Scratch Build – Complete ⭐ Spirit of Motion

I'm new to modding forums and new to scratch building so hello fellow enthusiasts!

This build is for my father. He loves early automotive design and I was inspired when I saw a 1938 Spirit of Motion made by the late Graham-Paige company. The design and shape of this build is heavily inspired by the "sharknose" grill the Spirit of Motion has.

Because of complexity and the number of parts I wanted to model the case first. Modeling also is helping me keep sense of the scale. I want this to be as small as possible as it will probably be displayed on a desk top and we all like space! I will also need the drawings/schematics for cutting metal parts out.



I wanted it leaning forward but unlike the original car I also wanted it widening as it goes up in height to give the sense of moving onward and upward! Very "Spirit of Motion" of me I know.



Next was the grill design itself and the "panels" (do i still call them panels? ). I chose a color scheme at this point with: candy apple (red), silver, and black.



Started stuffing generic standard size components in and creating the needed mounts and fixtures for parts. Because this is a car grill it only seemed natural to put a 280mm radiator right in front where it belongs.

The big kicker for this case will be how you access your components. This choice is also why the motherboard is inverted and mirrored and the GPU will be vertical mount. To keep the I/O below the hinge point.



Next up is creating the 2D drawing files for waterjet cutting the raw aluminum grill pieces, lasercutting and bending of the sheetmetal for the rear I/O, aluminum frame, rad mounts, mobo mount, ect ect. Update coming real soon!


Thank you to my sponsors!
EVGA provided a fully modular SuperNOVA G5 power supply.

NVIDIA provided a GeForce RTX 2080

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Hi, welcome here, it can be fantastic design

 

Nice render! It’s something different, looks good

 

Thanks! I expected some skepticism perhaps

The 3D and 2D models of the one sheetmetal piece I am having made are sent and the part is in the que. The twenty three unique files for the grill pieces are being cut via waterjet and I'll have those soon.

I traded some work for time in a machine shop so this update is covering a couple days I was able to spend working on the first aluminum parts.



The first day was focused on making the large side panels from 12 x 12 x 1/2 inch 6061 aluminum I got off ebay. Because each panel has many threaded holes in different locations on the inside, I started by drilling and tapping all those. I then flip the side panels over and use those threaded holes as my alignment and way of mounting the side panels to a fixture plate so I could cut the final outside shape and the roundover. So below you can see my finished right side panel being held down by the threaded holes that will eventually be where my motherboard is mounted!



Day two I needed to machine the two 1 x 1/2" bars that connect the two plates together. Because the case widens as it goes up the ends were cut at a 92 degree angle on each end. Once made the main body could be welded. I made it beefy and welded this main body because the entire grill (hood?) will hinge off the rear of this. It needs to be a little heavy and to be stiff.



Last thing I did was to machine a few more pieces that will be needed. I cut the profiles of these all with the CNC and then using a manual mill I drilled and threaded the holes on the perpendicular plane. These pieces are two lower radiator mounts, the air spring mount, and the grill backplate.



I don't know how much detail (photos) you want with the machining so let me know if you would like to see more or less detail in future posts as there will be more still to do!

 

More detail!!

 

You're the first to respond so expect more detail in forthcoming updates!

 

Very original design, and great start , machined aluminium is eye candy for many of us, don't be greed on pictures , we take all what you've got

 

I confirm!

 

NOT square. I like how you think. If I was a little more senile, I'd swear you were accessing my cad folder.

 

i like this case design, i keep follow!

 

The design looks great!
I hope there are some updates soon...

 

This made me laugh out loud!

Thanks for all the encouragement! I will have the next update later this week so hang tight.

 

@Jeff Hine - I have a dislike for basic-b*tch box cases.

 

Amazing works! I like it!

 

wow really cool!

 

Your sketchs looked less big than the build, I was thinking about Itx case, but it's still looks good too

 

@Jeff Hine - I have 3 high-end factory cases laying around unused...(Waiting for Bill to want them back I guess.) It's not about needing a case for me anymore. It's about learning new stuff.

Sorry about the thread derail. Is that big curved top going to be shaped sheet, billet, or fiberglass?

 

@Canardwc It actually felt like the models I was drawing were bigger than the frame in my hands to me! It is so hard to get perspective in a render. I need like a No2 pencil in every render!

@Cheapskate Derail anytime. Forums are for talking!

I have experience with composites like fiberglass but I was actually thinking of using 3D printing for the upper section since it doesn't need to be structural at all since the forces of the hinge opening are all going to be on the aluminum grill pieces. I can do it in a couple pieces, glue them together, sand, filler primer, paint.

At least that is thought right now!

 

Hey all! With frame welded up I started filing the welds that needed to be flush because it is either going to show or there would be sheet metal mating against it. Some that will show I went ahead and used a round file to create a nice radius between the pieces instead of my less than perfect TIG weld



I followed up with some rough sanding. This gets my shape right and now I will just leave it raw aluminum for a while so I don't have to worry about scratching paint or anything while assembling/ mocking-up stuff etc.



I then 3D printed the motherboard mounting bracket I designed. It would have been easiest to simply mount the motherboard to the aluminum side panel with threaded holes and standoffs but this bracket holds the motherboard further away and adapts the angled side panel so the motherboard will be truly vertical like the other components. I used 3mm black oxide screws and 1/4" standoffs.



I currently have a mATX board that is going in this build but it would be super simple to 3D print a different bracket for any other size board. The board is a msi B450M Pro-M2 MAX (really rolls off the tongue )

 

Print...Oh, yeah. I forgot about those things. The tray looks great. -Strangely clean for a print, too.