Case Mod Project: Stacker Cloning

[vercetti]

Hello everyone

This is my first project posted here, as well as my first post, please be gentle

I've been reading these boards for a long time, registered last year, but up untill now i
didn't have anything worthy of posting here as a project.

This maybe won't be as great as some projects i saw posted here,
incredible what ppl can do with some imagination and tools, but i will try my best to make it as good as i can

I started this one about 4 weeks ago, didn't want to post anything untill i saw how it will
turn up or will i finish it in the first place.
Right now i'm about 60-70% done, hopefully you'll like it

Now, the project...
First a nifty logo i made, for starters

Maybe the name is not that revealing at first glance, but there will be no "real" Stacker used in this mod
Instead, this will be an attepmt of "reverse engineering"

What i'll try here is get as close as possible, from this:



To this:



Some ppl might not like Stacker, some do, i won't get into that...
I always liked it, however i never could afford it really, so an idea came to make it myself

What i got there on the first pic is a 9 years old Codegen case i got as a "gift"
I was surprised how incredibly strong and thick it is compared to todays models, which are crap to be honest...

Now, i never saw an actual stacker in real life, so everything i do here is an "approximation" from the images i gathered on the net.
First problem i come up to is the size of the case.
While Stacker is a nice 250x536x638 mm in size, Codegen is a "bit" smaller, 180x390x420 mm.

I won't try to resize the case to fit the Stacker dimensions, but i will scale everything down in the
more less correct ratios, so all in all this will be a MiniMe-Stacker

Some more pics of the case:
(HQ images can be found on the "Home Page" link in my profile)
I apologize in advance for some images, my camera is a bit buggy.






Tools i'll be using:


(yes, yes... its made in China )

The cordless drill and the vibration sander costed me about 30$ both

Basicly, i'll try to keep the cost as low as possible, but try to conserve the quality of the mod to the highest possible level as i can.

Material i'll be using is ... *drums* ... Laminate
Yep, you heard it right lol

Since i don't have adequate tools for metal, i have to go with wooden materials, which i enjoy working with.
First i wanted to go with plywood, however it would cost me a lot, bcos i would have to buy an entire board
of plywood (cca 2.5m x 1.5m), and no less.

So as i had 2 square meters of laminate lying around from the house works, i decided to try with it, and save some $$ in the process.

Hope you'll enjoy the project, i'll be posting all the work i've done so far in the next 3-4 posts tonight.

(To be continued...)

[vercetti]

Starting from the ground up

Very simple idea, base of the "Stacker", its about 3.5cm high






Still nothing is glued or screwed together, will do that later in the process.
The "wooden" side of the laminate will be the front in all cases, but for the "photoshoot" purpose,
i turned it upside down, bcos you can see the shape more clearly...

Now on to the side panels of the case.
I glued together 3 pieces of the laminate together, then cut it to the dimensions
and shape of the Stacker side panel.

I used ordinary wood glue on the edges to keep it together tightly, and it works nicely





So far so good








Its all still a bit rough around the edges, it will be sanded and perfected later on.

I cut one of the windows, then simply copied it over the other so they are identical.







On to the front panel of the case.
Preparation and base cuts for the optical drives.




Some old CDROM drives i found for testing purposes





All together now.
Everything fits good to this stage, so far im happy with the progress.





(To be continued...)

[vercetti]

Cutting the hole on the top panel.
My Einhell "dremel" died in the process, so before i started to cut i was left without the most important tool
But i managed...





Basic cuts of the top panel.






With some imagination, you can almost see the top panel









Cutting to the final shape and a new usage of old cdroms - weights!







I'll use the trapezoid shaped wooden bases to fit the laminate on, then screw the bases to the metal top panel of the case





Placing it all together.
Still nothing is glued, so it might look a bit "loose".
The edges and the connection lines will be filled with wood cement and will be invisible in the later stage of the project







Back to the base of the "stacker".
Since the wood glue alone isnt very good in holding two pieces of laminate, bocs of their smooth surface,
i'll use wooden corks (plus wood glue) to secure it firmly and to make sure it wont separate later on.
And it works like a charm

This way i dont have to drill thru the laminate all the way, and use lots of screwes, and i can keep it nice and clean.








After some base coat









(To be continued...)

[BlackWhizz]

Whowawuwa. Nice work.

Luv your wood skills.

[vercetti]

Some work on the top panel.
Drilling the wooden corks in the base and securing it on the top of the metal panel of the case.






Worst part of this stage was the waiting for the glue to dry, as it takes 24hrs to dry well and to continue the work...
Still looks ugly on the edges, but will be corrected with the wood cemend and some sand paper.









I bought the metal mesh in a local beekeeping supply store, 25$ for 1 square meter, pretty damn expensive...



Fitting the mesh to the hole.
The stacker mesh has sometihing like a "dent" in the center of the mesh, however i can not replicate
that without some machinery, which i don't have access to sadly... sorry










Now to the wood cement...
This part was the worst, bcos that was the first time i used the cement.
After some tries and errors, i caught the learning curve so i managed to finish it nicely







Applying the first layer of base coat.









And the final stage
There were some traces of the line visible on the transition from cement to laminate,
but i fixed it later on with some "spray cement" (not sure of the name in english).







I was surprised that laminate turned up to be so good after all, tho plywood would be much easier
to work with, its much softer, but in the end i can't complain at the result.


(To be continued...)

[craigbru]

Wow, this is looking pretty good. How much weight do you think you are adding to the case?

[vercetti]

Will be back on the top panel, but now on to the "doors" of the case.
Again, the basic cuts first, details later.






Using the same concept as the top panel, 2 wood bases, corks + glue.
Once again, cdroms are usefull







Preparing the mesh for the side panel.




10min later





The mesh still need some final work base coat and color (still havent decided about that)
as well as fixing it to the side panel.


Cutting the front metal panel.
I'll use the mesh here as well...






Situation after fitting the mesh



(mesh is still not in the final position)



The front doors are glued and fixed to the base.
Time to fit the mesh there as well





Looks good so far




All together now
(still not fixed tho)

Starting to resemble to something now hehe








This is still far away from the final product, lots of work to be done yet...
I need to make the control panel now as well as that little part on the bottom of the front panel, below the door.

After all this main rought cutting work, comes the more difficult "cosmetic" work of lots and lots of sanding
and spray painting lol

(To be continued...)

[Ashaman]

Nice, looks pretty good so far!
I'm also curious about the wight, because those thick plates looks heavy, but could be a lot lighter than it looks...
What do you bend that mesh with? Could mistake that for a mechanical finish!

Good luck with everything, mod on!

[vercetti]

Finishing the top panel.
From what i can see on the pics, that back hole on the top panel has a ventilation purpose (?)
However i left it closed, bcos it is of no use to me, and trying to drill holes to it now might screw it up
so i'll just leave it as it is, purely cosmetic






Done and coated.
(the 2 empty holes are for screwes i'll add later)







Front and back of the case doors.
The front is now almost done, sanded and coated, the back however still needs work.
Its a bit tricky to sand it, so im not done yet, but soon







Front side, with mesh (both base coated now)






No visible transitions, thanks to that "spray cement"




Everything done so far












This is as far as i got so far.
Still needs lots of work, mostly on the edges and the connection points and lines, as u can see on the pics...

I hope you like the concept and the mod, I tried to keep the quality as best as i could

Will be posting and updating in a week or so, hopefully with some progress on the control panel of the case.


Cheers

[vercetti]

Thanks for the replies, im glad u like it

Originally Posted by craigbru

Wow, this is looking pretty good. How much weight do you think you are adding to the case?

Originally Posted by Ashaman

Nice, looks pretty good so far!
I'm also curious about the wight, because those thick plates looks heavy, but could be a lot lighter than it looks...
What do you bend that mesh with? Could mistake that for a mechanical finish!

Good luck with everything, mod on!

As for the weight, you won't believe it but the whole case (all parts together, without hardware) is 6.5kg (14.3 pounds),
while the original Stacker (empty) is 14.5kg (31.9 pounds)

The laminate is extremely light, and the codegen case isn't on the heavy side...


The mesh i used is perfect for case modding purposes.
Its sturdy and consistent, yet easily worked with, and bent by hand.
I just marked the lines and bend it, very easy. After its bent it stays that way

Only one flaw, the price lol

[[ZiiP] NaloaC]

Very impressive indeed!

[Ashaman]

Well, it wasn't heavy at all then. Haha.
On the last pictures you really see the similarities to the case you are cloning!

Planning any cool color combinations?

[starbee]

Oh God,it's nice.Very good work

[bigsharn]

I've never seen laminate used in a mod before... that just looks immense

Now are you going to mod one so that it looks like a Cosmos S? because that's damn lifelike?

[The boy 4rm oz]

I have NEVER seen anyone try to turn a case into a different case. Fantastic work so far mate, excellent mod.

[Langer]

Wonderful! Great idea and amazing execution.

[blackflag]

Very nice job, cant wait to see the finished product.

[x06jsp]

lol thats awesome

josh

[vercetti]

Thanks for the feedback guys, appreciate it

I thought a little about some color combinations for the case, when its finished.
This is something i put together in Sketchup for start, nothing fancy, just to see how the colors work...



I'd like to do a black and white combinations (not neccessarliy this one).
In this example, mesh is white, black and white combo on the outside, and to paint the inside of the case white too.
Maybe to add a few ultra bright white LEDs or a white neon on the inside to punch out the white even more.

Let me know what u think

[FrooP]

i dont want to say, boo black and white again, i like black and white, but what about a pretty darkish red and white combo? should look pimpin'