Scratch Build – In Progress ****** PHINIX CUBE ******* - the one and only:)

sweet, i love cube builds. Subscribed

 

I decided to fabricate two more mount cubes - in the middle of bottom panel, to make it more stable.



I got my new red plexi and can say now that it IS RED .. finally.. I will cut another - third mobo tray. I'm gonna loose my computer for next few days, cause have to do measurements of motherboard on tray and all lengths between motherboard and rear panel for pci cards backplates... that will be a tricky thing - backplates must fit between rear panel and mobo tray.. still there must be room for red acrylic motherboard fabricated I/O back panel. still lack of ideas HOW to measure it and make it...

 

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAction.html?method=getProduct&R=0278534

are these the bits your using to join the panels?

 

YEP.

 

I tried making a mATX acrylic case similar to this also (see Secret of the Ooze in my sig). I started out using those corner cubes like you have but quickly found out there were'nt going to be strong enough. I hope they work out for you because you've obviously put a lot of work into this project and those corner cubes, but you may want to consider adding some aluminum angle to suppliment the corner cubes...
Great job so far though, you're very precise and this seems to be coming together very well.

 

Thanks. At the beginning I wanetd to use some alu profiles to make a skeleton of the whole build ,but then decided to stick to acrylic. All acrylic.. well I used some alu profles to build drive cage but all that will be covered and won't be seen so I consider whole build as pure acrylic

I added those semi-cubes ine the middle cause when I rasied whole cube wth radiator and some stuff in it I felt like buttom panel bent a little bit. Youc couldn't tell by looking on it, but you could feel it with your finger tips, you know what I mean? So next week (cause have no time now to do it) will make those and some other parts. If that still won't keep it stable then I will make some kind of acrylic angles - using hair dryer wil bent some acrylic pieces, same as gonna use to fix dvd to drive cage. That will do for sure.

EDIT: I saw your log - nice build! You see - that is why I didnt order those cubes from ACRYAN - I bought those inserts, but not M3 - M4 - bigger and stronger. I was advised by a guy from acrylci shop that those panels need at least M4, even M5 would be better. Built my own acrylic columns, so it is not same as that sketch you can see above, when you go back 1 page you will see my cloumns. They very strong and keep case steady...

 

Small update today..
Weather is awful, raining like hell... But wanted to do sth so took my extension cable all the way to garden shed and cut some stuff with my tools After house redecoration there is no place for my power tools... that's what my wife says...
I came back wet like dog but a bit happy, cause I did sth after last week of studying to Cisco exams.

Here's what I made today


In upper corner you can see four small cubes - two with corners cut off - these are those additional cubes I mentioned before to make the case more stable; and other two for upper corners.
From that long aluminium profile I cut 4 pieces to make some kind of trails for hdd shelves.. welll.. not exactly shelves.. you will see later
They will be mounted 2 on each side of drive cage:


I also rounded corners for that radiator stand wall.







Here behind the radiator...





I'm terrible with making pictures.. how the hell this plexi looks like.. orange???

 

I have a question - HOW THE HELL should I polish - or - WHAT should I use to polish acrylic to get rid of that matt color after cutting it...???
I bought that dremmel rubbing compound ->here<- but it doenst make it shiny like I saw other people get...

 

There are a few things you can do.
1. Sand. 400-600-800-100-1200, etc etc. preferably wetsanding.
2. Polish/Buffing compound.
3. Flame polishing. What it does is melt the edge of the acrylic slightly so it fills in all the holes/cut.

 

ok.. what do I need to do flame polish? (I know.. flame.. but do I need some kind of flame torch or sth?)

 

I'd be tempted to use a high grit Wet&Dry paper.
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/n...refview=search&ts=1202247685935&isSearch=true
Or indeed wet sanding.
Blowtorches have a lot of potential to go wrong, and I've had undesirable results before.

 

Could I use a dremel?
Or better do it in hands? WHat about wet sanding sponge? I've never used these..

 

The sponges are good for rounding off the edges. I use my thumb or an old mousepad to simulate the sponge part. -I've burned the pads of my thumbs a lot while sanding.
Torch polishing is not as great as it may seem. Get used to the fact that you have to work a little to get clean edges.
For edge cleanup I sand with 150 grit, then 240, then 400 before polishing. For big surfaces I sand down to 600. I let the buffing wheel do the rest.

 

another small update...

Today is pretty nice weather, sun is shinning...
Decided to change that dvdrom holders/stands with better plexi. See those on the top? these are old, below are new ones , but not polished yet..



Also cut two pieces for radiator stand - they will be bent and will glued to the back of the stand to make it more stable.. some kind of legs..:/



These are that additional cubes I showed before, this time better picture


.

Still working of drive cage, today made some step forward so need to show it all

So this was the last version of cage:




These alu profiles will keep that... strings for hdds.. you will understand it in a second



all four measured..




Here I measured and drilled holes in side panel...



...and in decoration "slips"...



Side panels and slips measured and drilled:



Then I drilled holes for string, 4 holes each rail, 2 rails on each side... 16 holes...



That is that famous string that will keep my hdds



This is how its gonna look like.. well, not exactly like that.. it will be very tensed like a strings in violin.. :gulp:

I have plenty of that rubber string - there will be two strings inside - one for each disk....

 

Very nice update phinix

 

Very nice Worklog ;-) and of course nice Project

 

How the hell you guys bend those acrylics with heat gun or hair dryier? I tried with hair dryier and it didnt bend a bit...

 

try an iron, thats what i use

 

to get an idea of how hot it should get and how it should feel, you can try putting a little piece in the oven. 200 degrees, 5-10 minutes should do. You will now have a very bendable piece of acrylic

Another way to do it is with a pressing iron and some baking paper. See my project log or the one from projectW (he invented the ironing method) for more instructions.

 

I have used a heat gun forever but I am going try the iron on some thinner acrylic - 0.080 in.(no idea what that is in metric). The heat gun works well for 2 - 5mm stock. Just have patience and move the gun around so as to not create bubbles. Even heating is the key. And enough hands to keep it up until soft enough to bend. ?Why did that last bit come out obscene? Must be late.
John