Project - Air Cube v2

I went to a paint store to weigh up how much it will cost me for a basic paint job using cans, I picked some primer, clear coat and a nice metallic Blue, the cans are only 150ml by hycote so would need quite a few of them, anyway the cost came up to about £68 :eek: so I'm going to just use it as is until I have enough for an ok spray gun and the paint tins, I would rather buy the good stuff for a little extra, so the finishing paint job would hopefully get done within the next month or 2. I just searched the net for paint and found a good site to buy any colour metalic or pearl 1 ltr and all the other parts needed, primer, laquer, thinners for £58 and for a quality candy finish about £100 for a full kit except the spray gun.

I tested out the noise level and air flow of all the akasa apache fans mounted inside the case and it will be great, air flow is much better too similar to antec tri speed on high whilst being quieter than the antec tri speeds on low, the apache fans are gonna keep all the components really nice and cool for sure :), and you can't see the green blades when they are spinning.

Got the feet and the psu stand mounted today and placed mesh on the side vent and made a mesh panel for the front, I also tried the lamptron cathode set they are so bright I will only need 1 of them, 1 problem with the top panels seem it lets a hair line of light through so need to put an angle bar in place to keep the light where I want it, I'll update pics very soon.

For the window I'm going to have it made for me so it has drill holes along the edge so it can be properly mounted rather than glue it on, I'm no good at plexi work.
 
you got the Candy price quote quite cheap, mind you; it's expensive for a car because you need so much of the stuff :D:D

you'll definitely need a cheap 20 quid air brush..you dont need a full blown auto spray gun for a pc case.

i used to spray model custom cars in Candy, it looks gorgeous..candy red looks miles better than standard red....it has a depth to it, it glows!

you can spray your case silver metallic and then overlay it with 7 coats of tinted lacquer, that'll look really nice too, there are loads of painting techniques..... have a look on American custom car/ Hot Rod websites...awesome stuff there.....``pimp my ride`` ha ha

if the window is simple..... i.e rectangular, get it made in 4mm hardened glass.. they'll drill it for you, Plexi scratches so easily....glass will also stiffen the panel
 
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Mal X said:
if the window is simple..... i.e rectangular, get it made in 4mm hardened glass.. they'll drill it for you, Plexi scratches so easily....glass will also stiffen the panel
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Drill the glass? as soon as you tighten a bolt up into the glass it could shatter. Might be better to use some double sided foam tape or some PU adhesive sealant/silicone.

Good call on the toughened glass though, would be much better than plexi.
 
Mark A said:
Drill the glass? as soon as you tighten a bolt up into the glass it could shatter. Might be better to use some double sided foam tape or some PU adhesive sealant/silicone.

Good call on the toughened glass though, would be much better than plexi.
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NO, how go you think they make glass coffee tables attach to their legs :eek:...they use bolts!

but you'd need washers under your bolt heads, glass is very strong under compression..... besides, Sealant might be better, because you'd see the bolt heads on the outside of the case
 
I sanded the panels ready for painting the other day and been deciding since which colour to paint it and got the feet made from a square tube cut to size and put them on the front and back so it goes along the width of the case, Nice and sturdy and it has a good gap between the surface and the case so I can easily pick it up now :).
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Damn yellow lights lol, makes pictures look awful, must get white lights.
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I got 30mm allen head countersunk bolts for the fans and they fit with the mesh panel perfect :).

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There is a hairline beam of light coming through the top, the reason for the other hairline of light to the left is because I forgot to bolt up the top left one for the pics, I will be fixing an angle bar along the top to keep the top middle panel rigid for when I remove it and to block the hairline gap, I think I'll add a couple more bolts for the side panels too for extra rigidity for when I add and remove it, this is just with using 1 of the 2 cathodes they are sooo bright :).

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This final shot is with the light from my monitor

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And these are the colours I have picked out for deciding which one, I think it will be either olympic gold metalic or matisse blue, I might flip a coin for which one to go for :).

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Next update will be the paint finish :).
 
What a design, I cant wait to see the finished product.

How much has this cost you then?

Keep up the good work!!
 
See all the different opinions :), I decided for something somewhat less in your face and to be honest the very mild gold I think will look very well matched with the polish rather than a striking contrast.

Olympic gold is what I have gone for and will be painting it tomorrow after I make a hole for the cathode switch in the front panel.
The gent in the shop said he could do it with 1 can because of his 50 years experience, I believe him so I got 2 cans each of grey primer, olympic gold, clear coat and cost £26, he also told me of a good technique to really reduce wasted paint and some other good tips, most helpful knowledgeable clerk I have ever dealt with, if he was not helpful & more of a corp shop I would have bought way too much and got no tips :).
 
1 of the gold paint tins was damaged, so I'm thinking of setting it up as is and get around to painting it at a later date when I have a spray gun and air brush gear, spray cans irritate me having to shake forever etc.
 
Are you painting the whole case? If so then I'd get it etch primed at a body shop. Otherwise the paint wont adhere to the alu and will chip off. You can buy etch primer in spray cans but it doesn't work too great. Ive used it on a psu and a silencer for an air rifle and it helps the paint stick but a heavy knock with chip it.
 
Painting the whole case?
Just the exterior panels, keeping the polish inside and the corner angle bars for definate :), I'll have a picture update or 2 tomorrow :) I primed the panels today with 2 400ml cans for 5 panels and 3 angle bars, the technique the man told me about is good, but I did it a little different because I did not hang them up, I did them up against a board, the method he said to try was make a box out of the panels in an arch type way and do slowish long sweeping strokes, but I just did 2 at a time it was easier to set up, but I can see how it is a good method if it was set up correctly.
Tomorrow I'm going back to the paint shop and possibly getting 3 x Glacier blue just to be safe for the main colour and something like the matisse blue for a faint haze over the glacier, or a completely unplanned colour that catches my eye :D and of course a couple of layers of clear which I already have for protection.

Also the man said screwed up paper kitchen towel is best instead of wet sanding, because even with 2000 grit it can easily be scratched, so I'll give it a try and hopefully it will work ok, I'm not going to ignore a man with a lifes experience on something like this :).
 
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Primed.
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Colours I chose, Haze Blue was closest I could get to glacier blue, the matisse blue is going to be used for a quick haze spray.
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All the paint on the panels are good except for the most prominent one being the front panel, I was stupid and did not take the front extension off when I painted it and do it seperately, oh well something had to go wrong but I'll put up with it, I'm glad I'm not too much of a perfectionist else it would take far too long to do.
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I'll hit it with a couple of coats of clear tomorrow :) and will clean up my current parts and add this little beauty for my main hdd on sunday :) and take some finished pics, then enjoy my new case :).
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Oh yes the kitchen paper towel worked really well and gave no scratches and got it pretty smooth, then blew off the dust and was good.
 
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