Project AquaLight - updated [23-2-2007] FINISHED!!!

wow thats really sleek

 

like the top desing.... although all that bondo is gonna make extremely heavy

 

i really dont care about the weight. the rig already weights about 20kg at this point, a few kg more or less... doesnt bother me really

 

Old skool type of work. extreme detail. very nice

 

time for another update

today i started working on the side panel. after masking the panel with maskingtape i cut out the middle section with a dremel (standard cutting disks, non reinforced, did a great job cutting through the panel with ease)

the disassembled panel after removing the original plexi, both fans and the handle


masking the outline with maskingtape


after cutting out the central area


few minutes later after all the filing.


other than that i did some experiments with plexi since i never worked with it before. tried polishing and flame polishing some small pieces.... im gonna need some more practice before ill be brave enough to try those methods on actual pieces
tomorrow i hope to get an aluminium sheet to cover the original panel (following my sketches). if ill manage expect a pretty big update

 

Today's update. didnt get too much work done im still stuck without the aluminium sheet for the window panel and i came to a conclusion that my current design for the top panel would make it look kinda cheap. im looking for something really special.

So today i worked mostly on the front bezel. i wetsanded the fiber and the blowhole with 360 grit sandpaper. then i moved next to the 120mm FAN. i originally didnt want to use it cause 1 of the blades got cracked and i glued it back and secured it in place with a piece of fiberglass and some CA glue. the repairment was quite visible then but today i sanded it down to a perfect finish (the pics were taken before i sanded it so dont get all scared)

i decided to go for the turbine look. now now i know there are pre-made turbine fans on the market but none of them are strong enough and very few can push beyond 40CFM. the 1 in pictures pushes 96 CFM as far as i know and its super quiet.

so i took a R/C airplane plastic spinner and sanded it down till it was a perfect fit on top of the fan. the whole thing will be painted of course, i cant leave it like that.

so in general i didnt do too much today (all together i worked about 1.5 hours on the panel) ill let the pics do the talking


fan next to the spinner, still in its original form


sanded down spinner is placed on top of the fan


closeup...sorry for the blurry pic


and thats how it looks on the panel


closeup


some more stuff
on top is a shape i thought to cut on the other side of the case (kind of a tribal shark or smth i guess)
at the bottom is the writing that will be implemented in the window panel (for those of u who followed my updates


another thing is that i found out that blackdog-pcs.com do international shippings. so without hesitating i ordered some stuff that are nearly impossible to get in Israel

AC Ryan AcrylPanel™ 3mm - 480x480mm UVBlue
AC Ryan MeshxPanel™ 500x500mm Black
AC Ryan Connectx™ Molex Gripz 4pin Female - UVBlue
AC Ryan Roundcable2-FX ATA133 30cm 1 1dev UVBlue
AC Ryan SATA EMI cable - 30cm UVBlue
AC Ryan Screwz™ for power supply fans
AC Ryan MORF™ SE psu modding kit - UVBlue

thats it for today i really hope to get that aluminium sheet tomorrow so i can start working on the window

 

Today's update will be shorter than i would want it to be but there are quite few reasons for that.

i started working on the project pretty late due to my work commitements. in the middle of all the cutting and dremeling i found out that my cellphone is gone. totally pissed off i broke 5 cutting disks in a row, i then realised that its not my day and folded. it was pretty late by then anyway.

So here are the pics from today:

Before starting the actual work i tried some designs on a cardboard. This is what i finally came up with


aluminium sheet marked are ready to work with. i used 1mm thick 5052 aluminium


drilling leading holes in the difficult areas


the panel at the end of the work today


Other than that i already have the design pretty much figured out tor the top of the case i hope to make a cardboard template tomorrow

 

I think, u dont let a good lenght arround the fan hole, on the side.

 

Another update. today i finished cutting out the window. still got some filing left to do and the "aqualight" writing will be done next time. ive done about half of the cutting with dremel and the rest with jigsaw. here are the pics

Panel at the end of the day


1 of the corners


fan hole


in focus is the main wondow corner, still needs some filing while in the background u can see the side widnow already filed down and finished


the original panel next to its new cover


the leftovers. i dont have too much aluminium so ill keep them just in case ill have some ideas


guys im working pretty hard on this mod and im not getting ANY feedback at all, i can handle some criticizm so please reply if u have anything on ur mind

LOTTARO: what do u mean exactly?

 

Just seen this log for the first time and I'm impressed.

The front panel looks very smooth, I hope I can get my HTPC front to look so smooth...

I'll 2nd what someone said earlier about getting some dust filters for your fans though...

 

whew, thats some neat work! gold stars all round

Look forward to seeing it all coming together. Fraid I have nothing useful to add yet.

Keep it up!

 

Wow, dude...it looks awesome. Great idea, from what I can tell. It's fantastic to see that someone else is actually starting work from a case they don't like and making it their own. I don't see any criticism I could make...keep it up, my friend.

 

Looking very good m8, KUTGW! If you don't have any ideas for that round piece of aluminium, u can always make a shuriken out of it

 

thanks for the feedback guys
i didnt go to the workshop today, woke up with a sore throat so ill continue the work at sunday.
so meanwhile i was sitting at my place working on the final design for the top and the mobo panels. this is what i came up with





sorry i have no skills or whatsoever in graphics programs. id rather draw everything by hand (if its not more complicated than a few straight lines)

anyway i can promise u that it will look much better when im done with it
i tried to keep the drawings scaled with the original panels i kinda succeded doing it with the mobo panel but the top panel came out pretty messed up, it will look better when im done

 

Looks cool. I always draw thing by hand (well, first anyway )
I dig the shark/fish thing and like the fact that you have a sort of rounded angular theme going (if that makes sense...)
Personally I hate having usbs on top of the case (got them on my current case, they drive me mad) but I see that you have been using them there so i guess that's fine by you.

Look forward to an update

 

You've got a nice style that's starting to develop. It looks like this will become a piece of art as well as PC modification!

Subscribed, as I'm looking forward to how this turns out!

 

wow, thanks! thats by far the best compliment i got on these forums lol. pretty hard to impress someone here with so many great modders browsing these forums. i really hope that one day i will be anywhere near them.

anyway... i was sitting here getting bored so i thought its a good opportunity to disassemble my rid and get it ready for the next stage.

Disassembly stages









reassembly in an old case i had from a previous system





i removed all the fans and cathodes from the case



thats about it, i hope to take the whole case to my workshop in the beginning of next week. the plans are cutting out those ugly fan grills and replacing them with something more elegant aswell as painting the interior of the case and beginning of the whole acrylic work (and there will be lots of acrylic involved in this)

 

Are you just going to rivet the new side pannel onto the old one for ease or are you going to attach it some other way?

 

no i dont think rivets will look very professional. ill just scre the panels each to other with the acrylic in the middle. i will also sand down the edges of the acrylic so when the case is lit up it will have a nice glowing outline.

 

Kick-asslycious