Scratch Build – In Progress Cray-1

Here is the comparison

 

Now this looks interesting! Nice project!

 

Accurately painting a mass of wires is probably as difficult as actually wiring hundreds of logic boards.

Looks pretty darn good in my good. Nice work thus far.

 

Put some wire on the inside of the upper sectionto keep it stable, since I'm not using any glue in this project.

Also, may have to rebuild the base. It and I had a difference of opinion on accuracy.

 

How come youre not using any glue ?

Also i spitted coffee all over my desk when i read that you and your build "had an argument".
I know that feeling all to well

 

Just the way I build them. It is more of a challenge to think through every joint and connection.

 

Here are some photos of the wire supports on the inside.

This is a shot of the last vertical fin. There are one 3/8" holes for the wires and one 2" hole in the bottom for future items (air flow, water cooler, etc)

This is without the wedges. They provide additional tension on the wires



Here is a shot of the wedges.



This is the shot of the bottom with the cable supports in place.



Here is a closeup.



As for the seats and fronts here they are all tacked up.



This is what the started out as.



And here they are spread out across the case. They are the fronts, not the seats. Those still need to be made.



Next task is the remake of the base and cutting the keyhole slots for the mounting screws for the front faces.

Enjoy!

 

looking awesome so far.
keep up the good work

 

Here is the colors of real Cray-1 in DC.



and a close up

 

Well, it was not easy but my case finally saw the error of its ways. Accuracy is much more important than time.

Here are the two defeated halves.



The both fit on the 4x4 plywood. Just an inch between them.

Here is the outline for one half.



On the right, was the layout with just a compass and a straight edge. Had to find the mid point for each line in order to get to 11.25' and then 5.625' for the correct angles. High school geometry at its finest.



Here are the two halves cut and sanded together.



Here is the layout again. You can see the 3 vertical supports and I moved the orientation of the hard drives. Not sure if I like them vertical like that. May put them back to horizontal.

 

Man thats awesome , im loving it !

Keep going , this will be a really good project to folow

 

Working on designing the electrical assembly. I ordered some 18000mcd and 5000mcd white LEDs yesterday. They will sit facing up and back light the vertical fins from the front. They will alternate every other fin.

Ordered two pair of Bulgin switches yesterday as well. They should arrive in about a week.

Today I plan on building the internal cages for the Hard Drives and DVD/Blu Ray Drive. Have'nt decided which. I also need to build the doors for sides 6 & 8 (DVD drives) so they will open.

Never ending set of tasks...

Hope you enjoy.

 

It was time to assemble the two halves again.

So I used my trusty laser level to align both parts exactly.

I used the holes from the screws when I was sanding the edges smooth and flat.



Here is the center hole.



Enjoy.

 

This is sick man

Looks sweet! can't wait to see how this turns out

 

Great progress so far

 

You know you're going a mod right when you use lasers That's bad ass.

 

I normally use lasers on my drill press. But in this case I could not find my LED flashlight. So I used the next best thing...

 

Started working on some supports for the tower.

Took some of the left over ply wood from the two havles and made them

Here they are cut.



Here they are mounted on the top deck, and the deck painted.



Next up the seat covers...

 

Well, I finished the DVD/Blu Ray supports.

Here is the pair of them.



Used 1/8" aluminum flat bar and 1/16" angle aluminum. Pop rivits hold the whole thing together and then flattened them with a hammer.

Here they are mounted to the top.



Here is a close up.



I also put in the Mobo offsets. Drilled a 7/64" hole and then used my cordless drill to insert them.




I also had to put in a rabbet for the extensions of the cards. It was 1/8" wide and 3/16" deep.
the cards now fit perfectly.



I also gave the case some feet. Three 3" radius circles. Cut them on the bandsaw.



Enjoy!

 

Awesome build so far, only thing I would add would be metal tubes (alu or copper) to the holes your wires are running through to hold the tower together. It looks like the wood is already indenting due to the pressure that the wire is exerting on it, and it would save you tightening the wires in the future.