i have been thinking about making a custom case for a LONG time but i havent found the right theme untill now... i have thought about making a borg tactical cube like this: i was hoping for this to be inique.. but while i was searching google for images i actually came across a person who has build a normal cube... This is a site that has a description of it all... its not english so u would have to translate it.... well anyways.... here are my basic designs i have worked on in sketchup the top of the cube is made up as i could not find any pictures of the cube that showed the top... so i made it up: ^ main design of case.... ^ this is my 1st possible internal layout.. ^ this is my 2nd possible layout... (i think this one looks and feels better than the 1st) my external design has been made from the picture at the start... i was going to make the frame out of 1cmx1cm wood.. (cant remember the woods name..) then cover the main shell in plastic sheets and build up from there... i was gonna raise the main "armour" (big grey panels) out a bit to hide some green LED's in there.. and possible fans... and i was also going to make small random layers up like the guy did with the normal cube.. well anyways.... any advise/comments etc on how to get the best effect of it all... will help..
from your current top design i'd say that the center looks perfect for a fan blowing hot air out the case. A slot loading drive may also be easier to hide into your design.
probably could put a fan at the top... i was thinking about a trayless dvd drive.. but i have no idea where to buy them.... i can still use a standard drive and effectivly hide it in the design
Pioneer makes a trayless drive that you could use i don't have time to do a search but if no one gives u a link i will when i get home (at work now)
It's the 120S, do a Google for it. Anyways it looks like a cool idea; I had a similar idea but I'm not too sure if I have the funds to pull it off ()
Panasonic make one, I have one of them, great drives too. Not an endorsement of the retailer, just for illustrational purposes. Sounds like a great idea for a mod, although the wood framing may be a little unforgiving and awkward to work with, I've seen aluminium used to good advantage. Thumbs up for a nice idea, will be following this one.
My suggestion: Go out and buy model kits. The little plastic pieces will be perfect for the detail stuff on your cube. Honestly, it could work awesome.
That's a notebook drive; you'd need to get a converter cable to IDE so that you could use it in your desktop PC.
are you meaning the like airfix plastic models.. if u are then ive looked around for years and they dont make them for star trek anymore.... they are rare if anything to find one unmade... [edit] i think the wood frame should be ok... using proper glue and reinforcing it so that it wont bend or snap... another reason is that its cheap to buy and its easy to work with..
Some translation of the other borg cube: He made the thing out of cardboard, glued the hell out of it, and made the 'conduits' with steel wire. It took him 9 months/250 hrs to make it, so Springs, beware Did you click on the links at the end of his post? -> more pics, and more pics == good Very cool idea for a case though I second the 'fan on top' idea, you could make it look like a docking port? hmm. I think it would be cool if you could 'stealth' the cdrom drive with a piece of armor plating. you could do it in such a way that it just looks like a part of the cube, until it slides out. Better than a slot drive, in my opinion. Materials.. well, cardboard does sound easiest. Aluminium would look nice. Plastic? bit difficult to paint maybe? For the little bits&pieces maybe you can ebay a finished ST model and ..ahem.. 'mod' it? Or if you're a packrat like me you already have a big box labeled 'plastic bits & pieces'
when i was planning my idea... i did come across a website that had he same mod and i translated it... but i cant seem to find it at the mo.. i not to woried about the time required to make it.... i havent got a system for it at the mo.... planning to make a new one some time in the new year.. the thing with cardboard is even tho its easy to work with its also very weak... thats why i was gonna use 1 - 2mm plastic... aslo with the optical drive.. i think its pretty easy to hide it behind the main structure and make it so only the smallest part of the front bay is visible.. i have also searched ebay loads of times but there arnt any around...
thinking about it... i could use aluminium.. i found a site that sells it... i could possible rivit it to each other maybe? im not sure... havent really worked with metal much..
Oh he didn't build the computer out of cardboard, sorry.. He made the 'armor plating structures' with it, by gluing it onto the chassis. I still thik cardboard would be much easier to work with, though it surely does not look nearly as good as aluminium. Maybe try to find *very thin* aluminium? Don't think rivets look very borg tho Did you decide what kind of drive you'll use?
my main plan was to make a wodden frame... cover it with plastic sheets then possible bondo the frame to smooth it out and cover up the joins.. but leave the top available to be accesed for if i need to change stuff... i could then cover it in aluminium to make the armour look... with the aluminium side of things.. i can get sheets from 0.25 to 1mm thick... thats about as much as i would need... i dont want to make it to thick... and also use maybe plastic or another material to make the black bits a bit more complete...
your idea sounds great! renember to make a mod log. how did you make those diagrams? there sweet! i want the program!
