Project: Super Hornet - 16th October - Case Completed

Hope you got in the corners of everything with a metal file kit. Love the look and idea.

 

Hey Kumo, thanks for the compliments.

As for the weight.. the case it self is very light. It is made completely from Alum. Cuttign w/ Alum is so easy when compared to a normal steel case. The hornet and hive took only one reinforced cutoff disc.

After all the hardware added and WC, I believe the case will end up being pretty heavy

Ok.. back to modding I go

SAD

 

Awesome work with the dremel there..
And how about the side panels ? Thats a kickass idea!
Pleez hurry up to inspire me.. uhm, I meen us
GL Mr. SAD

 

Hey folks,

Sorry for the long delay since the last posting. Trying to get the case done by the deadline was a bigger challenge then I thought. I spent every avialalbe moment modding the case, which prevented me from updating my work log. Two good things did occur. As I modded, I still snapped photos of the progress, and the case was finished by the deadline and made it to the LAN So now that the LAN is over, I am going to post the remaining work log over the next week. So here goes.

After the side panels were completed and cut, I had to focus on the front panel. I wanted to make the front panel look like single panel versus the two-panel look of the sides. The bottom of the front panel was formed by bending edges of the panel. I had to remove the bottom to be able to securely join the two portion together. I used masking tape to mark the area I would cut off w/ the jig saw




For the bottom portion of the front panel, I wanted to integrate a PSOne LCD screen. So I cut the excess material from the panel to clear up some room. I did the cutting with a fine teeth metal jigsaw blade. The jigsaw really speeds up cutting, and is great for straight line and easy patterns.




I wanted to make sure that the front panels were joined very securely. So I use some of the right angle alum pieces I had left over from the hinges. I drilled 4 holes on each alum bracket (2 for the top and 2 for the bottom), and used rivets to secure the pieces together. I was surprised how well the parts joined together.







With the front panels joined, I had to fabricate a new face to the front panel. I wanted to use a very simple design that would be both functional and look good. You can see the design I have layed out. The top portion will have a window into the case, while the bottom portion has and LCD which is flanked by a pair of buttons for the power / reset, and CCFL.




I used a nickel to give me a uniform circle for my button. The nickel is just slightly larger then ¾” and it worked really well.




To make a round hole, I drilled a few holes with my 3/8” bit, and use a sanding drum on the dremel to make a nice round hole.




To follow the hornet theme of the case, I decided to cut a hive pattern window for the top panel window.




I drilled several 3/8” holes, which I used as access points for my jig saw




Here is the completed face for the front panel, before it was epoxied to the case. To make sure that epoxy bond is going to be strong between two pieces of metal, I made sure to sand both parts with 220 grit sand paper.




After the epoxy dried, I applied some spot putty to the edges, which was latter sanded down to make the front face and panel look like a seamless piece




That is the update I had for the front panel creation. My next post will about painting

If there is any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to post on the thread.

Regards,

SAD

 

YAY an update!!

looks very nice indeed...!

 

Love the hornet design, oh and the whole 2 shuttles is cool.

Cheers
-Belial

 

I feel bad about the slow updates, but I was so busy modding to catch the deadline. Now that everythign is done, I'll be posting worklog progress regularly.

As for the 2 shuttles.. these cases are a bit differnet. They are SFF cases made by Monarch computers, not shuttle.

SAD

 

I have a LAN in just few days, and my project is still in underwear (a spanish joke) so i understand you. Want to post but no time. The time writing and resizing the pics is gold to end the mod on time.

The mod is awensome. And the cases are nice, although they aren't shuttle ones haha

 

man i can't wait to see the finished product

 

Kumo - My mod is "ok".. your shuttle mod is awesome My case mod pales in comparision to your SFF case mod

sunnyg - the case mod is actually done already I am just back filling my project log. I was modding on a very tight deadline, so my posting was held back.

SAD

 

Hey Folks,

I thought the priming and base painting post would be longer, till I looked at the pictures I actually took. I was so busy painting I didn’t get that many photos; so I will make a short update with the pictures I do have available.

For the case I really wanted the paint to stand out. So what that meant was I really had to plan a color scheme that would work well, and prep it accordingly. With all the parts that needed to be painted, it went the typical preparation, clean the parts w/ denatured alcohol, sand with 220 grit, and then clean again. For the primer, I use a couple of coats of Rustoleum Automotive Gray primer, which worked well. Here are most of the parts after it was primed and sitting to dry.



After the primer dried, I applied several coat of gloss black to the frame, and the peripherals (keyboard and mouse) to go with the hornet theme.



For all the side panels, I applied Alsa’s Nevada Silver Base coat. Here is a picture of the paint cap. This is the base paint before it is reduced. You can see the high level of metallic flakes. This metallic flake will really help the paint “POP” in the light



Here is a picture of the hornet side panel primed and painted. The top panel is painted with the Silver base coat, and the bottom is just primer. Since it was getting dark, and I didn’t have the flash on, it’s hard to see the sparkle.



Here is a picture after all the parts have been painted will a couple of cots of the Silver Base Paint. It actually looks a bit plain sitting out to dry.



The next post will cover the color portion. The next update will be fun

As always, any comments or questions are always welcome

Regards,

SAD

 

very nice mod, i love the cutouts on the panels, good luck with your mod and i love to see the final result

 

Nahh... Thank you, dude. Anyway i think your casi is great. I love the cuts, the panels movement... I only hope that you had painted it with black and yellow scheme

 

Kumo - The paint isn't done yet I said the Base was silver Stay tuned for the next post.. might be tonight if I get time to do it.

SAD

 

Hey Folks,

Time for another update, and this will be a big one Hopefully this update will be as much fun as I had doing it. I will break it into a few sub section for clarity.

Candy Color Mixing:

In the last post, I covered all the panels with a metallic silver base coat. The next part is to give the panels some colors. So I will be applying a candy coat to it. A candy coat is basically a color tinted base coat. The hard part is that you have to mix the candy color to get the right shade you want, and the color of the base coat effects the final color.

To test the various colors, I used several speed shapes. These speed shapes are basically blank samples you can paint to see how it will look at various different angle.

Here is a picture of the speed shape before the base coat and candy are applied. Nothing very exciting:



Each of the speed shape was painted with the metallic silver base paint, then covered with various combination and mixtures of candy coat. I actually only used two different candy color, at different concentration and mixture levels.



After I was done, I thought this was the best candy shade for the side panels. Please note that this is completely dry, but the candy color makes it look nice and wet.



Here is my ghetto candy mixing up. The measuring cup is great for mixing different ratio of clear coat to hardener. The Dollar Store is a great asset for modders



Here is my paint gun filled with lemon yellow candy and ready to paint anything in its path.



PC Peripherals Painting:

In the last post, you saw I painted they keyboard frame gloss black. I actually got a second keyboards, and painted the keys with the candy yellow paint. Since the candy is a clear coat, I get yellow keys, but the all the text is still visible



Its now time to paint the Logitech G7 Laser Mouse to match the theme of the case. This is an awesome gaming mouse, but silver and metallic green paint doesn’t match the case at all.



Here is the mouse being disassembled:



The green frame was painted gloss black, and here is the silver portion before it was painted with the candy



Here is the cover after the color candy was applied. You can still see the Logitech logo and the G7 text.



Here is the mouse completely reassembled. It seems to match the hornet color scheme a lot better now, and still looks sharp



Frame Painting:

Here is the motherboard tray painted candy yellow. You can see it looks better then the original aluminum version



Here is a close up of the paint. You can see the metallic flakes from the silver base coat



Ghost Hive Painting

I really want to make the Lemon Yellow Candy to stand out, and not look just like yellow paint. So the best way I thought I could achieve this was by making a ghost hive pattern. So here is how I applied a ghost hive painting.

Before I painted the 1st coat of candy, my wife cut some hexagon shapes for me out of shelving paper. Once the shelving shapes were cut, it was applied to the case. It was then painted with 4 coat of candy yellow.



Here is a picture after all the hexagons were removed. Very nice clean line, and the hive is very visible



I then applied a couple more coats of candy paint. As you can see the hive pattern is still there. If you look at the panel at a different angle, the hive pattern completely disappears. I thought the ghost hive was just cool and something different



Here is a picture of the front panel being prepared for the same type of ghost painting treatment.



Well, that was a pretty big update. Hopefully you enjoyed it as much as I did painting it

As always, any comments or questions are always welcome.

Regards,

SAD

 

That's some nice paint work. For some odd reason I especially like the yellow motherboard tray.

 

That is sweet!

 

You're a master of colors. What going to do the weekend, i have to paint my car's tail..

I think the pics don't catch "it" well. It must be impressive . Ah! What's about case lightning?

 

Thanks for the compliment, I am nowhere near being a color master. This is actually my 3rd case I have used automotive paint on. I am still learning how to do it properly. I am starting to get the hang of it. I figure by my sixth or seventh case mod, I shoudl have it down right!!

Using candy color really gives painting a entire new dimension that isn't available in rattle can paints. You can get millions of different colors and shade by varing the amount of single candy paint you use, or even by mixing different differnet candy colors in layers.

I really wish there was a class at the local adult education I could take on car painting I believe they have candy painting classes in Hawaii, but I doubt the wife will let me attend it for a semester

Kumo - you are right, the pictures does not do the paint any justice at all. You can not see the depth of the paint or how it sparkles.

As for lighting, I am going VERY simple, I am doing plaing white CCFL and White LED fans. I want to maximize the appearance of the paint and parts.

Hopefully another update tomorrow or this weekend. We are getting close to the final case soon

SAD

 

Hey Folks,

Sorry for the delay in the posting. Here is a small update. This post is a bit random, from the sense that it has lot of little things that had to be done to the case. So I am just going to cover what I did.

In the previous post, you saw that I dremeled a hive pattern on the two bottom side panels and the front panel, and also cut two hornets on the other side panels. I wanted to make the windows a bit different, and stay away from the clear acrylic. I decided to use both tinted / smoked acrylic, mirrored acrylic, and mesh.

Since the top compartment was going to be pretty empty, I wanted to give the illusion that the top had more room, so I decided to use Acrylic Mirror on the inside front and back of the case. Before I could cut the acrylic, I made templates from plain old construction paper



Here is a pic of the acrylic mirror with the protective covering on it.



I masked off the backside of the plexi, transferred my template patterns, and used a fine tooth jig saw blade to cut the acrylic. The results weren’t that bad



For the body of the hornet and the front of the case, I wanted the design to really stand out, so I decided to use smoked acrylic.



Here is a pic of the smoked acrylic applied to the front panel. The great part about tinted acrylic is that when the internal lights are one, you will be able to see everything inside.



For the wings and the hive, I wanted to allow airflow, especially since there was a radiator. So I used AC Ryan’s gray mesh for the wings, and black mesh for the hive. It worked out really well.



Since I refabricated the front panel, I added room for a PSOne LCD. Here is a pic of the LCD being tested before it was mounted



For the water-cooling setup, I wanted to use Danger Den’s Fill port. Using a fill port is just a convenient way of adding water to your loop. I have encountered so many issues with acrylic res cracking, that I just never use them anymore. Since the top panel was hinged, I had no solid part to mount the fill port. So I had to fabricate a custom fill port hinge. So here are some shot of the hinge being made:







That is pretty much it for the miscellaneous stuff. The Main Water Cooling and Internal components will be on the next post.

As always, any comments or questions are always welcomed.

SAD