Scratch Build – In Progress T.R.O.N [V4]

It's coming out nicely. I just hope your CPU cooler will fit in as it seems really tight to me.

 

Cheers!

I will admit that the cooler will be a very tight fit (case width = 190mm, 10mm [2x5mm acrylic side panels] + 2mm [aluminium mb tray] + 15mm [mb & stand-offs] + 156mm [titan fenrir] = ~5mm clearance), but it was an intentional move in a bid to keep the case as small as pos. Taller coolers wont fit in this case, so if I replace the Titan I'll have to bare this in mind. The case was planed/modelled in sketchup which is where the dimensions were derived from. Hopefully the accuracy of the model will be put to the test this weekend as i'm hoping to be in a position to populate the case by then... fingers crossed...

 

Well no cutting this evening unfortunately . I discovered that my jigsaws' retaining bracket, the roller part that the keeps the blade in place whilst it glides up and down, had sheared on the guides shaft allowing the blade to wedge itself between the rollers.





A replacement part could take some time to be delivered to me, and can only find a part on the net for a slightly different model type which may not even fit my jigsaw. Thankfully one of my mates has a jigsaw that I might be able to borrow, though at this rate I will have half his tool kit in my possession as I've already borrowed his dremel as well as a few other bits for home DIY. So, a big thank you goes to you Paul for helping make this case happen

 

+1 for Paul... Anyway sorry to hear about the broken tool. I would borrow you mine, but it's a bit from Glenrothes

 

Appreciate the offer, as you said though, it is a wee bit of a hike, lol

 

Bit of bad luck and a setback for you. I'm sure you'll get things going right in no time. Look forward to your next update.

 

I really need to make myself a bending brake too

 

Here's hoping. I have my mates Jigsaw now but it isn’t as robust as mine, the blade/guide assembly is a bit loose and has quite a bit of play to it. I can already feel my sphincter tightening with the thought of using it and seeing it wobble off line into the bit I want to keep..... a couple of practice runs with a spare bit of aluminium first me thinks.

It is a handy tool and not too expensive to make, though I would recommend getting tougher/thicker bars/angle iron and hinges than I've gone for. In hindsight I would have gone for this set-up:

 

And relax... been working on the case all night and feeling pretty shattered now especially after the amount of hand filing I had to do. The jigsaw wasn’t the best and the blade kept jumping out of the guides or flexing on a straight cut. So, I took it very easy and also left a couple of mm gap between the cut and the line just in case. Unfortunately this meant I had to file down that last mm or two, not fun with 2mm thick aluminium .

Some pilot holes were drilled first (big enough for the jigsaw blade to fit into).



The first cut, with ~1mm clearance.



An example of one section half filed.



The pics above don’t show all of tonight’s work (PSU and MB I/O holes are also cut and filed down), but you'll have to wait till tomorrow, where I'll upload pics of the final product ready for bending.

 

Great job man!!!

 

^ Yep, nice progress & dedication mate . But power tools through the night , I wouldn't dare aggravating the neighbors, would be sweet having a sound proof workshop though .

 

After working on the case so late last night, was a little latchy in getting up (12.30, ), so haven’t got much time today to get the last of it cut and filed as I'm heading out this eve to my sis-in'laws birthday dinner. Still, I need a wee break, thought I'd post some replies.

Thanks, much appreciated. When your back and hands ache after working for a few hours solidly a few words of encouragement always help re-motivate me... finish my beer first though before getting back to grind.

Cheers!!! I tried to get all the jigsaw cuts on the bits I was working on done by 11 (legal noise curfew ) and used a lower cut speed to reduce the noise a little, spent the following hour and a bit filing those holes down the line. Lol, a sound proof workshop would be sweet... hmm, next year I might pack out the garage with those polystyrene tiles that blocks the sound

 

Well that’s the last of the cutting and filing done , just to score the edges with the dremel. A small problem there though, the tiny screw for fixing the blade sheared on the first score what is it with the tools and shearing, driving me up the wall. The remainder of the screw is wedged tight in the bits' hole, will have to by a replacement bit for my mate, sorry Paul, and so that I can also finish off the case

Anyway, here are some pics of the nearly completed article.




The aftermath mess of cuttings and filings, a job for tomorrow though along with dremeling and hopefully some bending!

 

Excellent job on the panel bud & good luck with the bending, fingers crossed , bending sheet is like 9.5/10 planning 0.5/10 luck .

 

Hours of hard work, minutes to *-it up .

The day started off badly, B&Q stocked dremels and accessories two weeks ago, now they don't, one hour wasted trip. Thankfully the mate I borrowed the dremel from had a spare bit (placed an order for a replacement bit but will be again a week delivery), so thankfully I was able to score the lines and cut the last of the tabs & PCI slots too.


The first bend went ok. I had to drill some holes in aluminium to achieve it, but wasn’t too worried as the MB would hide them.


The second bend however was problematic, to say the least. Not only did it not bend properly, it also snapped too .




It's late, I'm tired and very p'd off. Will give up on this for tonight and revisit it tomorrow with a fresh perspective, see how I can salvage it. My thoughts are to hammer it into shape around the angle iron on the workbench. The snap is where two tabs were going to be fixed to each other via and L plate anyway so structurally it should still be ok, and some filler should hide the crack since the aluminium is going to be painted black. Going to have to wait till tomorrow I suppose

 

You could weld the snap back together using Durafix rods: http://durafix.co.uk/index.php?cPath=7

You would have to be carefull not to warp the alu as you heat it though.

 

Dude, that happens ... Too bad it broke.

It has a way to weld aluminum with "Durafix" is by that name I know, looking on Youtube that you will find how to do welding.

Hope that helps.

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the tips guys , will look into that tomorrow lunchtime!

 

The first hour of this evening was spent trying to resolve my problem by hammering the sheet into submission/shape around the work bench metal edging, (which also helped release some of my frustration ). Despite having successfully reformed the corner, the measurements were all off by a sizable margin. So that assembly is now scrap . A note for next time, and for anyone thinking in bending 2mm aluminium, leave all internal cutting i.e. PCI slot/ I/O holes etc till after the bends have been done. Firstly this will save you a heap of work/time if you mess things up and have to start again with the bending (which is the apex of the construction, if you get this right everything else should be easy), secondly I found (and should have noticed at the design stage) that by cutting these holes out you are weakening the sheet and reducing the surface area that can be bent/pivoted, or clamped.

Since I have next to no aluminium left lying around I thought I'd try salvaging the first attempt. Thankfully one bend had already been done and only one more big bend was left to do (the rest are the tabs which are small and manageable and can be formed in a vice, which is a lot easier for bending). I re-marked and scored the lines to suit and this time clamped the sheet down and bent it slowly using my hands (and body, and legs lol).



Surprisingly effective , so much for the bender!


So I'm back on track... ish. Will take a break for now as this case is starting to take over all other aspects of life , so the wife tells me anyway ... from the wisdom of Dr Zoidberg, Woop-Woop-Woop-woop-woop , yeah.. I'm losing the plot.

Tomorrow I will cut the sheet to resemble the tabbing requirements from the latest design and see about carrying out the last of the bends, then the gruesome task of having to mark out and re-cut the whole back plate ... again

 

Looks like it's going to be awesome.
I have a question and maybe some advice for you. It looks like you're using perspex, wouldn't that cause static electricity issues?

And for the back plate, would it be an idea to use a thinnner piece of alu and make a removable mobotray/back plate.

Seems like it'd be less work to have to re-do and it'd be a lot easier to bend?

Good luck and I can't wait to see the finished article.