Scratch Build – In Progress [CIP] Core4 [Last update: December 29th 2007]

Concept art Core⁴

Because my current project XIXIV is finished I started brainstorming about a new project, which now goes by the name Core4.

At first I named the project "Quadcore" because the design looks a bit like an Energy Core and is nearly symmetrical on four sides. But I found this name referrin too much to a certain processor type and after a little brainstorm session the name Core4 came up. It has the same general idea behind it but without referring to a certain product. In addition to that it's also my 4th mod (after my Xaser, Silvertec and ofcourse XIXIV).

In the design proces of this project I have put less boundaries to the design than usual, the project is more or less no "must do" because with the nearly finished project XIXIV I have got all the pc storage room I need, but I can't help being addicted to casemodding and can't resist working on something new.

While designing this project I never looked at functionallity within my personal situation, but simply designed something which seemed really cool to me to build and is a big challenge to my skills because building it contains techniques which I never used before, like milling acryl-panels into rounded continuous shapes with the help of molds and a manual milling machine.

Below you will find a detailed building description of the project. I know the risk of someon stealing the design is there, but I asume that other modders prefer to do there own thing instead of copying other peoples designs. And I just cant resist showing what I'm up to if everything turns out te be possible for me.



First of all I will mill a baseplate for the case from MDF or 15mm plywood of which you can see the bottom view above. In it there are different kind of holes of which the use will get more obvious furtheron in this description.



In the three square cutouts on the sides 3 acryl-panels will be mounted in which (sponsor)logo's will be engraved or etched.
(next to these panels another cutout will be made to mount 10cm ccfl's to enlight the logo's).

The side which doesn't contain a panel will be the rear of the case where the cabling will go into it. It might be that I will place some feet under the baseplate so that the cabling can go underneath it..



Once turend over, there wil be 4 MDF or 15mm plywood panels mounted on the baseplate, which together form the base of the case.



In the round holes in the corners 4 aluminium tubes will be mounted which will be equal in height with the base.



In these tubes 4 acryl tubes will be placed of which the outer diameter will be 1mm smaller than the inner diameter of the aluminium tubes, these are meant to ease the construction.



On top of those 4 other acryl tubes will be placed, at this moment the case is almost at its maximum height.



Out of acryl panels I will mill a number of layers which have the basic shape of the case.
On this image you can see the bottom one. This one goes over the acryl tubes and the square hole in the middle is 5mm smaller that the wooden base on all sides. This way it can be mounted to the base.



Within the center square hole another panel will be mounted which is 1mm smaller on all sides (I will be needing this 1 mm gap to keep the meshx core accuratelly in it's place further on)



Than small aluminium tubes with the same diameter as the 4 tubes in the base will slide over the acryl tubes, these 4 will be firmly attached to the acryl tubes (not the base).



Yet another acryl layer will be placed on top of those, slightly bigger on the outside than the first one.

At this moment I can also place a square core of meshx which is the exact same size as the scuare holes in the acryl layers. The bottom of it will slide into the 1mm gap that was created in the bottom layer



In the same way as above multiple layers will be made. In the middle 2 layers will be a tiny bit smaller again, just like the bottom layer to give it a bit more dynamic looks. These smaller layers will also have a different color than the rest.



Once the semi-final layer is placed a square transparant acryl panel (window) will be mounted in the meshx core at the same height as the semi-final layer.



Than the final layer can be placed, once again a bit smaller than the rest, the square in the middle of this layer will be smaller, or maybe even contain a logo cutour. This way it overlaps the top edges of the meshx core.

The last 4 aluminium tubes will be firmly mounted to the acryl tubes again, this way the entire top of the case can be easilly seperated from the base (see below)

In the 4 acryl tubes I will mount CCFL's, of which the wires will inivisibly go thrue the tubes into the base of the case.



4 plastic cabs will be place on top of the tubes as a finishing touch.



And there it is, the completely build up case!

But some hardware will have to go into it as well ofcourse.



Because of the first aluminium tubes are mounted to the acryl tubes, the entire top of the case can easilly be sepperated from the base.
Which leaves us with just the base.



On this base the hardware will be mounted, with the PCI tray in the bottom so all wires can be attached invisibly inside the base.

How I am exactly going to mount the hardware will depend on the hardware itself and I think it's best to figure this out at the moment the case is build up in general.



In addition to the above, here's an exploded view of all parts of the basic parts of the case.

Finally, if everything will be possible for me, here's an impression of what the case should look likewhen it's completely finished.





The materials and the most important tool

Before I start posting the actual work on the case here are some picture of the materials I have gathered for the case so far (thanksAC-Ryan!).



For the build of the case one certain tool will be used quite a lot, I’ve been thinking about buying one for quite a while, but now I really had to and I’m very happy with my new plunge-router :*) (a new word added to my English dictionary, I hope it’s the correct one ) complete with a set of different router-bits..





The beginning

Shortly after my plunge-router and router-bits arrived I did some testing on a piece of leftover acrylic from XIXIV to find the best rpm for the cleanest cut.
I’ll be using a flush-trim bit which follows/copies a pre-made wooden mold, of course I did the testing with this bit as well.
The plunge router has an rpm range from 0 to 28.000 rpm (no load), divided in setting 1 through 6 with 2 subdivisions in between. I got the best result at setting 4 which (if the rpm’s are actually divided linear) would be about 18.500 rpm.




Here you can see some of the test pieces lined up, I hope you can see the difference,, but the left/best looking piece is cut at setting 4.

The next step is creating de different wooden molds for cutting the different shapes.





First of all I printed one quarter of each shape at a 1:1 scale on A3+ paper and glued these prints onto a piece of birch wood that I had lying around.



After which I started cutting the pieces with my jigsaw.

This is the physical work done so far, it doesn’t look like much yet, but don’t forget the time the preparations took

So far for the very beginning of the project! Let’s hope that a good beginning really makes a good ending!
!

 

Wow - love the design on this. I really need to start using design software!
I also cant beleive i missed your previous mod. The word "immense" comes to mind.

 

Nice designs! I too loved your last mod, I'm following this one.

 

i love the planning you put into this. top-notch really.
suscribed, i want to see how this one comes out.

 

Absolutely stunning , those renders are realy top notch. Keep on modding

 

I'm really looking forward to watching this mod as it develops.

 

Great design ideas!

Subscribed!

 

looks awesome and wow how much do acryan sponsor!!!

 

Thanks for all the compliments! But be carefull with them, I just started

I hope to be posting an update real soon again, but I'm taking my time for this one and have a pretty busy private life, so please don't get mad if they might take a while sometimes

 

killer

Subscribed

 

Wow!! Love the design!! Subscribed!!!

 

First update!

Finally here it is, the first update of my project :*)



The past week I've been trying out if it's do able to make the aluminium tubes which together will form the legs of the case myself.
Therefor I bought a piece of aluminium pipe and a pipecutter at the local hardware store.



This is what the pieces look like after they're cut, but........





...with some patience and creativity this is the result

Because I want sort of a "Brushed" effect in the aluminium, and this isn't easy to achieve plainly by hand I had to think of something to be able to sand the entire contour of the pipe at once.

Here you can see the testversion of my solution.
I clamped te piece of pipe onto a "hole saw" (don't know if i't's the correct word), but this will be replaced by a rubber cap on which the pieces of tube will be clamped. A bolt will go through this rubber cap so I can mount it in my electric screwdriver. This because the current solution damages the inside of the pipe.



The past week I've also been busy collecting/buying all kinds of materials I need/think I need for the project.

Of course the wood for the molds and aluminium tubes for the feet.

And I expanded my toolcollection with a pipe cutter, wire tap- and cut set, an el-cheapo digital caliper gauge, a set of cobalt coated metal drills and some sandpaper etc.



I can't work with my plunge-router on my hobbyroom because It would become a too big mess, therefor I cleaned out the shed on our balcony and baptised it "Router-Shed" :*)



Because my girlfriend works variable shifts (she's a nurse) and she had a day off yesterday (thirsday) I took a day off as well, and to make things even more enjoyable I also took today (friday) off so, amongst others, I could work on my mod a bit.

First of all I started cutting the other two mold parts. The ones which I'll be using for the acryl panels need some sanding, but I will do that later.

I started routing the (mold for the) baseplate of the case.



I started with drawing the shape of the baseplate on one of the pieces of wood with help of the mold, after which I roughly cut around this shape with my jigsaw so I can interpret better where my mold is while routing.



After this I screwed the quarter-mold onto the wood with two left-over pieces the extend it so nothing can accidentally go wrong.



Clamped the whole onto my workmate



On this picture you can clearly see how the router-bit "follows" the mold because of the bearing on it.



After replacing the mold four times this is the result.



And this is what it looks like after roughly sanding it the first time.



On this picture I placed a 1,5l fanta-bottle onto the baseplate so you have a better vision of what size the case will become eventually.



Finally a picture of the amount of saw-dust created by routing the first part, only 4 left to go ..... later!

 

NICE!! Looking forward to see this comming to life!

/Subscribed

 

The sketches look sick, will be very interesting to watch this mod in progress

 

Very nice sketches, work and documentation, keep going .

-definitely subscribed-

 

That's a really sweet design. Looking forward to this one.
Subscribed.

 

nice idea and plans
great work so far
i also liked your first project

 

floriske, i think you will be know for mods that are large.
but thats a good thing, because all the work you do is amazing.

 

First of all, thanks for all your compliments!

Lol, as said in the beginning of the project log: This mod ain't about functionallity, but al about wanting to build something cool and new
The design doesn't allow me to make it any smaller, or I should work based on mini-ITX and that's not really my thing

Who knows, maybe my next project will be smaller

 

I was a fan of your first build, so I know this will be a fantastic rig.
Big is good. It goes well with 'bold'.