheet tip again lol so carried the kitchen unit cupboards & draws & work top over & put them along the wall, still need to remove the shelf above it else having a worktop there will be useless.

So yeah I'm back to sorting the cellar out & get it all nicely functional again at this point so no progress today with having to do this.