Scratch Build – In Progress Placatus - my first mod, a scratch-built minimalist HTPC

Clamped between ply, good tip, nice clean hole.

 

Cut the other side today, worked like a champ, no issues at all this time, so I think the detachment last time must have just been an issue with the drill, and as it was hammered back in was still fine today.

There's not much for me to do now until I get myself a dremel, and I'm waiting for Amazon's boxing week sales for that, so I'll post again when that arrives.

Boring update today, and no picture either (it looks exactly the same as the other hole )

 

Well, my Dremel 4000 arrived!

I fired it up this afternoon and had a bash at the trays to hold the fans, first of all using a cutting disc:



And then with a grinding stone:


(that's actually a before shot, as you can tell, slipped up there I didn't take another shot afterwards)

I normally would have used the bench grinder to finish off there, but wanted to take the new dremel for a spin..



I finished up by marking holes for the fan guards.. seeing it like this makes me not want to paint it

 

Nice Dremel work Fordy

 

Neat stuff. Subbed.

 

Thanks all for the kind comments, I'm sorry not to have updated in a while, exams -_-

My last one's tomorrow, then I can get back to it


On another note, can anyone recommend a reliable; quiet PSU? My existing one just died in the background.. Here's hoping that's all that died.

 

You all must think that the project - or indeed I - has died between each of my updates..!

It's a slow burner for sure, but I want to do it right, and I have had a lot else on. I'm away for a couple of weeks this Summer, but I do want to finish it before I'm off to university in October.


So thank you all for your encouragement, even if you do have to scroll back through and remind yourself every time you're notified I've posted an update!


So I've been ing away at the fan mounts, and now have one fitted:








Next step is to do the fan on the other side, then I'll be looking at hard drives, and mounts for motherboard, PSU.

As for the hard drives - initially I intended to construct some sort of cage from spare aluminium angle, but then I came across this:



It was used as packaging for a couple of books - but I'm thinking I could cut it in half, and then have an awesome (and awesomely cheap) vibration-dampening multi-HDD cage.


I'll be back with my next update in 5 years.

 

Not only that, but it will probably do a pretty good job of keeping the HDD's hot also! I would definitely keep an eye on the drive temps. Project seems to be coming a long nicely though Fordy, keep up the good work mate! Looking forward to updates

 

The fan mount looks good. I did basically the same thing for one of my mods.

I second what sixfootsideburns said. Keep an eye on hard drive temps. It won't cover up that much space, but it will act a little like insulation where it's holding the drives

 

Cheers both of you

Yeah, I hope temps should be okay - it's not too deep (I realise there's not really anything in the picture for scale), so I'm thinking of just using one strip one side and one the other, so it's only insulating the edges, rather than the hotter centre of the drives.

Fans will also be blowing across. We'll see how it goes, and then improvise, adapt, and overcome as required!

 

for drives - i'd better take care 'bout grounding. just a piece of wire never hurts...

 

Both fan mounts now complete.

I laid the hardware out inside to get a feel for spacing inside this afternoon - tighter than planned around the motherboard and fan, but both fan cables reach the mobo fan pins, so that's a treat.

My next step will be to secure the PSU, and acquire some standoffs for the motherboard - I need some that stand much higher than generic ones, in order to clear the frame, but shouldn't be too much trouble to get hold of; I might even have some in the garage.





I'll be ditching the poxy fan on the CPU heatsink by the way. It's just still on there from when I had it in a temporary case - with no case fans.

 

Thanks

Broke the Dremel out again today (okay.. so I didn't exactly put it away..) and the PSU now has a rather neat enclosure/holder.









Glue's drying on the first joint as I type, remaining two I'll do tomorrow, and then rivet on Thursday probably - I don't want to drill until the Araldite's totally set.

There's a bit of a gap as you can see, this is unfortunate, but not a problem. Not even aesthetically - it's all hidden and not load-bearing. Araldite will soon seal it anyway.

Eagle eyes may notice the upside down PSU. I'd rather not do this, as it makes the cables tight with the fan, but the 'correct' way up means the IEC socket doesn't clear the frame..


After all this, think it might be time for a new cutting wheel...

 

This is a very intresting thread for me, I too am thinking about doing a scratch build but was unsure how to do the frame, but this has given me some ideas!

Can't wait to see it unfold!

 

You just have to bite the bullet. If you look back to the start of this thread, you'll see I've been at it ages - not in terms of time worked on, but there's just such gaps between doing anything at all, I've been busy with A levels and work (or pretending I am).

Once you get going, it's there to do little bits on - convince yourself to do some even if you don't have much time. I'm writing this from Costa in town, but before I left I finished bonding the PSU enclosure - took maybe ten minutes max - but now it's ready for the next job, and I have more motivation to do it, because, well it's like going to the gym, once you get your ass down there, your buzzing to go back for the next few days.

It's when you let it slip that you end up slipping for long periods of time.


I'm glad what I've done so far can be of some help to you; I'll be keeping an eye out for your own log in the near future!

 

Well. Wasn't that foretelling?

I didn't finish it that Summer, and as predicted studies didn't allow me the time to do much more - well, the main problem was it (and tools) being in the wrong place.

But... it lives!

Proof of life:


I hope this Summer I actually will finish it, or else the hardware will be ridiculously outdated even for an HTPC. (Lesson: don't build for specific hardware, and buy it last - I'm not sure what I'll do if the PSU fails other than hope I can source a like replacement, or something with exactly the same footprint.)