Scratch Build – In Progress Project Stealthlow - Completed - preview of project next

Wow, that HDD setup looks very nice.

 

Thanks mav .

I tried doing these simple angle connections 3 times now & still not happy with the results & 1 more muck up & I'll run out of spare angle bar, I think it's the low grade of the aluminium sheet, when I tapped the bars which is a high grade quality the taps were perfect & strong, not so with the sheet So I'm going to skip trying to tap them again & use adhesive, I'll be sure to run some strength tests before I do though . I'll buy the adhesive tomorrow along with materials for making some jigs.



It kind of looks fairly acceptable but really it's gotta be better than how it is, a big part of the design is easy maintenance & if kept like this it could be a slight PITA maintenance .

Also came across a sweet way of painting aluminium in Darth Beavis's new lan rig which I'll be doing & keep the metal visible like anodising & it's simply candy paint straight onto the aluminium & clear coated so this is what I'll be doing for finishing & can do a good colour coordination this way too.

 

Can I ever identify with trying to get things perfectly just how I want them and coming up short. It can be so frustrating when something as simple as a screw hole ends up just enough off to be a pain. What I've found is that I'll use the smallest bit I have (1/16" in my case) to drill an initial hole where I want, then follow with the size I want. The small drill hole helps keep the larger bit from wandering.

This is looking great so far. The hard drive mounts are coming out very nicely.

 

Can drive you a little crazy eh , I found putting the drill bit in as far as I can really helps hitting the bullseye, when I didn't have the drill bit in far they would bend a little when coming into contact with the aluminium.
So can only guess I didn't take enough care doing the marking so I need to slow down a bit & be more careful in the preperation, on my last attempt before using adhesive, I'm going to try the angle bars for the tapping as they are much higher grade quality than the sheet, so 1 more try with the screws on the hdd cage joints, I'll be as careful as possible & if they don't turn out right then hello to adhesive.

 

LOL I did a mock put together to remind myself it is progressing dispite the hold up on a couple of simple pieces , the corner square bars aren't to precise size just yet, was like making a tower of cards .







I'm hoping to make some real progress tomorrow to make up for the lack of it the past few days .

 

Lets go man!!

 

Just been waking up at the wrong time of day to make solid progress , I'll have to stay up all night so I can get a full day in on it, then I'll have a real update like the earlier progress .

 

Wow mate this is getting better and better! I love your machining skills just mod on matey!!

 

Those drive cages "Handy work" surely that was'nt by hand....?

Looked like cnc to me... !!

Wow

 

Thanks AnG3L, just looked at your case & we have near twin panels lol .

Thanks DP Measuring, marking, couple of drill holes, bit of sawing, good bit of filing & sanding , I aint got budget for CNC action & don't have a friend who operates one so I flip into robot mode instead & just go for it , it's a mission but I'll appreciate it all the more knowing I made it with normal tools , I'm the least busiest person I know so have the time for it too, but being considerate about noise levels at specific time slots is the main thing holding me back really.

So I've decided I'll stay up all night & day to make sure I can make some quality progress tomorrow & get my sleep pattern straight, I'll get started at 4 or 5am or as soon as I start feeling sleepy so I'll have to pick the quietest things to be done , then at about 8am I can move over to the noisier stuff that is if I can complete the quiet bits by then , so quiet things I could do, I suppose I could finish off the fan holders, just filing & sanding acrylic & sticking, I'll take a big fan over to waft the acrylic adhesive fumes well away from me this time though , wish I thought of that the first time .

When I sanded the fan frames to make them 0.5mm slimmer the fan blades catch on the acrylic circle cuts so I'll make bevels in the holes to prevent it from being a problem, then sand them all smooth & stick them together.

Only got 1 of the 2 hdd cages made so I'll complete the other also & is another task that is quiet.

Gonna be a big long day to make up for lost progress .

 

YAY! Everyone loves updates, especially when there's more of them!



Good work so far, you has some rep.

 

Well here it is, not a huge leap forward but it's progress Thanks djzic .

OK I stayed up all night so I could make some progress & managed to make some woo hoo .

Filed a bevel on each of the fan holder pieces that come into contact with the fan blades because of having to slim the fan frames down by 0.5mm, these pieces still need a good bit of filing & sanding on them, then sticking together.



Then slimmed down all the bars to precise size & done another mock fit.



Then added the angle bars to the 2nd hdd cage so the hdd cages have turned out quite acceptable to be honest.



Marked up the bottom panel & 2nd panel for fixing the square bars to the 2nd panel, but first I tried doing the tapping with power drill thinking I've done it before & was ok, well the tap snapped first try lol, had to cut another piece & get it to precise size, switched to doing the tapping manual & very careful, did ok for 2 of them, then another one snapped, cheap taps, then another, then went to try a new tap & found it was the wrong pitch size so the screws didn't screw all the way in properly lol, so I'm left with a 2 legged panel until I can get a new tap which I just ordered a few, cheap taps again because they were the only ebay seller that offered express delivery, it's the only sure way to get deliveries on ebay at this time of year.



The ones I tapped successfully are very good, solid & perfectly in place wooooo .



So not much done but any progress is progress + I'll have my sleep pattern fixed after today even if it is temporary .

 

Just ordered a couple of milling bits, 1 for doing small cutouts & 1 so I can use nut rivets with a flange mounted flush no I don't have a mill, just a drill press, there was 1 more thing I was completely unsure about how to do, the bar slots for the fan mounts on the motherboard tray, so I'll be sure to get some practice in on doing what I want to do before actually doing it .
It's a far fetched idea milling on a drill press but it might work I guess people who do milling will probably say nooooo idiot but I enjoy a bit of trial & error .

 

LOL. ok. you can do what you want. How about putting a jigsaw in a vice grip, and cut stuff like that?

 

Wouldn't work, the slots for the fan mounts are to be 3.2mm x 13mm, Monkey puzzle said he has used a dremel with a milling bit in & it did the job, so all I need do is experiment before I get to the point where it's ready to be done, just thinking way ahead so I don't have any significant hold ups .

 

Nice to keep a pace. we don't like waiting too long for updates. hehe. Well I'm the one to say that ey? look at how long CAGE has been sitting there.

I wish you good luck with you mad ideas.

 

Sleep pattern fixing while modding... niiiice.

 

Ah when you have more important things to do in life it's best to keep your priorities in order, I mucked up education wise & now scrape by to mod, doesn't bother me at all when a modder times out to get their life in order, all the best with your education Razer mate you'll get chance to do more on cage eventually . And thanks for the wish of luck, think I'll need a bit lol .

Nice eh , & just got a hair cut after not having it cut for about 4 months lol so don't look like a mad drummer anymore , was looking like an afro of some sort , spookily I was starting to get very comfortable with it & it kept my head warm while modding in the freeze lol .

Got the fan holder pieces all stuck together & is a very very strong bond & since they are all together now I decided I'm going to make it so I can slip any standard 120mm fan in these holders as originally intended, none of this sanding down a fan frame nonsense, imagine the hassle of a simple fan change lol, also they all need a hefty sanding session to make them all blend together, unsure if I'll go for a polished finish or frosted finish.

Also I took over my desk fan to waft the nasty fumes well away from me this time, only problem with using a fan in below 0c temperatures is my hands were getting frozen lol, but thats way better than feeling awful from fumes .







I'm thinking enermax apolish fans would look amazing in these holders especially if I frost the edges & would also serve as the power light so if I use a vandal switch which is highly likely because I just really like them I could use the LED bit as hdd activity, not bothering with reset switches anymore & for power light I'll just use case lighting from now & onwards .

My bro would like some quiet case fans so I think I'll give him the 3 sanded fans for christmas hehe .

 

Wow thats impressive :O you should go get a job in a machine shop i imagine you standing inbetween two cnc mills with a drill hacksaw and file

"Hmmmmmm should i mill or waynio it?"

 

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Awesome, the new taps came today & I didn't waste no time turning the 2 legged plate into the foundation base, so that's the first & second level fully attached & 2 of the square bars for the hdd platform, this is really starting to feel like good progress.







Done a couple of dummy fixes to show the hdd cages how they will be once fixed & with the front/top flat bars & front low piece loosely fitted, just couldn't be bothered doing more in the freeze today I'd end up naturally getting a cold .







Think I'll finish these off tomorrow.