Thermaltake Exsectus - Thermaltake UK Modding Trophy Powered by Scan- Back from Computex 04/07/16

It'd only be a loincloth .... easier to dress into and lower maintenance, washing, easier for absolutions, etc.

Pah ... high maintenance .... I've had the same 'er in doors for 16+ years, you wouldn't be a problem muhahahaha ... tho' 16 odd years .... I would have got less for manslaughter especially accidental vehicular manslaughter

 

UPDATE

Had a very long day today making the front bracket and whatnot. I actually remembered to take photos along the way this time too! Bear in mind that I haven't begun the beautification process yet. Everything is still super rough and placeholder in case I need to replace anything. I'm aiming to start prettying things up tomorrow. Going to be cutting it very close with this build rofl.

Started with a cut panel


Can't emphasize enough the importance of careful marking out


Getting the holes in


Panels cut out


All bent up


Aye it fits, I think


Quickly fitted to the front panel main bracket. Things are starting to take shape finally.

 

Let's pick up where we left off eh?

I had a serious inconvenience last week when some crucial materials didn't arrive on time, which put me two days behind. Been pulling ridiculously long days to get this all done in time, hopefully I'll be able to manage

Connected all the panels together, until now things were mostly balanced in place



Phew, everything does indeed fit



I decided to split the Riing fans down the middle, should work better for my design



Fans in place


Finishing up the front bracket



Made a bending jig so that I could bend 2 pieces of 2mm aluminium along with a thicker 3mm section



Lots of filing here, wanted to make sure the windows would fit flush and with strength



Things are taking shape!



Making sure edges are flush and flat



Post workshop cleanup operation. The case is all sanded and the relevant parts ready for painting






Strung up ready for primer!
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If anybody has the nerve to tell me this time that the CNC machine did all the work I'll mail them a knuckle sandwich. I spent a good 10 solid hours just filing and sanding, never mind the rest of the time spent actually cutting, drilling, checking, starting over and finally finishing.

 

Which is why you buy a CNC machine.......

 

sorry buddy, but thats a sandwich i must insist on. no offense, but that drilling, sanding, filling etc,, is always a part of building mods etc.. whether you use a cnc or not. i use cnc for projects but not for this, my art.
framing a poster or framing a self painted picture must differ and do.

anyway, it seems that people get offended whenever someone says something against cnc nowadays. maybe we should mind though that just because for instance I personally am for hand crafted, ans tress the fact that i will show it, it doesnt mean I am against cnc and automation, but for fairness sake, hand made must have its worth said about it when its done that way. everything else would be throwing stones at someone with a gun. both are deadly, but the gun is inadvantage. i hope you understand.

and please dont anyone get offended because i like to mention that i do everything in handicraft.
why shouldnt i mention it, its getting rare and scarce nowadays.
apart from that, nice work, i like it.

 

As an uneducated fan, I will say this: I don't care WHERE the art work comes from, machine or hand. More importantly, it came from a modders IMAGINATION. That's where the magic is. Whether the project is realized via machines, hand crafting, or both, is completely irrelevant. The magic is in the head of the person who THINKS of it, and creates it. How they create it doesn't matter, at least not to me.

Looking awesome as usual Maki! Can't wait to see it painted!

 

Actually the sentiment wasn't really directed towards you Ali, although I can understand why you might think it is given your outspoken nature regarding hand crafted work. I've had people on other forums straight up tell me that my work requires no skill because a machine did the primary cutting. That's what gets to me.

You know first hand how much work goes into finishing something even if it's produced using an automated process, never mind the initial design work. Not only that, but you always put a huge amount of effort and skill into your projects, it's always evident. For that reason, even if you actively spoke against CNC use (which you don't) I couldn't be angry as you routinely produce the goods.

It's the armchair experts who rag on a method that cause issues. I can also definitely see where you're coming from on the over use of CNC too. I was brought up on hand-work, IMO many people jump into CNC too early nowadays, often they then don't fully exploit the method and end up not making the most of it. Same goes for 3D printing, I can't stand seeing people print boxes, seems like a massive waste when they could be printing incredible shapes that simply aren't feasible with other methods. It's a similar change to that of how PC modding as a whole has become more about simply putting together pretty parts and not really doing anything more with it. I guess 8 years ago pretty much all PC parts were pretty ugly, so a lot of work was needed to spice them up. Nowadays I think many of the parts being produced are drop dead gorgeous, which in turn means you don't need to do anything to make them look good in a system. Just throw some sleeved cables, a couple stickers and some colour coded watercooling and you're good to go.

Hear, hear!

Thanks man, assuming I can get the finish right it should look ace when done.

 

Looking great Alex

I seldom comment on project logs these days as there are far to many Prima Donna's whose ego's like to be pandered to - in a lot of instances creative talent seems to take second best to petty bs politics and sponsorship in the modding world of late

Please note none of the above is leveled at you - your fresh approach and creativity alongside your natural talent is much welcomed

 

i agree with you maki and you bart. and yes it has indeed also become easy to slap pieces that look good anyway together and polish what already shines while doing it.
like i said i hope no offense was taken. i am just scared that one day hand made stuff will diminish and that those who dare to do it will cower in front of all that perfect surfaced perfect cut and perfect shining high tech made stuff.
i use plexi and aluminium and they are easy and perfectly plain and heaven for painting. wood is a bitch and needs pre handling as well as sanding much more and piles and piles of care while painting over and over again. its hard hand work, thats why i do it. sometimes, if people havent seen the worklog they dont even realise its wood, depending on the look i wanted to achieve.

once again, i simply love the look and finish that is attained via automation and realise that many others do too. i see using automation personally as very seductive. yes i agree with you maki, that some start using it much too early and neglect the artist which will never develop in them by doing so. i admire and am jealous of the precision a machine can achieve. BUT, seeing as i personally do hand crafting , at least for my art, in this case, casemodding, i feel the need to emphasize that i am doing it hand made. it doesnt confine me to lower res non complex builds. actually i think its quite the contrary. i dont have the boundaries set by machines and dont have to rmeain in side the constraints of what the software can do. i can really build how i like. actually i hope to encourage exactly this. most youngster give it up much too early. their is an artist by nature in every one of us. we just have to give it a chance.
one thing i always find cumbersome and envy machines for is i hate making identical parts over and over again. its also almost impossible to get same lookers looking the same to the tenth of an mm. a machine never gets tired and will still always cut n print n laser them as exact as if its the first one it ever did. that takes a lot of sweat and blood for hand crafters. the same piece over and over again, i hate that.
nevertheless, i hope no one miss understands and takes my or anyone elses mentioning our hand work as a sign for despising cnc and co. its a preference if nothing else, due to a philosophie.
i do however think its fair that hand craft is noticed, hence also mentioned.
go into any art shop anywhere, hand made is always worth more. poster vs: painting.

i certainly wouldnt want bit-tech lacking all the cnc machines here, i need them to compare my hand crafting to, and to push me towards even more man made hand made precision, or at least the effort
your water block is by the way, by far one of the, if not the best i have ever seen and i am sure that it wouldnt be possible by hand, at least not so perfect.

 

I think people are missing the point with the CNC/laser vs hand, its all about personal preference and what makes us all different.
I myself love making things with my own hands and I get a lot more satisfaction than what I would get from using an automatic, but if I had the space I would gladly have a CNC around to help out now and then
Ali as you said, a printed photo will never beat hand drawn/painted, but that could just be the art lover inside me talking.

Just keep modding, its a hobby for most of us and no one can tell you how to do it!

 

I would rather slowly set my CNC up to drill a single hole than use my hand drill. But the CNC has been a huge part of my life.

Great progress Alex.

 

at immersa, yes exactly, your cnc, yours, good for you. not everyone has one. those who dont, must do handwork, am glad about it.
like i said too, you have a gun, others can only throw stones, its a bit unfair in competitions unless all have the same weapons, am not talking about the skills.
your cnc will rigorously drill holes one after eachother and all will be precise as hell.
using normal electric drills and handdriven of course too, you have to really show your skill, not the programmed computer skills. what will young modders think who cannot afford cncs and co. they wont ever take part in bit tech events and other either, thinking only a machine can beat a machine.

 

in a nutshell because some seem not to understand.
I am certainly not against cnc and automations, but i encourage and am very much for hand crafting when it comes to contests, events like this, competitions and championships. period. it brings fairness of skill levels in the front, otherwise i welcome automations too.

an interesting experiment would be to put a bunch of only cnc ers in a room with cnc and tools
and another group of cnc ers in a room only with tools.
and yet another groupd of tool users in a room with cncs and tools.
what do you think would happen. 1 and 1 is still 2.

of course you could say put a bunch of tool users in a room with cncs only.
but then i would say, sorry they are busy building your cnc.

 

I've seen this finished

 

Haha I was meaning to post the photos up here but my internet was being nightmarish, I'd already done them on other places and just made them private for the meantime.

So most likely you've all seen these by now, but for the sake of continuity here are the final competition pictures for Exsectus. I'd also like to offer a huge thank you to Antony, Scan and Thermaltake for organising this event, along with a big hand to the other competitors who've made this such an exciting run. Best of luck to everybody in the voting thread!

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However, this isn't the end for this project either. There are a number of little things that have been niggling away at the back of my mind that I'd like to focus on. So over the course of the next few weeks I'll likely be tweaking some things here and there how that the contest itself is over. That said, it will depend a lot on my available free time as I have a few other builds that desperately need to be finished up.

 

You cry too much......

Most of the modders with CNC went thru the handmade phase,they just chose to learn a new discipline,it is far from a case of jumping on a PC and magic happens=new parts.
There is also nothing stopping you sending a CAD file (if you took the time to learn...) to any one of the number of modder run fabrication companies if its fairness you are seeking.... Skill is there in both disciplines,hand made or CNC'd,its just the CNC users are more flexible in their approach and chose to invest in their workspace a bit more.


Just my 2c.

Also,ragging on someone in the same bloody comp is a poor show,not professional at all....

EDIT: Good job Alex,little of the original horror remains and this is a good thing.

 

sub

 

Final shots look awesome!! The plexi plate looks a lot more subtle in the finished build, if that makes any sense at all. Love it!

 

You should lose points for purple CF Alex,I mean....dafuq?