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Case Mod - In Progress Paperazzi: July08 MoTM - End of the road :)

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by acey, 27 Jun 2008.

  1. acey

    acey What's a Dremel?

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    This has been a while, for like 2 mths till I noticed I actually had an account here :O

    Been a long time since I touched any casings. Most of these are done during night time, so pardon the pictures.

    This is a project that involves no or very few planning (dude, when ideas pop out of your head the moment you open your eyes waking up). I do sketch more or less what I "see", but then since the material is so flexible I can recycle it a gazillion time I want if the design doesn't come out as I like and I can re-mold them however I want. Damn, I feel like Sam Winchester, I got "visions" lol...

    Some details to cut things short. Paperazzi involves:

    1. An ultra heavyweight case (server-like case) thats why it involves paper not Bondo

    2. Tools: scissors, gripping glue, spray paint, poster color, a bit of acrylic, water

    3. Material: A4 paper, new or old all become my victims (count in buckets)

    So far one side panel is 70% thru molding. Plunked remaining material on 2nd side panel but aint enough.

    Preparing the materials

    Won't dwell on the case too much so here's the front panel shot. Side panels.. well, all of them looks the same: piece of steel.

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    One night after quitting my job, I started cutting again.

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    After refining.. time to soak it up. I first used the bucket.

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    Eventually I moved to a 100-disc container cover

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    You dont just soak the paper wait 2 days and start molding, it wont be soft enough. And when the paper's either not fine or soft enough it tends to leave reptile-like skin when it dries you can actually see the flakes of paper. So, once soaked just pick up what you have and mold it into a ball.

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    How big is it? Well, go figure it out yourself

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    Then once its dried, after 2 days without the help of the sun, time to drown it. This is when its all bonded together and the paper tends to be smooth after a re-soak

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    White bull's testicle soaked in porridge anyone?

    Testing

    Did a few tests with different containers. Firstly curves and circles.

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    Circles are done by just molding it around a disc. Here you can see the paper's rough n not well soaked (first few buckets). Made some horns out of it, or spikes, or.. whatever.

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    After testing, its a test mold. Eventually I molded it for a few nights for something like this.

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    Scraped it though cos it looks like an old lady's shoes, minus the smell. So chucked everything I've tested and made into the container for re-soak.

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    Soak it up...
     
    Last edited: 15 Oct 2008
  2. acey

    acey What's a Dremel?

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    Side Panel Part 1

    With vision comes the sketch. I have to, before I start forgetting. Then wrap it up in some plastic for reuse

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    Looks easy aint it? All I have to do is plop some paper pulp on it and its done. Not. Had a very un-fun fun with mr steel ruler for about 10-15 minutes. Not once, but 4 times dammit

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    Then to lay them up on the side panel one by one to determine the shape and position. Mold up the top part which absurdly looks different from the sketch as I didnt realize how hard it is to mold around tight ass areas which really are a pain in the ass

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    Here.. compare reptile-skin paper with smooth pulp. I basically have to refine most of the molds.

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    Went up to this few days ago

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    Went up to this yesterday morning before I leave the house and created this worklog

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    Side Panel Part 2

    Since its too bare and the thing at the sides looks like
    - duck's feet
    - stumpy dwarf's sword

    I need something on top that sorta extend the 3D thing or uh.. well I don't know how to put it in words. Just another vision I had while waking up. OK, ribcage.

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    Now, I have to pick something of the right size to mold it on. Modding Idol...

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    Some plastic, tape... SM the idol, chuck in some paper pulp and further it with an even more un-fun fun with mr ruler

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    Resources running low. Dammit. And luckily some back up, which is just... "some"... for the scale of the mod

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    I just left the house few hours ago with about 10 pieces of paper snipped into fine pieces in the bucket. I'll wait for the water to clear up before letting them go for a dip as its coffee-colored now due to some pipe fixing in Subang from 12-6am yesterday. Sonowabeetch.

    Updates: Have a big load, ok not really, 100-piece CD/DVD container's cover filled with soaked paper. Prolly another 2-3 days before mod continues again.
     
  3. acey

    acey What's a Dremel?

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    Side Panel Part 3

    Finally the big ass ball is hardened and spent a couple of minutes killing it. It floats actually, which caught me offguard cos I thought it'll take in the water and "drown" lol.

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    Now I have almost a full bucket of paper to work with. :)

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    Decided to scrap the original rib sketch and mold cos its kinda waste of time to do it both sides and then to combine them. So a new sketch which makes both sides into one, currently one is up, getting another tonight after work.

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    Found this foam at the shop during re-stock of HDDs, which another "vision" came lmao while i was smoking.

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    So took a knife and cut it to get the shape, took it home and place it on top of my other side panel. Ok it works, now I need a drawing block to trace it cos I don't wanna use the foam.

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    Spend about 1/2 hour to paste up the other side panel

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    Thats about all for yesterday. More tonight cos I need to do another sketch for the main side panel. Still a long way to go for that panel.

    Updates: Hmm, my friend just donated a lot of material for me... look at this stash of ECS instruction booklet lol...

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  4. acey

    acey What's a Dremel?

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    Side Panel Part 4 (Minor updates)

    Went on wetting (with water, not as in wetting my pants type of wetting!) the main side panel to strip out the curves. They suck, literally, and unplanned.

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    Sketch up the base for the 4 empty sides based on rough space measurement. For once my eyes did me justice, cos if i do rough measurement on plexi like i did before, it basically screwed me over.

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    Trace em. And some stand-behind-the-yellow-line discipline with an expired driving license. Should look something like the third picture. I totally suck at using MS Paint, period.

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    This sucker took me almost an hour to come up with after tracing the foam on a drawing block, sketch, retrace on A4 paper which ended up inside out, and retracing on a new block. Its for the right panel or what i call the idle panel. Ain't done yet for the top and the sides, daddy need visions *takes african dream roots and sleeps*

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    Well, if the 4 base dries tonight, I can go on molding them when I get home. By the way, Intel did me a real good favor when I was installing a pc for a customer. I looked at the heatsink wrapping for a minute and figured out I can use it for the center of my main panel :)

    Will post more tomorrow after I mold it tonight, my phone's flat right now. So much for Nokia's "Connecting People" theme. More like "Disconnecting People (fine letter) with crappy batts".
     
  5. acey

    acey What's a Dremel?

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    Side Panel Part 5

    The 4 left panel add-ons are dried, placed on the left panel to get the placement and starts molding the top part. Will have to wait for it to dry before going again or else the center curve will collapse

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    Ah the intel box... it looks like this, and I cut out the sides, turn it upside down and start smearing paper pulp all over its behind. Kinky...

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    So from the right panel sketch, start molding. The base is eventually too big cos I have to do the curves first (it should look on top of the whole line) so I have to do it in a couple of days instead of one.

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    Might be able to finish the base for this by tonight cos I'm having offday tomorrow.
     
  6. acey

    acey What's a Dremel?

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    Side Panel Part 5

    Offday... Intel thing dried, so pulled out the plastic holder and got this. Unfortunately tad too high for my liking, so decided to trim it. Still too high, so screw it.

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    Did a rough sketch and then drew my own so I can have a flat base to start with for the middle part. The lines at the center is kinda messed up.

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    Continued on the left panel with some extras and molded the new base higher

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    For the right panel I thought it'll be easier to just mold everything first and then doing the extensions after it dried, so I laid out all the remaining paper pulp on it before transferring it to the right panel

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    Now I'm out of paper, have to wait another 2-3 days before I can continue :(
     
  7. acey

    acey What's a Dremel?

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    Side Panel Part 6 / Top & Front

    Am still soaking up the paper, now I have 2 different containers as I just soak another pile in the bucket. Let them soften up just in time when I finish using up the current pulp. Eventually I still have to wait till the paper's fine enough to refine the last bit of the left side / active panel, then I need to test on spraying layers, color theme, and will mix a cheap home made purple slime (will be shown much later once I need to use it only) :)

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    This what I molded to replace the Intel thingy cos it was way too bulky n high. Now its resting in my bin. Moved it onto the left panel and watered it down flat, still need a lot of refining and thickening for last touch on that panel before I move on to the right one. Paper's extremely rough here. See why I hate to let them play in the sun with the window open? It curves.

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    I'll need to leave the round sides and the center hollow for the slime and I got something from the case to help out shaping it lol

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    Its irritating to sit around after work with nothing to do, so I sketched the top panel thingy which will be stacked quite high up. Again, no cuttings on the top panel. Took about 5 minutes to finish designing and about 15 minutes to mold. Don't mind those spots, its coffee, honestly.

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    This the front panel. Its fn irritating cos I wanna remove the hatch but the legs are deadly molded onto it and fit into the side. Lucky day. Met a returning customer who had the same case minus the hatch so I asked him how did he remove it. "Oh, I accidentally pressed against it while its open". I went home took a look at it, and purposely did some karate kid on it.

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    Based on real life story. No front panel was harmed during the making of this picture above. Perfect break.

    Now the sucky part. Waiting for the paper to soften. :(


    Something to laugh at, a signboard I took at a coffee shop

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  8. acey

    acey What's a Dremel?

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    Top Panel Part 1

    Headache. Everyday not enough sleep because of the thing. Layered up the top panel cos I can't touch the left panel since its done. Decide to scrap the right panel design since its too... um.. low profile compared to the left one.

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    Found the design of the top panel too small and empty at the back so did some free hand add in. Still not done yet, just the first layer, its going to be bulkier than this

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    Front Panel Part 1

    Layered the front panel a bit cos I still havent go and get the plexi for the fan (occupying the 3 5.25" bay under the DVD) and ran out of paper halfway molding.

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    This the right panel's new design, need to wait for paper to soften before molding. a bit packed but see if I can pull it off.

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    Left panel done, need to do some refining to fill in gaps and not-so-smooth curves, then test painting on test materials before starting to paint the panel.

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  9. acey

    acey What's a Dremel?

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    Top Panel Part 2

    Ahhh.. a lot of paper to use last nite. Scraped the top panel, gave it 2 silicones lol as a base for the 2 um.. "horns"? Felt horrible grabbing the pulp when its that big, cos my brain keep on imagining my hands belongs to a porn star's hang grabbing a big.. you know... erghhhh

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    Gave it a little life with some small curves

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    Front Panel Part 2

    Front panel is all patched up and worked on the curves at the bottom part.

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    Now I'm kinda lost when it comes to the empty FDD bracked.. should I patch it up?.. hmmm
     
  10. acey

    acey What's a Dremel?

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    Front Panel Part 3

    I was dead bored and squeezing the water out of the paper pulp while watching X-Files (see how bored I am) and then I took a look at the thing I squeezed and thought "Heyy I like the look". So on came 4 of these bone-like thing for the front panel. The idea is to leave a few gaps for the 120mm intake on the three empty 5.25" slots.

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    Here's the front panel after 2 days' work. Yeah, ran out of idea I know. Cos it takes 2 days to come up with a line and 2 curves :p Then 2 of the bones came on, with some help of super glue.

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    And then 3. Decided to add some contours to the corner of the front panel too.

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    Top Panel Part 3

    Arrrr I donno what to type, so just take a look.

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    Right Panel

    Thought of sticking to the bone thingy, just refined. Nothing to type on my mind. Lol

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  11. acey

    acey What's a Dremel?

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    Just paint. Both my side panels are already heavier than a cheapskate Powerlogic case (minus the PSU) before I even patch them up. Had my offday yesterday but didnt do much on it cos needed my sleep lol.

    Front Panel Part 4

    Added some curves to the side of the front panel cos it looked.. well too empty to my liking

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    PAINT

    Me is gots itchies hands. Can't resist the black spray paint so decided to have a go at it and see how it looks like after the first layer. Brown will be coming up but I need to see if i can wake up earlier than 10am lol.

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    Dude... you're fugly

    Honestly its fugly, the paper suck up most of the first layer and it looked purplish and damp. So a second layer of black to make it more or less shiny. Ahhhh I need to wake up early to get the brown in. This reminds me of a petroleum covered bird lol.

    Misc

    Did a few more "fingers" for the right panel and some other minor stuffs (non pedo related stuffs lolx). 120mm bracket for the 3 5.25" slots which will be thicken when I have time. And filed a face plate and layered it to stealth the ROM.

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    There's more to do tonight when I get home. No more spray paint job for these few days.
     
  12. Langer

    Langer Jesse Lang

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    That's awesome.
    Paper construction - I had no idea such a process even existed, and it looks really great.

    Bravo mate.
     
  13. Ashaman

    Ashaman M'hael

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    Does this case get super light or what? :p

    I remeber making a piggybank when I was little, out of a baloon and that paper-ting-method around it. But I would never think about making a mod with it! :D I got to admitt though, it's actually pretty smart.

    So, are you going to smoothen it so that it won't have that rough surface?
    Looks like it's a bit easier to work with than filler or metalplastic or something like that. So I guess it's a pretty good material to make skulptures with.
    Keep on modding, it shore looks good!
     
  14. Aterius Gmork

    Aterius Gmork smell the ashes

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    I am not sure it's such a great idea. It looks awesome, don't get me wrong there. But the disadvantage of such a method compared to let's say bondo is that you cannot do too much to it. You cannot really smoothen it out, or etch it with a dremel to add little details. Also painting it will prove to be difficult at least.


    The main problem though is the durability. I don't know about you, but I do actually touch my cases. The paper things will fall of after some time. The worst is they will surely fall off over time layer by layer. Unfortunately only the first layer is painted, and if those pieces fall of they reveal ugly white spots.

    I'd love to be proven wrong though, because the design is awesome up to now. What I'd do is create a test piece (on wood maybe, with something that didn't come out so good). Paint it etc, and then see how it fares. Maybe you could cover the pieces with bondo in the end to add durability. It would have to be quite a bit bondo though, 1-2mm min. It is a LOT more work, but you could add a much greater amount of detail, like little scratches on the claws etc.

    http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2006/06/12/biomech_case_by_wolverine/1
    Maybe this awesome case by Wolverine will help you understand my points a bit better.

    Go on modding, and it will turn out awesome!
     
  15. HeXeN

    HeXeN Straight from Hell

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    Acey you are SIC in good way!! I'm astonished !!! but as Aterus Gmork said this looks nice but is not a durable and light to work with... But say to us tha this will be covered with fiberglass with epoxy resin or putty (bondo) stuff :)


    GOOD WORK!~!
     
  16. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    I love the design, but the materials you use need something to make them stronger.
     
  17. pksjaveed

    pksjaveed Nmodz: modding the world

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    really cool !! awesome that used paper molding great for molding and at the same time recycling ! its a win win ! phew cant believe it didnt just turn to mush and just fall apart !cool :thumb:
     
  18. 330td

    330td Minimodder

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    Will you cover the paper with fiberglass resin and bondo then? Or do you prefer to leave the case like that?

    By the way you did a really nice work :clap:
     
  19. acey

    acey What's a Dremel?

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    @Ashaman:
    Haha. 2 of the side panels, minus the paper, is already as heavy as a Powerlogic case (without CPU)
    Its gonna have rough surface, I don't wannit smooth.

    @Aterius:
    I can't use bondo cos I dont have the right shaping tools for now. Sides, I'm no Capello :p
    Yep, that all durability issue went thru me head before starting. Gripping glue's the answer, lots of it. Turn it over, shake the panel, it stays :) Tried to rip out a 0.75cm bump with bare hands, but I needed a tool. Cant really do much details on it cos need water to soften it up. If I carve it anyhow, patches will come off :( So thats something bad compared to hardened bondo. Thanks for the recommendations mate!

    @others:
    Sorry lol, nothing on top. This mod's not about the theme, just the material heh... Paperrrr
    It kinda absorb the paint on the first layer, so I guess the glue and the paint will hold the whole piece onto the panel soemwhere in between. Hope I'm not wrong haha.

    Wolverine's godly, i think i need extra time to play wit the dremel to get to his level lol
     
    Last edited: 28 Jun 2008
  20. Aterius Gmork

    Aterius Gmork smell the ashes

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    Well you aren't supposed to shape it just from bondo. You go ahead as you did now, and then cover it carefully with bondo. I would actually do it with my bare hands / fingers, even though it would be a REAL mess. But it's worth it. And the paper method is messy as well.

    So, your hands you should have. What else you need... The bondo, a bucket, water and something to mix the bondo powder with water. Nothing really you don't have. A dremel (clon) for some details would be a plus, and they are not expensive (the clones aren't but they'll be fine really for this work). Depending on your skill you might not need a dremel at all.

    Maybe it will also help you save money. - The paper will soak up quite a few layers of paint, and a good paintjob takes more than one layer - had to learn that the hard way as well. ;)


    On the other hand: It would be absolutely amazing if this turns out alright without bondo. A very good friend of mine is bugging me for years to do a Biomech Mod for him, since he saw Wolverine's case actually. But... all the bondo... nooo... ;)
     
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