This I really doubt I'd be doing what I'm doing without seeing what he manages to do . Blows me away with such awesome metal work with every update . Takes a good bit of patience & experience to not go crazy & over do it with the elbow polish & just take your time getting it spot on, think I'm too irratic & wanting to get so much done in such a time rather than just letting it be done when it's done, I'll have to take a leaf out of your book or a branch .
Love your metal skills as always and good to see that you're back on your feet. But, I have a challenge for you: I think that you use too thick material - thinner aluminium would hold up just as good, but might require you to put the case together slightly different - how about that for a challenge next time?
hmmmmmm looking good Attila, very nice work on filing down such heavy alu sheet, keep up the good work mate
Thank you, and I am feeling much better. Thanks a lot mate. I would love to have a mill but as you know, it's possible to make just about anything without one. Thanks. Thanks mate, yep I'm hoping this will be very clean all around. Thanks Wayne. Thanks. I really don't understand your concern with the thickness of the material I'm using here. I can make nice shapes with thicker stuff, and it can be joined nicely with screws everywhere. It's not heavy although it can be a little more difficult to work with. As for the 'challenge' of using thinner material. CX1 and before was nearly all 1.6mm sheet and angle, been there, done that. Different cases, different methods, different materials. Thanks mate.
Glad you're back in the modding seat Attila, and the resulting framework is looking good! Looking forward to seeing it all come together.
Thanks mate. Thanks, and welcome to bit-tech. I started to think about the rear door(s) and realised that the door will be too big to fit in my mini rolling machine. So, I figured the door will just have to be made in two parts and joined with something cool looking later. The optimal material for this is 1.6mm sheet. After I finished drawing up all the vents, it seemed like a good idea to start by making them rounded and if this didn't look any good, then they can be squared off later. I dont know if I've shown this before, but to 'de-burr' the edges, one of these tools is very handy. And that was quick and painless. Now a test run with some scrap in the mini roller so it's set up just right. But before the panels get rolled, I need to work out which orientation looks the best. That's quite amusing, the first one looks serious and the second like 'meh'. Anyway, after they are rolled. And with some mesh. Now you have to imagine this polished to a mirror finish with substantial body work around it. But all is not good. Here's what actually happened. No matter how many times I ran these parts through the rollers I could not get a decent curve, worse still, the edges became very distorted (second pic) these need to be dead straight to sit nicely on the frame. After scratching my head for a while, it seems that the vent cut outs created areas of less material and hence, less tension. When rolled, some areas behaved very differently than others. The test piece was perfect, but this is because the material was uniform. So I guess what has to be done is that the parts need to be rolled before the vents are cut. This presents other problems but the whole idea of 'two halfs' is not very elegent so I need to find a way of making this with one piece. The other thing is the size of the vents. I like the way this 'potentially' looks but there is not enough room down one side for the hinges to fit. So a slight re-design is called for. Err., I'll get back to you.
you should encase the metal skeleton in clear acrylic outer shell. that would look awesome and ultra contemporary. just my 2 cents.
I like the skeleton but I'm still not sure what look you're going for here. If you have to redesign what if you interlace the chevrons like a zipper so you have more room on the edges? The current mock up seems...unworthy to be next to the skeleton.
Well, I was just concerned about the weight, that's all. Seems a tad too thick, but it's not like I hate how it looks, hehe. Actually, I never read the CX1 worklog. Might have a look at that during my vacation.
It's slightly weird going back to thin material after chunky alu eh so easy to cut & file, but not too easy with a jigsaw, I should definitely get 1 of those de-burring tools, can be a bit of a PITA removing all that. I seen that too, like mean face & sad face loving the look though with the mesh . Because you are restricted to the thickness of what you can roll I guess rolling 2 sheets together isn't an option so I think a scroll saw should manage cutting the ready curved piece nicely mate, should be able to get a cheap one that's capable, just don't over tighten the tension like I did with my cheap one, made mine last for a very short time & then realised how awesome they are so got a beast of one be very interesting to see what you'd do with such a tool .
Thanks, yes, that is an option. No, my little rolling machine is at its limits with about 2mm being fed in. Thanks but I've already done the clear shell thing with my last build. Yes the final design will be different and I don't expect anyone to 'get it' yet. Thanks, but it wont be too heavy. Certainly not as heavy as CX1. Thanks Wayne, yeah I need to control myself when going back to the thin stuff, it files so quickly. Exactly! And thanks. Thanks b4oz. UPDATE I've cut a new piece for the back (one piece to cover the whole lot) and now I just have to find somewhere that can roll it for me.
WOW!! This case looks amazing... and its not even finished yet! really nice work and mostly by hand! Very nice! Gratz!
As soon as I saw this update I knew you were going to have problems. Back in the day the 'WMD' build involved the rolling of stainless steel sheet (of a greater thickness, and to a tighter radius). Because of the difficulty of cutting stainless the builder had the various holes and ports laser cut first - and the roller left gaping flat spots where the missing sections had been. I say roll, and then cut.
Yeah, better than searching around for a place to do it I think, a scroll saw would be able to cut it nicely when it's in it's curved form .
