Project NoName

[Andygully]

Nice work i like the racing seat.

 

[Lakeland]

Looking nice! Love a good laser cut project.

If you’ve not seen them before these joints are cool..



If you overlap the top edge so the slot is closed it will make the whole thing much stronger and also way easier to assemble as it won’t fall apart when you’re trying to put the panels together! The slot for the nut is just tiny bit bigger than the bolt across its flats so it’s held captive.

Also check out living hinges for laser cutting, they really extend the possibilities of the projects you can create with 2D sheets.

 

[KiNgPiN83]

Looking nice! Love a good laser cut project.

If you’ve not seen them before these joints are cool..



If you overlap the top edge so the slot is closed it will make the whole thing much stronger and also way easier to assemble as it won’t fall apart when you’re trying to put the panels together! The slot for the nut is just tiny bit bigger than the bolt across its flats so it’s held captive.

Also check out living hinges for laser cutting, they really extend the possibilities of the projects you can create with 2D sheets.

Took my eyes a moment to work out that photo but that’s a pretty good idea! I’ve not really done much with living hinges myself although there is a part of this that could probably really benefit from it so I might try it out. I have some designs from other people with living hinges so I may cut one of those to see how my wood copes with it.

I think I’ll try that bolt idea out though as the gluing of all the tabs can be a right pain. Lol

 

[LuckyBenski]

I think I’ll try that bolt idea out though as the gluing of all the tabs can be a right pain. Lol

Yep! I have 8 boxes to glue with 3 partitions each... I've started using a syringe so I can just draw a line of glue along the faces.

 

[Lakeland]

Living hinges will definitely work with that material. For ultra tight radius’ cut out slots (~1.5mm width) with a radius at the ends, you’ll be able to get it to go round a 10p piece. I have some designs if you get stuck.

For that acrylic design above you’ll make life way easier if you have an overhang at the ends so you can make the edge slots closed rather than open. I can send a pic if that doesn’t make sense!

 

[KiNgPiN83]

Living hinges will definitely work with that material. For ultra tight radius’ cut out slots (~1.5mm width) with a radius at the ends, you’ll be able to get it to go round a 10p piece. I have some designs if you get stuck.

For that acrylic design above you’ll make life way easier if you have an overhang at the ends so you can make the edge slots closed rather than open. I can send a pic if that doesn’t make sense!

Nice one! That’s good to know. Have you been lasering long?

I’m sure those can be incorporated into the design to make them less obvious too. Plus they have the benefit of being removable too. I still need to try acrylic. I have some sheets but still have reservations that my 40w laser will cut through it as I’m having to do multiple passes on 3mm plywood at the moment as it is! Really need to upgrade to a bigger machine at some point.

 

[KiNgPiN83]

Nice work i like the racing seat.

Sorry, I missed this! Thanks, it replaced my chair/bean bag and is quite comfortable just using it as a seat.

 

[Lakeland]

Nice one! That’s good to know. Have you been lasering long?

I’m sure those can be incorporated into the design to make them less obvious too. Plus they have the benefit of being removable too. I still need to try acrylic. I have some sheets but still have reservations that my 40w laser will cut through it as I’m having to do multiple passes on 3mm plywood at the moment as it is! Really need to upgrade to a bigger machine at some point.

I teach DT/engineering in a secondary school so we use the laser all the time, probably been using one for about 10yrs. 40w should be more than capable of 3mm ply, might be worth checking your mirrors and lens are clean and aligned to make sure the power isn’t being wasted. 3mm acrylic will usually cut better than ply. We’ve just got a new one from HPC that can cut through 15mm acrylic and 9mm ply in one pass. I’ve just bought the old one from the school to use at home and that is quite old but it will cut through 3mm ply and acrylic no problem, managed to get it for £100 as it overheats when you do a long job, hopefully I can have a play and improve it slightly

 

[KiNgPiN83]

I teach DT/engineering in a secondary school so we use the laser all the time, probably been using one for about 10yrs. 40w should be more than capable of 3mm ply, might be worth checking your mirrors and lens are clean and aligned to make sure the power isn’t being wasted. 3mm acrylic will usually cut better than ply. We’ve just got a new one from HPC that can cut through 15mm acrylic and 9mm ply in one pass. I’ve just bought the old one from the school to use at home and that is quite old but it will cut through 3mm ply and acrylic no problem, managed to get it for £100 as it overheats when you do a long job, hopefully I can have a play and improve it slightly

That’s cool. Not sure I could handle the kids though but that’s probably my three year olds fault. I guess the older ones might not be as bad. Haha! I did clean them when I fit the new psu a week or so ago. (Also changed the tube but the other seems doa which is annoying) i’ll give them another check later and check the head one as that’s always a pain to get to so could be a bit dirty. Do you have much experience of tube life? Could by existing tube be giving up if I’m still having problems? Wow that new one sounds like a beast! I was going to go HPC but chose these other guys instead and they’ve now gone under.. however my next one may come from them I think. That’s a bargain for you with the old one too! I take it it’s not water cooled? Mine uses the cw3000 which seems to be the standard for entry level water cooled lasers. Even on long photo engravings/cutting sections I only just about see 30 degrees I think. Hopefully you can get it fixed.

Should also have another update tonight. Ran out of paint and then had to use a different primer and now my colour matching is a bit rubbish. I’m hoping I’ve just fixed that but need to wait for it to dry.

 

[KiNgPiN83]

Yep! I have 8 boxes to glue with 3 partitions each... I've started using a syringe so I can just draw a line of glue along the faces.

What sort of glue to you use with plastic/acrylic?

 

[KiNgPiN83]

Little update.

So here is where i ended up after the different primer issues:

As you can see the colour is way off...

So i tried another primer which i believed was the right one and went straight over the top of it. (I know, i know that is horrible but i really couldn't bring myself to sanding it all back as its really textured and full of flecks so it would've taken ages...) Once that primer dried i whacked another coat of the finish over the top and we are now here:

Its not hugely obvious but i'm afraid we have now gone the other way and the top is now lighter than the two original boxes/levels... It was at this point that i was really really learning my lesson. "Though shall not be impatient and paint bits separately and forget what primers they are using."

We are now here in the "Spray Booth" (En suite to man room. Luckily my wife doesnt really go in there. Haha!)

Just waiting for the primer to dry on the bottom two levels then another top coat and they should all look the same. Luckily i don't think i have any other bits that need to be this colour/finish. However, I've learnt a painting lesson so its all good.

 

[LuckyBenski]

This is really coming together! I'm looking forward to the finished result

What sort of glue to you use with plastic/acrylic?

I experimented with the water thin solvent stuff (messy and not strong unless perfect joints). Tried superglue (messy and not all that strong). E6000 is ok which is a sort of hard plastic/UHU type glue. But messy to apply as it strings and sploops around. Epoxy (like Araldite) is OK but not clear.

Settled on Tensol 700 or a similar clone. Rock hard joins because it melts the plastic, but you have to mix it on funny proportions and store in the fridge. I may go back to epoxy if I get tired of the faff.

 

[Lakeland]

That’s cool. Not sure I could handle the kids though but that’s probably my three year olds fault. I guess the older ones might not be as bad. Haha! I did clean them when I fit the new psu a week or so ago. (Also changed the tube but the other seems doa which is annoying) i’ll give them another check later and check the head one as that’s always a pain to get to so could be a bit dirty. Do you have much experience of tube life? Could by existing tube be giving up if I’m still having problems? Wow that new one sounds like a beast! I was going to go HPC but chose these other guys instead and they’ve now gone under.. however my next one may come from them I think. That’s a bargain for you with the old one too! I take it it’s not water cooled? Mine uses the cw3000 which seems to be the standard for entry level water cooled lasers. Even on long photo engravings/cutting sections I only just about see 30 degrees I think. Hopefully you can get it fixed.

Should also have another update tonight. Ran out of paint and then had to use a different primer and now my colour matching is a bit rubbish. I’m hoping I’ve just fixed that but need to wait for it to dry.

I've been quite lucky with tubes and never had to replace one, though this is my first time with the cheap chinese cutters so I'll probably regret saying that! I think the HPC tubes are about £300 but it varies with the power. You can normally tell when they're on their way out as you have to slow down the feedrates to get it to cut what would normally have been fine. if you can test fire the laser through some clear acrylic you an see the shape of the cut which helps to set up the mirrors and check it's in focus. Isopropanol and cotton cloths for cleaning the mirrors and lens.

For gluing we tend to use acrylic cement, the thin water like liquid. It can be applied using capillary action so is much easier to apply when whatever you are making is already assembled. It grabs fairly quickly but it takes at least 24hrs to properly cure. We usually apply it with a fine brush but I personally use a small syringe without a rubber insert and you can be much more accurate. Tensol would be my next choice, you can get really strong joints but as mentioned it's messy and you have to apply it before assembly so it depends how much patience you have!

The one I've bought isn't watercooled no, it's loud as but it'll be kept in the garage so not too much of a problem, the watercooled one is great though. I need to find out what's getting too hot and make sure it's getting good air flow. It's worked fine until recently so it may be a nice easy fix

 

[KiNgPiN83]

Much better:

Will leave it to dry fully until the morning and work on some other stuff for the rest of the night. Also ordered the screws for the doors and some other bits earlier so should be ready to start some assembly and test running within the next week or so i think. I was going to use rivets but i think they'll destroy the wood which wont be enjoyable. Lol!

 

[KiNgPiN83]

Another little update. Started putting the hardware in and connecting it as i dont think i'm going to have anymore painting required on the bits i've already done. Here is how it stands:

PSU went in really nicely and seems quite stable.

Motherboard in place and cables fed through to where they need to be. That was a job in itself though and just about manageable with the doors i put in the sides. One cable hole wasn't big enough for the small motherboard PSU connector so i fed it through the GPU power cable(s) hole instead which is ok. It would've been nice to have had a modular PSU but i really can't afford it at the moment plus these are all old components anyway so i'd rather just keep them together as they were.

Views inside the doors at the state of the cables:

This is probably it for today although i may mount the AIO on the CPU as i can at least then power it up and see whats what.

 

[KiNgPiN83]

Small update today. Fitted the power/reset buttons and LED's:

Just need to add the buttons themselves(They are currently being painted) and a small surround to make it look a bit neater.

Also prepped the graphics cards. Needed to replace the thermal pads for the RAM and while i was there reapply compound to GPU's. Also gave one of the cards a dust with a paintbrush as i'd seemingly forgotten to before. Just need to do a bit more work to actually mount them in the case as they aren't being mounted in a standard fashion...

Naked card.

New pads:

Dusty:

Clean:

And now we have two GPU's ready to go. I have got some other updates but i'm holding them back as i want to show them complete rather than in stages. Although i'll post them as stages if that makes sense? It kind of gives away the theme of the build if i do it now.

 

[Alan1969]

Have you finished it now? any more photos? Build looks very good - them joints are perfect. Like others I have wondered about building in a drawer but others have had issues like with earthing - does yours work well.

 

[KiNgPiN83]

Have you finished it now? any more photos? Build looks very good - them joints are perfect. Like others I have wondered about building in a drawer but others have had issues like with earthing - does yours work well.

Not quite. Been painting some bits today and trying to figure out how to mount the GPU’s as the way I planned and designed, didn’t actually fit. At this point I probably should’ve redesigned but I’d already used a few sheets of wood and glued bits so I’m persevering.. It should be ok though. I probably could’ve hidden the joints a bit better with filler as there are some small gaps but this is my first go at a case so I wasn’t too bothered to be honest. I don’t think i’ll Have any issues as the motherboard is mounted properly on standoffs etc but I guess we’ll see in the next week or so.

 

[KiNgPiN83]

I've been having a nightmare with some parts of the design. However i have made a bit of progress:

Chiselled off some bits that i forgot would come into contact with the roof when i was designing it...

As you can see before that was chiselled off it stopped the roof fitting flush. Once these bits were removed however...

Relatively impressed that it doesn't look terrible:

Power/reset buttons painted and stuck to their appropriate switches. The rest button seems a bit stiff though.. Nothing a bit of sandpaper wont fix...

Also i had to remove the heat sink from the GPU and noticed that the pads between RAM and heat sink were too thick and the GPU wasn't making contact with the heat sink!! So i ordered thinner pads and will make sure this wont happen again as i dont really want to burn the GPU out. Lol!

Going back to the design issues this involves the mounting of the GPU's. (Even designing new mounts/shrouds for the GPU's fans to replace the shroud/fan that came with them!!) Think i'm almost there though... Although i'm on holiday for the next two weeks so the update may be a bit slow i'm afraid.

 

[KiNgPiN83]

Another small update. As well as some more modifications to the case itself i've also been working on new shroud type things for the GPU's. Basically the existing ones are too big for where i'm trying to mount them so i had to come up with something that gave me a bit more room.

Original top and new bottom: (As if i needed to point this out... lol)

Two V4's:

Now i'm not going to pretend my design is in any way superior as i'm sure Sapphire spent money developing their fan assembly. (I didn't) However i think my version will be fine and do a good enough job at getting air to the heat sink. Plus where they will be mounted will have plenty of cooling potential anyway. As in hot air extraction.