Scratch Build – In Progress Lean and Green - 15-12-14 - as complete as it's going to get

Excellent work, but my right eye is so buggered I see triple most of the time, and if you all think it was trippy before, try looking at it like that. Had to get my glasses to see your post properly.

Your work is exemplary. I really wish I had the tools and ability you have.

 

Those panels are pure madness. I love it.

 

Just mind blowing Wayne.

Complex, thoughtful, and very different. Hang in there.

 

Thank you Kayin appreciated mate.

Awesome, cheers jon.

Thanks Attila appreciated mate, I nearly went on a modding binge again but thought no, need sleep, so close to fixing bits together.

Before I could go & make the inset panels for the stand sides I had to smooth the 10mm panels now or leave them rough so been smoothing the inside edges for the best part of Sunday, still needs more perfecting on the smoothing particularly in the corners where the drum sander couldn't reach but the bulk of it is done & should be insignificant what will be removed later to affect the fit of the inset panels, nice & smooth all over the internal edges though but not a uniform finish in the corners, I'll sort that at a later time but they are now ready for making the inset panels.

Drum sander all the way would have taken too long & probably burn my drill out so got the files out & took the bulk of the teeth marks out so all the edges just needed a final smoothing with the drum sander & a bit of sandpaper on a file.















I hope to get right back onto this later on Monday.

 

jaw droppingly stunning Waynio

 

Thanks Balder I'll get onto doing the inset pieces now.

 

Welcome to sanding Purgatory. Stop by and say hi.

 

oooooo shiiiiny me want

*ahem* Absolutly stunning and great work.

 

Yeah lol, I think endless sanding is the one part of modding I hate, specially if it requires hand sanding.

I think it will be worth it for those panels, they look sweeet that copper lighting effect looks cool too, it looks like its been anodized copper.

 

Fun isn't it, even more fun than removing ATX pins that don't want to come out for sleeving.

Thanks matiss.

Nah I don't hate it, it's the most fun one can have in modding.
Awful but worth it acrylic is worse though unless it's been properly machined but even then it's still a lot of careful sanding.
Cheers Keir.

More progress.

With finding how some things still need that bit of manual touch on marking from the front detail marble panel, I did the same on the templates for the inset pieces to make life a touch easier.


Used some decent scrap 3mm & roughly cut them out, roughly because I knew I'd need to file to make a perfect fit for them all.


Whole lot of file, check, file, check etc.


Until yay they all fit perfect.




Pop them all out & drill start holes.




I got 2 of the panels patterns cut out but I really needed a rest which I'm going to have now, back was aching like crazy so gonna have a little nap & then get back onto it.

 

wow perfect fit on those insert panels!

and: endless respect on the filing-cutting-sanding efforts

 

Haaaahahahahahha. Have fun sanding!

Misery loves company .

 

Your lungs must be so filled with fine aluminum dust, that smoke cannot harm you!

Nice to see the progress m8!

 

They do have hairline gaps that show if held up to a light source but I doubt I could do better manually, the 3mm panel behind the dual layer wavy lines I think chrome plated might look awesome, either that or a huge effort on polishing it to a mirror finish & then have it anodised.
Thanks jokkos.

The effort is worth it like all good things.
Itching to see what you will be making next mate, your intro build was pure.

After each session I blow my nose, all clear so far when I used to use dremel rotary cutter a lot my nose would get caked in crap & when polishing on the grinder with polishing mops which was the worst for breathing badness in.

But what I do get is glittery hair like I sprinkled a load of metal flake on myself & leave glitter trails when I exit the workshop.


Today a combo breaker came along so a day of no progress kind of needed the rest, had 3 sleeps every time I woke up I couldn't keep my eyes open even when stood up & all my back was tightening up massively so had to ease up a bit lol.
Had a meal & feeling very lively now so a big session again.

Kind of a combo breaker because I at least upped my soldering skill a touch catching a few XP points, made my Sennheiser HD 595s like new again by ordering a new head band & ear pads, they were falling to bits so needed urgent repair didn't know I'd have to do any soldering but did, 2 on the right speaker & 2 connecting to the single cable side & was a bit tricky to do the left side due to an awkwardly mounted tiny circuit board & 1 of the wires detached while trying to do it so had 5 small points to solder, I botched it up by forming a blob covering 2 points so had to de solder it with braid & re do it but they work excellent & are like new again now.

But back onto it I go now, might have the inset panels ready to show some time tomorrow maybe even in the morning & might do a loose fit together again before I fix it all together properly, I should get the back low profile pci/io piece made tonight too, hope my measurements are spot on with that.

Then I can focus on making the power button & completing the Spindicator.

--------
Sorry, no update today but will tomorrow.

 

Finished cutting the 3mm inset panels & would have done this update at 8PM but I passed out while sorting through the pictures & woke up at 2AM lol.


Scraped the templates off & then cleaned off the glue with paint thinners & scrubbed with a brush in hot soapy water & dried.


Slotted them all into their homes, they slip in nicely & then push them so they go in fully with a little added pressure.




Then thought let's see what they look like with the other side panel bits.










Then thought why the heck not clean up the table to do another loose fit of the HTPC & stand.
















Now I can work on the power button design, once that is designed I can complete the Spindicator also, the most significant cut work to be done now is completing the custom fans & I might re make any acrylic bits because the adhesive was well past it's best so any flat pieces stuck together could be done much better, edge to surface bits are fine though & I got some new tensol 12.

I think because I left most if not all fixing together points out of the early design I'll go freestyle on that & use a good adhesive so parts stay exactly where I want them to & then drill so everything goes together perfectly & then remove the adhesive so I'll have to use one I know is strong but can be separated with the right methods, araldite rapid steel I've used before & is strong for something like that & it just requires heating with a heat gun & slide a razor between the joints & it does the trick.

 

That test fit is looking awesome, congrats on the perfectly fitting inserts too, that's some high quality sawing and filing skills you've got there , are you gonna go for a bare metal look or anodised?

 

omg! The test fit looks epic, damn dude, you got some serious metal working skills. And like Graham I'm curious about the finish too..

 

This looks so good that I don't even care about what hardware this baby is going to have

 

Thanks Keir I have this colour swatch from a local Manchester anodising company so I'd be able to drop the panels off & pick them up when they are done which will cut out the chance of them getting damaged by couriers, some panels I want to get as close to a mirror finish as I can & others brushed & would like to use 3 or 4 different colours, might be tough when I get to deciding time.


Still a lot of work ahead of me on this though & sanding is going to be a heck of a chore on this lol, I'd estimate possibly a week or 2 of sanding every day.

Blue is my fav colour so it would make a lot of sense to get at least some blue in this even though green is in the title, but black & grey or titanium are 2 definite colours playing a part in this, not sure blue could work well in this though.

But anyway I'll cross this bridge when it's made.

Cheers Crapman, I use a4 sticker sheets with the design printed onto them.
Process is take an object out of the 3d design in google sketchup & make a 2d version of it, set the view settings to correct way & save it, then open in google layout, set it all up right & export a pdf file which is printer ready.

Thanks Meelobee, answer above.

Cheers xSoMBrAx, I came close to ordering an ASUS P8Z77 WS Motherboard but reality kicked in & I'm 3 months behind on paying my way so not happening.

Don't truly feel real need to put spanking new nice components in this though, my p67 & 2500k with gtx 580 is doing nicely still but if opportunity came along I'd be very happy to say yes to nice hardware, then I could sell my current system parts & buy a lathe, a tool I really want so I can do some things I can't at the moment or can but not as precise.

But might just make a motherboard cover to give ultra clean internals, if I do this I'll do sleeving but extremely neat with some colour pop, got a nice colour scheme in mind for the sleeving & learnt what I needed to doing the sleeving on stealthlow so know exactly what to do & not to do this time.