Scratch Build – In Progress Fresh Meat: A Dota 2 Tribute [Updated 7/5/17]

Oh, Yeah! I love big -*ss switches.
4 LEDs in the corners of the aluminum and you're good to go.

 

Very kind words, thanks!

Didn't quite get to all four corners, but you gave me the idea of mounting in the aluminum instead of the plexi, thanks for the brain jolt there.


Off to finish up the power switch in this update before moving on with to the rest of the case. I finished off the plexi insert, buffing it up and putting a smoother and more consistent finish on it.




I plan to light this baby up, just testing the effect here.




Time to bust out the bread board!




Yeah, that'll work.




Had to jump back over and finish up the switch assembly. I had to file a notch into the switch.




The purpose of the notch is so the switch can rest on the aluminum plate and I can still utilize the mounting holes.




Laying out the switch notch here.




Need to clean that up a bit.




That's a go.




Everyone's favorite time, bracket time!




Presto-change-o, switch mounted.




Drilled out the LED mounting holes next, four in total.




I had to give the teal switch the sharpie treatment, you could see the blue through the plexi plate, can't let that slide.




That I can live with.




Setting up the LED array.




I'm digging it. Going to go all red LEDs with this build. As tempting as it is to go the RGB route, I think red will fit better overall and be less of a hastle.






As ever, thank you to my generous sponsors for helping me out with this build, I'm drawing ever closer to suiting this thing up for battle.

 

that lock is sooo nice

 

Never thought to use one of those switches. I've had so many appliances fail, only to find the culprit was one of those stupid switches. All those beefy-looking switches on your modern power tools?- connected to these wimpy things.

Switch looks as cool as I thought it would.

 

Thanks!

Yup, hoping this one won't crap out on me but hey, if it does, I know the guy that built the thing.

Hey everybody, back with an update. Ugh, boring housekeeping stuff this go around, but it's gotta get done to reach the end.

Test fitting the hardware here, looking at mounting options for getting the metal frame stuck to the wood and getting an overall view of the internals.




Up now on the gritty list, stripping down the stock case. Going for a bare metal look on much of the case, hence the paint stripping.




Blarggghhhhh.




Came out pretty decent, I'm going to clear coat to prevent rusting.




While I'm at it I'm going to hit the mesh panels as well being they're untreated.




Blasting everything with good ol' Rusto.




Everything came out pretty well, I couldn't resist throwing everything together.








I made a lid for the push button shroud as well, nothing too fancy.




Take a trip over to the hardware cabinet.




Good.




Testing out some wipe-on polyurethane too between paint scraping. I dig it.




Thanks as always to my wonderful sponsors!

 

that hardware cabinet
that brushed wood treatment

this is looking good

 

Never tried that stuff because I'm convinced it's just "watered down" urethane.

 

looking pretty good Stu

 

Looking awesome.

 

Thanks dude, I'm eeking out too

I'm only a green belt in skin eating chemical concotions, you'll have to forgive me

Thank you much Icelander!

Getting there Waynio.


Comparing the two test finishes here, I'm favoring the wipe on poly, the longer piece.




Time for something completely different. Ripping some stock for the chest lid now.




Cutting it down to spec on the miter box.




Hey, a picture frame! Top half of the lid complete.




Time to test out this bad boy.




Prepping, this will be for the bottom section of the lid.




First pass, looking good.




We're making dust fly tonight.




Time to hit the miter box again after all the shaping.




Coming together.




The stack-up.




Of course I gotta try it out. This won't be the final layout, but pretty close to it.




Thanks, as always, to my sponsors. Without their support, this build wouldn't be possible.

 

That's looking sweet noobas4urus, Grate work.

 

Looks awesome with the top pieces.

 

Looks pretty good, though. What more can you do to it? Add crenelations?
Looking like something you would bury the Pharaoh's mummified pet in.

 

You are doing a great work.

Is a pleasure to look at your worklog... very nice pics, detailed steps, tools overview and luckily the right amount of hw's pics

 

I'm lucky, I get to see this build in person!

 

Thank you kindly Zen!

Yes!

I must torture you and keep my plans secret

Thanks, there will be more hardware at some point ...no kappa

Wanna vlog? I've got donuts


Hide your wives, girlfriends, and daughters, it's time to play a quick round of “WILL IT FIT?!”

Radiator: IT WILL FIT!




Res and PSU: THEY WILL FIT!
With the radiator: GOD I HOPE SO!




Remember, it's always good to take notes when you play “WILL IT FIT?!”




Router bit: I WILL MAKE IT FIT!




With a little rotary action, EVERYTHING WILL FIT!




Clover top mesh: IT FITS!








“WILL IT FIT?!” brought to you by:

 

You've been a naughty boy.

 

What? You still have your tile saw right? I haven't stolen it yet. Oh, Will It Fit? Great game


Time for a little logo action, I need to get the lid finalized before finishing and assembly. Working with a template of the Dota 2 logo and a red slate tile, just over 5.75”/140mm square.




Gotta make it look a little weathered, time for the ball-peen hammer.




I was just looking to brake the edges, match some of the wear that's indicated on the official logo.




Missed a pic before I started cutting. Got everything laid out and started at it with the rotary. Rough cutting with a tile blade then loooooooooooooooooottttttts of carving to take care of the rest.




Work work.




Finish with the carving, it came out pretty well I'd say. I downsized the logo slightly to fit the mounting bolts on.




There has got to be a better way to do this but there is no way I'm going to take a hammer drill to this thing after I've done all the work on it. Regular bits work fine...they just dull quickly and make funny noises.




Looking decent, now to get it into it's final position.




After a little clover leaf pruning, she's home.




As always, thank you to my sponsors!

 

Slate! Nicely done.