Scratch Build – In Progress Lean and Green - 15-12-14 - as complete as it's going to get

I haven't been on here as much as in the recent past as my modding has pretty much come to a halt thanks to my car wreck earlier this year. Hopefully I'll be able to get back at it in the near future. I wasn't aware of the issue with people using the star ratings to try to assassinate threads/logs. Some people are just so petty and stupid. I personally never did pay the star ratings any attention myself. Wayne, you're doing awesome work on this build. Just keep it coming.

I've never modded for competitions myself. I just mod because I enjoy doing so. Getting a few accolades along the way is very nice to be sure, but in my case, if I got myself wrapped up in trying to compete, I'd fail anyway since my kind of mods will never be uber-popular anyway.

 

+1 never did see forum ratings as anything more than a popularity contest. I dont think popularity is indicative of ability or design vision. Personally love your mod and the fact your could even design it let alone hand cut and file or the parts with such presicion still astounds me

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

I'm not meaning to be rude but I'm 2 pages off topic now so need to get this back on track, I'll reply to further comments.

I lost the plot a bit back there also, had to be quite wired to get it done ready for the deadline, no chance now but that's not a bad thing, lets me get it done a lot better now.

Good to see you though voigts & look forward to you getting your mod on when you can & let me tell you I think you really underrate your project, Quintessence is gorgeous inside & out, can't imagine anyone not liking it.

Where it was since last session but now with the 3rd revision of the HDD covers & they fit in there nicely, I also had to drill the 3mm holes a bit closer to the edge so the rods could fit in.


The 5mm & 10mm rods with grub screws in for the tapped rods above.


View from underneath where they are countersunk screwed in & the 3mm holes I drilled straight through & extended them more outwards so they'll fit in.


How it is now with all the rods in place, this all needs a heck of a cleaning up by light filing & sanding to make it look a lot nicer, it'll get there.


Right here I noticed how the light caught the dual layer side panels creating a sweet contrast so thought I'd take a shot, bit like a preview of the intended look of what the contrasts will look like when everything gets anodised but not this colour.


I'm still wishing I put all the mounting points in on the design phase before I got on with making this but once I'm past this HTPC & stand everything else should be far more straight forward.

Some more shots.






Other news.
Been wanting to make my dad a nice xbmc for quite a while & was browsing around fleabay for a cheap mini-ITX mobo & seen an Asus E35M1-I Deluxe same as the one I'm using on mine but 2nd hand for £68, owner had it since August, took the memory out of my current rig & put it in, tested & it's all good, then I finally installed the Samsung memory I bought a bit ago into my current rig, it's 10mm lower than normal low profile memory, low voltage & highly overclockable, no heat sink & a black PCB, got it running at 2133mhz 10,10,10,28 @1.45v, really nice memory & will be nicer still when I take the stickers off.

 

Aw, I wanted to see you polishing your fingers to the bone on all those parts

I've never taken any notice of the star system here and my build is not even on the same planet as yours but already it's been demoted and it only reached 4 stars, I for one voted to remove the star system

I got less stars than you, na, na, na, na na

 

Nice! Looks great Waynio. Good to see you back on track

 

Sandblast 'n anodize. Getting it over with quickly and painless.

Just saying.

 

I just can´t get enough of that fan Waynio, it´s one hell of an eye catcher! I really like the raw alu aswell. But I guess anodizing it will look just as good...

 

Sweet build man! I'm really glad you're back! Now, keep coming with updates!!!!

 

I'll be polishing some parts.
I never used to neither but it's something I only recently started taking notice of & probably because of thinking BS about low rated awesomeness.
Personally if someone is having a good go at making something & they don't ignore comments & generally just a good contributor I give 5 but never anything less, if it's someone being a bleep I just ignore or try to anyway, modding forums to me are possibly the best of the interwebs so it sucks to have a tiny minority trying to put a crapper on it so I get defensive about it, bit-tech has been, is & will be an international modding mecca & trolls or frustrated modders should be enlightened instead of pouring napalm on them.

But I do dislike stupid petty flame wars, so childish, I like creation, not destruction.

Would be for best I think if they ditched the rating system especially after seeing project get 1 star as soon as they post, very clear sign of hating that.

Good to see you posting some awesomeness too beta, impressive I want gas struts now.

Thanks Mosquito the Hercules vid you posted made me LMAO.

I might think serious about getting a sand blaster, would save a lot of work but I'll be sure to test first like the warning AngelOD said about a while ago about it potentially warping panels.

Thanks Quizz, the actual fan blades will be left as they are, it's just everything else except for some bits I'll be polishing, some bits with extreme difficulty I imagine.

Thanks phinix, leaving here would be daft just because of a tiny minority I'll get onto making some progress now.

 

Made a hiccup when extending the holes for the 3mm rods on my last session, I simply drilled too close so left the outer edge is a bit knackered on the top & bottom panels, I'll re make the affected panels moving them further in by 0.5mm so might need to get more 3mm aluminium, not sure yet.


Showing the 3rd revision of the hdd cover pieces a bit clearer, still unsure about filing the 2 layers above to be the same or to bevel to the 3rd layer.






Marked & drilled the first 2 mount points on the stand cover which makes the whole look more together.


Then held the cover in place & poked a sharpie marker through onto the acrylic.


Drilled & bunged brass inserts in.


Testing & getting more marker points added.




Decided to use the top mount points to share the way it mounts to the stand so it's screwed in on both sides, had to shorten 3 screws by about 3mm.


To get the accurate marking of the upper mounts I just squeezed the assembly together & drilled through the brass insert on the drill press with a 2mm bit & then took apart & used a 3mm bit.


Put it together & it was nice & solid piece ready to install.




One tiny problem though, the custom fan pass through hole on the cover is I'd say about 1mm too low so it won't let me slide the HTPC in/out so it needs some careful filing so it will allow it to slide in/out, going to be difficult making sure it doesn't produce a significant gap spoiling the look.

I think it looks so much better with the covers, enjoy the shots.














I'll fix any of the mentioned issues in this update on my next session.

 

Looking damn fine, and im sure you will be able to fix the little issue with the rods!! That top faceplate really came out nice! me likey!!

 

Unreal. Great work.

How much does it weigh in at right now?

 

Sorry but omfg

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

If you have enough space for struts and want to try them I bought my struts on ebay only £8.00, I found the 50Newton strut was powerful enough to lift the top panel on my case but I needed the 80N for the side panel, also be aware that these struts don't damp over their full travel, initially they push/spring for about 60-70% of their travel and only damp over the last part of their travel, so a door/panel initially springs open and then slows as it reaches max opening.

There's also "Struts Direct" they have a much bigger selection but are more expensive.

Thanks for your comments Waynio, appreciated

 

That looks so awesome. Splendid work as always
Lets hope those other parts are a quick fix...

 

I pay no attention to the star ratings in project logs, I have no skills as far as stuff like this goes, but I do appreciate a nice piece of art such as this.

It looks cool

 

Thanks Squigly

Thanks KrunchR I really don't know what it weighs, it is getting heavier though, good thing it separates into 4 pieces, the HTPC, the stand, the gaming rig, the pedestal, & with haviung no deadline to contend with now maybe a test bench too.

Cheers bluc

Thanks for the info Shiny, think I'll stick with plugs though, I know I'll will be able to do that without worrying about space.

Thanks Sarakon it's actually just 1 panel after re examining it, I'll just trace around it, should be a quick part to make.

I need to re tune my thinking into ignoring the ratings on here else it will always wind me up.
Would be perfect if ratings were only available once a project is completed, couldn't demotivate at all then.
Thanks Rich.

Changed my avatar to a crazy Kermit freaking out in the snow.

 

Was looking for a christmassy avatar, couldn't be bothered making one this year, seen this one & thought, yep that's good & crazy.

But I found another I quite like.

 

i have to admit; when i first started reading this log i stopped for a while due to my admitted prejudice against non form-factor cases, then i started agian and fell in love with it when i saw all that brushed aluminum gorgeousness... and it looks better IRL... much better.