Scratch Build – Complete Cygnus X1.

looks realy nice !
I agree with The boy 4rm oz, it seems bigger then what it actually is.

just curious, how heavy is it ?

 

The pic's was very useful, could never made something like that without them!
If my head had been just as useful on the other hand, I would have known that my hinges was way too weak. Resulted in a twisted brake when I tried to bend a piece of 450mm x 50mm aluminium which was 3mm thick. Hehe. Learns something new every day.

I also thought the case was bigger...
The backside looks very good! But I have a question, what is the vertical hole beside the PCI-slots for? Going to make a mounting system for the PCI-cards there?

 

Looks awesome and nice and small well done

Josh

 

that is epic. i wish i had the time and money to do stuff like that

 

Thanks b4oz.

Thanks Dark. Using home scales it weighs 2.8Kg as you see it in the last pic's.

Thanks Ashaman., You do need substantial hinges but I would not try to bend 3mm thick material, I think
material this thick is beyond the capabilities of this design. The thickest material I have tried is 2mm and
you can "feel" that this is the limit.
I have not cut the maximum no of PCI slots, only enough to take in most PCI express slots and one or two
PCI slots on most mobo's. Yes the vertical slot is for a bracket to fit on the outside to lock the expansion/graphics
cards, this will be shown later.

Thanks x06jsp.

Thanks tominated., I think about $100.00 worth of alu and about $40.00 worth of nuts and bolts have gone
into this so far, so it doesn't cost too much to make a start. Of course there is a lot further to go.

 

Looking great! Like everyone else, I'm surprised to see how compact it is. On the workbench, it looks twice as big
Can't wait to see the next update and how you work out the shell!

I have to agree with modsquad, scratch building is a whole nother thing than normal case modding. Sure with a 'normal' case mod have to figure out how to make what you have work with the confines of the case, which is challenging and an art, but totally coming up with what you have done, from thin air so to speak, takes a whole nother level of skill! (no diss to those of us beautifying our stock cases!)

 

speaking of alu, where did you get it from? i need a place in oz to get some big 2mm pieces. I'm looking at doing a custom voodoo omen style case myself

 

Thanks ModMinded.
As for the mod versus scratch thingy, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

I get stuff from Capral aluminium in Clayton, Melb.




The three drives that this box is designed for are an SSD system drive, large capacity storage drive and
a slot loading DVD/RW.
They are all located on one side and supports have to be made for them.


With the time I had left today the storage drive cradle was started.















This is were it will go, just need to make some tabs to secure it to the case. Also a rubber or foam mat
will go under the storage drive.



And this inverted (don't ask!) pic shows where all the drives will go (more or less).

 

Very nice.

 

God but your quick b4oz. Thanks.

 

lol I must have logged in as you posted hah.

 

I'm curious to see how you'll mount them to the case. I can't picture the whole tab thing. I figure that that little extra piece sticking up from the side has got something to do with it, but I'm not sure what those will go into, or what will go into them, or how!

PS - I was trying to quote your early statement, didn't work, but... Agreed!

 

The original idea with this HD mount was to make it tool less, punch some metal out into little
dimples and have these lock into the HD mount holes, but for various reasons this didn't work.
The tab on one side was a grip to pull one side out and release the drive. Now this didn't work
so I hastily drilled out the dimples without giving it much thought. Now after a good nights sleep
I don't know how it could have been left at that. So................

This is just plain ugly.




But some use can be made of this part. The corners will be cut out, the central mounting holes
removed and two conventional brackets made.










And we have these much smaller, lighter and simpler brackets and they are quite strong and rigid.



And I'm happy with this solution.

 

nice. i'm getting heaps of ideas from this for my next project

 

Always good to recycle.

 

What cooling for the HDD ? Looks like there's no fan venting this area ....

 

Maybe no cooling? HDD's dont need cooling.

 

They don't need it but it helps reduce overall temps.

 

Thanks.

One mechanical hard drive and a storage drive at that., No, no active cooling necessary here.

 

Congratulations on your nomination oldnewby!