Death Reaper: Normally, I would enjoy modelling other peoples' work, however I'm working 40 hours a week these days and don't have a lot of free time to spend in 3D Studio. Also, the only reason that I got this one looking so well is because Drknow provided me the part-by-part specifications and measurements, and I was able to more or less CAD the whole thing in a couple of nights. I actually suck at 3DStudio
So I'm still puttering along at this. I've decided that the top of the threaded rods that run the length of the case need some way to end elegantly and as such I have come up with the idea of sticking a few acorn nuts on the tops. I've got some spare hex rod kicking around from the top secret hex tile project and I was thinking, what the heck, might as well make them myself. I havent been able to pick a curvature for the top of the nuts that I like yet. So I'll post a pic here and you can comment as to which one you like best. For reference though the choices arent numbered they will be for our purposes considered #1-7 as shown from left to right. Whichever comes out the most positive I will attempt to make. But since they will be free hand it will only be a (hopefully good) approximation. Also, ignore the crappy rendering, I can't render worth beans, plus the 3d program I used to model them really isnt meant to replace 3dsmax or anything. The parts will be polished aluminum much like the rest of the cae. Here it is.
What Mace said: 1, 3 or 4. With a slight pref. for 3 or 4 (can't tell much of a difference between them!) over 1. Great cube, and that etch is incredible! You lost some of the rendering's detail, but I think it'll look incredible. Run a LOT of oranger or yellow superbright LEDs (or CCFLs, if you like) along the edges, and it should rock!
Well I made 4 nuts, I'm reasonably pleased with how they came out. They're brighter, and shinier IRL, my camera (a70) still has trouble with shiny stuff it seems. Pictures:
They came out pretty sweet. Now tell us how you made them. Metal lathe? Or some ghetto option that the bulk of us may be able to do ourselves?
OMG amazing atention to the details. I smell great mod!! Good job, I liked the 1st bolt (or whatever it's called)
How I made them. Well the first thing I tried was to just face them off in my mill and then clamp them parallell to the table and drill them with the appropriate sized drill for the 5/16-18 thread. This however didnt really work, the centering wasnt good enough to satisfy me. With alot more time, a wiggler, and a center drill I could probably have made it work. Fortunately I am taking a machine shop class at night once a week and I just chucked them up in the lathe, faced them and drilled them. I made 6 this way and atleast 4 anyways came out reasonably square and concentric. (The lathe jaws on the lathe I was using are messed up so centering things is still not always perfect.) Now that the holes are in straight enough I just bolted them in my mill spindle on a threaded rod and turned them down. I did make 3 steps in them, the bottom 3 to sort of have a common starting point with all of them with the file. If the lines from the 3 marks were still there then I'd know I hadn't filed off enough material. I could probably have done this just about as easily in a drill press but I recently broke mine . It really helps to have the nut bottom out on something so that the bottom face is seated, improved the concentricity as there can be alot of wiggle room on a small bolt like 5/16-18. So I guess In answer to your question, ya, I used some stuff you might not have access to but with a bit more persistence I'm sure it could be done on a drill press or similar easy method.
Nice work so far and it looks like it'll keep getting even better. Is there any specific reason why you don't want to get them welded? From what I can see it would be a pretty straightforward job and would easily clean up to fit aesthetically.
Ok, so its been a long time since I updated this. Been pretty busy, but heres the progress. Basically I've been working on this top piece of hex-tile for about FOREVER. Its probably 100 man hours or so and I wouldnt do it again frankly. Though it looks nice, cutting the hex bar into pieces, bringing the surface into flat, fitting the edges, filling, etc etc, ugh. So heres the mock up of what the top will look like, the case is only loosely assembled so dont mind the cracks in the corner. The acorn nuts dont really seem to fit the theme, and if I am going to use them I need to find some sort of a spacer for underneath them. What I will likely do instead is replace the ugly angled corner pieces (need to be polished) with thicker ones that terminate the bolts internally instead of being through-holes. Pictures:
Nice, first time I've seen chicken fence used in modding I really like that top design too. Nice to see this projects still alive.
lol, I hope you're not serious about the chicken fence comment. I also sincerely hope you read the post, because if you think that's chicken fence, that's like a 100 man-hour oversight on your part. You fail at management!! Anyway, I await the imminent pounding of my image server....
100 hours? Hummm... ouch! That is a pain in the ass work, ain't it? But it definitely is worth it!! Looks very nice. Don't let us wait so long ever again.
yes, cutting the bar, 2 hours, facing it on the mill, many hours, placing it, many more hours, sanding it flush (i wish i had a surface grinder) 80% of the time here pretty much. Alot of time in there accounting for breaking sanders, changing pads, trying different techniques, etc, etc. i'm picky. I'm working on replacement corner pieces for the top, I think I have a plan that might work.
