Case Mod - In Progress XBMC in the Sky+ (HDbox)- A HTPC Build - Update 30/11/13

I did think about mounting the fan on the bottom and using it as a air intake to cool the HDD's. I've decided I just do 2x 50mm fans in a push / pull one each per side. Should be enough cooling to keep the inside from getting too hot. HDD is gonna be SSD so heat shouldn't be an issue.

Hope to lay the paint and paxmate tomorrow, along with a bit more braiding and maybe a start in etching if I can find my transparency film.

 

very nice been tempted todo something like this... but never gotten around to buying the psu haha..

 

So true to my plans I really wanted to have a go with the etching today. I couldn't find my laser transparancy film so gave it a go with the inkjet ones - and it worked!!

Given it was my first go I decided to skip the photo session and work purely to get the result and avoid a head on confruntation with the Hydrochloric Acid!! I used my home made photoresist UV box, along with the inkjet transparancy film to get the design onto the PCB blank board. Some PCB resist developer to wash off the unused resist parts leaving me ready for the actual etch. Chemicals mixed and board lowered in to my amazment it worked perfect first time... lol who would have guessed!!

As it was a first go, I cut a small square off the A4 sides blank PCB to test so I wouldn't waste too much If I needed a few goes to get the UV exposure time correct etc. This is my result:



I didn't clean off the resist coat yet as I'm going to do the drilling later with a new toy and It won't hurt to sit on there to protect the copper underneath. I'll remove it with acetone once all the drilling is complete.

I'm excited now as this first step was the bit which was a make or break of my plans

 

Not a huge amount of progress but a bit of a landmark for me as this is my first PCB from scratch so I'm very happy with myself. Something I've wanted to do for ages so its a tick in the 'to do' list

Heres my homemade UV exposure box. I gutted a face tanning machine I got cheap and put it all in a box. Total cost about £20 so bargin compared to shop bought UV boxes.



Here we are in the developer bath. This washes off the areas exposed to UV leaving just your PCB design behind.



Board washes off, its now ready for the acid bit



No acid pictures I'm afraid as I didn't want to handle my camera while latex gloved up in case I had any acid on my gloves.

Once it had its couple of minutes in the acid bath the copper was removed where needed and here was the finished board ready for trimming and drilling



Once trimmed to size and drilled for the switch mounts I set to soldering her up. I'm not very good at soldering and my drilling was off a little in a few places which didn't help.

Heres what I'm left with, ready for installing into the case and the wires running to the IPAC controller unit

 

nice work with the pcb mate for giving it a go and pulling it of first time. keep up the good work

+rep to you

 

Good effort! Looking very nice!!

 

So made a little more progress. Time has been short over the run up to xmas so I've got my head down to make more progress - down side of this is there isn't many step by step photos, more just a shot at each stage.

Here we have the prototype for the USB header. This will go in the stock location on the front of the SkyHD case to allow me to pop a hub or keyboard in for configuration work when needed:



I've used some Paxmate Mat to deaden the interior of the case. Also acts to tidy it up a bit. I did think about some new panels for the inside but decided against it as it would be a lot of work when the inside isn't ever really going to be seen - sound deadening mat won the coin flip based on function



Started to throw a little paint on where needed. Mainly the two areas are the rear of the casing so hide the filler work (from the old IO ports etc) and the HDD holder as I was going to have black paint in my hand anyway so why not...





Then onto the black. No photo of HDD holder but it got the same treatment.



Then lastly for now, a test fit. I've cleaned the inside and mounted the deadening panels. Fixed the HDD holder in place, test fit the fan for the rubber fan mounts and made sure the PSU lead is long enough.



Still a fair few bits to go but hopefully over the next 3-4 weeks I'll be able to get to the point where Its about software

 

looking good mate keep up the good work

 

Look'n good!

 

Forming up to be a great mod.

Shame I never snapped up a couple of spare broken Sky HD boxes, while working for SKY, we had loads and just used to take out the Harddrives and bin the rest.

This sort of thing was exactly the kind of thing I was working on while there only for future product demo evaluation.
I never used a SKY HD box though, I used to use old Cable and Sat TV boxes as they were more roomy for the large PC boards we had for demo builds. Essentially they were a PC in a box running evaluation and development software, but could have had Windows Media centre of a Linux media distro popped on instead.

 

Have been checking regularly for some more updates. Think your 2-3 weeks might have expired. I have built a recent e35m pro with a pico psu in a 'smallish' case and as I have an old white Sky+ box I might just use this for something smaller to go with my setup.

So how's it going mate??

 

Well as pointed out my original wish of '2-3 weeks' has well and truly been blown out the water lol.

Been pretty busy and this mod is about the lowest on my to do list at the moment. However it isn't abandoned or anything so do check back every so often (or subscribe if your genuinely intrested).

I've started the design work on the other 2 PCB's so I'd like to have those ready to make sometime soon. I also redesigned the USB for the front as the screws I used to mount via the front plate foul up on the plastic case front so I've reworked it so the mounting is now in the case base.

Bare with me all - slow modding at its best but I've not forgotten about it

 

Some exciting stuff, I'll be sure to keep track

 

Thanks mate.
Will keep coming back.

 

So after a very sizable break I'm hoping to pickup back where I left off with a view to finishing a lot more work next week. 1 Week off work means I'll have the time to do a few bits which I had been putting off.

I pretty much hit a wall with the PCB work while wanting to create a set of tools (namely UB exposure Box and Bubble tank) to assist with the PCT creation the main mod ground to a stand still and every time I looked at it I always lacked the motivation to keep at it - Modders version of writers block?

So having dug it all out a few days ago I decided I'd blow of the dust and try to get a working XBMC install on it since we have recently had version 11 released. Installed and working a treat, its given me the kick up the backside to push forward and get some more work done.

As a little bonus, I've also landed a 60GB SSD from the market place so this will replace the smaller Kingston drive as the main bootable - roughly timed at 12 seconds from power on the media centre front end loaded up so I'm pretty happy with that.

anyway, Updates to follow over the next couple weeks so if you had interest originally - keep looking back

 

Brilliant cant wait to see this finished , also thanks for explaining on how you've config'd the buttons

 

So glad this thread is continuing.

I've registered especially to keep up! Look forward to the progess

 

So keen to try and make some progress on the PCBs which are currently the main part holding the build back. Today I've knocked up a replacement board which gives me the front LEDs. I've mounted header pins on the rear so I can take the power from the motherboard LEDs to the front LEDs and give myself Power On, HDD Activity and Remote Receive all built into the front where the Sky stock LEDs are. Also using SMD's to keep the profile low and i've replaced the standard spacers which bring the PCB to the front with bolts to allow a bit of fine tuning to the PCB position to get the lighting right.



I had some blue SMD LEDs already but also want white and red so I'm ordering from ebay tonight so just need to wait on those coming next week.

The area with the 3 holes under the square will be the mounting position for the IR receiver which will be extended from modified stock MCE receiver

 

So this week I've decided to go with getting the PCB parts out of the way as this is the messy bit which I couldn't really be doing in the middle of the night etc. All 3 now complete with any components solder up and wiring added to tie in with the IPAC-2 unit.

Heres a few shots of the boards and wiring.









I think next up might be to start sorting out the internal wiring for the IPAC-2. Initially I was going to braid everything but I've not decided I might not due to the whole internals being hidden anyway. Not that I'll make a mess, just don't see the extra time require to braid is really required here.

 

Just done a bit of googling on that I-Pad2 Unit , looks quite handy for this build , good work mate keep it up , cant wait to see , will we get the Circular lights spinning too , or is that too much work involved ?