Scratch Build – In Progress future ne[]n - 100% complete!!

I agree with you on the 'chimney' thing... looks a bit out of place. Hmm.. what if you blended it in a bit more... say make another (or two) ring of acrylic/alu that's bigger than the one arround the top of the chimney thing, and smaller than the plate sitting directly ontop of case. Make this ring sit inbetween the top ring and the larger plate, this would create a low flat-topped staircase pyramid on the top of the case. With the right design and lighting effects it _might_ work.

If there's any room at all for the fans on the inside, you could perhaps mount the fans halfway into the top of the case, that way the chimney will be less of chimney and more something decorative. Like this: ----[>=<][>=<]---- (To clarify.. fan: [>=<] , top plate of the case: ----)

That's my $0.02.

 

well..actually i like the idea.......but i would still go without it.........

Alan

 

@ the Alien: thnx... same here, if there's enough airflow in the case as it is, then there's really no need for the top fans.

Btw, thought of an idea for the design of the middle plate/ring... what if you incorporated the fins/tabs elements on the middle ring... say have some long tabs/fins going out from the longsides of the middle ring and perhaps some shorter ones on the shortside(?)... that way you accentuate the cooling purpose of the fan-tower/pyramid. As for the actual design of this ring, I'll leave that up to you, should you really need the topfans and choose to go with something like this. We've all seen your awesome design skills, so I have no doubt in my mind that, what ever you choose to do in the end, you're very capable of whipping up something really cool!. (still drooling a bit over the fan grill designs) (exclude earcuffs and cold in smiley)

Good luck!

 

I also think the top thingie is a bit out of place with the mesh. You could make some extra layers to go instead of the mesh, but then I think it's still too high. So I would make it sit lower if possible, or otherwise scrap the idea if there's enough cooling in the case already.

 

I say add layers of aluminum seperated with 1/4" red plexi washers instead of the mesh. You could make it blend with the case by making each layer larger than the one above it. It will match what you did with the sides too.

 

There's been some good alternative ideas put forth for the top fan tower, but as mentioned elsewhere Seth, I think it breaks the overall design and clean lines of the box. I think it would be a shame to lose the nice octagonal shape you get from the front.

If a simple vent won't suffice and you have a 15mm of space, I've seen some very thin 70mm fans used for HDD coolers. Maybe you could squeeze thin fans like these beneath the top panel?

Keep it up mate!

Cheers
GAM

 

I agree with macros, I think setting them down about halfway would make it work a lot better. awesome progress overall though.

 

@Macros_The_Black, I've scrapped the idea altogether, its not for this mod, theres no room for sinking then halfway in, im going to keep it simple. (thought it was a papa smurf smiley lol)

@theAlien, Agreed.

@jokkos, nope not for this one, something simple, air vents or just a acrylic design.

@GAM, simple vent and some acrylic designing.

@xsolonx, thnx

 

Well, what an eventful couple of days.

Well I would have hoped that I could have gotten the alu to a mirror finish, but after 2 full days (16 hours) both hand and machine polishing, im no better than where i was on the first day, so I gave up on the machine and kept with the hand polishing, also I think the alu has alot to do with it too.

Mothers Alu Polish has different shine effects with different ALU grades/types.

The stuff I have, i think is crappy, the MNPCTECH case feet, polish up wonderfully, but the grades/types of alu are different.

But enough of that, for those that do read what i type, here's your chance to see how good you are...which of these 3 pics is hand polished and which is done with a drill and buffer??.


Front Panel


Left Panel


Right Panel

The next set are teaser pics of the things to come...


Front Panel and Front Facia


future ne[]n Right Side Panel


Left Side Panel

I also gave the base plate a quick polish, nothing super duper, just enough shine for lighting effect at later date.

And I polished the case feet aswell...


Left is stock, right is hand polished


All of them polished, pwetty...
thats how the panels should have turned out, but im seriously thinking that the grade of alu i have used is the reason it didnt polish up super shine like i had hoped, but I still like the way its turned out, its still shiny.

Well more to follow in a few days, till then , thnx for coming to check this out

Seth

 

not bad not bad at all, Im not sure what else to say lol, small update so small comment ^_^

 

looking good! i really like those case feet. i may have to buy some for my case.

 

Left panel hand polished, rest machine polished (except feet). Am i right?

The feet looks awesome!

 

ah...those teasers are really teasing............

they look very.......very good..........

Alan

 

Ecellent choice. I agree with theAlien, and what GAM said ("it breaks the overall design and clean lines of the box"), it will look better w/o. =D
"papa smurf smiley"?? ...aaah! LOL XD

Hmm.. I'd say that the front and left panel was machine polished at some point.. the right panel looks hand polished. Did I win something?? 8D

Sweet looking teaser pics! 8D

 

WOWOWOWW! Can't explain.. But this is kickass work really! WOW very nice! I can't wait to see what next

Good luck.

 

Front panel -- drill polished
Left panel -- Started with the drill but finished by hand
Right panel -- Hand polished



Have you tried first wet-sanding the panels with >1K grit? You should be able to achieve a mirror finish with just about any aluminum.

 

@HourBeforeDawn, thnx

@x06jsp, thnx, I was most impressed with how the feet turned out, which means when i alter my PC7 Lian Li Server (next mod) i should be able to get that kind of polished effect on each panel.

@Dean MF, nope your wrong.

@theAlien, thnx

@Macros_the_Black, your nearly right.

@ComputerKing, thnx

@radodrill, nearly right.

So the Front Panel is completely done by hand aswell as the back of it, the Left Panel started by hand then machine polished, then back to hand polish and the Right Panel all by hand, my friend came over last night and he had the better option of guessing because each panel was in front of him, and he guessed wrong too. The Case Feet were hand polished with minimal mothers polish.

Alot of people cant tell, but you can tell between the feet and the case panels, theres a gigantic difference, 16 hours of hand polishing and a few of machine polish and 20 mins of hand polishing on each of those case feet, unbelievable, i was just sitting there after id finished the feet, thinking....this is what the case panels should look like, but they arent, and i wished with all my heart i could have gotten that effect coz they look awesome, but awell, i think my preperation of the case panels was way out, must have missed something somewhere, but its a leasson learned and a new skill that needs much improving.

 

Wow, great work on the polishing. I like how everything's coming together.

 

@TNash, thnx

 

...,thinking...<top panel wat to do> looking at top panel, looking at acrylic, lots of looking and lots of thinking, lots of staring, waiting....for something to jump out at me...it did eventually...and this is what i came up with.


ALU Top Panel...starting...


Top Panel...finished...

What to do next....more thinking, looking at acrylic...more thinking...then....idea pops into head...


Idea!!


More Ideas...


Coming along nicely...


So, you might be looking at it thinking WTF??...

Keep in mind the nothing can be mounted under the alu because of the 2 beams that support the front and rear, so with this obsticle i decided to make an acrylic top, and what ill be doing tomorrow is, cutting a 5mm wide , 1mm deep channel around the edge so i can then mount some mesh in the gaps to the left and soon to be right side of the acrylic , then the whole thing will be screwed down and it should look pretty good

Back with more tomorrow.

Seth