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Scratch Build – In Progress ProtoHype - (paused)

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by The_Gnu, 13 Aug 2009.

  1. The_Gnu

    The_Gnu 8-bit addict

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    Totally agree.. :)

    Hehe.. thanks. Nice to hear you took time to read it more than once. Genius... I don't know, but patience and a vision.. yes :)
     
  2. The_Gnu

    The_Gnu 8-bit addict

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    The work continues.

    Next up was the mountingholes on the underside of the rods. Drilled and taped with M4.
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    This is how i solved the issue with the mounting holes on the corner pieces ending up on an edge making it impossible to drill with a normal drill. Had to countersunk the hole (left)with a normal endmill before I could use the drill.
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    I had to moddify the screws a bit since they were a little bit to long and this was faster than hunting for new ones.
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    TADA
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    Next up is the sanding proceedure. To have some guidens while sanding I painted the whole piece with a black permanent marker pen. The desired radius is the smallest one, the one that is created by the inner/lowest corners in each step. When sanding, the black marker paint will stay in these corners and create black lines that get smaller and smaller the further you sand. When the lines dissapear, you have the correct radius. It's pretty hard to see from this angle with all the reflection but all the rods are pinted black
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    This is just a test sanding and I started sanding using a vibrating mous or whatever you wanna call them. The process is kind of slow and I suppose a file would have been a greate beginning, but I didn't have one at the moment. Will try that next time.
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    '
    Here you can see the black lines are getting thinner and thinner the closer you get to the finished shape.
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    This last photo shows why I have waited to cut the rods to the exact length. You always get some kind of chamfer on the edges when sanding. By cutting the exact length after the sanding I will have straight edges aswell.
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    Still a lot of sanding to do but, I guess you get the idea.
    Thanks for watching :thumb:
     
  3. Combatus

    Combatus Bit-tech Modding + hardware reviews Lover of bit-tech Super Moderator

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    Some awesome machining and shiny bits there! :thumb:
     
  4. Nutman

    Nutman Never stuck with stock

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    You clearly know what you're doing and it's a delight to read about it, too.
     
  5. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    :thumb: Leaving the excess on the edges until the sanding is done. The other way would be to use a larger, un-padded sanding block, but that would be torture.
     
  6. p0Pe

    p0Pe gief cake?

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    I would never have thought of painting the black lines there xD
    Now, post more stuff!
     
  7. The_Gnu

    The_Gnu 8-bit addict

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    Thanks, glad you like it :)

    Thanks, everything isn't clear from the start though. There have been some ups and downs and I often learn something new from each part fabricated, but I like it that way.

    Yeah thats a way to do it, I still think I will experience some torture though with all the sanding.
    I'll just hope I don't screw up the sanding while cutting the excess.

    Well, now you would :)
     
  8. The_Gnu

    The_Gnu 8-bit addict

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    Woohoo.. Im updating like never before:)
    While the parts are waiting for me to sand them , I took some time to mill some more in the top piece. Since there will be 3 x 120mm fans under the top they need as much space as possible for the air to flow freely. Therefore I milled away some om the excess material.


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    Here you can see why I need to remove some material. It is blocking to much of the fan.
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    Here it is again, after the milling is done there is a lot mor space for the air to cirkulate. Though the fans won't bee as close to the alu, as in the pic, in the final mounting.
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    Thats it for today. Nut much but It was a quicky in the workshop.
     
  9. Nutman

    Nutman Never stuck with stock

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    Nice detail making room for more air there!
     
  10. Dark~3nergy

    Dark~3nergy what was dat sandvich ?

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    awesome design you've got there ! and even more awesome build quality !

    I like what you did to mount the fans, great idea :thumb:
     
  11. The_Gnu

    The_Gnu 8-bit addict

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    Thanks, hopefully there is enough room :)

    Thanks, always feels good to hear when someone likes the design :thumb:
     
  12. bulldogjeff

    bulldogjeff The modding head is firmly back on.

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    I've been watching this one for a while, there's some amazing metal work going on, love it..keep the updates coming.
     
  13. The_Gnu

    The_Gnu 8-bit addict

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    Thanks, I'm trying to focus on smaller and more regular updates rather than large and rare ones.
     
  14. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    I like that.:D You are less likely to pass over something too.
     
  15. Silent_Raider

    Silent_Raider What's a Dremel?

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    The work on this project is absolutely amazing. After seeing what is possible when you design and create your own PC case, I'm inspired to try it myself :D

    I know this part is a little late in the thread, but I've been reading every post trying to catch up.

    I used to work for a Corrosion Protection company and this is the method that is used on most major oil and water pipelines to prevent them from corroding. Without any protection, the aluminum blocks will dissolve to bind with the copper. You need to use a metal with a lower potential that will dissolve instead. Zinc is ideal for this. There is a basic explanation of galvanic protection here.

    Also (again late to be posting about this) for your dilemma about the stand, what about an aluminum frame (matching your case design) that has 8 anchor points that are attached to your case via high tensile and clear fishing line. This would give the case the appearance of floating between the anchor points. maybe something like this:

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    I know it's not much of a drawing (still learning SketchUp), but I hope it shows the basic idea. You could even make the anchor points on the frame look like magnets or repulsorlifts.

    Anyway, keep up the great work. I'm looking forward to seeing the frame come together :D
     
  16. Nutman

    Nutman Never stuck with stock

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    Wouldn't it be hard to find fishing line that could, over time and wear, sustain the case in it's place? I do realize that you can get some pretty heavy duty fishing line, but it will most likely depend on how you tie the knots on that line.
    That being said, it's a very interesting idea!
     
  17. xXSebaSXx

    xXSebaSXx Minimodder

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    Let me first state the obvious and congratulate you on a magnificent mod. I only hope to one day get to this level of skill.

    As for the fishing line suggestion... That would look awesome. And if I had a guess on the appropriate knot to tie the line down, I'd have to go with a Blood Knot (linky).

    I may be wrong, but I would say that going with guitar string would be a better alternative. If you go for say the G string of a Bass guitar, those things can handle upwards of 50lbs of tension. And lets assume that this cube will end up weighing around 25lbs; that would mean only about 6.5lbs of tension on each of the 4 strings at the top (weight bearing strings). Heck... If you want to go all out, just do piano string; you'll never have to worry about one of those breaking.
    I would fix the guitar string to the inside of each corner of the cube and then fashion a tightening system on each corner of the frame. That way you could adjust the position of the cube inside the frame without even removing it from it.
     
    Last edited: 24 Aug 2010
  18. Silent_Raider

    Silent_Raider What's a Dremel?

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    The knot would definitely be the most important part. Next would be the placement of the anchors. Guitar String should work as well... I think piano wire might be too thick though.

    I originally suggested fishing line because you can get pretty high test like this 80lb test line or you can get the almost invisible 25lb test. I think the invisibility factor is the important one here and with 4 25lb test lines attached, it should hold the case.

    Most importantly, I'm looking forward to the next update on the project :thumb:
     
  19. The_Gnu

    The_Gnu 8-bit addict

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    Wow, thanks for all your tips and ideas. Really nice to see that you read through the log and offered your posting virginity to me :) Welcome to the forums :thumb: Your experience in corrosion is really helpful. The zink method will probably be my second alternative incase my main plan doesn't work. The main plan is to have two separate loops one for copper and one for alu. The copperloop will cool the main parts like CPU and GPU and the alu loop will cool the HDD, RAM etc. Biggest problem now is to find a dealer for the right dimension of the copper I need.

    Regarding the foot It's not att all late since Im actually in the process of desiding the design of the foot. So far I've only been making some foam modells. I really like your Idea and nice of you to illustrate it in sketshup aswell. It would be really cool to make it floating like that, never thought of doing it that way. However I'm abit against the fact that the hanging frame will probably take up a lot of space, but maybe it's possible to change the shape of the frame. I will definetly give it a try and see what I can figure out.

    Btw, I really think you should give the casebuilding a try, you learn alot :)

    Definetly got a point there. Don't think the stretching would be that bad but the knots might.

    Thanks for the nice comment and thanks fo the tip about the guitar strings. It's not the first thing that pops up in my mind but it might work. I will have to look that up if I decide to try this hanging method.

    Thats seem to be some nice lines.. I did some work at university this spring investigating strong and thin lines. One of which was a 3mm line that could lift a car :) Might have to go back and look further into that work.
     
  20. LooseNeutral

    LooseNeutral What's a Dremel?

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    Late to the party here, but glad to have found it. Great log and even greater build. Looking forward to more milling madness :D Sub'd
     

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