Soldato
Hmm, that front pannel now looks like some kind of three-eyed alien duck. Are you sure you dont want to rename it the monster head case? 
PK!
PK!
Project - Air Cube v2
- Thread starter waynio
- Start date
lol
.I know, in future anything really fancy I want doing on a panel I think I will do that
.New progress, seems a long time since I've been able to say this
.My dad told me about this stuff he had after my 3rd failed attempt on the front extension, so I gave it a try and left it over night, when I went back to it today I tried pulling it off by hand, it stayed completely secure so then I tried ripping it off with pliers and it is rock solid so I went and bought a fresh 1 today.
These are the angle bar pieces bent to correct angle in vice and filed flat.
Here are all 4 pieces dry fitted after I positioned and stuck the angle bar joints together with drives in.
Here it is after I stuck the pieces together, I just used whatever I could find to keep a bit of pressure on it while it sets, I'm leaving it until tomorrow and hopefully it will be strong and ready for mounting, if this fails for a 4th time I will try 1 more time before designing a different front extension.
Also, I have ordered the polish
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Soldato
- Joined
- 13 Mar 2006
- Posts
- 6,712
I'm not a fan of those extension type things as I think they spoil the lines of the design, but the work on it looks excellent. 
:thumbs:
Btw, where'd you buy the countersunk screws/countersinking bit from?(need to get some myself).
:thumbs:Btw, where'd you buy the countersunk screws/countersinking bit from?(need to get some myself).
I'm not either, but I need a place to put the optical and I would have to sacrifice a hdd cage to keep it all internal, I know I could get laptop drives but they are much slower at reading.
But if this front extension is not up to a standard I like I may consider a laptop optical.
Countersunk black allen head screws from ebay
Countersink bit from diy store, it is a 2-5mm HSS bit.
But if this front extension is not up to a standard I like I may consider a laptop optical.
Countersunk black allen head screws from ebay
Countersink bit from diy store, it is a 2-5mm HSS bit.
Ordered the polish just before 3pm yesterday and recieved it the next morning and it came with a bonus microfibre cloth which I was not expecting .
I used an old soft rag to test this stuff out, this shot is what a minute of using the metal prep with a tiny blob did.
These shots is with using a tiny blob of the mirror finish, again with an old rag which is why there are fine scratches, of course I will be using quality soft new rags to apply this to the case.
1st impressions of this stuff are "ohhhh yeaaaah" especially since I used a poor quality well used rag and hardly spent any time on it, just a quick test.
When I ordered the switches a bit ago I bought black ones 1 with blue dot and 1 with blue ring, but with me now going for a mirror finish I decided to get silver switches 1 white dot and 1 white ring by lamptron and also got a lamptron white cathode set 1st impressions of it are it seems the best pc cathode I have seen, it has a knob on the inverter which is for sound activated sensitivity but can turn the sound sensitivity off and keep the light on, the wires are a bit short but I'll easily extend them if needed, also got 2 quad fan connectors for keeping all the fan cables together 1 for front and side fans and 1 for cpu and rear fans, the cables underneath the switches are pre made cables for the switches by lamptron so no messing about for me, I'm so glad they started doing these as I can't stand doing soldering and braiding.
And these are the parts I went window shopping for lol, wish I had the money for them to put in this case, one can dream.
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I used an old soft rag to test this stuff out, this shot is what a minute of using the metal prep with a tiny blob did.
These shots is with using a tiny blob of the mirror finish, again with an old rag which is why there are fine scratches, of course I will be using quality soft new rags to apply this to the case.
1st impressions of this stuff are "ohhhh yeaaaah"
especially since I used a poor quality well used rag and hardly spent any time on it, just a quick test.When I ordered the switches a bit ago I bought black ones 1 with blue dot and 1 with blue ring, but with me now going for a mirror finish I decided to get silver switches 1 white dot and 1 white ring by lamptron and also got a lamptron white cathode set 1st impressions of it are it seems the best pc cathode I have seen, it has a knob on the inverter which is for sound activated sensitivity but can turn the sound sensitivity off and keep the light on, the wires are a bit short but I'll easily extend them if needed, also got 2 quad fan connectors for keeping all the fan cables together 1 for front and side fans and 1 for cpu and rear fans, the cables underneath the switches are pre made cables for the switches by lamptron so no messing about for me, I'm so glad they started doing these as I can't stand doing soldering and braiding
.
And these are the parts I went window shopping for lol, wish I had the money for them to put in this case, one can dream
.
Wow at last I got the front extension 99% perfect and mounted, the dvd drives fit so perfect the bezels are stopping the drives from going any further, I used the cotton bud trick for aligning, just need to put the holes for the power/reset switches in place and the front is done except for polishing, phew 4th attempt was worth it I'm happy to say and is detatchable whenever I want it to be without having to drill rivets out.
Been at it virtually everyday for close to a month now so if its sunny tomorrow I'm chilling in the sun, been cloudy all july and so far for august, reminds me of last year.
And all the rest of the photography will be done using a tripod, my hands just aren't catching the detail because of slight movement.
4th attempt was worth it I'm happy to say and is detatchable whenever I want it to be without having to drill rivets out.
Been at it virtually everyday for close to a month now so if its sunny tomorrow I'm chilling in the sun
, been cloudy all july and so far for august, reminds me of last year.And all the rest of the photography will be done using a tripod, my hands just aren't catching the detail because of slight movement.
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Soldato
The hard work is paying off, its looking great.
Associate
Is that a fan in the back of the bottom drive? I cant wait to see how this turns out. You got a lot of hardware going into this. Its going to be a beast!
Soldato
Very nice build... how much did the aluminium cost you if you don't mind me asking?
Also, be careful with Araldite, it's bloody nasty and VERY strong. Used to use it when manufacturing electronics a while back.
Also, be careful with Araldite, it's bloody nasty and VERY strong. Used to use it when manufacturing electronics a while back.
Looks good. I remember another build having a very similar bottom front where it came out like that. Can't for the life of me remember the name of the build though. Almost identical front part though. Maybe another of yours?
Also lol'ed at the tiny fan in the DVD drive
Also lol'ed at the tiny fan in the DVD drive
Thanks for comments m8s . I know, the tiny fan in the dvd haha . All the pc gear you are seeing in this worklog is quite old and being used just for a good idea of how everything is goling to be, the front extension is purely so I can have full size dvd drives in the case and space for up to 10 hdd's also. And yes Darg that probably was my prototype of this, main reason for redesigning it was to make it strong, this is the longest time I have spent on making a case, I'm hoping to have it complete within a week or 2.
Aluminium cost was £120 with delivery and still have quite a bit spare, its all the extras that pile up the cost like fans, switches, paint or polish, screws, nuts etc.
Ahh I seem to be picking up momentum again, another day another update and I caught a little sun woohoo
Now the front extension is out the way, I started working on the sides and top panel, as I said a load of updates ago I was unable to bend accurately with the cheap metal folder I have at 1.5mm so had to come up with an alternative, well here it is.
Sides joined up to the top panel so sides and top slide off together as 1 piece, it was flimsy and tricky to get it on at 1st, but I put another angle bar underneath on both sides to keep it square so it all goes on a lot easier now.
Also the mesh I made I put a little countersink in all the holes so it will be a little easier to polish because I'm put off sanding it and there was some rough bits that needed sorting from when the drill went a bit crazy.
I tend to start off really slow and start getting really productive the later it gets, I wrapped it up at 10:30pm
So all that is left to be done what I can think of right now is filing and sanding the top pointy corners, power/reset switch holes on the front, vents on the left side so the hdd fan can get fresh air, and a window or 3 and last but not least a lengthy polishing task.
I tried wet sanding a piece of scrap from 80 grit then 240 then 800 then 1200 then 2000 grit, it got ultra smooth but when I used the metal prep stuff it got quite messy leaving dark grey dust ground into the metal and took some really hard work to get it clear, probably spent an hour getting it semi clear so I'm not so sure I want to polish the exterior now unless I settle for a dulled mirror effect by not doing any sanding so would get a mirror effect like the 1st sample test I showed, but I know for cirtain I will be polishing the interior and the corner angle bars, that alone would look cool with windows so all the parts get reflected eh, so possibly going to be painting the exterior panels not 100% sure yet.
. I know, the tiny fan in the dvd haha . All the pc gear you are seeing in this worklog is quite old and being used just for a good idea of how everything is goling to be, the front extension is purely so I can have full size dvd drives in the case and space for up to 10 hdd's also. And yes Darg that probably was my prototype of this, main reason for redesigning it was to make it strong, this is the longest time I have spent on making a case, I'm hoping to have it complete within a week or 2.Aluminium cost was £120 with delivery and still have quite a bit spare
, its all the extras that pile up the cost like fans, switches, paint or polish, screws, nuts etc.Ahh I seem to be picking up momentum again, another day another update and I caught a little sun woohoo
Now the front extension is out the way, I started working on the sides and top panel, as I said a load of updates ago I was unable to bend accurately with the cheap metal folder I have at 1.5mm so had to come up with an alternative, well here it is
.
Sides joined up to the top panel so sides and top slide off together as 1 piece, it was flimsy and tricky to get it on at 1st, but I put another angle bar underneath on both sides to keep it square so it all goes on a lot easier now
.Also the mesh I made I put a little countersink in all the holes so it will be a little easier to polish because I'm put off sanding it and there was some rough bits that needed sorting from when the drill went a bit crazy.
I tend to start off really slow and start getting really productive the later it gets, I wrapped it up at 10:30pm
So all that is left to be done what I can think of right now is filing and sanding the top pointy corners, power/reset switch holes on the front, vents on the left side so the hdd fan can get fresh air, and a window or 3 and last but not least a lengthy polishing task.
I tried wet sanding a piece of scrap from 80 grit then 240 then 800 then 1200 then 2000 grit, it got ultra smooth but when I used the metal prep stuff it got quite messy leaving dark grey dust ground into the metal and took some really hard work to get it clear, probably spent an hour getting it semi clear so I'm not so sure I want to polish the exterior now unless I settle for a dulled mirror effect by not doing any sanding so would get a mirror effect like the 1st sample test I showed, but I know for cirtain I will be polishing the interior and the corner angle bars, that alone would look cool with windows so all the parts get reflected eh
, so possibly going to be painting the exterior panels not 100% sure yet., Thanks VortX, here is another update as I'm still trying to get at least 1 thing done each day .OK today I started using a tripod, wish I used it from the start, every picture is coming out nice and clear now.
Here it is just before I started today.
I got the the top bits that stick up filed and sanded smooth, got the switch holes made and caught more sun
.
And found that I will need to make a mount for the dvd drives 7.2mm high
Associate
you sir are a dremel god!
Thanks for feedback all .
Today I marked, cut, filed and sanded the left side panel, a basic window hole and a grill for the hdd fan.
I was thinking of having a window on both sides and the top but I remembered that I want a reflection thing going on through the main window so no need.
I started using my dremel and got 1 of the slots done and the dremel was toasty, so I put the dremel mandrel in my dads new rotary air tool and got the whole lot done and then done the curved bits with the dremel.
.Today I marked, cut, filed and sanded the left side panel, a basic window hole and a grill for the hdd fan.
I was thinking of having a window on both sides and the top but I remembered that I want a reflection thing going on through the main window so no need.
I started using my dremel and got 1 of the slots done and the dremel was toasty, so I put the dremel mandrel in my dads new rotary air tool and got the whole lot done and then done the curved bits with the dremel.