Scratch Build – Complete ⭐ WOPR Casecon by RandomDesign

Now that is a lot of soldering.
Really like the outcome so far.

 

This time just a small update.

Doors are now completely processed and ready to be primed and painted.
I also included a small magnet on the backside. As you might notice, I changed the position of the magnets.
I was going to install two at the upper part but changed my door mechanism so I only need one at the bottom.
Will see how things turn out.



Then I started to fill in all smaller gaps at the main body. Hopefully, I can finish up this step
during this week.

 

Amazing. I guess you could say you have a double WOPR

 

Obligatory "That's what she said."

 

Amazing work, incredible what You've been able to create from paper! Respect!

 

So its time for another update.

After all holes and gaps were filled, I started coating everything with multiple
layers of spray filler.





Now all the tiny gaps and holes become visible, so I covered some areas again
with spot putty.





While the putty was drying, I started to work on the mounting for the LED panels.
I 3D printed small clips were the panels should rest in.





To hold them in place, I cut a tread into an aluminium profile and glued it to the inside.
Now, I am just using a small bolt, washer and wing nut to prevent the panel from moving.







And more pictures now from the outside.

 

Oh, sh... You still have a ton of wiring to do!
The case is getting soooo awesome.

 

The wiring is basically done. It may looks a lot, but all LEDs are already soldered. I only need to connect the Data IN for each panel and then connect the +/- at the end of each column. SHould be not more than 30 mins, I hope

 

Cause I changed to 3D printing and also changed the layout a bit, I needed to make a new inside
to hold all the hardware.

To make it nice and sturdy, I used 12mm oak plywood. All parts were glued and screwed together.
I also included all openings für cables and fans.





For an easy installation of the hardware, I removed and cut an mobo tray and put it into place.
Now the Wopr can hold ITX and mATX mobos.



Also a first test fit was made. In contrast to my concept I can istall a "normal" size GPU.
For my final build however, I will use a small ITX GPU. In addition, I will maybe add some more
holes underneath the GPU for a better air flow. At the end there will be two PSUs included. One for the
computer and a second on in charge of the LEDs so they can wor independently.

 

Dont you think the GPU gets to hot? Or will you include some more holes for ventilation?

 

Yes, will add some slots under the GPU for ventilation.


Unfortunately, after wet sanding, I got a little issue with my bondo.
At the edge it seems that two layers havnt bonded very good.
A small part chipped... After investigating a bit more, I just sanded the area down to the PLA
and applied new bondo. Finished up with spray filler. Now it looks like nothing happend at all.







For a better air flow inside the Wopr, I cut in a couple more slots.
They are positioned right below the GPU, so nothing should get to hot on the inside.





I also rounded the edges, just to make the transition between the base and body part a bit smoother.





The edge will be painted the same as the body, so I prepared it already.

 

Nothing gets my attention more than some router work !

Very nice cuts

 

pretty nice vents
cant wait to see the finished Wopr

 

Now back to the LED pannels for a bit.
I soldered connectors to each pannel, so I can install/remove them independantly.



Later each pannal should be controlled by one pin of the arduino, But for testing, I just chained them together.
When in full RGB mode, the power supply is strong enought to power all LEDs up to 50%.
Anything higher and the 40A arnt enough



For a first test, I installed the pannels to the case and run the Neopixl strandtest.
I reduced the brightness to 20% which is more then enough. Maybe I will tone it down even more at the end.

And again a small reminder, if someone wants to get involved into the project, I am still searching
for help, for programming the LEDs. Lets say I am very new to this topic.







I also started with the cable management. I only have to add the power ine for the pannels and I am ready to go.

 

Looks great. 100% LED lighting after all that soldering should earn you gold in the Olympics.

 

I am just happy, that all LEDs are working correctly, during my testing, I only had to exchange one, that seems to have a faulty input pin.
So in my pile of 800 LEDs I ordered I only had like 7 non working. Guess its a good ratio when buying from aliexpress

 

Finally, I got some time to work on the WOPR again.
Now its the next step is the color.

I started with one layer of grey primer.





The mod will be painted on multiple steps, area by area, so I started with the bottom sorounding.
The color chosen by the client will be a light grey tone.

 

fantastic work on that build, I am really impressed by the result after all the steps beginning from paper ...you are a great artist

 

thanks bro!

This week I worked on the paint job again. To get the most perfect finish, I sprayed
only some areas at once with an airbrush. It was directly followed with some layers
of clear coat.





Because Gray color on a Gray primer has a very good contrast, here is a picture were you
can actually see the difference.



And then the paint job was done. Next up, the doors.

 

Crisp.