Project Stealthlow

mast3r · 31 Jan 2011 at 15:54

loooooking good pet.

waynio · 31 Jan 2011 at 22:30

mast3r said:
loooooking good pet.

lol

thanks

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Got some supports added for the mobo tray, still needs securing to the curve bars & I think I'll wait until it's anodised to do those as rather than adding more holes to the curves I'll use a super strong metal adhesive & bolt the mobo tray & side panels into the pieces I stick in.

qbazdz · 1 Feb 2011 at 09:34

How stiff is the tray? was that 3mm thick alu?

waynio · 1 Feb 2011 at 15:43

qbazdz said:
How stiff is the tray? was that 3mm thick alu?

Very & will be solid once I add connectors to the curves, the base floor & mobo tray is 4mm aluminium, everywhere else is 3mm :cool:

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The psu cover will be made from 1mm sheet, a mix of 1mm & 2mm sheet will be for the pci/io piece along with 10mm of acrylic made from 2x 5mm & a 2mm sheet.
The build is coming to the fine essential details part now so I'll take my time to get them perfect

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EniGmA1981 · 1 Feb 2011 at 16:22

Aluminium is usually chosen for less weight isn't it? Can't see this being particularly light though... Granted it will be significantly lighter than a mild steel version, but still not the sort of thing you want to take to lan parties is it lol

waynio · 1 Feb 2011 at 16:28

EniGmA1981 said:
Aluminium is usually chosen for less weight isn't it? Can't see this being particularly light though... Granted it will be significantly lighter than a mild steel version, but still not the sort of thing you want to take to lan parties is it lol

Hehe true but can still carry it fine with 1 arm

but yep I know it will be a 2 arm moving job once all the hardware is inside

, but if I ever got into lan parties I would make a powerful SFF case :cool:

, Just the windows being cut out of the side panels dramatically reduced the weight

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waynio · 1 Feb 2011 at 23:41

I started really late today but luckily I seem to be able to do the more technical mounting stuff better & faster late in the day & it's all quiet work so I took another step forward by getting the angle bars mounted for the side panels.

Also I've been looking for alternative ways to colour aluminium without painting or anodising & found alcohol ink, anyone ever tried it, I've ordered 1 bottle of black & 1 blue to test out on some scrap, apparently it comes off if handled regular but to prevent this you can brush a sealer onto it so ordered some matt sealer too, can't wait to try it out, also it is dirt cheap so if it turns out ok then that's a heck of a break through when it comes to finishing for me, reason I'm looking for alternative colouring is I'm having great difficulty finding info on how to mask the mounting holes for if I get everything anodised as the helicoils would be damaged without masking but I suppose I could change all the bolt sizes to m3.5 or m4 if I have no luck in finding out how to properly mask the holes.

buttkinz · 2 Feb 2011 at 00:09

When it's immersed for anodising could you not put bolts in all the threads you wan to keep non anodised?

Awesome build by the way, you have a real talent, subbed

waynio · 2 Feb 2011 at 00:47

buttkinz said:
When it's immersed for anodising could you not put bolts in all the threads you wan to keep non anodised?

Awesome build by the way, you have a real talent, subbed

Thought about something along those lines but I think if I want it all anodised I'll need to take all of the helicoils out, anyway I'll have a mess around with the alcohol ink & see what happens

, thanks buttkinz

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Monkey Puzzle · 2 Feb 2011 at 13:27

Looking very slick and well-crafted. What grade of aluminium are you using btw? Are you using mixed grades of aluminium?.... I'm looking to see how they anodise before I get mine done! At the blistering pace you're going you'll be anodising before me...

waynio · 2 Feb 2011 at 15:07

Monkey Puzzle said:
Looking very slick and well-crafted. What grade of aluminium are you using btw? Are you using mixed grades of aluminium?.... I'm looking to see how they anodise before I get mine done! At the blistering pace you're going you'll be anodising before me...

Thanks Monkey

, the bars are grade 6063T6 & the sheets are 1050AH14.

Found what I'll need for masking the helicoiled holes, they are like ear plugs but made from silicone specially designed for the job

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Been going at a good pace but I think I'll pass on making a physical update today & let my energy build back up

, I got the replacement sheet of aluminium ready & waiting but I ordered some better jigsaw blades so hoping they come tomorrow, if not then I might just get started on the final side panels, I should be starting with the fretsaw really to get the pci/io piece made but I'll probably get around to that in less than a week

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I have however thought up a much better looking & way of mounting the fans around the mobo, was going to keep it secret though until I've managed to make at least 1 of them, it's a sweet idea in my head so hopefully it'll work as I imagine it would

, ordered 3/16 inch round bar for these.

Also the aluminium case feet I ordered & planned on modding them, I've scrapped that idea because they take m8 bolts & I got some m8 countersunk bolts & they are way too big & blompy so decided to order some 2 inch round bar & I'm going to make them myself

sorry Bill for using a rough design of yours hope your ok with that :worried: I do plan on adding some forms of detail on it too so it's not just plain, I have a plan of using the drill press like a lathe with long full threaded bolt & nuts lol should be interesting, I have my doubts about this one but it's worth giving a try

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Xerco · 2 Feb 2011 at 22:28

wow this looks great cant wait to see it finished!

Guitarman0 · 2 Feb 2011 at 22:54

I love the fan mounting idea

Evil^ · 3 Feb 2011 at 02:27

Looking awesome mate, still no word on the colour?

waynio · 3 Feb 2011 at 21:47

Xerco said:
wow this looks great cant wait to see it finished!

Thanks Xerco

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Guitarman0 said:
I love the fan mounting idea

Nice isn't it

much more simple than the other I was going to do too

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Evil^ said:
Looking awesome mate, still no word on the colour?

Thanks Evil^, won't be long before I go looking for a local anodiser

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Ugh, my energy & concentration levels peak at the wrong time of day, think it stems back to when I excercised every single day for a few years late in the evening so naturally the best time for modding is evening onwards which is bad if I have any noisy stuff to do so I'm finding it very difficult to progress at the moment, don't want to be going at this with my head not being 100% else I'd probably muck up.

I tested the alcohol ink out though, had trouble applying it nicely with cotton wool, so tried a brush, then tried a sponge but I think some kind of feather would apply it pretty well, but I have an airbrush which I think I should try out with this stuff as I wasn't able to get consistent application, anyway the below pics show the ink applied with sponge & the final 2 pictures show it with a fresh spray of clear lacquer so I'll see what it looks like tomorrow, there are loads of bits on the surface though so it's far from optimal lol.

King Damager · 3 Feb 2011 at 23:55

That blue and copper thing I surprisingly like...

Not sure how good it would be on a massive scale, but maybe like brass/copper the small details - screws etc..?

kd

waynio · 4 Feb 2011 at 00:39

King Damager said:
That blue and copper thing I surprisingly like...

Not sure how good it would be on a massive scale, but maybe like brass/copper the small details - screws etc..?

kd

Someone else said it looked brown lol it's supposed to be black

, anyway the black turned out pretty naff, 1 of the blues turned out half decent though but I'll stick to the anodising with the case

, even tried the ink out in my air brush, it gave a much better finish but I'd need quite a bit of the ink to do the whole case so figure a nice solid protective anodising job would be best.

Here they are once the clear had dried.

Not got my tripod handy.

waynio · 5 Feb 2011 at 02:37

So I want to make the case feet now since I got the 2 inch round bar, I really should have got it cut to size as it took me from 8pm to 1:30am just to get them to size, flat & square wow that was sooo tough & thought I'd never get them simply to size & square lol, was all nice & quiet work though so didn't matter

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Here is the case feet choices I've set for myself & still think the ones modelled on mnpctech look the best lol but I might get a last minute idea like with the fan mounts, suppose I could keep them as they are & add simple grooves into them

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Here is the 2 inch bar next to a 3/4 inch square bar & the daunting task ahead of cutting it straight & to required size, it's by far the thickest stuff I've ever cut through.

Would have used the mitre saw but I find it difficult to clamp in place properly if it's a short length like this 125mm piece which is only just enough for 4 feet

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So I took it to the vice, with it being so thick I put a mark about every 15mm & just used the hacksaw to get the saw line twisting the bar around bit by bit & carrying on until I cut all the way through, if I'd have gone straight though from 1 angle it would have been way off & the end result of the first 1 was spot on, however one of the others came out at 23mm instead of 25mm so had to file them all down to the same length, oh how I wish I had a chop saw lol would have been done in a few minutes, anyway got them all to the required same size & square flatness.

Woooooo

almost ready for the drill press lathe trick, just need to drill the bolt hole for mounting it in the drill press.

Sooo just hope I don't balls the next stages up

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Monkey Puzzle · 5 Feb 2011 at 05:44

Feet option 1 or 2 look best imo. Not option 4 - looks too much like door knobs for a chest of drawers.

Monkey Puzzle · 5 Feb 2011 at 05:45

Btw, what's the bench drill lathe trick?