Scratch Build – In Progress Addison - Final photos page 6

Removed offensive post (and post quoting offensive post)

 

I gave up on the butterscotch (or any other color) after doing some testing. I bought some paint that was perfect according to the cap color but it came out a terrible school bus yellow. Took it as a sign, gave myself credit for trying and moved on to the original plan. CNC milled aluminum bumpers and grille. As per design spec.








Glued a scrap piece of 1/2" square wood to the back of the bumpers near the balance point.




This temporary painting handle will be snapped off and cleaned up later.




Taped up the back of the bumpers to keep the wood raw for gluing. I like to trim a 1mm space back from the edge to get a cleaner paint edge and so the tape won't interfere with sanding along the edge.




Wrap a plastic grocery bag around my hand and grasp the handle. This gives me the control I like to have for spraying.




90% finished with the trim paint...or...just got my aluminum pieces back from the CNC mill.




Semi-final installation of equipment. The wood panels still haven't been glued together. Access is so much easier with the separate panels. The video card will be swapped out next week and I'd like the room to work that.



Power button in the back where I like it.




Had to do some shimming to the SSD mount. Also took the opportunity to extend the mount for greater support. The additional piece is unpainted in this photo.




The corners are raw wood and will remain that way. I even put a coat of paste wax on them and their corresponding outer box surfaces.



Thanks for looking.

 

I always enjoy watching these come together.

Question - does anyone else see a really tall dog in the first picture of the latest post?

 

Yes...it's there.

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Four blocks of wood located at each corner of the inner box structure.




Corresponding four "frames" at each corner of the decorative box interior.




To secure the cover in place the blocks tightly mesh with their custom frames. The meshed parts are also painted so a solid friction fit is achieved and easily maintained




The base of the grille is nearing completion after many, many coats of paint. The paint dries completely in 15 minutes and I do my best to sand it all back off between coats. The last 5 coats I allow to build up with a light sanding between with 1500 grit sandpaper. 85% of what you see here is masked off sections. Only the outer edges that border the mahogany are being worked.

The idea is that after this piece is glued in place and the surrounding mahogany is masked off I won't have to spray paint directly into the "border" region. By pre-finishing these border edges it should help solve my masking tape paint line problem.




After sanding the finish back to raw wood three times and starting over I'm thinking the fourth might do it. 3 coats of semi-gloss brushing lacquer lightly sanded with 400 grit sandpaper and buffed with #0000 steel wool. This is a dark photo but I like the reflections.

Thanks for looking!

 

That's not blue.

Finish is looking lovely.

 

Sanded off the finish on the gluing surfaces.




Clamp scheme.




This was the edge I was looking for. Hoprfully I can keep it this way. These photos were taken before gluing so there is a tiny gap.




More tape testing. Everything I read said to not leave the tape on a lacquer surface for more than 24 hours. I'll probably need more time than that. I suspect the 24 hour thing is BS and this will prove it.




New thing I learned from a guitar finishing site. Keep your masking tape in plastic bags and be careful where you set the rolls down. Helps keep lint, sawdust and funky liquids off the tape edges. Love to learn new things.




Once it is finally glued down I pack the now mated holes with wood filler. There are three layers of wood that need to look like a single layer.






Sand the wood filler down to get a smooth surface.




The only photo in this sequence shot in direct sunlight. Makes a difference. Here I am laying down my first grille slat straight down the center.




Instead of measuring I like to use physical spacers to get my positioning correct. Four identical pieces of wood take the probability of error down to near zero.


After this I took the piece indoors and finished the grille work.




Cloudy, overcast day so I'm back to monkeying with the fill light. The remaining grille structure is complete.






The 1/16" x 1/4" slats are backed up by 1/4" x 1/4" pieces of basswood to get the depth I need.




All of these pieces are hand cut and sanded to fit.









Thanks for looking!

 

I'm afraid to comment but I can't wait to see it finished!

And yeah, my tape always ends up crusty.

 

Thanks for this. It's just what I need!

 

Crusty tape is a sad tape.

You are welcome.

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Taped off using a nice old thick paper grocery bag I had stashed away. After a single coat.




Fifteen coats and a day later. Sanded down 100 grit, spray, 220 grit, spray and 400 grit, spray.




Painted the back of the slats with a brush-on aluminum paint and then backed up the holes with pieces of cardboard.









Thanks for looking.

 

The tape bag is a required thing here, but usually for the opposite reasons.
This log needs more love.

 

Agreed! Damn nice work! Siskel and eBart give it THREE THUMBS UP! The 3rd thumb isn't actually a thumb though.

 

Meh. It wouldn't be the first project of mine to fall through the cracks here. Aerodyne didn't get nominated for MOTM or MOTY but it went on to make Antony's top twenty of all time.

Thanks!

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Waiting for new, upgraded equipment and a few knobs to select from. Been concentrating on the photo shoot setup and lighting.




Photo number 350




4-way! In case anyone thought I was kidding.




Solar light tent setup. PVC pipe, ripped bedsheet, clothes pins and a table cloth stolen from a Las Vegas nightclub.

Knobs arrive Friday, video card ships tomorrow and Far Cry 4 releases on Tuesday. Gonna be close.

 

It's Saturday, you should have flashed your knobs already.

 

I ordered satin chrome but they sent me chrome. Tried to find some Scotch Brite Maroon today because it is suppose to be the cure for shiny.

Meanwhile I have removed all four black mesh panels and am replacing them with silver. The black doesn't show up on camera and makes the side vents look like big gaping holes.

 

Learn new things indeed. This is now item #256,554 on supermonkey's list of things that are so obvious, he wonders why he never thought of it. Thanks for the tip. This project is looking fantastic.

 

"Crotch Veneer", LOL!

 

Satin lacquer is a good cure for shiny too.

 

Final photos coming soon. Probably late Friday. These are my knobs. They are made by a German company named Schaller who specializes in guitar parts. These knobs were originally intended for a Fender Stratocaster.

The left knob operates the left one and the right knob operates the right one. I recommend operating both at once for maximum effect.

Specs:
Intel Core i7-4770K CPU
Gigabyte Z97N Mini-ITX Motherboard
Gigabyte GTX970 Video Card
HyperX Fury 16GB System Memory
HyperX 480GB SSD
Silverstone 450W Modular SFX Power Supply
All-In-One Generic 120mm water cooling system

 

*quietly sniggering*

Because, yes, I'm basically a child.

Nice knobs

 

I learned that before I turned 10.

It sounds like your knobs are only for decoration. -I'm talking about the case finally, so I apologize if I offended anyone.
Final pics when?