Scratch Build – Complete ⭐ Spirit of Motion

I'll take that as a compliment! I bought my first 3D printer more than 5 years ago now and I've learned to spend the upfront time to dial it in. You will be rewarded with repeatable quality

 

Impressive print !!
I thought it was aluminium black painted


Nice case design, the frame seems a little overkill

I am for "more details" too

 

@Dot_Kappa Thanks and I'll work on getting all the details I can muster!

Also, I'm sure plenty of folks think the same, and the frame probably is a little over built, so I'll elaborate on the thought process for the choices.

1. I want the side panels 1/8" proud of the grill and to have the radius on them (The radius I used was a 1/8"). The grill also rests on the side panels and I should have probably another 1/8" of a lip for it all to rest on. So they needed to be at minimum 1/4" thick for the aesthetic I wanted.
2. When the grill is in the up position I didn't want the frame to appear more flimsy/weak than the grill so I wanted it to be AT LEAST as thick as the grill material which varies but is mostly around 3/8" thick.
3. The air spring that will open and hold the grill up is mounted pretty close to the hinge. Because of this the force needed to push open the grill will be in the ball park of ~70 pounds of force (based on an estimated assembled grill weight of 10-15lbs. The air spring force will all be acting on the top rear cross bar. I required a very stiff rear cross bar.
4. I will use a piano hinge for mounting the grill I think so I need a relativly wide face to mount that to. Most sturdy hinges are 3/4" - 2" wide flanges so I will be cutting that down but should probably have at least 1/2" for mounting that to.
5. All my sheet metal, 3D prints, air spring, mounts etc. will be mounted to the inside of the case with no fasteners showing on the outside. The air spring I will use has 5/16 "-18 threads which is pretty course so the left side panel that will be drilled and tapped for that needs to be at least 1/2" thick and I will still have to cut down the stud that comes with the air spring some.

So needing a minimum of 3/8" side panels for aesthetics, and the rear cross bar and right panel needing 1/2" thick material, I decided to do it all in 1/2" plate 6061.

The grill's center of gravity is out towards the nose so I also wanted to make sure that when the grill is in the up position it does not want to tip if bumped. So a little bit of added weight could be a welcome addition to just being stable. With all the components in the back of the case as well, the weight really won't be an issue probably but a tippy computer doesn't sound like a good time haha

 

Water jet cut grill pieces arrived! There are 25 pieces that make up the grill and each one is unique from the rest. These are all 6061 aluminum with the majority of them being 1/4" thick. Three of the grills are 1/2" thick and the spine is 3/8" thick. This is going to be the most labor intensive part of the build (and probably lest fun haha).

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I started by using a big square and laying out a little template on my work table with a sharpie. The grills get longer and wider as you work your way up the computer (until the very top) so I made a little grid that I could quickly lay any pieces on and find center.

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From here forward, and ESPECIALLY with this very first process of filing the fitment, I have to be so careful not to cut too much or slip. Since each piece is unique and these will be raw polished aluminum, there isn't the opportunity to hide mistakes with a filler or paint. Water jet cut aluminum has a slightly rough surface so I started by cleaning up the spine notch faces so the pieces could slide in more easily.

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With the spine cleaned up I grabbed the bottom grill piece and took it to the band saw. The angle of the front of these grill pieces changes as you move along the spine so the angle was free handed iniitally. very gently I ran the piece back and forth along the blade, then I test fit to see how the angle was. If it was close I would hand file the face to a tight fit and if it was still a little off I would head back over to the band saw and get myself a bit closer.

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The next two pictures show a rough cut fitment and then after filing to a final fit.

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The rest of the curve really does not need to be so perfect as it is out in free space and not mating against another piece of metal. The rest will simply need to be very smooth shaping so the polish doesn't look super wavy and distorted. This took me a few hours to shape them all.

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I then squeezed all the pieces in the spine so I could check it out for the first time and it definitely got me excited to keep up the pace!

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So this was the first step in a lot of work on these. Next steps:

1. Polish the top, bottom, and back side of all of these pieces.
2. Fit the pieces back in the spine and weld them all on the inside of the spine.
3. Fit the back mount and side bar that will hold all the loose ends together.
4. Weld those to the grill on the inside.
5. Using files and sanding, shape the front contour.
6. Polish the outside of the grill.
7. Celebrate.

 

Coool. I like this ancient shapes!

 

Man! That must have wasted a lot of plate to cut. Did they charge extra for that?
You should have cut a notch in the horizontals so you could align them easier. Getting all that straight to weld is going to be tricky.
Looks friggen fantastic so far.

 

Holy crap! this thing would cost thousands to build!!!! but is looking amazing

 

@Cheapskate Actually it nested surprisingly well! I thought the same exact thing and planned of the chance of having to cut them in half to bring the cost down.
I absolutely agree with you also on alignment marks. This wasn't the first and won't be the last mistake I make. A tiny notch on the inside curve of every spine where center is would have made a world of difference when I start final fitting and welding.

@Jeff Hine I'm not fully picturing the setup your describing Jeff, sorry. The gaps between the grills?

@Defyant Mods I need a case worthy of all the cheap hardware I'm putting in it! Thank you man

 

I love retro look style.

 

@Jeff Hine If you're implying I know how to do this, thank you, but you overestimate me greatly. I really appreciate and value the advice. I am definitely going to do what you recommended and make some spacers to fit between the pieces as I work my way up! It is a perfect 1/2" space between the grills so I have lots of options probably for spacers such as some MDF or plywood scrap that measures a full 1/2". Thank you man

 

Hi, your enterprise is very not easy but you're doing it well i think. Do and undo are always work but that make grow your project !!

Go further with smiley. Sûre the finished scratch will be awesome !

 

Thank you!

I am still playing with the design of the shelf/bracket. My dad still uses a disk drive so I want to include that for him. I picked out a replacement ultra slim diskdrive for a laptop that I'm mounting horizontally along the GPU.

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I'm trying to decide on where to put the SSD that will look best though. Thinking of putting it maybe behind it the optical drive and then running their cables together somehow? The optic drive uses micro sata also which is also new for me.

Ideas on making those cables look nice on their way to the motherboard?

 

impressive..

 

From what I see your MB doesn't have too much space between itself and the rear top structure bar, you could use that bar look to hide the cables.

To do so you just add a rectangular or square section tube below your top structure bar, if it's really close and the same colour it will look like you have a thicker structure bar.

Obviously the more cables you have to move inside it the thicker it will be, you would just have two holes at both ends of the tube so you can take in and out the cables, the holes will be facing inside the case they will be hidden from sight by the hardware.

From the back you won't see holes just a flat bar, and almost no cable would be visible.

 

@Jean R built Your comment made my day. Now I'm going to be thinking about this all day!

That would be so much cleaner if I can get some of the wiring in a tube or track. The optic drive outputs will be facing the radiator so I'll have to see if I can build a tube/track for wires in the 3D printed shelf itself that takes the wires to the rear of the case. Then those can run into a track maybe like you're describing that is disguised as part of the case.

 

Vintage shapes inspire.

 

@censored_Prometheus_ That is amazing! the shape is SO similar to that! Thank you for sharing

 

A 'go fast' tractor for wealthy farmers.

 

This is my favorit:

Lamborgini!!!

 

An antique, Lamborghini, tracked, tracker, in gulf colors? This is the perfect storm!