Modding Hephaestus Project - project phase

[Yemerich]

"
Hephæstos (pronounced /hɪˈfiːstəs/ or /hɪˈfεstəs/; Greek Ἥφαιστος Hēphaistos) was the Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan; he was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals and metallurgy, and fire. He was worshipped in all the manufacturing and industrial centers of Greece, especially Athens identified by Greek colonists in southern Italy with the volcano gods Adranus of Mount Etna and Vulcanus of the Lipara islands, and his forge moved here by the poets. The first-century sage Apollonius of Tyana is said to have observed, "there are many other mountains all over the earth that are on fire, and yet we should never be done with it if we assigned to them giants and gods like Hephaestus" (Life of Apollonius of Tyana, book v.16).
"
Extracted from www.wikipedia.org

First i want to say that this is my first project log in english. So please, correct my english and forgive any rudeness...

In december 20 of 2007, i won a contest held by the brazilian version of the "Windows Vista Magazine". That contest consists in sending a modding project to editors of the magazine. And i won it! I can't even start to describe the feeling of having a work recognized!

Anyway, the document sent to them was 32 pages long, with all detais on how to build the structure, the circuits, the hardware, the "apliqueés" and such. I still don't have the money in hands, so i have to post pictures of the "project phase".

This is the case:



It will have articulated covers for the inside hardware:



I've designed a lock to keep the doors in open position so we could check the inside of it. Details of the topmost of the case:

The piece in the middle is the lock itself. More details "some day"

The inside of the case (right side, from back to front):

I've designed two pieces to hold the DVD, HDs and serve as housing for the PSU itself. Please disregard the blue fan that looks like a ghost in the case. It won't be blue.

Detail of one of the covers (the right one):

In both covers i plan to use analog VUs to get more of a retro visual.

This is the (re-routed) eject button of the DVD with the "knight rider" circuit for the activity meter.

Yes, the button is clear acrylic. I was looking for some "vandal proof" switches, but nowere to be found here in Brazil. Quite sad... I love those!

This is the "stand by" and "reset" (the small one) buttons. This green light reflects the HD activity.


This is an older version of the case, with much less pieces and no circuits, so u can have an idea on how many pieces this project is made of

In fact, the two laser cut pannels on both covers are now "apliqueés" because they turned to be too expensive for me... A true pitty.

I am very excited with this project and really hope to start it ASAP!

Please comment and help me with the ideas along the way

Cheers and happy new year for all

[Nix]

Very nice work on the designs. Are the HQ renders done in 3dsMax?

Will be interesting to see the worklog on this. Im hoping that you will be making it yourself notjust shipping the plans off somewhere to have it made. I know what i would wanna do if i spent all that time on those plans.

bonus points for it being a SFF. Is that a carrry handle on the top?

[Yemerich]

Originally Posted by Nix

Very nice work on the designs. Are the HQ renders done in 3dsMax?

Will be interesting to see the worklog on this. Im hoping that you will be making it yourself notjust shipping the plans off somewhere to have it made. I know what i would wanna do if i spent all that time on those plans.

bonus points for it being a SFF. Is that a carrry handle on the top?

Thanks for the words

The HQ renders are all in 3d Studio with mental ray for GI and no lights but the ambient.

I looove casemodding, i will do all on my own, u bet!

Errr... whats a SFF?

That thing on the top was firstly designed to be a water reservoir for the WC - it's quite different now in fact... BUT, even with the sponsorship, there will be not enough money for it. It's just some "nice things" right now. Planning to have many leds on the top...

[dan-ere-07]

wow that looks amazing

nice designs and hope you manage to finish it =]

[Yemerich]

Originally Posted by dan-ere-07

wow that looks amazing

nice designs and hope you manage to finish it =]

Me TOO!

Thanks anyway

[Cheapskate]

Looks good!
I can tell you from experience that the curved plexi bends will be tough. You will want to make a mold you can fit it over and a mold for the top too. I used only a bottom mold and my bend came out uneven.

Are the holes in the power supply plastic for air or cables? Running the wires out the sides like that would be cool.

[Yemerich]

Originally Posted by Cheapskate

Looks good!
I can tell you from experience that the curved plexi bends will be tough. You will want to make a mold you can fit it over and a mold for the top too. I used only a bottom mold and my bend came out uneven.

Are the holes in the power supply plastic for air or cables? Running the wires out the sides like that would be cool.

Hail!

Well, i am planing to bend it like in "CinemediaPC". But if this doesn't work (hopefully it will), i will have to send it for a professinally bend. It'll cost me like US$75,00 PER cover! Too expensive for just two pieces of acrylic worth like 10 dollars each...

As for the PSU, those little holes, doesn't go all the way to the other side. That's because of the airflow inside the PSU must go outside the case. The wires will come out of the PSU in both sides. One for the mobo, and the other to the "other hardware". I'll try to balance the amount of cables coming out of the PSU cutting off all unecessary ones.

There are other details in the project not listed here. I will put them here when i have more time

BTW, happy new year all

[Yemerich]

To have the things a little more clear, i've made some other images.

This is the main structure:

Nevermind the steel cover for the PSU. I'll use acrylic instead of it. There are 3 main hardware here: the PSU, the DVD and the 2 HDs. The arrows above them indicates the upside and the direction of them. Not of much use for the DVD as it won't open in the PSU's direction.
I still don't know what kind of fan i will be using in the PSU. But i really want to use one 120 in the bottom. It must be a low noisy one

The two HDs will be mouted against each other like this:

I am using this setup because i can use a fan to refrigerate both of them at the same time. To help me with this task, i'will be using copper memory dissipators like these:

I think that will be a nice setup, but i am aiming to get the less noise possible.

That's it for this year
Until next year friends

[Nix]

Originally Posted by Yemerich

Thanks for the words

The HQ renders are all in 3d Studio with mental ray for GI and no lights but the ambient.

I looove casemodding, i will do all on my own, u bet!

Errr... whats a SFF?

That thing on the top was firstly designed to be a water reservoir for the WC - it's quite different now in fact... BUT, even with the sponsorship, there will be not enough money for it. It's just some "nice things" right now. Planning to have many leds on the top...

I give out praise where it is due... thanks for reviving my project log though, updated with some teasers of what ive been working on to replace it.

SFF = Small form factor.

You might want to visit http://www.sfftech.com and browse their forums as its a community dedicated to small systems. Plus its full of people with lots of modding experience, such as GordyHand who i think still floats around on here.

To be honest though from the look of that handle/res on the top it would be easy enough to make alterations to it so it can be used as a handle and it wont cost anything, apart from some extra added time. That said, you would have to be cautious towards how much weight it can handle. Maybe if the cylinder that would take the bulk of the weight would be made out of aluminium, and then the supports which would go in between the fingers were Red Plexi - Aluminium - Red Plexi. I cant really forsee that being much of a problem for carrying this system aslong as its linked up to the sturdy chassis.

Anyway i shall stop rambling so you have mroe time to work on the mod than reading what i say

[Yemerich]

Originally Posted by Nix

I give out praise where it is due... thanks for reviving my project log though, updated with some teasers of what ive been working on to replace it.

SFF = Small form factor.

You might want to visit http://www.sfftech.com and browse their forums as its a community dedicated to small systems. Plus its full of people with lots of modding experience, such as GordyHand who i think still floats around on here.

To be honest though from the look of that handle/res on the top it would be easy enough to make alterations to it so it can be used as a handle and it wont cost anything, apart from some extra added time. That said, you would have to be cautious towards how much weight it can handle. Maybe if the cylinder that would take the bulk of the weight would be made out of aluminium, and then the supports which would go in between the fingers were Red Plexi - Aluminium - Red Plexi. I cant really forsee that being much of a problem for carrying this system aslong as its linked up to the sturdy chassis.

Anyway i shall stop rambling so you have mroe time to work on the mod than reading what i say

The original design (the one with the reservoir, was a little diferent. I'll make (when i have the time for it) a drawing the way it was originally, with the reservoir and the tubbing.

That link is great! Thanks for the advice

I never gave a real atention to the fact that the chrome tube in top of the case could be a handle. But we need to have some considerations. The piece right in the middle of the top design is a "lock" that will support both covers. So it need to be in the middle to balance the weight of them. So a handle cannot be in the middle. Not in this exactly design. So i'll have to use the front half of it to use as a handle. The problem with that is the weight of teh overall case. Thankfull, the most heavy part of the case (i think) will be the front half because of the HD's and the DVD drive (that considering the case will have a ballanced weight without hardware).

All this in THIS design. It doesn't mean i could not change it a bit to reflect an upgrade.


As a matter of fact, this is not a very small factor case. It is 345mm x 435mm x 255mm (Wide x Depth x Height). Its almost a normal case laid down

I really apreciate all the comments so far, and the money for the case itself will be on my hands in later january, so all the ideas are welcome!
Thanks for posting construtive critics

[Dark~3nergy]

very nice design and render !!
just a question, how did you make the red plexi material and you used 3ds max right ?

[Yemerich]

Originally Posted by Dark~3nergy

very nice design and render !!
just a question, how did you make the red plexi material and you used 3ds max right ?

Thanks

It's a simple multi/sub material in 3dsmax. I put a high refract index in one and some self ilumination in another. Then i had to put the material ID in each face of the object with the help of th "loop" and "ring" poly sub command... That and some manual tweking

[Nix]

Did you export the model from sketchup then imported into 3ds max? Last time i done this i remember it having a lot of problems.

Also concerning the handle, if i was to design a handle i wouldnt design the main handle to take the main bulk of the weight anyway as it might cause warping to whatever its attached to. When i carry my pc when its not in the carry case i lift from under the front and grip the step in for the pci brackets. If you applied the same to you handle it should be more than adequate for carrying it around.

Yeah its a bit big for SFF but then my current case isnt tiny but isnt big, so its always a fine line defining what is and what is not SFF. Though youre basing it around a Matx mobo, so i would class it as one

Just looking at the designs is there any way you can move your PSU to the front of the case and reduce the height of the case. then run a cable extender from the psu to the back panel. I notice you have some space there in the front, just wondering if its enough.

Know this seems pretty unorthadox on here but i dont suppose you have the sketchup file i can have a gander at.

Btw slightly off topic, but got a new project log up now Yemerich if you fancy taking a gander. Goes into more detail about the new mod that you seemed interested in.

[Yemerich]

Originally Posted by Nix

Did you export the model from sketchup then imported into 3ds max? Last time i done this i remember it having a lot of problems.

Also concerning the handle, if i was to design a handle i wouldnt design the main handle to take the main bulk of the weight anyway as it might cause warping to whatever its attached to. When i carry my pc when its not in the carry case i lift from under the front and grip the step in for the pci brackets. If you applied the same to you handle it should be more than adequate for carrying it around.

Yeah its a bit big for SFF but then my current case isnt tiny but isnt big, so its always a fine line defining what is and what is not SFF. Though youre basing it around a Matx mobo, so i would class it as one

Just looking at the designs is there any way you can move your PSU to the front of the case and reduce the height of the case. then run a cable extender from the psu to the back panel. I notice you have some space there in the front, just wondering if its enough.

Know this seems pretty unorthadox on here but i dont suppose you have the sketchup file i can have a gander at.

Btw slightly off topic, but got a new project log up now Yemerich if you fancy taking a gander. Goes into more detail about the new mod that you seemed interested in.

Well, i've exported from SU to 3d Max as a .obj object. Then in 3d max i had to setup smoth groups for the faceted polys. A VERY tedious work. But this way seens to be the only way to use exported objects from SU into 3d Max.

The PSU can't be moved from back to front, because there's no space. And i can't swith places with dvd. The space u see under the two HDs is for housing the circuits i'll make. So, no space in front at all.. :/

As for the handle.. I am still thinking of it because i don't go out on lan parties, so i don't see much use for it. But i am thinking in one. If i come to a design that wont affect it's original design (after all this is the design approved by the magazine), i will try to use it... But your ideas are noted

As for the inside project of the case in SU, sorry... I can't send that before i end the case. But i will disponibilize it after it's done, ok?

cheers

[Yemerich]

These are the designs that will be used on the faceplate (brushed steel) and the adhesives:


Faceplate...



Internal design (wrapping the DVD tray)...



Right cover...



Left cover...

For the adhesives (the last three) i'll be using a material that looks like a brushed steel but it's a plastic adhesive. But i still don't know if its possible to cut it in a plotter because it's too thin.

Any suggestions?

[Design_Master]

Once again, Amazing!! Really nice inspiration, Yemerich!!

I am eager to see this Project getting assembled at Projectlogs!!

Good Luck my friend!!

[Yemerich]

Originally Posted by Design_Master

Once again, Amazing!! Really nice inspiration, Yemerich!!

I am eager to see this Project getting assembled at Projectlogs!!

Good Luck my friend!!

Thanks my brother!

It's good to see you in here.

And i am too eager to see this project in the Project Logs section

[Frenkie]

Looks really good. It reminds me a lot of the XFX Extreme barebone, I used for The Machine project. Good luck with it !

[Yemerich]

Cool! my project made to MotM Nominee