No, murder, by definition, would be via "Housewives of *insert city here*". Death by PC Modding reality TV show would be considered an accidental overdose. Speaking of which we need another episode of modmen (http://modmenshow.com/).
Small update today... well for this morning, may be more later Attached the flange sides, the beauty of this is you dont need to havean exact shape, you use the join to guide your cut Finished with all flange sides added ready for first coat, as i am using plasticard for the main construction i am using a VERY thick application of satin PlastiKote clear over a matt black, not for the final finish but to provide me with a hard shell to work on top of
Whilst i wait for my joints to dry ive taken some spare time to make the replacement NZXT logo and AMD logo AMD logo done, a lot less tricky then i expected NZXT logo almost sorted, most of the letters turned out fine although i am on the 16th letter X All letters finished with a little plinth to place on DONE yay!!!! And yes those letters are 13mm high
Time to start working on the mould for the window surround, i willl be using a master blank to provide the shape for the finished surround, and will be casting the mould from silicone RTV or a lubricated alu box (setting resin can get up to 80C and will melt plastic) Final produce till be cast in Polyester resin Render of the Bezel i wil be making, caution will be the key here as the polyester resin can be brittle in the cross section i will be working in
Awesome, resin casting! Did I already subscribe? yup. Post more process pictures! (sits back and grabs the popcorn)
from here on the new log kicks in, the previous have been rather rushed now i have time to kick back and really present and... Hey.... why no supersize drink to go with it, thats just tight dude lol
Short update today and its all DOOOMMMMMMMMM Autodeck corrupted on me so waiting for the reinstall to find out if my files are safe Will update as soon as im reinstaled
Good news, my files are safe and undamaged, work on the mould for the bezel wil start today, hopefully have some pics up in the next 24hours
BIG update today With a huge influx of materials and some glorious free time ive managed to start on the blank to be made in to a mould for my resin window bezel, main blank fabrication is from 3mm plasticard, and wil be all hand cut and filed to prep for moulding, all joints will be made with polycement, it is quick cheap and effective for this material Once marked out i can start to score the lines to create a guide path for the scalpel All lines nice and deeply scored, the depth of each cut is now approx 2.5mm deep, the component can be snapped free after this point And behold the first piece of the mould blank, the most critical piece as this wil govern the placement of the rest of the structure and any reinforcing needed Cutting out the "rails" that i will split to make the sides and reinforcing butresses First few sides and supports added, due to the pressure of 24hours immersed in a very dense liquid such as Silicone this needs to be very strong to prevent warping f the flat surfaces Construction continues And now finialy, my new camera, say god bye to dodgy phone camera pics MY new Fuji all singing all dancing camera.. if this was any smarter it wold be a professor as Cambridge New Arrivals Hmmm i wonder what they could be, i shall use my jedi powers to detect the cargo... I predict the one on the right are fuel rods and the one on the left is a very angry Chinhilla Damn i was wrong.... And.... Yes the sweets did come with it, weird Lets take a closer look... Silicone RTV (Liquid silicone component) Catalyst component For this brand the mix is 1/10 catalyst to silicone, most have a ratio of 1/5 for the "salmon" catalysts. This is a clear catalyst mix better suited to exposure to Polyester resin Class is shore A (20), i very resiliant silicone mix with high thermal resistance and strength, not as elastic as some classes its tearing ratio is 400% elongation And now the cathodes.... Whats in the box 4 UV CCFLs 2 twin inverters On/off rocker switches and cable bundle (ugly and will be replaced and sleeved) Assorted sticky bits UUUUU purdy (chair not included)
I'm glad you're going through this process. I might have to do some resin casting in a 2 and 3 part molds.
@ MNPCtech thanks dude @ Monkeyfun, the bezel is a one piece negative mould, i will be using a 2 piece later in the build
Finishing the mould, had a good bit of time to work today so ive finished the blank and set up the mould walls to retain the Silicone RTV My two best friends polycement and a scalpel Blank finished with all the reinforcing in place, and poly is set Lets break out the sander.... MORE POWER!!!! After some brief but interesting sanding where my pet Staffordshire Bull terier tried to eat the mouse sander i finialy got the edges nice and crisp and the bottom level all ready to glue to the sheet that will form the base of my mould Crisp, clean.... and erm.... dusty Brushed off the dust and debris and glued the blank to the mould floor Lots of spare plasticard cut in to strips to form the mould wall Mould all done all ready for the RTV to go in
Time to mould Everything you need to make the mould Pictured above, all the things you need to finish one single part mould Spatula Silicone RTV Catalyst Blank Mould box Mixing vessel.... (my wife's fave cake tin) Rice As this is not a regular shape mould it is hard to work out the volume do you dont over or under mix a quantity of silicone Fill your mould with rice until you have the blank covered to a depth that you feel you want for mould Pour off the spare rice and empty the mould in to your mixing vessel, then mark the level the rice comes to as your "max fill" level Although you may think that another approach would be to weight the rice for maximum accuracy but DONT, Silicone RTV is far more dense that rice and you will not get the same volume Place your mixing vessel on some weighing scales and make sure you zero the reading... pour in the Silicone to the fill line.... make a note of the weight As this is a 1-10 mix catalyst you need 1/10 (BY WEIGHT) so from the note you made on the scales work out a tenth and pour in the catalyst until you reach that weight NOTE - The catalyst that comes with this brand of RTV is clear, i have tinted it with silicone dye for photographic use and to better illustrate a good mixture And now we are ready to pour, do it slowly and try to avoid moving the pour stream around to much in the early stage as you will trap air bubbles Pouring done, let it settle and check after an hour to see if the surface if free of bubbles, if it is not pop them, remember this will become the bottom of the finished mould and must be perfectly flat
Time to demould One of the good ways to see if your silicone is ready to remove from the mould is to look at the surface it will lok tight and will have lost most of the shine it had as a liquid Another popular but less scientific method would be "prod it a bit" As with most materials set with a catalyst the thicker areas set first so to be 100% sure that it has set pull away one side of the mould to release the seal if its to soft push the side back and wait another 3 hours Start taking the sides off our mold, NEVER try to take it out like a jelly mould, the suction from the material will more then likely destroy your blank and mould block before it becomes free Starting at one edge peel the mould off the blank, this way you break the suction as you go TADAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Little bit of flashing around the mould edges, very easy to trim off
