Project Stealthlow

[waynio]

that is siiiiiiick! sorry if i missed it but why does the plastic now have curves taken out of the sides but straight edges on the case

Thanks chuck990, I left the side windows out & in a safe place until it's finished to keep them in mint condition, the main window will be completed tomorrow, needs trimming down to perfect size on the bottom end & mounting holes adding.

To be honest I'm really liking the natural aluminium with brush finish with the copper bits, so if the anodisers don't get back in touch I might leave it as is but re brush any parts that need it & polish the curve bars & call it finished .

 

[waynio]

Hmmm, not sure about the tabs. Will reserve judgement until the window is in, but I think it might have ben better with full length pieces top to bottom inside and outside your main front bars, if you know what I mean? Then sandwich the window in between them like you are doing with the tabs.

Would cost a fair bit more to do full length for all of them + theres no need for that, the full length bars are for the widest points of the vents, could have gone just past the vent hole but decided to go full length .

the tabs seem to scream STEAM PUNK ME!!!

though that could just be the voices...

Hmmm I've always loved a good steampunk mod & can see what you mean it does have the beginings of a steampunk style which I can see after you pointing it out, it's tempting to steampunk the mid area but I'll stay on course with original plans .

 

[waynio]

I think I didn't describe it very well, what I meant was to have 2 extra full length strips top to bottom (like the 2" or so sides of your case when you look at it from the front), only make them a little wider so that you can sandwich the window between them. Wouldn't even have needed to screw the window in this way, but maybe I think it's easier than it actually is

Oh I get ya, yeah that would require quite a redesign , would have been very good though . And copper shapes & holds nice & easy too when heated, oh well.

 

[waynio]

Got the window installed so I could find the precise line I need to cut & also marked up on the right curve bar for the notches on the mobo tray that need filing down a little, I found 1 of the front fan mount bars was extremely close to the tabs so when I make the fan mount bars out of copper I'll need to file a tiny bit off so it fits without touching the tabs.

A random bunch of pictures with todays effort completed, 1 of the full length tabs is missing it's internal aluminium tab as I'm waiting for helicoils but wooooo I'm happy with todays progress .

Things to do in order.
Remake the fan mount bars from copper.
Make the copper mesh pieces for the front vents.
Make a 1mm thick aluminium bottom front cover.
Make a 2mm thick copper bottom front cover.
File some notches in the bottom hdd cage platform bars for fan cables to pass underneath.
Extend the fan cables & sleeve them.
Install some cable clip tidiers.
Polish the curve bars & tabs.
Brush all panels 1 last time lol.
Take the sandy bridge gear out of air cube, clean it up & install into Stealthlow & jump around like an idiot shouting wooooooooooooo .
Take some good pictures .

 

[waynio]

Awesome waynio I am really happy to see this project getting closer and closer to being done.

Cheers mate, doing that main window though ground hog day .

Looks awesome with the copper in there mate!! I think I'm going to be quite sad when you finish it, been an amazing ride watching it coming together

You'll have to do another one to keep us happy lol

Thanks mate it's been a mission & theres still some to do but I think I'll have to have a break from modding to let something brew as it's gonna take some good thinking to top this one, could do with getting a router & a lathe before I have a go at another premium scratch build, got a good bit of scrap though that I could do a nice HTPC itx system .

 

[waynio]

another fantastic update

just checking though, your not leaving the fans like that are you?

Thanks chuck990 the fans are enermax silent t.b semi transparrent smoked acrylic, the fan in the picture was just to make sure it fits without touching the back panel or acrylic window & it has 1mm on either side so yeah much nicer looking & sounding fans will be going into this .

Still not convinced about the tabs if I'm honest mate. Otherwise I think it's an awesome effort thus far

I think you would've been better to redo the sides to allow the acrylic to fit behind them. You might even have got away with fitting 2 new thin strips of aluminium (maybe 1mm) about 10mm wider directly on top of the existing sides and then if the window wasn't sitting flush, install small hidden tabs on the inside. But if you're happy with the finish then that's all that matters really.

voigts on bit-tech suggested doing full length strips I think it got suggested here & other places a while ago also but now that I have the mounting holes & underside threaded tabs for mounting it's an option, he done a photoshop to show what he meant.

If I go with this I'll do it in copper with bevelled edges so it's kinda like the chunky bits on a silverstone tj07 if thats what it's called lol & joining them up at the bottom & a couple of bits that bulge out a little for fixing the copper vent meshes.

£62 for the 1000x125x3 copper sheet though with delivery, stinger also has a possible 10 working day delivery which sucks since it's in this country & the delivery being £10, sheesh is it coming from Japan lol.

Well I could go & order the copper sheet now & in the meantime get every other bit finished & even polish up 1 side of the tabs & curve bar just to see if it's as good as I expect it to be plus then I could have 2 alternative looks or a nice piece of copper for future builds .

looking good , i love it

Thanks Tackleberry .

I got the 200x200x2 copper sheet today, still waiting on some helicoils but theres nothing to stop me making the vent meshes & front low panel now so hopefully I'll get onto doing those tomorrow .

 

[waynio]

If the above is possible, i have to admit, it balances the look of case as it smoothes the lines and overall look of the case - plus it seems more in keeping with your original concept of the over all aesthetic appearence.

If it's possible, personally, i think its a subtle and classy improvement - but if it's not possible i'm sure you'll find a suitable compromise.

Great updates as usual - really enjoy and admire your endevours - keep it up.

Yeah I'm seeing it as the thing to do now, I could do it in aluminium but I'd really like to do it in copper with bevelled edges like the chunky bits on a silverstone & polish them up, hopefully the 10 working days delivery isn't true & I get to start on it next week, I ordered some possibly much better copper paint also & if it's good enough I might paint the fan mount bars saving a load of work & keep the weight down but mostly ordered it to see if it is a close match to copper & if so I'll re paint the pci/io piece, just feel it could look better but I'll know for sure once I get to test the new paint out .

+1 that looks good IMO

Maybe make the strips go right out to the edges of the case so it looks like it's just held in place by the side pieces, not by 'a piece bolted to the side pieces' if you get me...

I know what you mean but nah I'm thinking of a full length bar about the size of the copper tabs legth wise with bevelled edges going straight to the bottom of the material so it fills the hairline gap between the acrylic & alu so still has the flush fit appearence, it's a bit difficult explaining it properly lol .

One suggestion, it might be possible to turn the bars that run across into some led strips, and use a foggy acrylic instead of a metal so it lets it shine through and balance the light. I know its crazy and a lot of work, don't shoot me I'm just a visionary!!! Lol

I've not got to the point of considering lighting yet if any, I know the enermax apollish white LED fans boom a good light so the bottom section is sorted but I think I'll have to see how everything is once installed before I can properly consider lighting options, the curve bars & top of edge of the side panels make for a nice spot for an LED strip for some subtle lighting, I know I don't want it like a christmas tree though hehe .

Hmm I just understood what you meant , so the bars have a glow, could be very difficult that though as the bars are 10mmx3mm so really probably too thin for that, not a bad idea though with a low powered light .

 

[waynio]

Yeah, that makes sense to me will have to give you my oppinion when you've done it... if I don't like it - change it LOL

lol

I like the photoshop mockup and that's pretty much what I meant apart from leaving it short, but I can see how that would look good!

Also would it be possible to get heli-coils or similar to only go half way into the copper so that you can screw it on from inside and effectively have all the screws hidden? Would give it a really clean finish

The copper sheet is ordered & hopefully I won't be waiting 10 working days lol.
I'm sure helicoils probably do come in 1 to 2mm depths but I don't know where to get them, the shortest depth helicoils I know of where to buy are 3mm & to do that what you said about keeping the bolt heads unseen the top bar piece would need to be thicker like 4 or 5mm I'd say 5mm & wow that would cost a lot in copper .

But I suppose I could double up at the points of where the mounting holes go but I'd have to make them into really nice as seamless as possible bevels so it didn't look bad, it's something to consider but it would be ultra fiddly to install when I think about it .
Think I'd just paint the bolt heads .

 

[waynio]

2mm helicoils here... http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCommerce...77cnf?refinement=4292352667&searchandizedOk=Y

In USA, but they are only $1 each, and I am sure it wouldn't cost much to ship them

Good find Diggsy & it's awesome of you to go & search for some but that's expensive especially for m2 x 2mm helicoils, I get 20 m3x3mm helicoils for £4 with free postage on ebay + to be honest it would be extremely hit & miss to get the drilling done right + you need a little extra depth so you can make an ok thread, not sure if you know but helicoils require the holes tapping still so the best bet to hide them I think would be to double up in the spots where the bolts go but then it would have bumps along the bar & could be difficult to make them appear as part of the bar, but I'll see if I can manage to cut or even grind 1 down so it's shorter, might be possible I'll run a couple of tests to see if I could do it on 3mm material, I'll have to get the depth stop out for it .

Hmm actually the sheet of copper that is coming would be enough to do 2 bars for each side so could make it a double step bevel, this would allow for hidden helicoils or even nut inserts for a sturdier option.

I have clinch nuts (awesome name btw lol) these get used on pci expansion slots on quality cases but to use them in a way where it would keep the bolts hidden I'm not sure but I think it could probably pull them out so I think I'll just countersink all the mounting spots & paint the tops of the bolts copper, got a new copper paint coming soon that's supposed to be a lot more like copper & is reflective which if true I might re paint the pci/io piece also, it's called Plastikote Brilliant Metallic Copper, I'll test it out on some scrap to see how good it is & if I'm happy with it I could have a good few uses for it .

I took the day off as I've not been feeling too good with lack of sleep & something annoying me, got over the annoying thing but staying up the rest of the day to get my pattern straight so might be back onto doing some bits tomorrow .

 

[waynio]

You're more than welcome mate, and yes I know what you mean, it would be very difficult indeed to get it just right when you will only have 1mm leeway

I don't think the double thickness bars is a good idea really, think it would be very difficult to get perfect, and would probably be a little too thick.

Your idea of painting the bolt heads will certainly be the easiest one, and to get the colour perfect, you could always buy a few different car touch ups and mix them

EDIT - hmmm, I wonder could you glue bolts to the copper bars with some super strength adhesive, or weld them on maybe, then attach the bars from the inside of the case with nuts? Might be another way to hide the fixings and leave a perfectly smooth finish on the outside.

Good idea but would only be able to do that on the left side becasue of the mobo tray on the right, I won't give up on the idea of clean looking bars too easily though mate .

That's a damn good idea, maybe drill a recess to sink the bolt-head into the bar, then cover it with epoxy or something similar, or if you wanted to be more extreme, Chemical Metal/JB Weld maybe...

There will be a way I'm sure but I'll get to it when I'm doing that part .

Sleep pattern fixed I hope & took some pictures in better light.

Designed & printed & marked the shape of the vents on 4 individual pieces because each 1 will be very slightly different.

Stuck them down to the 3mm copper sheet with cello tape, I'd do a lot better if I used adhesive spray but don't have any & couldn't be bothered with waiting for a delivery or going out to get some lol anyway got it spot drilled & drilled, I was going to use a 4mm drill bit but it was really blunt & getting nothing done so went to the 3.5mm bit.

Then took it to the fretsaw & this was a point where I wish I went & got some spray adhesive so had to be really careful I wasn't going inside the cut line, I really must buy some spray adhesive before I do the other 3, it would make it a lot easier.

Cleaned off all the cello tape.

Got the big stew pan which I partly used for curving the main curve bars & heated up the copper piece a lot & then clamped it at 3 points to make it curved.

It was curved a bit too much so had to carefully whack it with a mallet on a solid metal piece so used the vice & with the shape not being exact with it not being stuck down properly I had to take it back & forth to the disc sander shaving bit by bit off until it plonked into the vent hole & here is the first 1 done wooooo .

 

[waynio]

Your hard work is paying off mate, been following this elsewhere - top job!

Cheers Josh being able to see it now in the pictures I think I'll make the long tabs thin like maybe 10 to 15mm so it just about holds the window in place & doesn't cut off any air flow from the front vents, it'll make it easier to curve too .

 

[waynio]

Looks great

Thanks Guitarman0, I'm taking a time out until I get either spray adhesive or double sided cello tape for sticking the printed templates on the material, it'll make the process easier & more accurate .

 

[waynio]

2 words. Absolutely epic!

Cheers Shayper .

The big sheet of copper arrived today but still need an adhesive so ordered a few power pritt sticks lol, should do the job of keeping the templates in place for drilling & cutting though .

In the meantime I could mark & cut the copper sheet for the strips as I did for all the other bits tomorrow or even today . Think I'll stick to using the fretsaw to stop me wasting any of the copper, jigsaw wastes about 1 to 1.5mm of material, the fretsaw takes a smidge of a mm probably 0.2mm .

 

[waynio]

Looking great!

Cheers John .

Congratulations, you just killed my entire morning! I read this thread from the beginning to where your progress is now and I have to say this is wonderful work mate.

Are you intending to air cool the components once they are in or have you plotted some space for a rad (or have I missed a part where you might have already mentioned it)?

Subbed, looking forward to more progress!

Thanks Player, yes it's all to be air cooled, but if I wanted to though there is enough room in the bottom section for 2 dual rads & res & pumps & could relocate the hdd's to the 2nd level with a little modding .

Got my head straight with some good much needed rest & got the other 3 vent meshes made today, mucked up on 1 of them somehow so re-made the 1 I mucked up .

Up next cut, bend & drill the mounting holes in the copper full length tabs.

 

[waynio]

At least copper bends easier than ****ing perspex!!

Looking good man, I like those vents!!

It does kind of, at least it's infinitely more forgiving , thanks EniGmA1981 .

Ok so this is why I like the little tabs, they are highly functional & show the fact that the window is flush to the alu curve bars which in itself is pretty cool but also it makes taking the window out or the bottom panel out incredibly easy with only needing to untighten the tabs a tiny bit to flip them up or down which releases the panels, also no excess forces.

Anyway on to making the full lengths strip tabs, here is 2 25mm strips cut with the jigsaw.

Also before moving on I put the mounting bar back in for holding the bottom of the window in place as it bulged out a tiny bit & I didn't like that & was scared stupid of wrecking the window while drilling & countersunk the mounting holes lol, it went fine thank goodness .

So the actual bending of the copper strips was soooo much more difficult than I anticipated & done heaps of different methods to get the curves I was after but as usual the top curve was a PITA .

This is the first thing I really don't like with the copper strip tabs, with it being 3mm thick (I should have chosen 2mm) I think it's tougher than the aluminium as it's pulling the alu curve out by a good 2mm on the top curve, not good.

I placed the left side vent meshes in for a glipse of how it might look .

I don't like it as much as the tabs but even though it cost extra to get this copper piece I'm kinda glad I did even if it was just to put the idea into practice to see if I like it or not, sometimes you just know straight away if you like something or not & this is 1 of those things I don't like, doesn't look as good to me & it's a massive hassle with installation & that was without having the window & vent meshes in, so yep I'll be going back to my original tabs & I'll straighten out these copper strips & put them aside for other projects.

So up next is taking measurements of the bottom optical tray, eject button & vent location & designing it & making it .

 

[waynio]

Yeah I agree with you mate, I think it looks better with the tabs... As you say though, it was worth a try

Just a shame your time was taken up with this and not with any 'genuine' progress

Yeah was worth a try the idea sounded good but it felt like too much & it was deforming the alu curve bars & was very difficult to put in & out, yeah it's a shame, the amount of time spent on doing those copper bars I could have easily completed the front bottom panel but at least my curiosity of if it was good or not has been squashed .

Got the alu curve bar fixed back in shape after the copper ripping it out of shape, it also ripped the helicoil out & knackered the thread for the helicoil so called for drilling the mounting hole with a 4.5mm bit & whacking a brass thread insert in place but it's sorted now, phew .

Run a little test on countersinking the mesh holes like I did on the back panel, 1 side deep countersinks, the other tiny countersinks, bit iffy with the holes close to the edge as shown but I do quite like this effect what do you guys think.

Also smoothed off all the tabs by brushing them & they are to a nice colour now, the next stage for these is to polish them.

Anyway I'm back to where I were the other day but with cleaned up tabs & cleaned up curve bars.

So now I need to get the optical drive mounted back in the case so I can take measurements for the bottom front panel design .

 

[waynio]

Took the measurements of the locations of the eject button, optical tray & where the front vent should be, then designed it & went to work on it, still need to re-make the alu panel as I carelessly turned the piece while being distracted by something so cut it in a wrong spot accidentally, also need to do the diy mesh on the copper panel but got a few shots while there was a touch of blue sky & it really was just a touch .

 

[waynio]

That truely is a work of art mate!

Thank you EniGmA1981 .

Re-made the front alu piece & brushed it & laid a mesh template down on the copper piece & spot drilled, drilled with a 3.5mm bit & then a 7mm bit & then countersink madness .

 

[waynio]

Looks awesome now. Amazing what you can do with the right tools available

Thanks Andy, yeah took me a while before I knew what's best for what, think my dremel days are soooo gone .

*drooling*

Fancy making me one? lol shouldn't take you long now you've done it once hehehe

Usually after building a case I can easily say I'd be able to re-make 1 but this one I'm not totally sure to be honest lol, I mean I'd know exactly what I'd be in for but still it was a difficult one for sure, only because of the double opposing curve, if it was 1 curve or even just 2 but not opposing I wouldn't have trouble with it, cheers EniGmA1981 .

Been watching this for a while mate. Epic work and dedication to the project. You've had more than a few problems to overcome but then infuriating though it is that's half the fun isn't it.

Thanks mate, yeah the learning part & noticing improvement in skill is a really nice part of modding, gonna be weird in a few years but even then I'll have heaps to learn in electronics & motors etc the list goes on forever .

It is an amazing piece of work, a true labour of love by the look of it.

However personally I am not too keen on the copper tabs. Functionally I understand them, but I think they are a bit too in-your-face. They look a little too large and I am not convinced that the contrast of the tabs to the case is better than, say, having aluminium or another silverly metal tabs.

Thanks John, since brushing the copper pieces they are much more subtle, the stretching tabs I'm going to do something else as I agree they don't compliment the build at all, I even considered making all new tabs with more detail & something to compliment the design but it's difficult coming up with somethinf that looks good & does as good a job as what the plain tabs do but yeah once those stretching tabs have been replaced it should look much more together .

Was thinking the same thing. But when he has everything in the case then I think it will look totally different.

This is true but still would be good if I can make it look good as an empty case also .

have you considered more into the painting of it, personally i think you shouldn't bother, i like the unfinished look that its currently got, or you could go for a a thin coating which shows of the grain maybe? definitely worth while spending time on thinking about the painting with a build of such quality, it really looks as if you've given a company a design and they built it for you! top notch mate, keep it up i am absolutely amazed at your build skills!

Only a couple of parts will be getting painted, the ones that I had to use body filler on, got some plastikote reflective copper paint that I'll try to get around to seeing how it is tomorrow.
Would have loved to got it anodised black externals & copper internals but it's not looking likely, but if I keep at it as I am it may not need colouring .
If I was to paint this though I'd get a clear adhesion promoter, basically a clear primer, the colour it with candy paints & the clear lacquer it, this would keep the brush finish clearly visible underneath, I've seen it done by MNPCtech & it's the next best thing to anodising or maybe even better as I'd be able to do it myself .

I really like the contrast, the fan grill at the bottom looks particularly good!

Thanks Josh & it gets better .

Thanks everyone for commenting, appreciated .

I'm just finding if it's only little touches of copper it looks great but a big mass of it I feel just looks a little wrong, even almost feel like doing dual layer vent meshes so I could do same sized holes & countersink them & have an aluminium cover for them which hides the odd edges, they'd have to be stuck together though so they don't flex out at all, if I countersink the vent mesh pieces I don't have to worry about getting more copper & might get away with just remaking the bottom front alu piece to include a simple grill to break it up a bit.

Nearly had a disaster for my power drill, jigsaw & fretsaw as I forgot about a spot in the garage that leaks when raining heavy, the jigsaw & power drill escaped the water but the fretsaw was covered in it & it also lost it's ability to tighten up the blade properly before this so I took it all apart to dry it all off & to see why I can't tighten it, figured as much the thread had worn away & I've barely used it but didn't let it put me off using it & wooooo I love using it for complex cuts, really really nice, but want to get a better one as I could only use the pin less blades a couple of times, it has a really crappy method for using pin less but it's fine for pinned blades so I'll stay with that until I can afford a new better one .

I got the feeling whenever there was too much copper built up in an area it didn't quite make me smile or it did & then I'd be saying to myself it needs something else so I set about designing a different alu panel to break it up a little & man am I glad I did , been a while since I've cut something nice like this & it's got me hooked on the fretsaw .

But was all out of 0.7mm alu so had to use 1mm, the copper sheet for the mesh panel is 2.25mm so the 0.7mm made it a perfect flush fit so think I'll have to either sand the copper panel down 0.3mm across the whole face of it or just give a faint bevel on the alu panel.

I think this piece might have come about from the moral boost from comments so thanks everyone :up: & keep em coming .

I'm going to add something different in place of the stretched copper tabs also :up:.

 

[waynio]

Oh that's nice, real nice touch man!

To make life easier, you can leave out the double curve on my one, just follow the line of the top straight out to the rear shouldn't be as difficult there should it?

Thanks EniGmA1981 .

I love the new panel. Very art deco IMHO.

I'm glad you are going to re-work the tabs. If you can make them more subtle I think it will be a lot better.

Ah cool, so it does fit in well then & it wasn't just me being hyped lol thanks John .

You are right, too much copper. And the alu plate for the air vent certainly tone it down abit.

Mixed opinions about it all round really about the full length tabs so I had a mess around with a couple of concepts that might work, or then again might just waste more time & possibly money , thanks SL09 .

I'm trying to think of a way to implement the copper curve bars but I found it was too much copper & it didn't look right to me, plus it messed up the form of the aluminium curve, fixed it now but it'll require a good bit more work on them to make them a perfect fit without it adding excess force to the main structure, I'm considering using the drill press & the milling bit I have to route a 10mm channel 1mm deep to place aluminium in there & so the mounts go through the alu, I'm not certain but I think it'll look much better than big plain copper bars.

Another alternative but requires a purchase of 1.2mm copper sheet is to do a pyramid step type form so a 25mm copper bar, then a aluminium one then a copper bar & the middle 1 being the mounting one.

Heres a concept of both.

I was going to make an alternative for the tabs that stretch across the case but everyone saying do those so came up with a couple of alternatives that I think would look better, so let me know what you think, cheers .