Scratch Build – In Progress Big Black Googley Thing: Update 1/04/08 {Big Progress! - Holes Everywhere!}

Thanks! But most likely the 8GB and 2nd Video Card wont happen right away. I may wait a little while until getting that.

I sanded down all the edges to make them flush on saturday. I used the dremel on some of it as they were overlapping alot and used it to get it down faster then used sandpaper to smooth it out. it worked well. i took a little wooden block and tightly wrapped the sandpaper around it and screwed it down.

Yesterday my scroll saw blades arrived in the mail so I spent the evening cleaning up my work space as much as possible and got the scroll saw out and put a new blade in it and tomorrow it will oil it and do some practise cutting so im ready when i need to.

I finally got a tracking number for my shipment of parts I ordered last week and hopefully it will be here this week so I can make my motherboard tray and start on the back I/O panel.

I also ordered a big pack of sandpaper of different grits up to 2500 so later on i can get everything nice and shiny.

 

UPDATE:

Now a very big update here but I may as well post my progress if I have the time instead of forgetting.

I mentioned I got my scroll saw blades and set up my scroll saw.


-Scroll Saw, As you can probably see its a delta and it works wonderful (Click for big pic)


-Heres the blades I ordered. They are spiral blades so I can cut in any direction without turning the workpiece. I already broke one as I set up the blade in the saw wrong. But I bought 12 so it's all good. (Click for big pic)

I got a good amount done on my motherboard tray bracing. As mentioned before I am using nylon for the bracing. Its 1/2" solid nylon and is incredibly expensive.


-Here is the sheet of nylon I have been using.(Click for big pic) I didnt buy it for my case actually but instead for another project but I had a bunch still so I used it. The sheet I got would normally cost atleast $260 but I got it for $30.



-Heres the four pieces I cut off with the table saw. (click for big pic)


For my bracing of the motherboard tray I needed to braces to go across the bottom of the case at the front and rear of the motherboard.


-Here is a mock-up of how it sits in the case. I need to notch out the bottom for the frame. (Click for big pic)


-You can see another piece that is notched out here. This is a test piece I did the other day to figure out how I would do it. It gets notched out so it sits on the frame and also flat on the bottom panel which gets screwd on it to keep the bottom panel from sagging. (click for big pic)


-I measure it all up and drew some guide lines then took a really big drill bit and set the limit to 1/8" and got most of it cut out that way. The I used the dremel with sander and sanded it all smooth so it fit. (click for big pic)


-Here is the result of them sitting in the case. I need to wait for my motherboard tray to be built before screwing these in. (click for big pic)



-Here is the full view of it. (click for big pic)

The two pieces on top are going to be the track that the motherboards slides in. What I will do is probably use the router and notch it out along the inside edge 1/8" deep and about half the width. Then it will be screwed onto the two braces and the motherboard tray I will make will slide in the groove. And to prevent it from coming out I will have a piece in each corner screwed above the track to keep the tray from wiggling.


I wish nylon sheets were not so expensive else I would want to buld a whole case of out nylon. It is awesome stuff. It cuts soooo easy on the saw and makes very little mess unlike acrylic which seems to get staticy and gets all over. Maybe my next case.

I just checked the tracking info on my order and last evening it cleared customs so I hope it gets here for tomorrow otherwise I'll have to wait for monday. Once I get it I can start on the motherboard tray and back I/O Panel which will be quite difficult.

I got a question for you guys, for gluing acrylic I got that acrylic glue Weld-On from Delvies Plastics, but how do I apply it to glue pieces together? I will be needing to do this with my back I/O panel and my DVD/HDD rack.

Thank you!

Comments (positive and negative) welcome!!!!

 

Watercooling Parts Arrived!!

It's been a month since I last updated an im sorry for that and also for this log being quite boring so far (atleast seems boring cuz of no replies)

BUT!!!!! This week I have no school and big progress will be made.

First of all I ordered my watercooling stuff and I got it all this week!!! YAY!!

As I've mentioned Petra's Tech Shop was kind enough to sponsor me and give me a discount on my orders I made and here is pictures of what I got.

(Click the images to enlarge!)



Theres 2 Swiftech 240mm Radiators, Swiftech Micro Reservoir, Waterpump with Petra's Custom Top, 4 30mm UV Lights, 4 120mm Yate Loons, Sound Dampeners, Sata Cables, Floppy Cable, CPU Waterblock, 7/16" ID Tubing, 4 Fan Controller, and other Misc items.

Heres more close up pictures.












And now more pictures with all my watercooling stuff I ordered.

On top of the stuff from Petra's Tech Shop I got:

Kikboxes Rad grills, UV Yellow TechFlex Sleeving Kit (Awesome stuff), Feser One UV Orange Fluid (oops it tipped over ) , Clear Sheet of AC.Ryan Acrylic, UV White Paint, Anti Kink Springs









I'm gonna rewire our home network with CAT6 cables and relocate router so I ordered these from MonoPrice.


Dissapointed with the finish on these. So I will repaint them.




And there ya have it! This is some exciting stuff. I havent been able to do hardly anything on my case untill I got this stuff so now I have this whole week to work like crazy on it.

I actually have received my waterblock for my videocard to along with the parts for my touch sensitive switches but they are shy from the camera and want to be left alone right now (I didnt have time (forgot) to take pictures of them (wait till next update))

I have gotten a little further since my last update but nothing big enough to post update. My motherboard tray I totally done along with the track for it to slide in.

After receiving my stuff I made some templates for my radiators for mounting as I have to have them in an exact spot as there is very little clearance. I am ready to cut the holes out for them now.

So now I'm gonna continue workin on this stuff. Im not sure If i'll be able to have an update during the week as I will be getting alot done and want to get as much done as possible as I have school again next week. So I'll probly just update on the weekend and it will be a very big update with a huge jump in progress from today.

BTW Im very sad to say but my Dremel has died I was using it on my case a couple weeks ago when it made a pop noise and tons of smoke came out of it and the motor was burned out. I sent it in to Dremel for warranty but havent received it back yet so any Dremel work I need to do I have to use the air grinder thingy. It works good too and I can use my Dremel bits but I hate using air tools as then the air compressor runs and its loud and annoying.

now I cant use this: cause I done have one

Hmmm.... I still dont have a name for this case...

 

I keep getting 'project: untitled' confused with 'untitled project' and so on... -so I missed a few updates. To apply the watery acrylic glue I use 'monoject' syringes. You can get them from the dentist or a hobby store.(I actually found a huge bag of them abandoned.) You can also use insulin syringes, or if you dare, check out the local crack house for used heroin syringes. Don't keep the glue in the syringe too long, because the rubber plunger will swell up. The gell (#16?) glue can be 'poured' out of the tube. If you squeeze the tube to get the glue out, you're going to get a mess.

I was wondering why you were using something as expensive as nylon. That's a nice score, there. If you want to clean up the edges, a hand planer works really well.

Congratulations on getting a sponsorship.

 

Ya i still havent got any syringes yet. I think I know of a place that would have them but havent looked yet.

I think i'll have to change the name of the thread. "Big Black Thing"??? lol

Ya, if it wasnt for the price I would never use nylon although the next time I build a case I think I might use nylon for the whole thing. Verrrrry expesive but super awesome results. It is so awesome to work with. WAYYY less messy than acrylic. Looks better too. I knew that my work had bought the stuff pretty cheap as I picked it up and the place we bought it from had paid like $200 and they get it cheap I would think and when I heard $30 I was like "SOLD!!!". My work only took a tiny little piece off one end. lol


Anyone familiar with scroll saws? I am having trouble with blades breaking and i'm getting frustrated with it. I got spiral blades so I can cut in all directions and I dont push too hard on the piece when cutting but sometimes the blades will just snap in the middle of a cut. Tension is all good. Sometimes I can do lots of cuts with a blade and the next blade breaks very quickly. Any help?

 

I have no experience with scroll saws, but I've read about ppl using some kind of lubricant on the blade.. bees wax for example.

 

Now thats a lot of kit
Looking good so far.

 

dang , now I need to find some bees and Q-Tips small enough.


Oh, Dremel phoned this morning asking about shipping it back to me. They said they only do UPS and need a street address and it cant be shipped UPS to me, so I said I had talked to customer service and they said they could ship by USPS so they said OK. Maybe I'll have it back Saturday.


Cheapskate, How do I apply the APS Weld-On (#4 I think) to two pieces that are put together end to end? More specifically a small piece broke and I dont want to make a new one as the place it broke wont be seen ever. I just want to glue them back together.

Do I just put them together and with syringe put the glue along the crack?

 

Pretty much. you can do a practice run with water. You will want to get the edges you are gluing so they are not touching anything else. If you lay the parts on a table and glue them, the solvent will pass through the crack and onto the surfaces touching the table.

LOL -Big black thing... You might as well add 'knobbly', or 'scary'.

 

BIG BLACK SCARY THING? lol

thanks for the tips i'll try that

anyways I was workin more my it and decided to take pictures of what I got as I've dont quite a bit since the last time I posted pics of it.

So click on them for full size as always.


Heres the rear end. You can see the power supply hole I cut out. Sanded down and files the edges a but and they are fairly smooth but need to get better. The big hole is where the motherboard tray comes out. The white tape is covering up that break I mentioned above.


Here you can see how the motherboard tray slide out of the fancy nylon track.


Close up of the track that hold the tray in. Big dremel grinding stone work wonderfull for cutting groves.


Front view with window outline drawn. Think that'll look good? I'll put my clear piece overlapping it on top.



Left and Right radiator cutouts. These worked really good and I'm very happy with them. But I need to buy some more screws (M3.5x8mm)




Those 3 pictures show the back I/O panel. I'm using the metal piece off the donor case I bought and then made an acrylic piece for the back so it looks nice and because the metal piece is smaller than the hole.




Heres the brackets for holding the DVD drives and Fan Controller and Floppy Drive. Realised I need to cut them down in the back to reduce airflow blockage. I still need to make some sort of mounting thing for these to mount to the bottom of the case.


Here I taped them all together and cut the with the band saw. I really need to get a blade with more teeth.


Finally here is the shelf that is above the motherboard. Power supply sits on it. Water pump and reservoir will be there too along with my hard drives which will be beside the power supply which will suck the warm air off them.

There ya goes!

Now next update shall be weekend I thinks.

 

Hehe, no need.. check out Algoron's work log, post #24 + #25 -> http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?p=1682318&highlight=bees+wax#post1682318

 

Thanks! I'll see if I can do something to lubricate it like that. I dont think the blade is overheating as my acrylic isnt even melting. After the one I'm using breaks there is just 2 blades left. I originally bought 12. Im guessing maybe I bought blades that were too fine. Oh well it's working as is and I'll just try to take it easy.