Scratch Build – In Progress Project - OBSIDIA-Shiro - UPDATE:Project Completed, finished the laser cut madness

we want mooore!

 

I figured you had access to some school shop equipment for the bends, and I didn't want to poo on such a cool design, otherwise I would have spoke up. Heat gun bends never seem to go the way you want unless you make some elaborate bending jigs or molds.
Looking fantastic right now.

 

the biggest key with heatgun bending for acrylic is to heat it slowly, keep it fixed once its where you want it, and cool it back down to ambient slowly also. Always worth testing out a few samples before you actually bend your part.

The fast it heats and cools the more material warp your going to see

 

Damn this is cool. +sub

 

I've been doing a lot in the past few days, so wait no longer. The project is approaching the finishing line and a lot more updates will come.

Some of the holes I've tapped where kinda useless and unnecessary, so they gotta go







Also resized more holes so the alu rods would fit in easier.



Reason for this is to prevent things like this from happening. Should have been a bit more gentler when assembling...
Recut the broken component out of four 3mm sheets and laminated them together with weld-on because I ran out of 6mm sheets to cut from.





Been working on the project everyday, only get a few hours of daylight when I get back home.


Attempting more bending with the heat gun
Hot stuff



First try turned out fairly well



But also had to replicate a mirror of that before it got too dark.
No real bending jig was used, just a 10mm rod and some scrap mdf (the heat resistant gloves saved my hands from being cooked, was doing it w/o them when I first started bending)

 

Oh, also assembled majority of the front fin assembly.
Polished the alu tubes, didn't achieve a mirror finish - kept scuffing when inserting the fins.





Didn't have any more of a particular fin type, so improvised by filing down some spares.

 

Genious work, keep the flow !

 

Just to let you guys know, the case is finished. Will post lots more info after the 27th of August. Don't have any time to upload and images and write up the log atm since it's been very stressful over the past few days in getting design to a finished state as well as completing a very long written folio accompanying the entire design process.

 

Good Job! Turned out very well, with only some minor bending issues. I know how hard you worked and it sooo payed off, except...stay to drawing on cad.... lol.....

 

The case can be considered 'finished', (well its functional) but I still want to continue fixing some issues that I encountered along the way and also add a few modifications to the design.

Assembling, you can see how everything fits together basically.






So, continuing with the last update.



The front fin assembly fits together quite nicely, the top cover is detachable which allows for quick removal of the fans.






Finally fixed the HDD cage. It's well balanced and rigid.






Used the leg of a chair that had the right diameter for my bends.







To achieve the closest representation of what I wanted it to look like. I just eyed it off, with lots of trial and error in reheating and shaping.



With everything assembled and a system loaded up (hardware inside is a bit shabby and my psu cables weren't nearly as long as I thought they were). Planning on doing some sleeving in the near future.





Those handles themselves (black component) are only secured to the transparent acrylic component (done this because i thought it would make it easier to position the handles) with the acrylic adhesive bonding at a few points and then bolted to the top panel.

 

Coming along very good! Cant whait to see it finished !

 

Awesome work love it

 

Looking superb mate, excellent work.

Only negative I can think of is the socket cap screws/bolts holding it all together would look a lot better in black.

 

Update!
Great news, Lamptron has sponsored this project.



Also, the case was submitted for the HSC and marked by external markers on the 28th of August. Will find out the results in December. Here's a few pics of the setup for presentation.
The project was described as 'Contemporary P.C. Tower Case', could use the project name that I given it for some reason.

You can see some of my crazy prototypes and concepts on the left edge of the image.





The cable braiding on the G9 is a little worst for wear.



I want to give a shout out to Daniel Kennedy - Epic PC Cases, for writing a design evaluation on the project.

Will continue to further update the progress of finishing touches/modification.

 

Awesome design dude! and good luck

 

Congrats on a great build!

Sorry for my ignorance, but what is "HSC" ?

 

Fantastic work. How much does it weigh?

 

Thanks for all the support guys

No need to apologize, in NSW - Australia
"The Higher School Certificate (HSC) is the highest award in secondary education in New South Wales. To be eligible for the award, students must complete Years 11 and 12, satisfy HSC course requirements and sit for the statewide HSC examinations."

In the Design and Technology course students must complete a Major Design Project and something that I always wanted to do was design my own case.

Not totally sure since I haven't weighed it on scales. I wouldn't consider the case to be 'light weight' but it can be lifted easily (with hardware installed). The handles feel strong and hold the weight quite well.

 

Here are some new images of the chassis and an update on some news, my project was nominated for the DesignTECH exhibition

"DesignTECH is an exhibition of outstanding Major Design projects from Higher School Certificate Design and Technology students."
- http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/exhibitions/











Images were photographed by Andrew Kim.

 

Great case that's for sure! I really like the details