Scratch Build – In Progress Project: Seawolf, July 20. #40 Getting ready for Assembly Summer 2010!

WHY did you need to drill a hole through those? I would consider the set mostly useless now, something probably warped from the heat or bent or something.

 

It's going to get mounted on the lathe. If the prongs get warped it won't affect the accuracy because I won't be using them to calibrate the 0-point anyway. If the scale is warped it doesn't matter either because I would be lucky to get accuracy up to a level of 0.1mm.

 

#39 Semi-final assembly

I promised you I'd put the new acrylics to use. System overhaul began with disassembling the case to suitable bits.



Several months of use and every computer gets a veil of dust.



The radiators had grown a nice warm fur in preparation for the winter.



After removing the motherboard cage I could finally fit the new HDD plate.



Apparently, my measurements were off by about 3mm. I'll have to modify the drawings and redo this part to eliminate the gap.



Originally, I was worried that this gap would be too big. In real life you can't fit a pencil in there. I'm hoping the covers for the bends will hide the the rest of the gap.



This part of the acrylics turned out great. It's perfect!



As a side note, I swiped a power switch from my little brother. He had looted it from some old case. It has a throw of about 5mm and feels rock solid. Now I don't have to use the button on the motherboard anymore.



Next task was attacking the PSU. I broke the old acrylics to get the fittings free, chopped and soldered the old cables off and put some new ones in place. I got some more brass sheet but it was too thick (0.5mm) to punch the holes so I made new electrical shields from 0.2mm copper sheet. Afterwards, I tested every connection and surface with a multimeter.



After removing the plastic film from the PSU plate it's apparent that the heat from the bender ruined the edges. I'll have to re-order this part for the final assembly. Also, the copper sheet gives the white acrylic a pinkish hue. The copper will have to be painted.



I improved the original PSU mounting by using some engineering plastic as pillow blocks and bolting the aluminium profiles through them to the acrylic plate below. I was planning on using 20x20mm alu tube all the way from the rads to the PSU, but I couldn't find any in regular stores. I wasn't into going to Rautasoini, so I decided to use 16x10mm U-profiles for most of the way and short sections of 20x20mm to connect the profiles together.



While drillings holes in the alu profiles the drillbit grabbed on the alu and pulled the chuck so it hit the PSU plate. This piece broke off. Oh well, the piece will be re-done anyway because of the molten bends.

After I was done with the PSU mounts I realized I had forgotten to put the toaster shell between the profiles. On my next build, if I decide to make such a difficult way of mounting the PSU, please kick me in the head. I need a drill press.

After that it was a fun game of push and tow with the cables to get them to fit through the cable slots.



Again, I taped the edges shut. It took me about 12 hours making this update, despite how the case looks the same as it did before. However, I managed to reduce the cable clutter and now the PSU is a lot firmer than before.



This shows the handy living-room workshop.

The tapes on the PSU will be replaced with proper edges. The rear edge will double as a case handle.

It seems I've run all out of words but I'll continue next time. Thanks for reading!

 

What happened to this great mod?

 

I'm still working on it and trying to get it finished by Assembly Summer 2010. However, I won't be posting any updates here before it is complete. Thank you for the interest.

 

Awww, I got all excited that there was a new post lol. Can't wait to see more Javreh.

 

this is one heck of an expensive build!!! can't wait for more updates..

 

#40 Getting ready for Assembly Summer 2010!

Although I promised not to post anything before Assembly, HaoKi asked me to give you a small teaser. This is just some work I did on the power button.



First, I drew the pieces I wanted to make in Solidworks. The black piece will be 4mm black acrylic. Unfortunately, it seems my trusty acrylic-place is on a holiday! I'm also in need of couple of other pieces. I hope they'll return before it's too late to get the pieces done for Assembly.



The base of the push button is turned from a small block of alu. I turned the backside to size first so I could clamp it in the three-jaw chuck.



Then I flipped the piece over and machined the front.



I drilled the big hole and then bored two different tapers to give the piece some depth.



Next, I marked and spotted the holes carefully and tried to drill the pilot holes with a Dremel 4000 on the Dremel drill press. This turned out to be a mistake! The drill press is clearly not suitable for metal work. The holes wandered all over the place. I think I could have made better job by hand. I need a real drill press. At least the piece looks like it was hand made.

I countersunk the holes and gave the block a nice polish.



Finally, I turned a small rod of steel into the actual button and glued it to the switch I showed earlier. When bolted to the front of the case the switch looks like this.

Despite the horrible holes, I'm quite pleased with this pushbutton. The button feels really solid and clicks in with a nice thunk. The only real downside is the alu button block. It scratches really easily.

I've also done loads of other work, but lets keep that a secret until it's finished. Thanks for reading and see ya later!

 

Javerh! We want to see this finished!

It's been driving me crazy, sitting unloved in my subscriptions folder.

 

I know! It's been driving me too! A couple more weeks and that should be it. I'm glad I'll be able to get on my other projects. (1 audio related, 2 scratch built cases)

 

Wuuh! I want to see this IRL mate Tell toni to go eat some eels, and post the rest of what you got!

 

Eels are hard to get over here!

 

Can't wait to see that thing live...

That said, last year, even after seeing it in flesh, I had no clue how it's going to look

 

Haha, this build is getting more and more insane. When looking at it with the various parts held in place by duct tape, you can't help but wonder: "Where on God's earth is he going with this?".

Have a nice Assembly (go watch the demo and intro compos, ok?) and looking forward to the next update.

 

Just why did they moved to Helsinki... Tampere was so much better

 

That power button looks fantastic, I can't wait to see the rest .

 

The button came out great. The fact that it's billet aluminum cancels out any crooked mounting points.

 

<---Sits with bewilderment on his face awaiting the final project..............

 

I'm honored that you all pay this mod this kind of attention.

I just got the watercooling system breething.

After a bit of struggle with the plastic herbie clamps I decided to toss them out. I should have listened to Unicorn's advise from way back. Perhaps I don't know how to use them properly, but they leaked from almost every joint. I switched to jubilee clamps and got no leaks from the barbs anymore.

I also had to fix the o-ring on the Apogee GTZ. Fitting a round ring on a rectangular groove seems to be too hard for me to manage.

At the moment I can spot two small leaks. One in the res fitting and one in the side joint of the res. Hopefully I'll have them cleared tonight and can leave the system to flush for the night. Tomorrow it's time to get the bugger finally put in one piece and ready for shipping to Assembly. I'll keep you posted.

 

Hmmm... Wondering if this has seen any progress lately?