Scratch Build – In Progress Project: Blue Horizon - "MOTY" Nominee

awesome stuff +1

 

Yeah me neither

Thanks matt...

 

Milling before the computers and robots took over. And you got A LATHE to work with tOO! Love it! Great stuff man. Quick release pci rocks

 

Yeah , the CNC machine isn't operational at the moment, but i'll have to get it up and running to make the mould for the sand casting I need to do. Its strangely satisfying using the manual lathe.



Sorry guys but there's gonna be no update today, as my house boiler is broken and I'm helping fit a new one, as well as replacing a radiator.

 

This is looking really slick. Very nice work on the PCI panel. I had to cut mine with a scroll saw and then file. Even a manual mill would be huge improvement.

 

Great work so far.
What will the finish be like? Will you "just" polish the aluminium, will you have it anodized or will it be painted?

 

Some sand casting! Oh yea, this I got to see. I've got some things I need to do that might require something like that. Don't be shy with the details!

 

Yeah, they are quite difficult to use because of all the oil which makes it hard to see but definatly worth it in the end.

I plan to use a mix of all three, the heat sinks will be painted, and some of the outside will be bare polished aluminium, and other parts will be anodized.

I will add extra details for you , also you won't have to wait very long as once I've finished the tool pci and welded the parts together that I've made I will be moving on to the sand casting.


I didnt have time to do any work on the case today, however I will definatly be posting the next update tomorrow. In the mean time heres something you might find interesting:

After lots of internet browsing I found this:

http://durafix.co.uk/index.php?cPath=7


Its a special welding rod, which can weld aluminium with only a propane torch and its stronger and doesnt distort the aluminium being welded.

I've tested some today and it works exactly as advertised, I will be using it to weld the peices of aluminium in my case.

 

Thanks for the link! Stuff looks great.

 

looking good. takes a lot of know how to get things going like this!

 

Yea very easy to try and speed it up a bit and take too much off especially in the tight corners

Very nice work! +1

 

Yeah, its quite expensive but it works great, you need a decent propane torch for thick aluminium though.

Thanks Death9000

Yeah its the worst thing ever when you've just spent hours on a making a panel, to then cut abit to far and ruin it all.




Update: Unfortunately the tool free mechanism didn't work as I had imagined. The sliders didn't slide they just dug into the metal, I even bought a slot saw specially for making it, but it didn't help much. So after a bit of thought i've designed a much simpler tool free mechanism. Essentially its the same design however instead of spring loaded pins, I'm going to use a knurled nut that I'm going to make on the lathe. The nut will the be turned to loosen or fasten the pci cards.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the new toolless PCI mechanism.

 

Hi everyone heres the next update:

First off heres some pics of my practice weld using Durafix weld:





Now the start of the new tool-less PCI



I first made some thumb nuts using the lathe:



I then drilled holes in the center of each one using the lathe:



I then used a modified tap to create a srew thread on the inside of the hole:





I then milled down a bar, just like with the failed toolless mechanism:



I used the milling machine to drill holes into the bar:



Threaded rod was then glued into the holes in the bar:





I then polished it all:





I also managed to create the slot in the motherboard tray for the curved peice of aluminium at the front end of the case:



Here it is after a little sanding:

 

those round things will hold the cards and such in place i assume?
i doubt it has enough strength to hold it in place really :S..

or will you put a screw in them or so something else it does look sexy

 

The round things are basically fancy nuts, and the threaded rod is in a fixed position. So that when the round things are turned they move up and down the threaded rod, which mean they can apply a lot of force to keep the cards in place. Does that make sense? I will upload a pic of it holding a pci card tomorrow.

 

Perfectly adequate holding cards in wind them down tight and the cards are going no where!

I really like how you're doing this its almost like your engineering a new case tooless design and all that!

super cool stuff never seen anybody make there own tooless design before

 

Thanks DeadP1xels, yeah I like to go for unique designs

 

Too bad about the first design, This one looks just as good and will keep a nice original look. Lots of great ideas here!

 

I'm liking this 1 a lot, there's a lot of proper old school milling work going on here...Pukka

 

Thanks guys , I will have another update tomorrow.