Scratch Build – In Progress Odinn Project - Frontal intake - update 01/apr/08

Front to center

Ok it's time for an update.

I've been working on the front of the case for all this week.

To improve the look on the main button, i decided to use all my skills to create a kind of "badge" to it.

First, i draw by hand a letter "O" from the case logo in a mask tap that was used to mask a piece of black acrylic. Unfortunatelly i didn't took a picuture of this...

After this i cut it with my trusty "Olfa knife", and as i was about to cut it (as a matter of fact i DID start to cut it) i remembered to take pictures:




Then i started to cut it in the table jigsaw:

Although this looks like a fantastic tool, it has its flaws. It melts the acrylic as it cuts because its too fast (and this piece was of poor quality). As it melts the acrylic, the pieces sometimes bond together. A melted acrylic becomes harder. Its like you are "tempering" the acrylic. So i was used just to roughly cut it.

This is what i've got after some cutting in the table jigsaw:

At this point i used the dremel to get into the pre finishing phase of it.



After some "dremeling".


Then I drilled some holes with a 1mm drill bit and started to file it with needle files:

This is fun... When you have the time!


This is the finished product without polishing:



I put the main button in the machinist "something" I don't know the name of this tool in english, help apreciated) to test where i wanted the piece to be:



Then i used again my trusty Olfa knife - Hey Olfa guys, u could sponsor me huh?



For the polishing part i am using a wax made of carnauba that is proper for acrylics. And with that i am using a sheep pelt to help me in this task. I wish i could say that "no harm was made to any animals" but that would be a lie... Sorry activists...



Some years ago i saw that piece of art that it is "Macro Black" here in Bit-Tech. Back when this site was modding only... Well, it had some reviews, but was mainly for modders. Anyway... In that time macroman used a simple circuit that swap from red to blue LEDs when there was HDD activity. I use this circuit all the time. And here it is again mounted in place:

In this photo, u can see the back of the button i was working on.



Blue leds in place.


Time to test:

Stand by...



HD activity. Perfect as always errrr... at least much of the time yes.... I know it is not Macroman's circuit (i can't remember the original maker of the circuit), but thanks Macroman (and the other guy too)!


In the previous post I made normal buttons with acrylicrod on top of them. its time to put them im place. To accomplish this, i thought it would be a good idea to have independent supports for each of them so i could adjust them individually. Even so, adjustin them so they do not stuck when pressed proved to be a real pain!

So i drilled the holes and used this tool. I think the name of it is "tap drill" but i am not certain. Again, any help on it's name will be welcome!

Before it i used to use (is this sentence right?) steel screws to make the holes so the m3 allens could fit on it. But with this cheap tool is waaay easier to do them.


Them after about two hours adjustin all the buttons (no kidding) they are im place:

This photo lacks the main one, but it looks like the other two.



As the other two buttons will be fairly common on/off buttons, no need of details on how to install them.


Another test...

Stand By...


Hd activity.

As for this test the red leds where out of place, this where easily corrected after. I didn't told you fellas before, but that steel like thing is an adhesive (serious? i was thought it was laminated titanium as Robocop's armor). And for being a vynil adhesive (thanks to my friend Alvaro for providing me it BTW), it leaks light. And leaks A LOT!

So the natural answer for this was to make 3 layers for it, but it still leaked! Then my mum - she doesn't understand anything of modding, that's why i like her opinion. She has always another point of view - came with a simple idea. I will just post the pictures:




To help accomplish this task I've also sanded the "lens" on each LED so it would not concentrate the light in one point.


Time to organize them better:

Gotta love these project boxes!


Buttons done.


Next step was to put this beauty on the work:


Well... We dont have an easy access to cool things you people from other coutries do. I have to be happy with this one

To prevent any dust or scratches to the LCD, i've made a acrylic shield to it:

Measuring...


And after some drilling and polishing time to test fit it:



Nothing much to say in this part as it was already made.


Next step, see how it looks unmasked:

ooo....



oooOOOOooooooo....



oooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo... So exciting! Notice that the badge is NOT yet glued in place.



My personal touch....


Here we can see the two things i hate on this camera:


In the first image the image is blurred cause if u don't use the flash that is what happens. In the second one the flash is on, but the image washed out all the lights coming out of the button. That REALLY gets on my nerves!

Anyway, use your imagination to mix them together.

Thats it for this update.

COMING NEXT:
You'll see how can 2mm (almost) ruin an entire case! Stay tunned!


Hope you guys and gals like this big update. Give me your thoughts about the project.

Cheers!

 

Excellent!
Another way to block the light bleeding through would be to put a layer of aluminum foil behind the adhesive sheet.

 

Hmmm that could worked better. Afterusing the foil i would need to use a "glue in spray"....

And thats why we should post our ideas in the forum BEFORE doing anything. Thanks for the compliment and for the idea

 

Hello Yemerich, I am Bud4 sK8 from the brazillian casemod forum! This case is really awesome! Very well done! Your projects are realy between the best in Brazil and perhaps in the world!

Another thing, and the Power/Reset buttons? Won't you be using those gorgeous silver ones? Because these are a little "out of place" in your project...

[]'s

 

Thanks friend i apreciate

Those buttons u saw was just an example. They were from mnpctech. I would love to use them but nowhere to be found here in Brazil...

 

Hi Yemerich.

Great project and excellent work.

I'll be here watching the wLog and maybe we'll see it on a MotM

 

Great Project Yemerich!, fortunately saw closely. Congratulations! The great finishes

 

Thanks Valds! MotM?... Hmmm i hope so

Yeah Alvaro, thanks for the Vynil btw. It has now some real nice improvements, stay tuned!

 

This case looks realy cool,the circuit that swap from red to blue Leds is a nice feature.

What's a rebimboca da parafuseta?

I speak spanish so i understand some portugese i found out that rebimboca da parafuseta means not only one thing but this is the best description i found on english.

thingamajig
Also "thingamabob", "doodad" in U.S. English.

thingamajig: a mechanical part whose name is either forgotten or not known.

Regards.

 

Thanks! I use this circuit for a long time now. The case is ready to be shown on the sponsor's main office, but it's not finished yet. Tomorrow, if i find the time, i'll post and update.

ehehheheheh this translation u gave is very near what really is. We use to say that (the older people like myself that it is) when someone asks you about something you don't know (a mechanical part) just for the other guy think you know a lot. Like cheating. But it doesn't mean anything really

But thanks for your effort anyway

 

ROFL - "older people like myself" - I have 2 sons older than you by several years. Cracked me up. Great project and keep us posted.

Did you ever build "Hephaestus" or just the design? It is just plain wicked

John

 

It's really pleasant to have people of all ages in this modding comunity. This means this art is well spread

Thanks for the kind words on this project. I apreciate.

Hephaestus will be built when i have the time. I think by the end of this month. I am very proud of that project, and i really want to have it very well constructed!

Cheers John!

 

2mm only? no problem....

The front lock piece is one feature that i like the most in this project. But in the first presentation it ended a little less than perfect to my taste. So i had improve its apearence.

To refresh your memory, lets see the openned project again:

The front lock is the rightmost piece in this drawing. It locks the main cover (the leftmost piece) in place. Both are articulated with hinges.

The major problem when working with acrylic (when talking about resistence), is contact surface. When i mounted the piece i've got a gap like in the photo below:


This was "only" about 2mm gap. I knew this could ruin the fit on the lock.... and did... But i really needed to get rid of it! For the sake of visuals and resistence. So i did.

My headache was only beginning...


After the trimming this was what happened:

I know it's hard to understand the photo with all the mess behind the case. But the lock is held in place with just mask tape and the two quick grip clamps u see in the photo. Counting the fact that the clamps tighten the fit a bit more, but the piece could not fit in its place anymore.
Anyway, the only way i could think was to sand down the column in the BASE CASE... That turns to be one of the most boring and painfull tasks in my life.


Well, before that, i decided to finish what i had started. So i dismounted VERY carefully all the 4 main pieces of the lock. The first thing i did was to route a place for the hinges to stay:

It doesn't really matter its looks because it's going to stay covered by a steel piece.


Next i was to sand the columns down so i have i better finish looking:

It's hard to see in the photo, but the coluns are made of three pieces of acrylic wich are not alligned.

Sanded down with a circular sander:


Then filled with a "b*stard file" (i dunno if this is the correct name in english).
EDIT: looks like that is a bad word...


Grit 80...


grit 150...


grits 220 and 400...


grit 600 and a final polish with sheep pelt:

Another hard-to-see-the-diferrence picture, but the upmost is the polished column Vs the umpolished. Although it looks "not so much better" the end result is awesome! The polished column looks like it was made of one block! That spot-like color change in the upper column is where the glue could not bond and this is just a "light refraction". This kind of thigs are expected when working with acrylics... Part of its sex appeal


To reinforce that estructure, i used little prism like pieces of acrylic. Fisrt i needed to set up the jig:

On square ruler...


Measuring with square before gluing...



The reinforcement prism already glued in piece:

In this picture u can see the huge difference between the sheets of acrylic. I am not concerned about them because these parts are not supposed to be seen.


After that i've mounted everything in my jig. Again it was sanded with the b*stard file, grit 220, 400 and 600 ending with sheep pelt. This was what i've got:



The next spet was the messiest, most painfully, terrible, noisy, boring, etc, etc in my whole modding life. It was time to take 2mm away from the column in the base mod!

With the router, I started my "via crucis":

And a voice in my head keeps saying: "are u sure u wanna go on with this?"


After 20 mins, this was what i've got:

Nice short huh?

Twenty mins more...

I had no means to lay the whole case on its side, so I did it on its vertical position.


Then i sanded it with the circular sander:

Note that not only the column was sanded, but parts of the front and top piece where also sanded
I was beginning to worry, but i really need to go on.


Sanded with 80, 150 and 220 grit until this point:

After this point, i could not use the orbital sander anymore. Because little balls form in the sander as you sand it down. Like the little balls one (not me) makes whe he pokes his nose at the traffic light. Those balls mark very hard the sanding process. As a matter of fact, even in grit 220, but its les noticeable. In this photo you can also notice that is visible some router spots... lemme check if i can get rid of them...


Grits 300 and 400:

Hmmmm... The spots are still there....


Time to sand those parts all over again....

Ooo boy...

So i sanded it all over again with all those sandpapers to a pre finish state... This whole process tooke me 2 days (about 18 hours of work).


So, time to a test fit stage:

These upper corners are not to my liking. So....


... more sanding on them!




Back to my jig, after some serious sanding, wet sanding and polishing:

I love this end result! it looks like it was made from just one piece! But there are 6 just in THIS photo!


It fited beautifully in place:



Another angle:

The "scratch looking" mark right in the middle of the border is actually my finger print that was done as i checked to see if it was well sanded.


Open and close test:

Perfect!


And this concludes another part of the worklog! i really hope you people enjoy it and please leave your thoughts!
Cheers and happy easter!

 

Frontal intakes

Hello again mod friends!

One thing i was missing in the case presented in the CPbr was the frontal intakes. The original project was designed to have water cooler in the bottom of it. But the time was tight (and the budget too), so i decided not do make one.

Ok, on to the photos.

Firstly i marked on the acrylic the limits of the steel sheet:



Then i cut the circular holes with the amazing (but dangerous) router:

Note in this picture the already made recess for the hinges both in the lock AND the frontal intake.


Inside the cut:

"Holy lotta of mess, Batman!"


With both pieces of steel in place:

Note that they have little holes in front of each allen screw. This was made for the case i am willing to unmount the lock for any motive.

Some fitting test:



That's all for now. Hopeu people enjoy it

Cheers!

 

oooooo I can't wait to see more!

 

Thanks man! I hope you enjoy what is to come

 

looking really nice Yemerich, I absolutely love the concept you have going on there, NICE

 

Thanks mr_carl. I love those engravings in circlr butterfly too. Artists work!

 

Wow. I missed a lot.

 

Unfortunately i had to put this case on hold because the sponsors want to expose it on its "dunno-what" building. I am waiting for them since march 13 and i can't mod it any further until the expo... Anyway, i have asked them for a date and they told me they should come and get it by June 1st and hold it until june 30th...

After they release it, i can continue modding it, so until them, i'll be modding Hephaestus Project

Cheers friends!