Scratch Build [Project] Interior Des(k)ign - SR-2 - the Biggest Update EVER! 90% complete! 20/09/12

[wejjy]

Originally Posted by Mechh69

I just spent the past couple of hours reading you log. This build is beautiful so far, I admire your craftsman ship and attention to detail. I hope your daughter is doing well I know what it is like to have back surgery. My prayers are with your daughter.

Wow, didn't expect anyone to give up a couple of hours of their time reading this! Thanks pal. The kind words are very much appreciated too, thank you, although I think I have a long way to go until the you are allowed to use the word Craftsmanship in conjunction with my name! thanks too for the thoughts with my daughters situation, its ongoing but we are coping well, thank you.

Originally Posted by Tattysnuc

The uniengine demo looks tremendous on the 3 monitors.

Shame about the dead cpu...

Thanks Tatty, its so different having a triple display setup to anything else Ive had in the past, so glad I opted for these rather than a 30"er! Im gutted about the CPU but its one of those things and at least with the SR-2 theres the option of disabling one CPU so I can still play! Keep checking back as its not over yet!

Originally Posted by maestro0428

This definitely needs a glass top to show off the insides. There is too much cool hardware to see. Have you thought about hard lines for your h2o system? I think that it would look the part in there. The few mods with hard lines I have seen look really great.

Indeedy it does my friend...there will be a wooden top with a large piece of glass inset to match the shape of the desk, with some subtle etching on it too just for effect! It would be awful to hide all the hardware agreed!

As for hardlines I did think long and hard about it yes, but decided to stick with the look I have now as it adds to the colour and feel overall, with the finished lighting I have planned I think the hard line option would look a little harsh, and I like the softer curves with the red, personal preference I guess. Thanks for looking and taking the time to comment!

[KoSoVaR^]

Originally Posted by wejjy

Thanks Kosovar, but no need to worry! As Neil correctly spotted in the text, I have indeed soldered every joint for this very reason. I understand the current flowing through these connections is quite considerable, and also understand the danger of the copper fracturing, but when soldering, the solder tends to backflow up inside the outer sheath therefore adding enough strength to manipulate it for cable tidying. Hope that calms things a bit, you had me worried there with Warning signs everywhere!

Ahh great!
I just thought about your safety as its my firts rule, safety comes first
I cant whait to see the rest !
Happy Modding

[Darkened]

Just crawled through this thread and must say that you do a clean and mean job.

Your experience with cars shows clearly just with the choice of materials. I'm more of an aluminum guy myself, but I'm tempted to bust out the mig and do some welding at some point. What I like about alu is that it's a bit easier to work with and it doesn't rust, but with proper tools and finishing it of course isn't a problem.

I'd like to know how the desk is going to work ergonomically? What I mean is that when the case part adds quite a bit to the height of the desk, are you going to be able to get the monitors to a proper level? I'm always bumping into problems with ergonomics since I'm quite tall, but measuring my table by eye, I'd say that the monitors (for me) would have to be mounted so that they are pretty much touching the table surface or otherwise they would be too high. You seem to have about 10cm between the top of the table and the monitors, so is the table itself lower than normal?

Keep the good work up, I'll be definitely keeping my eye on this one.

Darkened

P.S. All the best to your daughter!

[Waynio]

This is going great wejjy & the side projects look easily just as much fun.

[Darkened]

Originally Posted by Waynio

...the side projects look easily just as much fun.

Oh, this reminds me, I forgot to comment about the Karmann Ghia, that thing looks good to say the least!

Darkened

[Mechh69]

Originally Posted by wejjy

What is the contraption you are using on that VW bus? I have worked on cars for a long time and never seen anything like that.

OT now The build looks great so far I envy you for having the funds, skills and patients to do this project. Im glad you did the wires it gives it a more custom look. Keep up the good work!

[Unicorn]

Originally Posted by SuicideNeil

He said they are all soldered however so very unlikely to slide off accidentally..

Originally Posted by wejjy

Thanks Kosovar, but no need to worry! ...also understand the danger of the copper fracturing, but when soldering, the solder tends to backflow up inside the outer sheath therefore adding enough strength to manipulate it for cable tidying. Hope that calms things a bit, you had me worried there with Warning signs everywhere!

To be quite honest, that doesn't really matter, it's still wrong. Sorry, I'm not trying to take away from an otherwise great project log, but this is the sort of thing that distinguishes professionals from amateurs as far as I'm concerned. Crimping, sleeving, heatshrinking and basically any and all type of wiring loom work is something that I pride myself on being able to do perfectly, as if it came from a factory... because I was trained to do it perfectly and used to do it in a factory. I've only had a quick skim over this thread for 20 minutes, and everything else looks fantastic and extremely well done, but those crimped and soldered pins were one thing that caught my eye, and obviously Kosovar's as well. If I'd crimped wiring looms like that for the hundreds of scientific cameras that I helped to build in my old job, I'd have been sent packing. The way we did them on something like 16AWG was as follows;

- Cut and strip the "pig-tails" - we had a wire prep machine for doing this, I just had to load it with spools, program the cuts and strips and run it. Minutes later you have 50 wires of the same length and with the same amount of insulation stripped off each end, to 1/10 of a millimetre.

- Dip each end of the wires into a solder pot for a split second, evenly tinning the exposed wire.

- Crimp the tinned ends. Again, this is something we had a machine for doing, which positioned the pin in exactly the right place on the wire and applied enough force to crimp the tinned ends tightly - you'd struggle to effectively crimp tinned ends with a manual crimper.

- The other tinned end was usually for either inserting into a PCB and soldering in place or having another set of pins and a connector installed on.

Again, I'm not putting the whole log down and it's not a major hazard or anything like that, but for future reference, make sure that you position the pins on the wire correctly and then you'll find that the solder isn't even necessary.

Originally Posted by Mechh69

What is the contraption you are using on that VW bus? I have worked on cars for a long time and never seen anything like that.

That's a DIY version of a rollover jig or spit - it allows the vehicle to be rolled over onto either side or the roof without damage so that you can work on the underside and chassis with better access.

[wejjy]

Originally Posted by Darkened

Just crawled through this thread and must say that you do a clean and mean job.

Your experience with cars shows clearly just with the choice of materials. I'm more of an aluminum guy myself, but I'm tempted to bust out the mig and do some welding at some point. What I like about alu is that it's a bit easier to work with and it doesn't rust, but with proper tools and finishing it of course isn't a problem.

I'd like to know how the desk is going to work ergonomically? What I mean is that when the case part adds quite a bit to the height of the desk, are you going to be able to get the monitors to a proper level? I'm always bumping into problems with ergonomics since I'm quite tall, but measuring my table by eye, I'd say that the monitors (for me) would have to be mounted so that they are pretty much touching the table surface or otherwise they would be too high. You seem to have about 10cm between the top of the table and the monitors, so is the table itself lower than normal?

Keep the good work up, I'll be definitely keeping my eye on this one.

Darkened

P.S. All the best to your daughter!

Hi Darkened, first up thanks for taking the time out to read the whole thing, second thanks for making comments. Yeah, my preference is steel, but its only because I have the right tools for it really, and Im used to it, Ive tried aluminium a few times, but find the welding and things a lot more tedious, even finishing it can be a mare as it clogs things easily, so I tend to stick to steel.
As for the ergonomics, I am 6ft and I find it perfect for me. The screens are adjustable for height and slide side to side too. Not sure if the table is higher than normal, I dont think it is, if its any use I could measure the heights etc and let you know, but thats the advantage of this type of desk, its completely custom to me, so its perfect for my height and comfortable to sit at as it was designed around me, you could do the same too!

Originally Posted by Waynio

This is going great wejjy & the side projects look easily just as much fun.

Thanks Waynio, and yep now you see why Im torn between this and the other projects, Im also reading through your build but Im still making my way through so havent yet commented, but will soon mate. Thanks though!

Originally Posted by Darkened

Oh, this reminds me, I forgot to comment about the Karmann Ghia, that thing looks good to say the least!

Darkened

Thanks pal!

Originally Posted by Mechh69

What is the contraption you are using on that VW bus? I have worked on cars for a long time and never seen anything like that.

OT now The build looks great so far I envy you for having the funds, skills and patients to do this project. Im glad you did the wires it gives it a more custom look. Keep up the good work!

The contraption is indeed a rollover jig, it allows me to roll the complete van and work wherever I want without the need for a pit or a bad back! I made it as the professional ones cost too much and with a little maths it was soooo simple, saved me £1000's.
No need to envy me dude, Ive saved long and hard for all of the parts, and its taken me a long time as Ive not always had the focus or the patience, but I guess it was something I really wanted for a long time so Ive just stuck with it. I too am happy with the wires, but it looks as though my crimps are causing a fuss

Originally Posted by Unicorn

To be quite honest, that doesn't really matter, it's still wrong. Sorry, I'm not trying to take away from an otherwise great project log, but this is the sort of thing that distinguishes professionals from amateurs as far as I'm concerned. Crimping, sleeving, heatshrinking and basically any and all type of wiring loom work is something that I pride myself on being able to do perfectly, as if it came from a factory... because I was trained to do it perfectly and used to do it in a factory. I've only had a quick skim over this thread for 20 minutes, and everything else looks fantastic and extremely well done, but those crimped and soldered pins were one thing that caught my eye, and obviously Kosovar's as well. If I'd crimped wiring looms like that for the hundreds of scientific cameras that I helped to build in my old job, I'd have been sent packing. The way we did them on something like 16AWG was as follows;

- Cut and strip the "pig-tails" - we had a wire prep machine for doing this, I just had to load it with spools, program the cuts and strips and run it. Minutes later you have 50 wires of the same length and with the same amount of insulation stripped off each end, to 1/10 of a millimetre.

- Dip each end of the wires into a solder pot for a split second, evenly tinning the exposed wire.

- Crimp the tinned ends. Again, this is something we had a machine for doing, which positioned the pin in exactly the right place on the wire and applied enough force to crimp the tinned ends tightly - you'd struggle to effectively crimp tinned ends with a manual crimper.

- The other tinned end was usually for either inserting into a PCB and soldering in place or having another set of pins and a connector installed on.

Again, I'm not putting the whole log down and it's not a major hazard or anything like that, but for future reference, make sure that you position the pins on the wire correctly and then you'll find that the solder isn't even necessary.

That's a DIY version of a rollover jig or spit - it allows the vehicle to be rolled over onto either side or the roof without damage so that you can work on the underside and chassis with better access.

Much appreciate the honest and constructive criticism, and the way you've done it too dude, thanks for picking me up on it an I'll take it on board, Im glad you like the rest of it though. I did it the correct way to begin with but I had huge problems with the rearmost part of the crimp, the part that grabs the outer sheath snapping as it was just too big, perhaps I had the wrong sized crimps etc but the only way I could do it successfully was the solder way. But, I will use your method next time, thats what its all about isn't it on here, sharing experience and helpful tips! Thanks! Just don't tell my father he's and Electronics Engineer, he would be soooo ashamed!

[Tattysnuc]

Originally Posted by wejjy

Thanks Tatty, its so different having a triple display setup to anything else Ive had in the past, so glad I opted for these rather than a 30"er! Im gutted about the CPU but its one of those things and at least with the SR-2 theres the option of disabling one CPU so I can still play! Keep checking back as its not over yet!

Never denounce the 30" beasts. I have one.... one day I'll have 3.... ONE DAY.

As for checking back... you betcha! I'm hooked

[wejjy]

Originally Posted by Tattysnuc

Never denounce the 30" beasts. I have one.... one day I'll have 3.... ONE DAY.

As for checking back... you betcha! I'm hooked

Haha! If I had three 30" I would never denounce them, but since Im stuck with 3 x 24" they have to obviously be inferior otherwise I would have a complex!

More to come soon, trying to get the glass cut and sort the lighting out amongst other things!! Thanks!

[wejjy]

If any of you have a spare 2 minutes, it would be hugely appreciated if you'd vote for me on EK's cool new site!!! Thanks fellow Bit-Tech'rs!

http://http://www.cooledpc.com/build/77

+rep will be offered!!

[Bladesingerz]

Ofcourse you get my vote Wejjy! I still drool over every update and I've been following you since the begining!

Edit: Your link is wrong btw clicky for the good one!

[wejjy]

Originally Posted by Bladesingerz

Ofcourse you get my vote Wejjy! I still drool over every update and I've been following you since the begining!

Edit: Your link is wrong btw clicky for the good one!

Thanks pal!!

[Razbit]

I just read through the whole thing, and I gotta say you make a neat job, mate! I've never really worked with other metals than copper/aluminium, I've tried steel, but it really didn't suit me But you, sir, know how to handle steel

All the best for your daughter!

PS. you got my vote

Hope to see this finished, subbed

Raz out

[wejjy]

Originally Posted by Razbit

I just read through the whole thing, and I gotta say you make a neat job, mate! I've never really worked with other metals than copper/aluminium, I've tried steel, but it really didn't suit me But you, sir, know how to handle steel

All the best for your daughter!

PS. you got my vote

Hope to see this finished, subbed

Raz out

Wow, that must have taken some time thanks! Thanks for the kind words too about my work, really nice to know its appreciated. I love working with Steel, it is just so versatile, I dont mind ally but never find it as easy to use, I guess no one thing will ever suit everyone! But, thanks a bunch

Ta also for the vote, I dont have facebook so Im not getting many but slow and steady is the name of the game!! Thanks for the help...

I'm still waiting for the glass so its holding me up, but it will be finished soon, I promise.

[Fuganater]

Originally Posted by wejjy

I'm still waiting for the glass so its holding me up, but it will be finished soon, I promise.

Watch out... we may hold you to that :P


Moar pics!

[sAnity]

I am one of those lurkers who doesn't talk on forums, and just reads other's build logs because I don't have the parents that allow their 17 year old son (me) to do anything other than air cool (not even an H100) and spray paint his case. Over all, I just read this whole log, comments from others and all, and DAMN this is one sexy desk. I have wanted to do an ITX Prodigy build for a while myself, and I also think it is a great idea to do something as amazing as this. Keep up the great work. If you are not already finished with this, then I am subscribed!

P.S. I hope your daughter is making a wonderful recovery!

[Tattysnuc]

Hope everything's ok? Did the glass turn up?

[elAwesome]

I'm waiting for some updates!

[wejjy]

Its been parked for a while as Im on the Bitfenix project currently, got fed up of waiting for things!! So decided to focus on other things to help my enthusiasm a little. It will be back on soon though!