Scratch Build – In Progress [Bit-Tech/Intel NUC Competition] Moderne - Finished but no final pics yet - 30/04/15

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Hello once again to a new build log!

First up a big thanks to Bit-Tech and Intel for hosting this competition again, providing the gear and for choosing my design to be one of the finalists. It's looking to be a crazy one this year with some beautiful concepts on show. It's amazing to see what people came up with in such a short space of time over such a busy period of the year.

My kit arrived on Tuesday afternoon (17th Feb), so I got straight to photoing all the bits and bobs. All in all it's quite an impressive haul, there's a fair bit more scope than the ahrdware from the last competition:

Mainboard: Intel NUC5i3RYB (the i3 platform)
RAM: 4GB Corsair Value Select DDR3 1600MHz
Storage: 80GB Intel m.2 SSD

Brief:​

The concept behind Moderne is about being sleek and simple. I decided to follow some of the principles found in art moderne, straight edges with rounded corners, that sort of thing. The main construction is going to be 3D printed, with as much built in as I can possibly manage. To keep things sleek, I'll be going with a capacitive touch sensor for the on/off switch, which should keep the front nice and clean. You can't see this in the renders as I haven't modeled it, still working out the parts I need.

Enough waffle, let's get some pictures going:

Concept Renders:








Pictures:















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Best of luck to the other contestants!

 

True, his renders are crazy perfect.

Do you use a mix of 3d scanner & calipers?.

 

^ No kidding lol

This one should prove to be quite nice indeed, best of luck!

 

Great, now people are going to start questioning my final shots... Cheers Antony!

Hehe only calipers, a 3D scanner could be so handy for this sort of stuff though, hmm maybe I could do that kinect mod as there's one sitting unused downstairs... This model was a fair bit easier as Intel provided a CAD model which had most of the geometry present. However, large chucks were corrupted for some reason so I had to remodel those (some of the IO ports and the whole cooler), texturing was all done by me though.

And best of luck to you too man! I've made my presence known in your thread too, looking awesome already.

 

-And away we go! Any chance of a veneer version?

 

I'm in, because OP is awesome and reminds me I need to have sushi soon. Damn I miss that stuff. Great renders Maki!

 

Ultra SFF, I like it!

 

I liked your last NUC build, will be excited to see this one! I'm amazed at how well you can create 3D designs of the actual components like the motherboard and SSD. That's crazy... I wish I knew how to do that.

-Jeffinslaw

 

MOAR.

 

Looks slick man!

 

Those renders are nuts, looking forward to the real thing!

 

Thanks for all the kind words everybody.

I'm sure you're all wondering why there haven't been any updates though? Well I'll be taking some photos tonight of the kit I ordered, so expect those tomorrow. But I'll give you all the info now instead. Basically I ordered three different switches, two of them were the capacitive touch sensor type and one was an infrared. To cut a long story short, I cannot for the life of me get any of them to work.

Finding a source of constant 5V on this board seems to be an uphill struggle. I've tried connecting them to the only USB header (which is some stupidly tiny 8 pin thing rather than a normal header) but they just don't want to work when the machine is off but still plugged in. When it's on, they sort of work, but I don't need them then. The other issue is that sometimes the mobo decides to output 5V, but the switches decide to deliver a long signal, which basically switches the NUC on and off again.

Frankly I have no clue how to fix that issue, I'm already over my head with these things so any extra complexity is just proving to be a nuisance.

On a more positive note though. Justin at Parvum Systems offered to machine the acrylic windows for me, apparently they're on their way. Whilst I could have done these by hand, having them machined allowed me to change the design a bit to ensure that they sit flush with the outside of the case. They're made from 5mm smoked acrylic so should look pretty good.

The body of moderne itself will all be done in one go pretty quickly (fingers crossed) after which it's mostly finishing details. If I can't figure out how to get these switches to work, I'll simply incorporate a mechanical element to the side, should still look good, no bulky vandal switches this time round.

 

Try Autodesk 123catch for converting photographs to mesh, it's free too!

 

A quick Google search suggest that there is an Auxiliary power connector on the bottom of the board. I am not sure if it is an input or output, but it does appear to offer you +5VSB.

 

Aah my brother mentioned that to me actually, they have another app too that could be pretty useful. Thanks for the reminder as I'd completely forgotten about its existence.

Yeah I did try that too, whilst it did provide the +5V, it didn't circumvent the other issue of the switches just turning the NUC on and off again instantly. That is, until today.

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So a little disappointed, I sat down at my desk and began to tinker with the switches again. After some fiddling I decided to have another go at testing them on the auxiliary power connector again, low and behold I managed to get two of them to work!

This is all three of them next to each other. The left and middle are both capacitive proximity sensors, the one on the right is an infrared:


I had really wanted to use this particular sensor as it's simply so small and efficient, sadly it refused to cooperate. It's designed for use with an arduino board, seems it really needs it to be controlled properly.


I picked this one up on Nexxo's suggestion for a future project actually. I figured I may as well try it as an infrared on switch could be pretty cool if the others didn't work. I got it to work eventually, it has a good range too!


This big mamma is the one I've settled on. This thing's huge, but it'll do the job. I was worried it wouldn't work properly as it's rated for 6-36V and the board can only supply 5V. Luckily it does work, so I'll be using it.


I've build the mounting system into the case itself, as you can see it slots in rather nicely. I was really worried that it wouldn't fit at all!



And the best bit of news? My side windows arrived from Parvum Systems today! As usual the finish is really excellent, although my photos seem to have brought out the worst in them (that's what I get for rushing eh?) They slot into the side panels and should run completely flush with the outside without any joins or seems. Thanks a lot guys, you rock!

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A switch as big as the motherboard.

 

When I first saw it I genuinely did a double take, very glad I didn't order the bigger one rofl.

So I've sent the amended parts off to the 3D printers, should be ready for collection on Wednesday if all goes well. Feels good when progress begins to come in at a steady rate, should turn this into more of a log.

 

BIG UPDATE!​

So today marks quite an important step in this project. The vinyl arrived yesterday! Since I'm using a capacitive proximity sensor as the power switch unfortunately I can't use real aluminium/steel for this (a real shame as I actually had those materials to hand). Whilst the vinyl won't look quite as good as the real stuff, the area I'm applying it to is small, so it will still look kickass.

But as you can all guess, that's not the real news. Today I went to pick up the 3D printed parts! Much like with Vesper, I've chosen to go with SLS nylon 3D printing. Whilst more expensive than other normal methods, it's basically better in every single way. Not only does it have a very high resolution, but the stuff is ludicrously strong and durable, not to mention easy to work with. To give you an idea just how strong, Vesper currently sits on the top of a 6'6 foot tall cabinet in the lounge. My cat has managed to knock it off the top a total of 3 times, but amazingly it only has one minor paint chip and the NUC itself is fine. That's a 6'6 fall onto a hardwood floor, not bad eh?

Taking the photos was a bit more of a challenge this time as the room I was using as a studio space has been taken over by, well... wood.

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That was all delivered today, was a nightmare job tbh. Assuming I can construct the thing properly, it should turn into a sizeable log cabin in the garden, which will be used as a workshop! London is not good for space, having even a small dedicated workspace will make so much of a difference. I'll finally be able to move the stonking big pillar drill and all the tool boxes out from the bedroom at least.

And onto the main event. Mark at Digits to Widgets (where I got the parts printed) kindly took a couple photos of the parts being prepped. No in progress pics of the pieces in the printer sadly, not that you'd see much as SLS machines are all sealed up usually.

And with the windows installed. They just clip in and out, thanks to the edge bevel they sit nice and flush.

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Nice.