Paint job update Alright! I was able to get a little bit of painting done this past Saturday. At this point I was getting pretty tired from all of the bending/squating/kneeling that I had done during the day. I'm not that old, but man was I feeling old. Here you can see the drive cage before the first coat. And after... Turned out pretty nice, I think. Here's the bottom panel after one coat. And here's both after a couple of coats. Nothing like bright light to bring out the differences in the coats that you can't see with the normal eye. And a little closer... Drive cage from the front. And the back... And a close up... And the parting shot. Only 4 mounting holes drilled at this point. I was just wanting to make sure that all of the edges aligned so all holes weren't needed at this point.
I love that color, was gonna use it on a mod, but not anymore, cant steal it/ do something thats been done twice.
Thanks guys! As always I appreciate the comments. Hey customholle, they sell that paint to more than one person for a reason. Use it, man!
Well, i think i want to go automotive paint because it gives a nicer finish, its a while off, so we shall see.
First off Guido, great looking mod. I am just in the process of gathering together all of the bits I am going to need for a case I am building. I have angle aluminum the exact dimensions that you have and I have a bit of a question. How strong is the case? The case I am building it going to be fairly long, and it going to be moved around on a regular basis, so if you were to put a handle on your case it is strong enough to be picked up with everything installed inside? Thanks Guido, and keep up the good work.
Thanks Chewy! Aluminum angle is pretty strong, as the 90° is what provides the strength. If it was just flat aluminum, case rigidity would be a nightmare. Bending alu angle would take some force, force which I don't think the internals would give. You mentioned the case being long. This is where you might run into some problems, although I don't think very big ones. Keep in mind that if you're supporting weight in the middle of a long distance run of alu, support will more than likely be needed somewhere along the way. For example, take a look at one of the pics of the drive cage in my build. The front attaches to the front of the frame and the rear is supported by its own alu angle. Originally I had a piece of flat alu there, which provided little support and sagged. Swapped that out for angle and it worked great! Shorter distances of alum angle, let's say max 18-20", probably won't need any support. Distances longer than that I would have to test them out before I made a decision on whether or not to support. I bought two brushed alu handles for the case. I haven't decided on where to mount at this point, either top or front. I would say that the case as it stands now will be able to handle the weight, plus some. Keep in mind that I haven't put the whole case together yet with all of the hardware. One other point I must make. The stronger the joints and the method of connecting pieces is very crucial. Choose wisely. Good luck on your build!
Thanks for the feedback Guido. My case is going to be insanely large acutally. Probably in the 42"X18"X7" range. (when I start up my work log, you will see why.) It is going to be hinged and open, so I have to acually make two halves. Originally I was planning on flat aluminum for the edges where the two halves meet, but now I may actually go with angle aluminum all the way around now after what you have said. I think I have the extra inch or two to lose on the inside so I think I will be ok. It is the strength of the case that I am worried about. I have some of the aluminum at home already, I really just need to get going and do some assembly/testing.
Looks good, like the blue, i know the feeling well of taking a great many steps back (see the serverama log in my sig). What type of blade were you using in the mitre saw to cut the alu? ~64 tooth tungsten carbide or a special metal cutting one. may invest in one for my next custom case as i'm making a pair and need to do it in slightly more bulk
Hm, it's a special metal cutting blade; DeWalt is the brand. It reminds me of a reinforced cutting disc for a Dremel. I'll take a look this evening so I can give you the exact details.
Bottom panel Hey all! Here's another update for ya. Last week I was able to get just a little bit more done. Here you can see the bottom panel positioned on the bottom frame. The rivet holes have been drilled and countersunk and are ready to go. And a close-up of the countersink. And after the rivets are on. And another close-up.
PSU mount and painting I've been thinking about changing how the PSU mounts to the case and thought of a bracket like you see on Lian-Li cases. I got this outline by pressing a piece of paper into the PSU area on an old Antec case that I have. From there I outlined the hole onto the paper with a Sharpie and then traced the design onto the aluminum. Hole cut... And the entire thing. Since the case still isn't back together yet I had to guess on how much of a lip I should put on the bracket. I figured 1/2" would be suitable, but if not I have more than enough alu left to make a bigger one if needed. At this point I was hungry, but since it was late on Saturday night I figured something lite would be best. Man, this stuff is good... And since it was late, I decided I'd better wrap up the day with painting. It's a whole lot quicker to clean up, nothing to put away, etc... Here's the corners, painted only on the inside. Why just on the inside? Because if I painted the outside it would paint over the labels for what piece goes where. And some blanking plates. And some mobo shots. And now for the PSU bracket. With an old PSU for effect. Another angle. And the 1/2" lip that I was talking about earlier. And a group shot. Well, that's it for now. I'm going out of town this week so nothing will be done at least until next Monday.
That PSU bracket looks very niiiiice. Awesome painting job on all those pieces, they definately look great together! I'm lovin this color scheme, GET 'ER DONE!
Case re-assemble It's been a little while since I last posted. I've had a time trying to get started after taking a little vacation two weeks ago. I've since sold a car and got a new one, plus all the other daily things that delay modding. I was really wanting to get the case back together again. Taking it apart delayed me more than I had hoped. I tried several times to get a HDD mounting mockup started, but without the case put together to see where it would fit just wasn't allowing it to happen. Warning: The painted panels you see in the following shots are made worse by the flash than just looking at them in normal light. That said, I have to sand the panels down and re-paint them. Either the wind, humidity, temp (you'll see more on this in a moment) or just plain bad painting circumstances wasn't allowing for a good finish. Since I put a "window" on the bottom of the case I need something to "see" through. Here is that leftover, scrap something. And here it is cut to size. And since I want light to radiate from this "window", I sanded down the top side of the acrylic. My question to you is should I sand down the under surface as well? When I was out sanding I worked up a sweat, but I really wasn't doing anything. I mean, come on, it's a powered sander. How can you work up a sweat using a powered sander? This is why. Today they're telling us that it's supposed to be around 100! And here he/she/it is! (A ship is a girl, normally. What's a computer?) Finally put back together so I can get this build moving along. I suppose you might be wondering why the outside of the corners aren't painted and the insides are. It's simple, really. I wouldn't be able to tell what piece went where, and what side faced front/back/right/left. And here's some outside shots because the lighting was better out there, hince the 90° temp. The pot holders are for keeping the bottom scratch-free. I need to buy some feet. And here's a preview of what it looks like now. I chose the following bad pic because it shows the etch off better than some of the other pics did. And here's where I'm looking at to install the HDD's; one on one side of the drive cage and one on the other. I thought about using some of the extra alu to make a wrap around enclosure for the drives, but to do this they would need to be on the other side of the cage with not a lot of air flow. If I put them where the above pic shows, they'll be right in front of a 120mm fan. And that's it for now. I'll be working on the drive holders this week, along with more painting.
