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Scratch Build – In Progress Project: Filmiarvuti (update: July 4th - finished!)

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by tame, 3 May 2009.

  1. tame

    tame What's a Dremel?

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    Hi, everybody! I'm a 19-year-old high school student from Estonia and this is my very first post here at bit-tech.net Forums.

    A couple of months ago I realised I need something to watch films with and as buying a DVD player just sounded too easy, I decided to build a very cheap HTPC mainly out of plywood. And now I feel it's time to start a worklog.

    I set myself a total budget of 1000 Estonian kroons. That's about £60.

    Most of the work will be done at my school's after hours carpentry class that is held on Wednesdays.
    Bare in mind, that I haven't modded anything before and the last time I did some carpentry, was 2 years ago.

    First, I made the bottom piece:
    [​IMG]

    Had some troubles finding the correct motherboard standoffs but fortunately my school's computer science teacher helped me out:
    [​IMG]

    Next, I made the back wall of the case which looks like this:
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    In the meantime, I bought a broken DVD reader from a good friend of mine for a beer (that I still owe him) and a working but "modded" one off the Internet for cheap:
    [​IMG]

    Hopefully I'll manage to combine those two and by doing that, get a decent DVD reader practically for nothing.

    Because my CF card setup decided not to work with my motherboard, I had to stick with a regular hard disk and so these simple brackets were made:
    [​IMG]

    And this is how the case looks like with the front and back walls, and the motherboard standoffs screwed on:
    [​IMG]

    Don't worry, when finished, plywood won't (hopefully) be visible anymore.

    Next update in a couple of days.
     
    Last edited: 4 Jul 2009
  2. Burnout21

    Burnout21 Mmmm biscuits

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    Pic's fixed, looking good chap!
     
    Last edited: 5 May 2009
  3. fleng

    fleng What's a Dremel?

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    looks good mate so far! Always love scratch build HTPC :)
     
  4. aevitas

    aevitas What's a Dremel?

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    Tere :) Looking good so far, hope you can stay within your budget and make all the stuff you want. Keep it up man.

    OT: My grandmother is originally from Estonia and my father and uncle can both speak estonian, I can't unfortunately :waah:
     
  5. tame

    tame What's a Dremel?

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    Thanks, guys.
    Had some troubles with the pictures. :blah: Hope it doesn't happen again.
    Tere. :) You should definitely visit Estonia someday. We've got beautiful nature, friendly people, pretty girls and cheap beer. What more do you need?! :thumb:

    And now on with the project.

    Present list of hardware going into the case:

    Processor: Intel Celeron 466 or 533 (I'm not 100% sure which one is it) + Intel stock cooler
    Motherboard: Chaintech 6LIA0-D100N
    RAM: 2 x PC133 128MB
    Video card: Club 3D ATI Radeon 9250 AGP 128MB
    Hard disk: Maxtor N256 3.2GB
    Optical disc drive: An unknown DVD reader by Samsung
    Power supply: Enlight SFX-1215A
    WLAN card: Micronet SP906GK
    USB card: Chronos USB 2.0 PCI Card 2A
    Remote controller: ATI Remote Wonder

    Here's a group picture of the components:
    [​IMG]

    Yes, I know it's a lousy setup, but it's also ridiculously cheap and I just don't need anything better for listening to music and watching DVDs, DivX/Xvid files and photos. The processor is a little bit weak but I can live with that.

    Managed to make some progress today.

    The DVD reader and hard disk holder is almost finished now:
    [​IMG]

    Don't know what they're called in English but they were on sale and so I bought them:
    [​IMG]

    The sidewalls mocked up using masking tape:
    [​IMG]

    Dryfitted the sidewalls onto the case with the DVD reader/HDD holder also in place:
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Had some of the bamboo stuff left over and so I made myself a little something to place a beer bottle or tea mug on:
    [​IMG]

    That's all for now. ;)
     
  6. Cookie Monster

    Cookie Monster Multimodder

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    Very nice, i'm that bad I can't even cut a piece of wood straight. How will you remove the motherboard at a later date when the DVD reader/HDD holder is in place?
     
  7. tame

    tame What's a Dremel?

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    Everything is held together by little screws. So all I need is my trusty screwdriver.
     
    Last edited: 6 May 2009
  8. perplekks45

    perplekks45 LIKE AN ANIMAL!

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    That's some serious[ly nice] wood work going on. :thumb:
     
  9. jhanlon303

    jhanlon303 The Keeper of History

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    Place mats in a mod!:thumb::rock:

    More new materials to use.

    Very nice wood work.

    john
     
  10. subset7

    subset7 Spanking the Monkey

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    This looks great,I love the back of the case some nice work there,sub'd :thumb:
     
  11. DonT-FeaR

    DonT-FeaR I know what a fk'n Dremel is ok.:D

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    love the layout! thats gunna fit really nice
     
  12. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    I am liking where this is going.
     
  13. Voluntary_Pariah

    Voluntary_Pariah a Real Man™

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    Is that a haiku??
     
  14. tame

    tame What's a Dremel?

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    Thanks for all the positive feedback, you all.

    The cover consisting of the side and top walls was completed yesterday.
    Unfortunately, I had some troubles with it. :wallbash: Now I have to either pry it open a little and glue again or just sand it for a couple of hours, before it's ready to be shown.

    It also seems the remote receiver can't be mounted internally. That's a darn shame.
     
    Last edited: 8 May 2009
  15. Voluntary_Pariah

    Voluntary_Pariah a Real Man™

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    crack it open and reglue it. It will be faster (By the sound of it)

    In regard to the resever, you could open the case and cut off the actual sensor bit. Then extend it on wires and mount the sensor in a little window or slot on the outside.
     
  16. Macros_the_Black

    Macros_the_Black Yup.. I'm a f-ing reptile

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    This looks promising! *subscribed*
     
  17. Idioteque

    Idioteque Telephasic Mongoose

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    Fantastic woodworking skills... keep those updates coming!
     
  18. x_JesusNinja_x

    x_JesusNinja_x What's a Dremel?

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    This on one of the lowest budget builds I have seen in a long time; good start!
     
  19. B4TM4N

    B4TM4N Ninja

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    Wow this looksd really really good!
    I love scratch wood builds!
     
  20. tame

    tame What's a Dremel?

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    Managed to do it even without breaking anything. That's a big success. Now it just needs some sanding.
    The cheapest solid-state drive would nearly double the cost of my computer. That's why I was planning to use a CompactFlash card, but as mentioned above, the motherboard refused to correctly recognize it.

    Only 60% of the budget is spent as the current cost of "Filmiarvuti" is approximately 600 Estonian kroons. That's about £35 and I'm pretty sure no additional parts will be needed.

    By the way, the name of this build means "Movie computer" in Estonian. Quite original, I know. :D
     

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