Scratch Build – In Progress Ash stealth mediacenter. Small PC hardwareupdate 13/6-10

I know the feeling too well! I usually just pick whatever it is up and shake it vigorously, and if nothing drops off or rattles about inside I just chuck the screws away.

 

LOL
I checked em, they work!
Im not throwing anything away thou. You knewer know when you need a screw like those.
Thats why my basement is filled up with all sort of crap. Thou some of it come in handy now and then

Besides, any of the soundcard advises made any sence to you?
Im sure a DAC is what i need. Now i just need to find a proper soundcard.
Dont hold back your knowledge !!

Ash stealth mediacenter teaser1:

 

Very nice - my father is also a cabinet maker and has several of those Japanese saws that cut on the pull.

I can see from your dovetail joints that you are very skilled. Looking forward to the end result

 

You have alot of tools

everything but the kitchen sink

 

Im not that skilled, compared to the cabinet builders that teached me back in the days.
But ive learned from the best in Denmark. Sorry to say we are a dying race.
I still have so much to learn, but its hard to find good teachers when it comes to all handmade wooden craftmenship.
Thats another reason why i make logs the way i do. Im hoping for people to get involved, doing stuff by hands themselve, keeping these skills alive. Im simply in love with woodwork.

Ask as many questions as you want. Ill be happy to tell how i get things done if you are unsure of any of the processes.

Oh, thats what they are called !


Im having problems with a lot of the english terms for the machines im using.
Might just post a whole album of machines and tools for all you to name for me

 

That can be arranged I'm sure! The good thing about forums like this is how easy it is to pick up names of things and terms. You learn as you go

 

Sweet, im gonna post in the modding forum when i get home from work. Starting a thread of tools\machines names for foreign modders. It could come in handy for other foreigners also im sure.

 

Og endnu en dansker blandt mængden.

Excellent build, i know who to call next time the missus wants one of those mad arse bookcabinets, you got skills to spill!

 

Nice

Which reminds me, I'm pretty sure there's a thread around already with names of tools in. I'll try find it.

Edit: Ah here we go! http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=167012
Should give you a head start

 

Hey. Viildt mange Danskere herinde syntes jeg efterh[nden. Rigtigt nice at se

Hehe. Those Mogens Koch cabinets costs a fortune for real.

Ohhh, very nice indeed. Thats really gonna be helpful to me.
Once again thanks for all your help and support

 

Very glad I could help!

 

Is that a Linex t-ruler made in Denmark? Very handy.

Nice work.

 

You can never have enough clamps, or tools.

 

Sorry, didnt se you there at first. Probably still had can paint in my face and eyes from those paint jobs.
No carpenter is better than the tools he have at hand. Guess it goes for all craftmanships.
But youre right. All the machines is my bosses. But i myself have way more tools than nessecary. And at least two of each. Never know when one breaks down

Whats wrong with my kitchen sink ?

Hehe, god couldnt have said it better !

Thanks
Indeed its a Linex. And its for sure very handy. Thou they tend to brek to easy




Also having browsed all HDDs for the pictures i still cant find anywhere for the build i found these from my first casemod. Thought it wuld be fun to post since i guess none of you have seen it before. Anyway these 2 pictures are not more than some six years old thou the build itself is som 12/13 years old:




Edit: Found a third pic.


Next time i go to my basement im gonna hunt down some old CDs where all my mods is on and post them if you would like me to

Thanks once again for all the respond and thumbs up. Feel free to ask whatever question at all times. Ill love to answer all questions.
Remember there is no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid answers

 

Oooh gorgeous! Glossy wood loveliness, that's superb

 

Thanks Azayles

I "repaired" the headphones with cabinetmakers wax today. I just couldnt look at them knowing that that piece of vener had broken of. This is temporary. Im still gonna put all new vener on it when i feel like it.
You can still see the part where the vener broke of on some of these pictures, its just not as noticable as before, and its mostly due to lightning from the camera. I cant se it when i look at it irl, from the right angle that is.
So anyway, this is how it turned out.








What it looked like before:




Also im thinking of adding half a log while i can still remember why i took the pictures i did for "Cabinets for the electronics- part2":



I had a major blowback last week when i started to cut up some wood i ordered some 3weeks ago.
It was supposed to be "best quality". But it had some 70 % "splint" ( Is what we call it in Danish ).


The 3 sides of this piece of the furniture was supposed to be same color as the middle square piece. The diffrence in color didnt show that much till i started to cut the lenghts having the square piece close to the edge pieces.


Jinxed wood.


Having cutted up the wood there really wasnt that many signs of splint except the left piece. But if it was only that piece it would have been acceptable.
Now i have returned the wood yesterday, and will probably have to wait some 14days before i get new materials to work with.

 

Ash stealth mediacenter: Cabinets for the electronics-Part 2:

Continued from: Cabinets for the electronics-Part1




Also im adding half a log while i can still remember why i took the pictures i did for "Cabinets for the electronics- part2":
I had a major blowback last week when i started to cut up some wood i ordered some 3weeks ago.
It was supposed to be "best quality". But it had some 70 % "toxic" miscoloring the wood.
Having cutted up the wood there really wasnt that many signs of toxics.
Now i have returned the wood yesterday, and will probably have to wait some 14days before i get new materials to work with.

Materials used:
Ash raw wood
Ash veneer
MDF boards
Carpenters white wood glue
Veneer tape
Grinding paper - 80, 100, 120, 180, 240
News papers

Tools used:
Japanese razor saws
Chissels
Planer
Blocks for preasure
Fish tool
Clamps
brush for glue
Glue roller
Thicknesser
Planer
Router
Table saw
vener presser

The vener presser:


So its time to glue the vener onto the prepared MDF boards.
Pictures of the process itself will be a bit sloppy since the process have to go very fast when i started gluing, leaving only little time to get the shots.




Starting by heating the venerpresser up to 70 degrees celcius both top and buttom im preparing the diffrent pieces of vener with their respectable MDF counterpart to be able to do this fast and smooth when starting to apply vener.
This is both because the vener will start to bend in on itself, also because that the glue will start to dry offcourse.


Im using this glue roller to add the glue onto the MDF boards. It puts smoother layers onto an surface, and also does the job much quicker than when using a brush.




Having added glue onto one side im putting the MDF surface onto the vener.


Now i can glue the other side.
The second you start to add glue, all that have to go in the gluepresser will have to be done rapidly or you might end up with unusable results.



Having applied glue to the first parts of the MDFBoards, im opening up the glue presser adding papers in the buttom.
Reason for this is that the glue can "run through" the vener onto the gluepressers surface, well bet you can imagine what will happen then.


In goes the first part of the MDF boards.


After only seven minutes the boards are ready.
This process is rather easy if you have no problem with having to stress to get the processes done with quickly.

Removing left over vener:

Next its time to remove the leftover vener.
Im using a router for this process. The tool in the router has a wheel that prevents the blades from cutting into the MDF itself, cutting only the leftover vener from the boards.
However running the router to fast around the edges can make the vener break of the MDF itself. So taking it slow is the keyword here.
Besides that its a pretty easy task.




This process leaves a mess. But hey, thats also what its all about. Think of the ugly duckling.


So with this process done, im finally feeling like im getting somwhere.


Time to cut up some real wood to play with:


Im using a table saw to cut up these lumbs of timber. This is not normally how one should do it. This can be very dangerous.
The arrow shows where my pencil line is located that i want to cut, since its barely visible.
The processes here, is also how i made the lengths that i used to glue onto the edges of the MDF boards before venering them in, Cabinets for the electronics part1.

So starting by taking of one side of the timber, to get a somewhat smooth surface, im then taking it to the planer to get a true surface to cut from.


Just to show you what it looks like.


I need pieces with a final width of 45mm, so im cutting the timber some 48mm to have a buffer since it still needs to go to both the planer and thicknesser afterwards.


What the thichnesser looks like.


Having cutted the timber raw, im just setting up the fence on the tablesaw to the next dimension of 19mm to do the process all over again till i end up with the dimensions i need.




Done.


Next up, its time to adjust all the lenghts to the edges of my MDF boards.





And then i found out that the wood had a lot of toxics in it, as described in the post above. Now i will have to wait at least another week to get more materials for the cabinets.
This sucks a lot since This post was supposed to have revealed the first setup of the cabinets, to give you an idea of what the hell it is im doing here.

Also i wanted to have done a presetup before starting the part of the log that this is all about.
The Ash Stealth Mediacenter:









So thats probably gonna be my next log. Getting started on showing you the processes ive done so far with the mediacenter itself. Its been a long ride so far, alomst logging for 2months. The process might not seem to be that much to you. Stuff takes time.

And its gonna be a lot more months before this whole project is over. Ive just taken the first step.

Eat your toast and drink your beers as usual.
I Shall return!

 

Im thinking that this hardware is kinda outdated. What do you think?
Now will be a good time for meto figure out if i need to change anything before i get much further with the build, mostly due to space issues and the stealth im gonna build all over the diffrent parts.

Hardware:
Motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3P

CPU:
Intel Core2 6300

Memory:
2x1GB OCZ PC2 6400 dual CH

GPU:
2xAti radeon 1950pro running crossfire

Soundcard:
Onboard, i havent figured out which to purchase to get REAL hifi sound for my amplifier

HDD`s:
Samsung spinpoint 1000gb
Western digital 500gb
2xwestern digital 160gb running raid0

DVD:
2xPlextor PX-820A

Its not that i really need the PC to run faster, but im thinking that it might make sence to get a newer CPU. Is there anyone available that will use less power than the one i have in the system already and that will fit in the socket already on the motherboard?

Also the GPUs, any better choice out there that will use less power?

Its been a long time since i last looked up hardware, so im feeling kinda n00b not knowing what to look for.

And once again im gonna ask for choice of soundcard. Im spending a lot of money on a Highend HIFI system, but i still havent figured out how to get best sound posible from soundcard to DAC to amplifier.?

Thx in advance

 

Ash stealth mediacenter - Part1:

​

Hardware:
Motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3P

CPU:
Intel Core2 6300

Memory:
2x1GB OCZ PC2 6400 dual CH


GPU:
2xAti radeon 1950pro running crossfire

Soundcard
Onboard, i havent figured out which to purchase to get REAL hifi sound for my amplifier

HDD`s:
Samsung spinpoint 1000gb
Western digital 500gb
2xwestern digital 160gb running raid0

DVD`s:
2xPlextor PX-820A


Materials used:
MDFboards
Ash vener
Ash raw wood
1mm and 3mm aluminium for the front and some sides
2mm aluminium - diffrent profiles
3mm transparent acrylics
Contact glue
Carpenters white glue


Introduction and idea:
The cabinets im building consists of three individual elements hanging alongside each other on the wall.
The right one will have a top that is removable. This will hold every electronic that i can fit in there and that i wont need to get my hands on that often such as router, switch, power suppliers, DAC.
I might build the amplifier into this part also.
The middle section will hold power sockets, wires. and will also function as a "tube" to lead wires throughout all the room from the mediacenter to amplifer and LED TV and LCD monitor.
This section will be smaller than the rest having some free space against the wall for "backlightning and plants.
The left one is gonna be the one containing the mediacenter in what i will refer to as the drawer, since it will also have some space for external drives and usb devices.
Also it sort of is a drawer for easy acces to the PC itself.
All cabinets will be stealthed to look like shelfes for DVD, BlueRAY movies\ games. Well, some of the left cabinet will look like a mediacenter. But im gonna try to make it as anonymous as possible.


Top view.
This board i will be using as a model to build the mediacenter onto since i have a lot of angles and everything have to fit perfectly.



This is how the Playstation3 will be positioned.
When i found out that i could charge the dual shock controller from the PC`s USB ports, i no longer needed access to the PS3`s USB ports, so only part thats gonna be visible is the two buttons for BlueRay drive and powerbutton. Actually the whole front panel. Its looking very neat having this weird black \ chrome look to it.


Next to it the DVD drives will be placed. After some long thought on where to place em, both for look and for access i decided this was it. it sort of divides the front of the drawer into three parts, amking the whole look of it very symetric, which is another thing that ive been spending time on with the design. You will see when it all comes together. The cabinets, the TV`s and all the glass shelfes that will be part of this whole build also.


Th PSU will be placed somewhere around here. Still havent made up my mind completely because of the wires and i also need a closed cabinet to test for aircirculation.
This PSU is not the one im thinking of using for the build thou it does look much nicer and is cooled passivly.
The PSU i intend on using for the build is an enermax Liberty ELT500AWT.

Pic5 HDDs
The HDD tower is gonna be placed here.


Ontop of the PS3 and DVDs is where the motherboard is gonna be located. The distance from the front of the drawer to the motherboards connection panel makes room for all wires so they wont be visible from the outside, but pulling out the drawer will give you easy acces when needed.

Lets Begin.

Making of the basics-The template for the motherboard:


Cutting up the acrylic plate i used a jigsaw and japanese saws.



I did start by cutting up lenghts at work using the tablesaw.


I want to have a full edge of aluminium all around the acrylic board. All aluminium is gonna have vener glued onto it making it look like wood. If wood was trustable at 2mm thickness, i would have made it out of raw wood. Another reason why i use MDFboards and aluminium is due to the fact that wood reacts with heat making it dry and "fall apart" over the years.



Pic9 45degrrealuminium cutted
I want 45degrre cuts all around the template. I used a dremel and a file to take these steps.
Im not used to working with aluminium, so its try and error.





So with this done its time to attach them to the acrylic template. I drilled holes in both Aluminium and Acrylics using a 3.0mm drill for the aluminium and 4mm drill in the acrylic for adjustment possibilities . Then screwing it to hold from the back. The screws are gonna be flattened out using a file, so that when i glue the vener onto the aluminium, they wont be visible.












Now that its alled drilled and fastened to the acrylic template, i need the screws to be true with the surface of the aluminium profiles.








Having all the screws filed down, its time to once again pull out some vener and the contacct glue.


Im using the same method that i used in "Sennheiser mod - part1" to glue all the vener. Only thing that differs is that a stanley knife wont do it here. I need razor sharp schissels.
Fortunately i got some.








Time to vener the top of the aluminium lenghts.




Once again its time to use the chissels to remove leftover vener.


To cut the edges quickly a sharp chissel and a hammer will do the trick.


So done with this process, its once again time to reassamle the frame.
This still needs to be grinded and have varnish applied. Thats gonna be one of the last things to do since there is probably some 100 more pieces of wood that will need to be made for the mediacenter.
I might just as well grind and varnish all at the same time.








So with the frame ready, i got the angles needed to get the front done. That will be next log - part2 - of Ash stealth Mediacenter.

Front for the Ash stealth mediacenter- teasers and buildprogress:



​

Eat your toast and drink your beers.
I shall return !

 

Looks nice! Good idea to stealth all machines into one cabinet. It will very non-cluttered.
How will the veneer glued to the metal react? In terms of different expansion rates with changeing tempratuers I mean.