Scratch Build - In Progress ⭐ Project Alumina - A SFF Case

Looks REALLY good!!very inspiring work and brilliant ideas all over the place!Can't wait for more

 

Update 5

Time for an update! This time, I've made progress with the side panel. Originally the side panel was supposed to be 1/8" but I made a bit of a mistake with the programming and to fix it I had to make the step on the inside of the case 1/4". So now, the side panel will be 1/4". I have to stick around after work do all my programming and sometimes I get in a hurry, thankfully it was easy to work around my mess-up.

Even at 1/4", the panel is a bit thin to clamp on in a vise and I didn't want to mess around with clamps. This gave me the excuse to break out the superglue. It's not a method I've had to do often, but it actually works pretty well. First, you start with a nice flat plate of aluminum for a base to glue to.



The superglue worked so well that when I set the plate down and did a bit of a twist to spread the glue, it instantly bonded and left my plate at an angle.



I should have known better. Since I didn't leave a ton of stock on the outside edges I had to cheat a bit to get everything to work. What do you do when your material is at an angle? Rotate your model.



Then press cycle start.







Then all you have to do is heat up the plate with a torch, the superglue softens and it pops right off.



A bit of acetone to soften the glue and a straight edge and it scrapes right off your finished part.

I have something interesting planned for attaching the side panel. Tomorrow the missing parts will come in and I'll find out if my idea will work. That's all for this week!

 

Just interest... how many that piece aluminium cost? If i may ask.

 

I think it was only $90. It was going to be about $150 from my normal suppliers but I decided to check eBay before I bought it and found just what I needed.

 

@Kviker - Standard cost is one first born son. (rats. ninja posted.)

 

I haven't bought any children lately, but that sounds about right.

I don't actually buy children.

 

Update 6!

I've been making some pretty good progress this week. Just about done now

So I decided to ditch magnets for holding on the side panel, that would have been too easy. I settled on making some spring loaded catches. They will screw onto the inside of the door and I've made strike plates that will be epoxied on to the case after it's been anodized.





The housing is aluminum and the catch is just some 303. I didn't want to use aluminum just because it would wear and we have tons of scrap stainless laying around. Springs will go in the two gaps there.

Next, I started making the little strike plates, also out of of 303.





Now that those are ready, I need to drill and tap holes into the side panel to attach them. On to the Bridgeport!







These 2-axis CNC Bridgeports are really handy to have for quick little jobs.





I forgot my screws at home.

And finally, a quick test fit.





I guess all that is left is to do a once-over and get everything looking nice and get it sent out to the anodizers.

 

Magnificent!

 

^That, and I'll toss in a gorgeous as well.
The snap catches look like they will require the jaws of life to pull the panel.

 

I don't think it will be too bad. I tried to use a pretty big radius on the edge of the catch so less force was required and I have a few different springs to try. The weakest ones seem like they will work.

 

CNC'd Bridgeport Series 1...... very envious sir! The series 1's are my all time favourite machine. Can you still wind her manually or is it CNC only? And I'm guessing the lead screws have been replaced with ball screws?

Also - top work on the case dude. Beautifully done!

 

I had to prove myself by running that baby for about 6 months before I was allowed to learn Mastercam and play with the real machines. It's been upgraded to ballscrews, but it's due for a new set. Starting to get a lot of backlash and chatter on arcs. You can still do full manual, there's just a button to turn the servos on and off. I was surprised to learn new ones are like $35k. At that price you can get a baby HAAS but then those are less versatile.

 

I was trained to mill on Series 1's, and with the 1 off /re-machining work I used to do it was an invaluable tool. I fondly remember one job that needed some helical milling work and I had to dig the 20 year old helical gear set out of the stores and mount her up.

Nice little upgrade for a Series 1 really, does she get a fair bit of use? I'd love to have a CNC'd one.

 

Yup, it gets used quite a bit. We usually stick the new kids on it and give them the easy jobs, square up a block, put some holes in it, etc... The conversational programming is good for newbies, much easier to grasp than CAM. I don't know why I keep calling other people newbies, I've only been at this a couple years now. I'm still pretty much one myself.

 

Magic

Yeah I get that - I dabbled with CAM/CNC stuff but being mainly rework and repair it didn't do much for me.

Ah, experience helps but every days a school day - I've been a mech engineer for over 12 years and still learning.

Looks like you've got the knack for it though, looking forward to seeing how she looks after anodising.

 

Update 7!

Just got a small update, still waiting on the anodizing. I spent some time getting the brushed finish to my liking and got everything packed up to drop off.





In the mean time here's some hardware shots, showcasing my amazing photography skills.







Not a huge fan of the Gigabyte board. BIOS is pretty spartan and had to do an update to be able to run my sticks at 3000MHz and to turn off the stupid RGB lighting.

Still have a tiny bit of wiring left to do and some final touches when I get the case back.

 

I hope you left space for the Pico. They hang over the edge a lot.
APU... This is gonna get hot.
Removing RGB: CRIMINAL! Next you will be assuming our pronouns!

 

Looking at the mounting holes in the case, there's plenty of room.

RGB is a blight that must be eliminated!

 

Only hardcore!

 

It's supposed to be a 65W CPU and this case has more ventilation than some of my others. I hope it's ok.

There's enough space, barely... I was hoping to get a motherboard with the 24-pin on the side but options were limited when I was at Microcenter.

I feel like I'm getting old, this new RGB craze just blows my mind. For something that sits on my desk, why would I want it to look like it belongs on the strip in Vegas?

Oh, and the 120W picoPSU will not boot up my motherboard so I had to grab an old 150W I had laying around from a previous project.