Project│Red Nineteen :: Custom PC, Readers' Drives - 23/10/06

[Klekkus]

In UV light the plexi looks like this

[Lazlow]

Nice!

The edges light up similar to that in strong daylight.

[aevitas]

Nice log, nice case Looking good mate.

One question, do you still need a Freezer 64? I have one laying around here un-used and it's doing nothing but sitting in its box.

I could send it to you if you want?

[Lazlow]

Originally Posted by aevitas

Nice log, nice case Looking good mate.

One question, do you still need a Freezer 64? I have one laying around here un-used and it's doing nothing but sitting in its box.

I could send it to you if you want?

You're in the Netherlands though? I don't know what the postage will be like - and they're £13.50 from scan here in the UK.

[Bullitdodger]

Originally Posted by Lazlow

I think the centre punch that I used with a hammer may have contributed to the cracking too.......

LOL.....Yes, that sounds about right.

[Lazlow]

Just a short update, concentrating on the electrics...


^ First off, I plugged in the 530w Tagan, along with the two cathodes. I am surprised how quiet the Tagan is and the cathodes look pink out of the case.


^ However, inside the case it looks very red. Not at all pink in anyway - which is a relief.


^ The Vantec Nexus fan controller - 5 x Blue LEDs.


^ Testing the Red LEDs I purchased. They work straight off the blue ones (no surprised there then!).


^ The two cathodes will run along the left and bottom of the window, like so.


^ It took me ages to de-solder the flippin' first LED.


^ Here's the cables for the new Red LEDs, running from the original Blue terminals.


^ Testing my soldering!


^ The rest of the 5 LEDs wiring was soldered to the legs of the old Blue LEDs, as it proved to be too fiddly to de-solder the whole things.


^ And here's one of the 120mm fans sleeved with carbon sleeving.

I've run out of decent heat-shrink, so I'm awaiting an order from Kustom PCs for 3 metres of various sizes. Once that gets here, I'll re-wire and sleeve the rest of the fans.

So far the PC is proving to be almost silent. With all 4 fans running at full speed it's barely a hum. So much quieter than my original rig and on par with a first gen PS2 I reckon. I'll be adding an Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 64, along with an Accelero for the GPU - which should make it as quiet and cool as possible... stay tuned for more updates soon!

[Lazlow]

An extremely short update for now:


^ I stumbled across a spare piece of blow-hole trim, which when cut to size, fitted the fan controller cut-out perfectly.


^ Then I took the orbital sander to the sides of the fascia to even them up a bit...


^ And then put car body-filler all around the edges.


^ A close-up, showing where the filler bridges the gap between the original fascia and the new acrylic one.

Tonight (once it's dry), I'll sand it all down to give a nice smooth finish and seamless gap between the new and old fascias. Once painted, it should look whole. There's not much else to do today, so expect either an update later on this evening, or one tomorrow.

[Claas M]

isnt the dirty plexi disturbing?

to be honest: fit the old panel and create a new plexi one an be careful while drilling (NO HAMMER USE ) and try to temper it

[tm36usa]

Originally Posted by Claas M

isnt the dirty plexi disturbing?

to be honest: fit the old panel and create a new plexi one an be careful while drilling (NO HAMMER USE ) and try to temper it

Whats wrong with the dirty plexi? He is painting it black iirc and aslong as it gets sealed it will come out looking like it never was bondo'd. Not worth the ammount of work that would take.

[Lazlow]

Originally Posted by Claas M

to be honest: fit the old panel and create a new plexi one an be careful while drilling (NO HAMMER USE ) and try to temper it

It's taken a fair few hours to make the current one and as tm36usa said,

Originally Posted by tm36usa

Whats wrong with the dirty plexi? He is painting it black iirc and aslong as it gets sealed it will come out looking like it never was bondo'd. Not worth the ammount of work that would take.

...it will be black when I'm done. The acrylic/plexi is confusing many people, as on first glances it looks like the front will be see-through. I'm using it simply because I was ordering a sheet for the window anyway and wanted to see what it is like to work with.

It's lasted quite well, through all the abuse from various tools that I've given it - especially as it's only 3mm thick.

[Germonicus]

If you're gonna paint it black would it be possible to engrave a design/abstract pattern through the black paint?You could have the UV red bleeding through the very thin lines.

Maybe R19?

No idea if this is an old modding idea or not but just an idea that occurred to me

Nice mod and subscribed.

[Claas M]

ah, you want to paint it? I thought it has to stay red so it is useless to redo that...

[Lazlow]

Originally Posted by Germonicus

If you're gonna paint it black would it be possible to engrave a design/abstract pattern through the black paint?You could have the UV red bleeding through the very thin lines.

Maybe R19?

No idea if this is an old modding idea or not but just an idea that occurred to me

Nice mod and subscribed.

It's an interesting idea, I may spray an off-cut whilst doing the fascia, then try engraving it first - to see if I can achieve what you mean.

I was thinking about engraving the project name along the bottom of the side-panel window. Though I've never engraved something before, but there's no harm in trying. Again, I'll practice on some off-cuts sometime soon.

[Lazlow]

The last log for the weekend - 12 logs in a week!


^ A tip for those who don't already know - don't mix up too much filler! I put a huge dollup into my mixing tray, added the hardener and after covering one side of the fascia, the rest of the filler had hardened in the tray! So I mixed a little at a time from then on...


^ The fascia after a few minutes with the orbital to smooth the edges out...


^ I spent about 45 minutes with the orbital and wet/dry paper - to get a perfectly smooth finish. Here I am rinsing off all the dust prior to wet/dry.


^ And here is the fascia finished. The sanding is sooo smooth and the original fascia has bonded so well to the acrylic - the 2 pieces have literally become one.


^ I left it to dry for a few minutes after using the wet/dry paper.


^ A close-up of the edges. There's no visible gap between the two pieces now, at all.


^ Each of the 4 corners have been rounded using the orbital too.


^ Another shot - you cannot feel any variations either on the sides.


^ One final shot of the naked red acrylic - wave goodbye!


^ I happened to have a small amount of primer left from Project Pink PC, so decided to give it a shot.


^ It's only a thin layer to start and I've run out now.


^ It looks like one whole piece, not two glued together anymore.

There we go. I hope it gives everyone, who were confused about the fascia, a better idea now. I've got to go and purchase some new paint this week, including a darker primer. But it gives you a better idea of how it will turn out now!

[Lazlow]

Just a quick note, I've forgotten what I had planned for this:



I kinda regret removing the slots, though they wont be used. I think I intended a 5th fan to fit in there, or mesh. Any ideas???

Edited as I linked to the wrong picture!

[Germonicus]

If you really must make extra filler try to keep it in an airtight tupperware container to stop it going off too fast.

[OldY]

I reckon some mesh wouldn't go a miss, the red light would come through giving a nice effect. Also that front panel looks brillent
A fifth fan would also help with airflow.


OldY

[Lazlow]

A fifth fan would also help keep the GPU extra cool, as it would be situated directly below its cooler.

Modding is turning into an addiction. I thought I'd finished for the evening, but since I last posted I've cut out the Hard Drive shelf (MKII) and a false floor out of acrylic. But enough is enough... that's the lot for tonight!

[Claas M]

would it help to use less hardener? or wont that harden ever?

[Lazlow]

Originally Posted by Claas M

would it help to use less hardener? or wont that harden ever?

I don't think I used too much, just it does dry fairly quickly. I was applying it slowly to begin with, trying to fill in all the gaps. It's easier to mix a little, apply it, mix some more, apply it etc...