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Case Mod - In Progress Project Lucid FINAL PICS UP!!!!!!!

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by randompkguy, 3 Oct 2008.

  1. randompkguy

    randompkguy whats a 5 axis cnc router?

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    Hey guys, sup?

    So I've been lurking these forums for almost a year now, and like pretty much every other modder out there, I've become inspired by all these awesome ideas. Because of this I finally decided that it was time for me to build my own mod. Now, before you scroll down to the pics (assuming you are one of the people that actually does :read: ) there is some stuff you might wanna know. One awesome aspect of this project is that I get to use the shop at my school for an entire class period! Thats right, a whole hour and a half (also some free blocks if I have the time) This project is my project for a class called senior studio, which is a year long advanced art class where you are totally independent (well mostly anyway). What this means to you readers is that THERE WILL BE STEADY PROGRESS, AND A FINISHED MOD by the end of the class...also i kinda need a finished case for college....so...yeah....LET THE MODDING BEGIN! :D

    You thought you were done with the words? How wrong you were:nono:. So originally this was going to be a scratch build, but I soon realized that time would not allow such an endeavor. Neither would convenience, my work ethic or my wallet:duh:. Anyway, I had started to plan the scratch build with 1/8th inch Lexan, but soon realized that this would pose several structural issues, as well as the fact that I would need to make my own motherboard tray and back plate. Because of this, and the fact that I had a perfectly good cooler master black anodized aluminum case with a motherboard tray, I decided to mod. I still kept the theme from my original idea, which consisted of a red, black and clear case with a clean smooth design and good airflow, and I also kept the design theme to tie the parts together. This involved patterns made from 1/4 inch thick lines and a few common angles.

    Alright! So on to the modding:dremel:

    Here is the original design as made in sketchup:

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    and here is the computer as it is right now in my room:

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    and yes, I know the front panel is missing. This is because of extreme space time continuum manipulation and some....:sigh: nevermind (its currently being worked on at school..yeah I know great chronological picture taking skills right?)

    So the work starts with the all important 1st package :thumb:

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    Whats inside you ask?

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    Just some fans cable ties and cable sleeving...

    I began to disassemble the fans for paint. First came the stickers:

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    Then the blades and gaskets:

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    I also decided to mod an old mx-310 that my brother gave me, so that went into the same batch of stuff for paint. Here is everything masked up and ready to paint:

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    a close-up of the mouse:

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    and done:

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    The white lines surrounding the pattern on the mouse were a product of my impatience...I peeled the masking off too soon, or rather I wanted to peel it off right away so I used an exacto knife to cut away the masking tape.. and cut into some of the grey primer....:wallbash:
     
    Last edited: 25 Mar 2009
  2. randompkguy

    randompkguy whats a 5 axis cnc router?

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    there might be some problems for a half hour or so while I resize some of the images, but they will be back up very soon
     
  3. 500mph

    500mph The Right man in the Wrong place

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    Thats a fairly interesting design. I like the way you have your power button mounted.
     
  4. randompkguy

    randompkguy whats a 5 axis cnc router?

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    thanks, I was unsure of the front panel design at first, but now its growing on me
     
  5. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    Very nice design. I love how the lines aren't all straight and uniform. Abstract Cheesecake.
     
  6. bigsharn

    bigsharn Officially demotivated

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    I like the colouring of the fans... were you inspired at all by any chance?:p
     
  7. randompkguy

    randompkguy whats a 5 axis cnc router?

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    inspired by what?

    Anyway, thanks for the comments everyone, ill be adding a lot more today (ive actually done much more work than im letting on....:rolleyes:)
     
  8. randompkguy

    randompkguy whats a 5 axis cnc router?

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    update, 10/03

    After the fans were painted, I started work on the dvd drive. For this drive I wanted to do a window, but I didn't want it to be like every other windowed drive out there so I added some of the line work from the main theme idea. I started by taking apart the drive (sorry no pics in its original state..it was a samsung sata super multi drive...pretty standard w/ black front):

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    After taking some measurements, I made a template in sketchup which I could paste onto the drive cover:

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    As you can see, I didn't really have much room to work with, as there were some major indents in the cover that needed to be cut away.
    Anyway, here is the cover after a few hours with the dremel and a file...and of course some music :)

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    After I had the basic shape roughed out, I went on to fill up the leftover dents and mask off certain areas:

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    Well it turns out my filling skills suck (primer told me this), so I decided to try and weld the dents up, but this caused some warping and a little burn-through, so I just decided to cut the dented part off...of course this was after butloads of profanity and frustration, throwing things across the shop...etc (this was not done at school...that would be bad..)

    So here it is ready for paint yet AGAIN (I actually had to repaint again, because it was so hot out on the first try that most of the paint dried before sticking to the metal...lesson learned here? READ THE CAN :wallbash:)

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    and here it is after paint:

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    I can't show the other side yet because I took this picture AFTER the window and led's were put in (I really need to figure out this time thing....) And yes, I said led's, bright white ones...Here I am doing some of the wiring, which was actually surprisingly hard, considering where it had to fit:

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    and to get the power to the led's (I wish this drive used molex power) I had to splice into the sata connector from the outside of the drive, since the pins on the board were rediculously small:

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    I used an 1/8th inch headphone jack for this, and some resistor magic...but I will be redoing this since I just bought a new psu with integrated sata power connectors.. I also want to change the heatshrink color to red.

    well its time for class now, so I'll finish this up at the end of the day ;)
     
    Last edited: 3 Oct 2008
  9. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    Nice mod to the CD drive. The cuts on top look great.
     
  10. randompkguy

    randompkguy whats a 5 axis cnc router?

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    Alright, here comes the rest of the dvd drive! I recieved the lexan in the mail a while ago and it seemed happy to see me:

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    ..so happy in fact, that it was open on my bed when I came home...er...yeah...moving on. I was kinda busy and fell into a modding trance, so I forgot to take pics of the cutting and drilling, but I basically cut and polished a sheet of lexan and then drilled holes in it to secure it to the top of the drive. On the inside of the cover I used nuts becuase the metal was too thin to tap. Anyway here are some pics of the end result:

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    So with the dvd drive finished (im actually thinking of powder coating it matte black along with the rest of the case, but that would mean re-stripping it and that is no fun. Also as I mentioned, im going to redo the power adapter, but that is for later), I decided to move on to the front panel. I started by cutting out the majority of the panel for the lexan window:

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    Then I filed it, sanded it, and drilled some holes for the screws:

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    Next I cut out the Lexan for the panel:

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    and then I drilled and countersunk holes in it to match up with the ones on the panel:

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    and added some nuts:

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    Next I cut out the hole for the fan with a holesaw, and then installed the fan. I had to modify the fan so the the nuts would sink down into the holes and allow me to use shorter screws. To do this I just drilled out the original holes so that the nuts would fit:

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    here is the modified hole:

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    and now you are as far along as I am in my modding journey. More updates should come with progress. Comments are welcome, and thanks to those who have already commented :D

    P.S. I know some things look bent....this is a camera effect which I have yet to learn to fix :yawn:
     
    Last edited: 3 Oct 2008
  11. Nooby4Ever

    Nooby4Ever 2 left hands

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    hehe ^^ can't w8 to see more updates (btw: nice work spot , i wish i had that)
     
  12. randompkguy

    randompkguy whats a 5 axis cnc router?

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    haha, if I get into the right colleges, my work space will be even better!
     
  13. ry@n

    ry@n Minimodder

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    Black and red is always a winner and that CD drive is very cool ;D

    Great start!
     
  14. randompkguy

    randompkguy whats a 5 axis cnc router?

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    So this is extremely off topic, but I'm so proud I just had to post:

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    I made this after two weeks of grinding, filing, heat treating, polishing, swearing, wrapping, and blood spilling.

    Here is the sheath. This only took a few hours and some minor burns....(it's thermoforming plastic)

    [​IMG]
     
  15. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    Excellent work on the DVD drive and the top panel. Knife looks great also.
     
  16. randompkguy

    randompkguy whats a 5 axis cnc router?

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    Thanks, I actually tried to keep the black and red theme for the knife so it would match my case...lol
     
  17. saxman

    saxman What's a Dremel?

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    Neat lookin knife... I like the rope handle. and the sheath is a very nice touch. what kind of heat treating did ya do?? thinkin of makin something like that myself. The case looks very nice as well. like the colors
     
  18. jhanlon303

    jhanlon303 The Keeper of History

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    Last edited: 6 Oct 2008
  19. randompkguy

    randompkguy whats a 5 axis cnc router?

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    @saxman: heat treating for this type of steel is hard unless you have access to a good kiln and some "tool wrap" (steel foil to prevent blade oxidation) Unfortunately I didn't really have either. For 440c (the steel I used) you are supposed to take the blade up to between 1850 and 1950 fahrenheit, soak it there for 30 minutes, and then take it out to air cool. I only got it to 1775f, so its not fully hard. Anyway If you are serious about knife making, id suggest some reading here: http://www.engnath.com/public/manframe.htm, and maybe start with a knife kit instead of the raw steel, unless you have LOTS of time on your hands. This took me two weeks at school with all their tools, and I had many free blocks to work on it.

    @jhanlon303: the knife is made of 440c stainless steel, and yes it is flat ground...well as good as I could do it anyway. I did get a little bit of convexness even using a hard flat surface for rubbing, but it turned out pretty well in my opinion.

    It's nice to know that there are some fellow knifemakers that also like to mod :D

    Also, I did make some progress on the front panel, but I didn't really have time to take pics. I added holes for the usb, power button, and hdd led, and I also countersunk the screws a little deeper so they don't stick out. I'll try to take some pix tomorrow:lol:
     
  20. randompkguy

    randompkguy whats a 5 axis cnc router?

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    UPDATE! 12/10/2008: Case Work

    Hey guys, finally got an update for ya :D I know it has been a while since my last post, and I'm sorry. This delay is mainly due to all of the college app stuff I need to do, as well as the fact that I needed to buy a temporary case so I could work on the actual case.

    (Here are some pics that I took earlier but forgot to put up) Usb ports and fan grille (I might redo this, or I might get it laser cut since I plan to overlay it with a smaller black copy of itself for more contrast against the red fans..it's translucent red btw):

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    Anyway, here are some pics of the case:

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    I decided to remove the rivets b/c I plan to completely redo the drive bay setup:

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    Here is the case with everything removed (I also took out the mobo tray):

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    Here is what I took out:

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    and here is what I plan to reuse:

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    Those two pieces in the back are actually from the old optical drive bays. I plan to reuse part of them for the new bays, so I had to rework them a little bit:

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    here is where they screw in(I took this before I reworked them):

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    The next step for me was to remove the top panel, as it will have a window for the viewing of the clear dvd drive mod. I removed the rivets, coutersunk the holes, and used more hex bolts:

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    Next I masked it up so as not to scratch the surface....which is acutally pointless anyway, since I plan to powder coat it later:

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    Well folks, thats it for now. Ive actually done some more work on that panel, but I have yet to upload the pics. They should be up soon though. Also, you can expect more steady progress now that I have more free time!! :rock:
     
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