Case Mod - In Progress NZXT Lexa -Experimental Modyssey - June 5 - new CCFL, lighting question

Thanks!

Thanks headala... Fiery death, eh? Guess I better make a proper window so I can see it. Thanks for the warning!

I haven't worked much more on the i/o port. It kinda/sorta fits as is now. I did reprint the scan I did, looking for any scaling options and didn't see any. I'm gonna hold it up to the part I cut already and see if its off. Otherwise, the idea is to widen the holes in the template piece I made, and then copy over only the accurate sizes to the real plexi! That's another good idea with the ruler! +rep!

 

we all need to use our CSI skillz some time...

 

Good idea, headala, tomorrow I'll buy an used mobo from a friend , and it's without back panel, so I have in the same PITA like Mod Minded :-(

 

Be sure to let us know what you figure out in terms of how to do it. Did I link the formfactor.org page on dimensions?

I've been feeling like I've been neglecting you guys with not so much progress over the last few days... so here's a couple pics of some plexi. I've spent the last couple evenings cutting, gluing, routing, filing, and sanding these and some other pieces.

Collection of pieces to be sanded/routed, etc.


I like this pic:

Blocks with tool marks on a wet black sandpaper background!

Fruits of labor as of last night:

These are all sanded down with 220grit. (I had to remove some extra lip pieces that didn't get trimmed with the router due to size inconsistencies.)
I plan to take it to 500 next and then maybe 1000 before polish. (I polished previously sanded pieces @ 500, and while it looked good, it's not totally shiny.
It's irritating because there are some small deep grooves caused by the bite of the router bit at an angle. Any filing/sanding I do there will be fairly obvious and hard to conceal.

Quick note on tape. You might have noticed the white carpet tape, and I think I mentioned it previously. I've used it a bunch more the last couple days, and don't like it. It's not so great in terms of reusability or strength. It would probably work better for larger pieces with more tape spread over a larger area, but for these little accent pieces I've found it losing it's grip when faced with the mighty force of a spinning router blade. And forget about reusing it. I did put some in between the previously made 5.25 drive rails and a top layer of clear when routing. The plus side there is that it's really thin in comparison to the previous 3M tape, so doesn't add a lot of thickness, and seems to hold better there.

 

Oh no!



That's gonna have to be redone.

 

Damn man that really sucks, I feel for you. The same thing happened to me when I was making the spacers on my case feet for LEXA.

 

Hell!
Maybe next time you go slowly...

 

Thanks for the sentiment guys!
@ Mino - , I was going slowly... it was the 2nd hole (a widening hole) and I was twisting it a bit, I'll put up a more detailed log that explains WTF was going on. Basically it involves experimenting with drill bit modification for plexi.

 

Next time, put the plexi between two wooden blocks and clamp the whole package.

 

Damn I don't have much experience with plexi, but drilling in stages, such as 2mm, then 4mm, 6, etc.. is much less stressfull on everything.

+1 for securely clamping the lot with some flat sturdy wood aswell.

 

Good ideas, both of ya! Thanks.

 

Feb 2nd Update – Plexi & Bits

Feb 2nd Update – Plexi
A lot of what I’ve been doing the last couple days has been related to Plexi pieces and finishing them off. Most everything has been filed and sanded to 220g. Some pieces still have tool marks from the router bits (from being unevenly slide through, or dipped at an angle due to table notches.
I’ve also attempted some modification of drill bits for safer plexi drilling, (though that hasn’t turned out as well as I’d hoped. Still working on editing a video re that.
Here’re some images.


You can see the dips I was talking about on some of those pieces. (especially 2nd from the top!) I’m not sure if I should just file the edges of the dips down a bit so they’re less obvious, or file/sand the whole side level with the lowest point on the dip… NO!






The above are all ready for the next step – 500g then polish, maybe even higher grit before polish.


Router profile turned out great here. The long edge has been sanded at 400grit, the rest is raw from the router.



An artistic pile of plexi to be polished!



Drilling experiment (on one of CyberDruid’s spare plexi pieces! Thanks!)



From left – 3/16 ground, normal 1/8, normal ¼, carbide ¼, ground ¼ (unfinished hole due to cordless batteries running out) and lastly ¼ ground.

Exit Holes

The grinding was better at preventing chipout on the exit, which is what I’d hoped. The first grinding I did was uneven, so the entrance hole is wider than the exit by a little!

Drill Bit modding (1/4in)

The one in the front has been ground down.

The one on the left has been ground down.

This is the pic you’ve seen already:

A bit of the story. (no pun intended) After the trial drilling, I used the ground down ¼ bit in the press, on the slowest speed, and pressed against my little sanding jig’s side. I didn’t clamp it down, which I should have. Also important to note is that this is 3 layers glued together, with a thick clear layer taped on top with the double-sided carpet tape. I was gluing perpendicular to the layers. The first drilling went ok, but the drill bit pushed the clear layer away, leaving an uneven hole. I redrilled, and that’s when it got F’ed!

 

How did you ground the bit? I can't really tell from the picture. I read somewhere that in addition to grinding the angle to 90 degrees (or even 60 for holes larger than 1/2"), you should flatten the cutting edge and grind a clearance behind it. By flattening the cutting edge, it should be scraping the plexi rather than gouging it. The grinding should help in making smaller chips that evacuate easily reducing melting. Even ground bits will have trouble on entry and exit.

 

I thought the idea was to get a nice smooth planing type motion that shaves off a continous strand, up and out the bit. I thought chip avoidance was the benefit of these types of bits, that and exiting smoothly?

My camera battery's charging, but I'll try and get some better focused shots on different angles once it's charged up
I've got video of my grinding it... just have to trim it down a bit and convert and upload it... and see if I can tone down the grinding whine.

To answer your question as to how I did textually ...
I used this link as my guide:
http://www.hawkfish.org/snailman/acrdrill.htm
While not being as clear as I'd like, I thought I got the general idea down from the pics.
I also looked at some pics online of official acrylic bits, which seems to have a pointier tip and a flattened down cutting edge.
I ground the bit on a dremel grindstone (one of the ones from before with aluminum crud all over it.) I clamped the dremel to the table (it was on the flex shaft), and then applied the drill bit to the stone. I think I mis-interpreted the instructions and ground too much of the edge off, and definitely on the first one made the point out of alignment. (The 2nd one was pretty good, aside from the chip and crack.)
I'm not sure what you mean about grinding the angle to 90 or 60degrees. What angle? Point to shaft edge? Sorry. The cutting angles relationship to the plane? Draw me a diagram, plz! I need it spelled out.

 

Great! I found the file I was looking for!
http://www.tapplastics.com/uploads/pdf/Tech%20Data-Drilling.pdf

It covers drilling in acrylite, but I think it works for any acrylic. You seem to be right on target with the cutting edge grinding. The file says it needs to be 0 to 4 degrees. Though the instructions are still pretty vague.

There are also other pdf-files on that site that have interesting info on working with acrylics.

 

Great link! +rep

That's a much better description/diagram of what I need to know, thanks!
I have checked out TAPs online resources (and instore paper pamphlets.) They are very useful to anyone wanting to play with plexi!

 

Nice work!
You really know how to work with plexi!
I'm looking farward to see how this turns out in the end, good work so far!

 

Thanks Ashaman!
I wouldn't say I KNOW how, but I'm definitely learning and improving... and you guys get to watch the process!
thanks for the nice comments!

 

Hey MM! Great project so far.

I've been sitting on this one for a while now, and while following this log, I've come to realize why BT is so AWESOME. Throughout this whole log, nearly every post is either a helpful contribution or a positive comment on the work already done. It's really great to see that new suggestions are not met with flames, as is true with many other sites. Not only are you learning, but by keeping this log of mistakes and triumphs, you are teaching as well.

And I thank you for that.

As the first half of this post was praise, the second half shall be set aside for more manly things...like tips about hot glue.

I have found a MUCH easier way to "liberate" your CCFLs from the casing. All they are really held in by is a plug of hot glue on one side of the cathode. Try leaving the CCFLs on for an hour or two, then just pull! The heat from the lights should soften the glue enough to turn it back into a semi-solid, and you can just pull them out with no problem. Works for me just fine, but you may have some glue left on the tube (EEL )

 

Thanks for the heartfelt and true comments, Fisher! (And I'm glad you got over that lurking habit!) That is one of the biggest draws for me on BT; that in addition to the great and creative modders, most members, especially the long term ones, are keen to assist or at least provide some positive feedback/encouragement. Flamers are not tolerated! (or otherwise ignored... which is rare online, as you noted.) I'm glad to provide education, if for nothing else as a negative example!

Nice tip on the CCFLs. I think I noted how surprised I was to be able to just twist the end cap off, due to the heat from the space heater. I didn't try that with the hotglue plug, but that sounds like a reasonable idea.
So... I'm curious what you did with the CCFLS out of the tube? Got pics to share?