i'd really like to see this, do you plan on making it motorized, or is it going to work with springs? + a push button in the center would look really cool cheers, chris
And a little more detailing of the front panel. CCHR i am don't think it will be motorized cause the Power button will be under it. If i would power it, it means using batteries or by passing the PSU in some way. And i am not much when it comes to electronics. Already trying to figure out how to make my own PCB and what is needed to make one with USB Audio and the buttons, just so i could place the power button in the middle. For now the design is based on a dial with same diameter as the hole needed for the panel. And thank you for the support.
As some might have noticed i haven't submitted a complete design of any detail for the build. This is due to the fact that when put together details may vary to make it all complete and perfect.. But here is the design for the reservoir. The inlets will be on the top of the flat bit. 2 pumps, 2 loops is what i am thinking of.
BOOBIES!!! There was a guy in the project log somewhere with a motorized aperture like that. Wish I could find it.
@cheapskate Picking your nose and thinking boobies/sex.... what is this forum coming to And thanks been looking at some threads about the iris on here (after your tip) but most were about the thin over lapping blades/leaves. and some links were already dead.. i want to make this one out of acrylic. Still wondering how i can make it mechanical with the power button underneath. and the PCN is an issue. Soon will be making a prototype of the iris out of wood. to see if i done it right.
hey, i thought a bit about that front panel "device"-thingy. my idea, although i haven't given much thought on details is the following: each "blade" will be based on the green gears. the blue gear is connected to the red axis (although you cant see it in the photo) use a rotating spring to rotate the red axis just enough so that the blue will turn and open the blades (you are going to have to study and experiment on gears in order to find how much you have to rotate it, how many teeth the gears must have etc, and where to put stoppers) on the red part where the axis is, you will have to put some clips (one for each blade) in order to hold them in place when closed. the tricky part is that you will have to put a push button in the center of the red part, in order to release the blades and the rotating spring, for them to open. this solution however assumes that you will have to put the power button somewhere else instead of that center piece as you are planning. if you do want to keep the power button there, you can try to find another way to secure the blades, and the release button can be placed somewhere else, although i suspect that it would make things more complicated. hope i helped. cheers, chris
I completely dig where you are getting at when it comes to the mechanical iris. The release button in middle wouldn't be much of a problem if you use a hollow axe. The spring idea would work, but a spring is a one time split action and needs rewinding. Though with the design i have in mind it might just work and i will look into that. I am also thinking by using the inner workings of an old cd/dvd player. The gears that open and close the sled. Just not sure if on closing Windows it will close the player as well, i have to try that. But that would mean the power button has to go somewhere else. and i am trying to not show any buttons or screws on the outside of the case. Your design also complies out of thin overlapping blades/leafs. and they don't close very well, they almost always show a hole in the middle. or have a strange trumpet at the back. As shown here. This one was the inspiration for me. just wanted to add one more blade/lea and make it fit inside the case. Search for mechanical iris on google and or youtube to see it in action. And thanks for the input you have given me things to consider
hey, i suggested springs, in order to not use any electrical parts, so that you could hide the power button inside the iris. as far as the fact that the blades either leave a gap or overlap as you showed in the picture, may i suggest that if u design the release button in a mushroom shape as in the photo i'm attaching, the button can hide this little imperfection. actually my design was very casual, i didnt take into account the number of blades. i guess you can make it fit for any number of blades. i saw the video on youtube, but if you do choose for the blades to close completely as in the video, you would have to put external buttons. also, a motorized solution could work with a simple circuit using a 3-state switch and a small motor to rotate the bottom gear. it could be powered by batteries, but im not really a fan of a battery solution, and i personally dont have much experience in tampering with power supplies, but i guess a lot of people in here could help you with that. Damn, i love the brainstorming phases of mods P.s. i have to be honest, i didnt really like the res design, but i suppose i should see where it goes in the case and how it will look with all the elements together, so my opinion on this is not final cheers, chris
Ok added the final part to the reservoir and made the Boobies, as Cheapskate so nicely put, smaller. @cchr. The res will be put in lower part of case with only the front bit visible when the side panel is fixed in. They will have an engraving in them as well that hopefully will light up nicely. the spring suggestion wasn't as bad as you thought and no i do not have to put the power button anywhere else it can still remain inside. the design i made is lacking the manual dial so to speak. The design as showed will be hidden behind the front panel, and on top of that panel will be the dial to open and close. And the brain stormins is fun and good cause its the only way you can make sure you didn't overlook anything in the design itself
so just the nipples will be visible eh? joking aside, i think it will look good with a white side panel. so if i understand correctly it will be a manual dial above the iris right? if so, why not consider a motorized solution as i suggested in my previous post? it shouldn't be hard to implement a small circuit to do that. of course if you're going for a steampunk themed mod, a manual dial will look good, but if you're going for a more hi-tech look, a small switch would look better imo. cheers, chris
If you want to use the Iris solution and have the start-up button behind it you can put it in the middle and then remove the top of the blades in a circle pattern to be able to show the start button all the time. On the picture it looks like you will have a temp sensor display behind it as well. Then you can use 4 of them and put them on each side of the power button in the middle.
Guys thank you for the ideas and your input. Dragonite, the idea has past my mind to make a mushroom button in the middle and have to see say that thanks to your input i will look into that idea again. And they are not temp monitors they are supposed to be usb and audio connections. Cchr, The idea of that motorized iris with help of an servo of some kind is being investigated. I do want that but kept it manual cause i didn't know how. I guess it will stay manual for now till i find a way to either bypass the PSU or to find another way of making the power button stealth like. There is one i am looking into. so i will be sure to fine tune the details as the design progresses.. And i will keep you posted. Again thanks guys
Here we are with the front panel. But i would like some inout on this and what you guys think i should do. This is what it looks like now and good thing i am still designing cause it only fits 3 instead of 4 HDD. Now should i keep i this way or maybe move the iris or leave it all together. Or maybe i should just turn the HDD 45 degrees and show the other way to the side panel. Or even get the HDD down into the lower compartment with the PSU and pumps. On a side note here is another render (still figuring out how indigo works) of some parts put together.
Since your case is kinda shorter but longer than usual, i'd personally prefer if the HDDs are hidden inside the case (im guessing that's a window for hotswap disks), because that would steal from the beauty and draw attention away from the iris.
No not a window they even stick out of the case a bit. The case its self isn't any longer then a normal case the design is 570mm long and the case part you see is 370mm high. There will be a lower compartment making the case 510mm high. And a rad will be put on top or at the back out of sight..
oh ok then, i'd personally put the HDDs in the lower compartment, so that the center piece of this build will be the iris are we gonna see a full design soon?
Going to be working on lower compartment this weekend and also see if i can alter the front. Thing is with designing is that small details alter the design in some way so hopefully soon. I am going to work on it this weekend all weekend so fingers crossed. Design is changing slowly in a super computer designed to process DNA. There will be a smaller res in window with a DNA design in it. The res in bottom will have the Bio-hazard sign engraved. And thinking about adding a small window with a 3D alien lol... Hope it will all work together as the inside is going to be very industrial. next to all that plexi...
so are the hdd going to be accessible from the front outside with a hotswap backplane or? if so maybe you could make the iris big enough that those are inside of it as well? maybe take a look at how camera lens aperture assemblies are constructed. it would be a simple solution to implement as having a ring attached to the blades that you would just twist to open.
Haven't had much time this weekend, so haven't been able to work out more of the design as of yet. But this is what i had done so far. @Lysol. The HDD will have a hotswap backplane. Due to the construction of the HDD floating it will be easier to exchange them when needed. But it will just as much work as a regular HDD rack 2 screws to take it out of case and 4 screws to take the plexi off. As for the iris i have done a lot of research on the aperture of the camera etc. That is the reason of my design. But i never wanted to use thin overlapping blades/leaves. The ring with the slots to open and close the leaves will be attached to a ring out side the case to manually open and close the iris. Still looking into making it run automatically. Making a hotswap in the iris will require thin blades/leaves, it is then the only way to make the iris bigger. it might fit a 2,5" though.
