Scratch Build – In Progress Electrocutous Orchid - final mod 2-25-14

I'm loving the epoxy cables (Isn't everyone!). Have you heard of sugru? It's silicone based, flexible and real easy to work with. Although it's not so great if you want a nice clean geometric sanded finish like yours

I'm certainly not saying you shouldn't be using epoxy... only that sugru is another tool for the box and I'm just spreading the gospel.

 

Go for it, it's really not difficult.

Thank you and the Sugru does look like it has some good potential for some spots.


I hope everyone had a great Christmas.

Now this cable was a pain. As was the first DVI-D I was surprised to find a full metal jacket inside the rubber casing that you could drive a truck over it.



So with some careful cutting



opened it up




Then soldered up to HDMI, watch out for the pin-outs I had to do a couple of times



Then using the trusty epoxy finished up the connectors.












Think they turned out pretty well.

 

I now have a nice black mobo.





I think it turned out pretty well.

See you soon.

 

I don't mean to be critical, because I totally want this build to succeed, but is painting a mobo a good idea? I'm worried about cooling and possibly shorting something out. I guess you're committed now, so let us know how it works!

 

Nice. I've seen a couple other modders paint their motherboards, so I'm sure it'll be fine, as long as the paint wasn't some caustic mix that'll eat any of the components.

I like it, but I thoroughly convinced that it'd test my patience quite a bit taping off that many things lol

 

Well it looks better. So hopefully my test of the paint was correct and all is well.

Thanks Mosquito, but no tape was used, only a very small brush.

 

I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse!

 

Well my wife said I was crazy, but when finished was drooling, so the time was well spent.

Did some touch-ups and put the Ram and Pico PSU on the motherboard.




















Edit: Here is the original boards,
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4338#ov
http://www.mini-box.com/picoPSU-160-XT


Tomorrow will power up the board.

 

1. Your wife is correct!

2. Don't let the smoke out!

3. Good luck, it's looking awesome!

 

Thank you so much.


I have very good news IT WORKS

I now have a BIOS screen.

So the final things can be taken care of now.

 

Holy crap on the video cables. I definitely don't have that kind of patience (or the guts to cut through the metal jacket of my DVI cable), but they do look pretty amazing. As does the rest of the build.

 

Thanks well it needed to be done, so cut away.


I made some case feet from acrylic. Made a pin and one screw for the front ones.




The painting has taken a while with a few variations along the way.

Started with solid purple



then some layering to get more of a flowerish look




The final results will be revealed later

 

Gave a final brushing and clear coat to the bright parts. Also touched up those wrong holes.

the back side of the mobo tray



front



top parts




off to make the last two parts.

 

I still don't have a firm mental picture of what this will look like when finished. Guess I'll have to wait and see!

 

Those cables
Sweet stuff. Subbed and can't wait for more!

 

I like surprises and I hope you do too. Should be a short wait now.

Thanks Wonky glad you like them.


Shortened and sleeved the antennas

 

Since the case is meant to be portable, a handle is needed. Cut, drilled and filed a piece of 1/4" - 6mm aluminum into shape



I was planning on laminating this between two pieces of black acrylic, but the wife liked it as is.
So mounted the cable with epoxy and filled the holes



now finished



then a bracket was made to hold the handle when not needed





Have a nice week and hope you enjoyed.

 

This is getting interesting... I'm getting associations with those streamlined chromed cars from the 50's. Cadillac Eldorado and Ford Edsel, anyone?

 

Yup agreed, especially the top parts, very nice!

Did you have a chance to test the mobo after you painted it? It looks very cool painted and even though it will most likely work fine, it would suck if it somehow broke during painting.

 

crazy job dude !