Case Mod - In Progress Knight's Rest-Knight Rider 30th Anniversary build (12/4/13-Waiting for coolant...)

Not wishing to put a downer on things, but have you put means in place to update the interwebs of your passing, what with Langer disappearing and then finding out he passed last year of all things is frankly just upsetting.

Regards to the mod

Awesome, not many people are using bondo these days and as you've found out there is indeed an 'art' to good bondo.

 

Yes, actually, I have. My wife has instructions as to what to do. I hope I get a little while longer before I have to use that system, though.

As for Bondo, I was a lot better with it when my hands worked right. Continuing nerve damage has left them shaking pretty bad now. It's a struggle to cut a straight line these days, even if I can still see it. I'm figuring by the time I finish with this, I'll probably be too far gone to attempt to start another. I'd rather go out gloriously than be dragged off kicking and screaming.

 

I'm sure you all thought I was dead. No, but it feels like it some days. Little man had three hospital stay in a month, and I was in the ER again, though I finally have a real diagnosis for my lung issues. As there's no cure or treatment, I just get piles of painkillers and muscle relaxers, which is less than ideal.

I'm trying not to focus on my illness too heavily, so I'm going to get to some actual and real progress.



A naked card, looking to put on its new clothes...



The case, with its color coat. I'm using Plasti-Dip, as it's an excellent matte black, very tough, and helps to silence fans and other vibrations.



It may look like I'm missing spots, but I have very, very tight tolerances and I have to leave it off some areas, though anything that touches something that vibrates is coated.



What happened to the airflow, you ask? You'll see...



Knight's sent some of their new processors, helping me set up the system to get this running properly...



Need to get the optics set up properly for these though...



Racks in place, and yes, that is NASA heatshield. I have suppliers. (Actually, the stuff was declassified and gets sold for high-end racecars now, though it's not cheap.)



Board in, and Apogee Drive #1 installed. That's a DDC-1T, which with the Alienware ESA gets PWM capacity. W00t.



So what's this? Let's have some fun.



Chips, set aflame...



Flip...



Smoke 'em if you got 'em...



And what do they turn into? You'll see next update, which is hopefully pretty soon. I have pills to take and styrene to cut. You'll see me again sometime soon...

 

I shall look forward to that update; there's some pretty exotic things going on in here...

 

Yes, it's been quite a while. And there's been a good (bad) reason for it.

For those that have not heard elsewhere, Asher lost his battle January 7th. He would have been two the next day. I'm working to occupy my mind because I still don't want it to be real, but if I'm honest he had to go when he did. It was unbearable to see that kind of pain, but he's beyond all that now. He knows we'll join him when we can. For now, we just carry on as best we can.

Seeing as I'm working to occupy my mind, I finally did something even Alienware couldn't do with this thing. Watch and see.



ESA interface board here, had to move it in the end



One line run...



A bit of lacing...



All three run...



You can see how lacing allows them to drop in and out easily, while keeping the bundle tight...



Studs attached to the radiator bracket (it's an incredibly tight fit, as the scars on the leading edge can attest.)



All wiring is completely clear of fans and other important areas...



shows how clean the backside wiring is (as there is none)



And enough room for a radiator grille and the wires that have to run there.



Plenty of room, no?



And this is our next major target. All of my wiring has to go in before I can look at a single piece of hardline, and I have an Aquatube here to install as well.

Not too shabby for an evening's work, no?

 

Cable lacing? Now that's old school!

 

Cable lacing looks so damn cool! as does the rest of the build ofc

 

Is the fluid making three passes through the fins in the rad? I have to ask as seeing the outlet on the other side raised an eyebrow despite knowing just what amazing stunts you can pull despite your current state...

By far the most stunningly fine work I've seen. Hands down, the best

 

Kayin, I've just read back through all this and hadn't realised just how much work you've done. Good stuff good Sir.

 

My condolences on your loss.

@Silicon -Looks like a stock HWLabs single-pass.

 

My condolences

 

Anyone recognize what's on the wiring?





Kapton. The wiring is totally fireproof. It's also (thanks to the braiding) abrasion proof, insulated, and mostly waterproof. Fun fact, this wiring would survive the rigors of space. I know, I checked all of the NASA reqs. My install job is not as good as it used to be, but it's all encapsulated, then tied down to code.



I still think I need to spot tie these wires too. I think that's spec. I'll look sometime tomorrow and see.

My wife got a real kick out of watching me hit an assembly with my blowtorch. When I said I wanted to bring KITT to life, I meant it.

Fire/water/spaceproof wiring, check.

(Yes, I'm having issues with the pics. A bit of patience, please.)

 

Love it! Looks nuts in a "OMFG did he just do that" way!

 

So I'm preparing a series of updates. First, proof I'm not dead.











The green PCB is being replaced with something that should be much more interesting.

I also have fought the voice box/scanner issue to a standstill, and then I decided-I have a better idea completely.

I'm going holographic. And I don't mean static, either.

Apparently with the death of TBCS a lot of my hosting has failed. As such, I'll be taking new pics to show areas that are missing now. Apologies, one just does not expect such.

 

Glad to see you are still modding it out with you Dremel out.
Holographic, cant wait to see that.

 

Good to see you are still puttering around.
-They didn't actually put KITT in space on the show, right? I mean, it wouldn't surprise me if they wrote a car-goes-to-space episode. TV was kinda strange back then... I can see it involving a big ramp and the rocket boost that could do anything. Maybe the 'Hoff drove him up the side of the World Trade Center or something.

 

How could you miss that episode? Aww dude it was awesome, the Hoff had to stop those evil commie astronauts plotting to launch untold evil on America. Think Moonraker on an even worse budget. lol!

 

Just some proof I'm puttering along. One pound+weight Kevlar cloth over a special non-setting fluid matrix. Got some pics around here somewhere of how it looks when I sealed it up, but next step for these will be to be sprayed black and upholstered.

The patch panel is in place and ready for the dress-up parts that will hide the little bit of ATX braid showing as well as make the area look less "unfinished." They're not in right now as I make ready KITT's new voice box. That will get its own update.

 

I've been adjusting to my new life in a wheelchair for the most part and it's been interesting getting used to it. On one hand it limits where I can go, on the other I'm much faster and I hurt a lot less with it. It also means I can work on this a lot more. Been working some on the dress-up parts, as well as an upgrade to the cooling system. The back now sports a pair of 70mm fans to help crossflow within the case.







Got a new main drive courtesy of my brother-a 128GB Samsung 830 SSD. As I didn't buy it, it's OK for me to use. After a poor experience with a 32GB Patriot SSD, I've not been the biggest fan of them.



And I have some toys here to build the voice scanner: a PC-controlled 8x8x8 LED cube. Red, of course. I have some small amount of soldering before me. The template comes from White Light Lasercutting, who is helping me with a lot of the heavy cutting necessary on a project like this.



I've got acrylic tubing supposed to land on Thursday for me to tube up this beast, though I need to get a nibbler in the back to knock out a bit of metal before I can install the Aquatube permanently. At that point, I can fill the loop and start working through the software for this creature, since that's gonna be a lot more in depth than most builds.

 

Very happy to see you back and looking forward to watching this project continue!