Thanks guys. Yes, Alain-s is doing a similar grill on his Bel-Air case. He is integrating it more into the stock front panel which looks awesome under the sliding door, whereas mine is replacing the front panel altogether.
How strong are the parts you make with the foam and bondo ? Just wondering as I might have a go myself Crackin build BTW
The fiberglass parts I make from the foam and bondo forms are very strong and lightweight. Should be able to withstand several years of extreme gaming abuse.
Thanks ziza. Here is the next update... More Grill progress... Made my own metal spacers from 5/16" stainless steel tubing. I took this shot before I deburred the ends. And I got the top ends of the bars rounded. This was kinda tricky since they are offset, and I needed to have the all curves end in a straight line so it will mate up with the top faceplate. Here's a couple shots of the grill on the case.. And an over-all wide shot. Hoping to have a productive weekend, as the weather should be very nice. Cheers!
If you put as much effort into the rest of this build and finish as you have so far, this could be the next MDPC....... Fantastic.
Well the weather did hold last weekend, but of course I got called into work on Saturday, robbing me of most of my modding time. But I did manage to get some work done on the front bezel. I started with a piece of 1/4" acrylic, mapping out the item placement. Here is what I'll be mounting in the bezel: 7" lcd touch screen, Lamptron Touch fan controller, a hot-swap 2.5" drive bay, a pair of USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports, and finally an ignition keyswitch in the lower center (not shown). Once I got things where I wanted, I began cutting out the holes, then filing down to a nice snug fit. I found one of these all-in-one units lying around (big mistake on its part!) and thought I could utilize it in some fashion. But I only wanted the 2.5" hdd bay. So it got extracted from the rest. It will get mounted just underneath the Lamptron fan controller. Here is a shot of the bezel after fitting the USB ports. I haven't purchased it yet, but I'm thinking something along the lines of this for the Ignition switch. It has four detents: Off, Acc, On, and Start (momentary). I can use the Acc to turn on fans, or the pumps prior to firing up the computer. Hoping to get mounting brackets made tonight, and possibly some finish work.
Looks great but why not try a start bottom Think that it will look great with the other chromed parts and the collor of the case.
Thanks alain, I thought about the ignition start buttons, but thought they were too similar to the standard case power buttons. Having an old-school key switch is more befitting the hotrod theme, and allows for more functionality with the extra positions.
+1 for the Engine Start button. Is there enough room for both a key and the button? That would look awesome.
Amazing job on the grill, the project is looking great and I love your creativity. I look forward to seeing more updates.