OK guys, finally got some real photos to show you. I started cutting and building yesterday so I can finally write my first Project Log! So here we go: Some angle I have in the vice prior to marking and cutting: Marking aluminum before cutting: Cutting aluminum angle: Filing the angle: Some pieces before getting drilled The old drill press. Used to be my grandfather's. Drilling holes: And finally, my first successful rivet! Hope you like what I've got so far. I will be working more on it today and I'll put up more pics tonight or over the weekend.
Project: Blackwood UPDATE Hey guys, thanks for the well-wishing! Here's some more work that I've done today First, a photo of the near-finished frame: Here I'm sanding down the rounded edges to make part of my makeshift bending brake: The assembled bending brake after the bending has been finished: Sorry I didn't take more photos of the bending process. It was really simple. I had a length of 1/16" x 1" flat stock aluminum. I screwed one end to the 2x4 and bent the metal around the wood using a block and a wood mallet. My dad provided an extra pair of hands The part that had the round edges was screwed down to the workbench so it wouldn't move. The metal was clamped to the wood at the other end to hold it down firmly while the end was bent. The bent pieces were riveted to the front of the frame: And the completed frame as it stands now!
Looks a little like it's trying to flex back, but I'm sure some other helpful peeps could provide ideas on getting to behave. :3 Nicely done bit of metal-flexing, though.
Once I got it bent and riveted to the rest of the frame, I was confident it wasn't going to give me any trouble
That 3D looks superb, fancy giving us some more insight into this? What are you using it for? Watercool or air? What hardware are you throwing in it etc.?
Well my intention is to make it into a gaming rig with water cooling. I have a decent rig right now, but I wanted to build something bigger and more impressive. I haven't completely settled on what I'm doing for hardware but I do know that I want an EVGA motherboard. I'm thinking of possible getting the P55 Cheesecake because it has a good balance of cost to features. It's made for gaming as is most EVGA boards. I want to do Corsair memory with it because I know first-hand how good their memory is. I plan on doing SLI with a few mid-range GTX cards, and an i5. Also, I am looking at doing a 1000W modular power supply. As I don't make much each week, all hardware components will be bought incrementally, so it will still be quite some time before this case gets its guts, but I still want to show off what I can do and hopefully somewhere down the road get some sponsorship.
UPDATE 2 Hey guys, did a little more work on the case today. I added in the middle shelf/divider plate using a sheet of steel that I found in my neighbor's garage which happened to be almost perfect in length and perfect in width. I trimmed it with a pair of tin snips. I used some small pieces of left-over angle to use as mounting brackets in the corners to rivet the steel to. Here are my measured and cut mounts Here are the mounts riveted to the case before I put the steel in And photos of the end results! I'm still waiting for some sheet aluminum to come in that was ordered a few days ago. It was supposed to be here today, but I never got it...so hopefully it'll be here tomorrow. I plan on mounting the motherboard tray possibly tomorrow. I have a question: does any of you have any pointers on mounting the back panel after mounting the mobo tray? I know exactly where I want to put the tray but I'm not sure where exactly to mount the back panel in relationship to the mobo tray. I have a spare dead mATX motherboard i could use as a test fit i suppose.
Another question: How do I change the thread title to show an update like I see on everyone else's project logs? I'm trying to figure that part out so I can maybe get more views :\
edit your first post than go advanced and there you can edit it your designe looks great and also a great start now lets see how it will become good luck
thanks for the tip and thanks for the comments. I'll put up more soon as I can...just waiting on the metal!
Ok time for another update! I mounted the motherboard tray yesterday and I think it came out pretty well. I tried double checking I have the positioning right by using a spare dead motherboard I had laying around. The tray still needs some modification for cable management, but I'm going to wait a little bit on that for now. I need to get more cutting wheels for the Dremel because all the cheesy ones that came with it all shattered. So without further adieu, the photos! one of the mounting brackets for the motherboard tray, mounted with countersunk 8-20 screws Top screw for the other mounting brace, mounted with pan head 8-20 machine screws Bottom screw for same bracket Tray mounted, seen from the back Tray mounted, seen from the left side of the case and last one: A better lit shot of the mounted motherboard tray before I put the second bracket in Let me know what you think! I have to do some tweaking of the sheet of steel to allow proper cable management later on. I'm also trying to figure out for when I get closer to completion, how I am going to mount the side panels. I don't exactly have the means of making those tabs that all factory-built chassis have. Any suggestions?
Awesome start! It's nice to see another project log virgin making their debut. I'll keep watch to see how you progress!