Case Mod - In Progress Project S - Suspended Indefinitely

I love that cut out in the side panel... very original

 

Ah, I can see where you were inspired by Cold Fusion. I liked that case mod, and I'm beginning to like this one already!

 

Some very precise Dremel work there, good job

 

the cut out is very nice

 

Thanks for all the motivating words.

I'm not all that worried about time; I'm in no rush to finish this project. What type of blade do you recommend for plastics? I've been doing some reading and it seems that people tend to go for a blade with 10 teeth per inch for cutting plastics.

While I don't have one at home, I might have one at school. However, I like the idea of using the jigsaw for a rough cut and then filing down for a more exact final product.

I stumbled across this site which provides a machining service. I recreated my Shield image with their provided software and got a quote. The cheapest I can get that shield for is approximately $200. I think I'll make it myself.. thanks.

Anyway, I'm headed out of state to see some friends for a few days so I won't have anymore updates until I get back. Hopefully I'll have some more designs finalized by then.

 

I think I'd do the same if they're asking for that much. :O

 

Hey, what a nice concept!! Reallt cool that window, I should actually be counting right now

 

No more physical work has been done since the last update but I do have a few more designs. I can be overly meticulous so designing always takes a long time. I move back into school on Sunday so while I'll have access to more tools/machines, I'll also have to deal with classes. I also have to order some materials so I can get this project into motion.

Top Panel
After designing the left side panel, I wasn't exactly sure what to do with the rest of the case. I knew that the internal viewing area on the left side panel wasn't going to be that large so I tossed around the idea of incorporating a window into the top panel.

However, after taking some measurements I realized that the PSU, drive bays, support rails, and 80 mm fan would prevent too large a window. My window would have been no larger than 5.75" x 6.25", including the fan. In addition to this, I wasn't sure how to go about incorporating the 'S' theme into a rectangular window. An etch in the window might have worked but I have no experience etching and I couldn't see it turning out all that well.

Enter Tygon® tubing. I came across some 0.5" OD, 0.25" ID, 0.125" wall tubing which piqued my interest. After some fooling around with some sketches and AutoCAD, I came up with the following design.


The way to read this design is as follows:
Black - The side panel.
Gray - An aluminum shield.
Light Blue - A sheet of polycarbonate placed between the panel and the shield.
White - Areas in which the inside of the case can be seen.
Off-White - The tubing, which will be lit.
The four small white holes are for screws to mount it to the case.

This design can be broken up into three main components.

1. Aluminum - Black

The current stock 80 mm blow hole grill is the cause for this sheet. I need to cut out the grill but if I weren't to cover the hole, parts of it would show through the final product. This will become more apparent upon construction.

2. Aluminum - Silver

To keep in theme with the left side panel, this layer of silver aluminum was added.

3. Polycarbonate

Much like the left side panel, this is a clear layer of polycarbonate (approx 0.25 in thick) that is to lay sandwiched between the black and silver aluminum.

 

Front Panel
The first step in designing the front panel was to determine what components I wanted and their locations. I came up with the following list:

• Optical Drive - first 5.25" bay
• Switches (power, optical drive, fans, LEDs) - second 5.25" bay
• Two 80 mm fans - bottom

This gives an area of 8.25" x 8.75" between the switches and the fans which is free space. It's my intent to make this space the main focus of the front panel. I'm also going to try to incorporate the edges that run around the optical drive, switches, and fans.

So far all that is done is the layout of the switchboard.

The Switchboard

The panel is comprised of two vandals, three toggles, and two LEDs. The outside toggle switches control the LEDs and have their corresponding LED next to them. These LEDs will be powered regardless of the position of the switch. Controlling the fans is the middle toggle which is a SPDT 7V-Off-12V switch. The white vandal will be the power button whereas the blue vandal will control the eject/close function of the optical drive.

I hope to get a few ideas going for the design of the front panel tonight. Ideally I'll have a finalized design within a week though with moving back into my apartment and classes starting up, I'm making no promises. I know this case will be a long and slow process due to time constraints so I apologize in advance.

 

It's been awhile since progress on the construction side of this project has been made. Obligation toward school have kept me bogged down. However, today I was able to have a friend help me out with the water jet at school. We cut out a few parts and as with all first experiences, not everything goes flawlessly.

Anyway, here are the pictures of the left and right side panels. The aluminum and polycarbonate are just laying on top of each other. More work has to be done to fasten them to the case. Also, I have something interesting planned for the right panel that I'm keeping a bit under wraps for the time being.

Left Panel
This side's polycarbonate was the first to be cut. We were worried that it would be too brittle and too high a pressure would crack the sheet. Since we lowered the pressure setting, we tried to compensate by telling the machine that it was cutting a slightly thicker piece. Unfortunately we didn't compensate enough and the sheet wasn't cut all the way though. Since I didn't bring another sheet of polycarbonate with me, this piece will have to wait for another day. The final product will have a 3/16" sheet of polycarbonate between the black panel and silver shield.


High resolution.

High resolution.

Right Panel
For the polycarbonate on the left panel, the pressure was returned to normal and it was just fine. However, the aluminum pieces were not cut without incident. The three pieces were cut out in the same run. After each piece, we should have paused the machine to take it out and then resumed cutting. Unfortunately it didn't occur to us. After one of the pieces was cut, it bounced around and a part of it settled in the path of the water jet. Evidence of this can be seen near the bottom. I'll go over it with some Bondo to fix it later on, no big deal.


High resolution.

High resolution.

High resolution.

Side by Side
Here are just some shots of the two panels side by side. By the way, a couple of white t-shirts work great as a backdrop when you don't have anything else handy.


High resolution.

High resolution.

All of the edges of both the aluminum and polycarbonate have to be smoothed out. The aluminum shields have to be sanded down and primed/painted but that won't be for awhile. I work on this case when I can and when I can work on this case isn't that often. However, since the majority of the designing of the physical alterations are done, progress should be more frequent than once every two months.

 

That's pretty sick looking. Are you planning on lighting the polycarbonate behind the aluminum pieces?

 

Thanks. Yes, as of right now the polycarbonate pieces on the left and right panels will be lit with white LEDs. The design I posted for the top panel has been scraped. Final designs for the top and front panel exist but I'll hold off on posting them for a bit.

 

Very original design u got there, nice job cuting out the S by hand, it shows that one dont need a CNC machine to do the job if you just do it right and put some patience to it, this should look very nice when u put some leds to it.

By the way if u use a jigsaw for acrylic i think that blades for metal is the best choice and dont go to fast cuz that will melt the acryl..

 

he didnt cut it by hand, it was done with a waterjet. it still looks extremely badass.

 

I can be wrong but this is what he wrote in begining of log:


(Both front and back sides of the panel are given the masking tape treatment (single and double layer, respectively). This is in order to prevent scratches from a loss of control of the Dremel and the rough surface I'm working on (an old workbench).)

 

The S on the side panel is the one he cut by hand. The acrylic and aluminum pieces that go over the side panel are the ones done by water jet. So you're both right.

Very nice cutting job on that S too. That looks hard.

 

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Like Greensabbath said, the S that was cut out of the black side panel was done using a Dremel. Thus far, all of the gray aluminum and polycarbonate were cut using a water jet. The complex looking gray S would have taken too long to cut out with a Dremel so I opted to use the water jet. I figured while I was at it, I might as well make good use of it. It's not like I have that much time to work on this project anyway. Either way I still have to file down all the edges and sand the faces.

Next week is my spring break. I plan to spend the majority of it sleeping and seeing family and friends. It's not like I've made much progress thus far but next week will definitely be marked by a further lack of updates. Sorry to those who are sitting on the edge of their seats. /sarcasm

 

No real progress made, just connecting the dots a bit. Here's a little sneak peak.


High resolution.

 

sweet

 

Thanks, wbdog.

As it turns out, I'm going to have to buy different eye lags (the hooks that hold the tubing). The ones I currently have aren't thick enough to allow for the lighting technique that I plan on using. Along with the larger eye lags may come larger tubing. The ID of the new eye lags will be a bit larger than the current tubing's 0.5-in OD.

I'm also going to remove the 6th and 8th eye lags, counted from the top. I don't particularly like how they're bunched that close.

Unfortunately all of this will have to wait until I get back from spring break.