Scratch Build – Complete GwassGween -FINISHED-Nov13 2013-pics start on page 67

First, a quick request to n'egg:

-Lay off the crack. Why do my harddrives show up sliding around in an empty box, but $3 worth of cables are packed like explosives? -Nibbler showed up in a cardboard frisbee. I bet that was fun in the mailroom.

-I got the length wrong on this bit. There were supposed to be four fins, dude.

-I glued up the 'hood' for the gpu first. I cheated and used more square blocks.

-The top part bent a bit coming off the milling base. I had to clamp it straight while gluing the faceplate.

-I shopped, and even bought some cheesy hardware to make an adjustable tilt surface. Finally I decided to just use the mountain of lumber and cut a bracket at the angle I needed.

-That worked out OK, except I thought I needed to tear it up and reposition it for the second part. That little brainfart cost me an extra day.

-Zee main cover gluing. The clothespins are holding that bit of angle aluminum to square everything up.

-Watch out, bananaman. You don't want to get your catheter caught in the mill.

-This test fit gives you an idea of how close I'm cutting it. The ruler represents the inside wall of the case. Assuming the case is perfectly square, (and it isn't even close,) I'll have about 1/8" clearance.
...maybe.

-I know I keep saying this, but this is the LAST FIN to be cut for this case.
...maybe. It's possible I'll get this new cover in and realize it clashes with everything else. I could even find another spot in need of 'finning.' (Oh, no! not the PSU as well!)
Thanks again to my sponsors.

 

1/8" is PLENTY 'o space.....errrm.....

 

Looking great cheaps.

I'd use that nibbler very sparingly. It can give good results but 'sethnmalice' has ruined his hands with too much use of one of these. I have used mine a couple of times but try not to rely on it.

 

I still have flashbacks every time I see a nibbler.

Nice Adventure Time smiley on the fin, as well.

 

Thanks.
@nut - She's going in the case for a test fit today. The suspense has kept me from doing it sooner.
@Kay & Attila - What if I put a couple of pipes on the handles and use 'em like hedge clippers? I think Sethn's use of a nibbler was a bit extreme.

 

Gwass is cooking with Gas!, er, wait.... You bought a Nibbler?! ...just had flashback to early days of case modding

 

N'egg packaging.

Those aluminium angles, are they of angle bar or square tube cut down, cool idea for the task, looks an easier method than engineer squares.

Nice progress & inventive makeshift ideas to achieve the results, something I love seeing in a project.

I never got around to using hand powered nibblers but the sound of them sounds real familiar with the way I did my sleeving with pliers & a grinded pin, caused temporary damage to my hand muscles, won't be doing that again.

 

You people make it sound like I'll use it a LOT.
@Waynio - They are from a bar of 2" angle. They aren't perfect. The one I'm using has a little bow in the walls, but it works for simple gluing and stuff.

 

If you were still interested in push-fits, check this out: http://www.ebay.com/itm/260453196642?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Just picked myself up a set, though I'm planning bad, bad things with these, I am.

 

Ah, not really. I was more about closing the gap between the blocks as much as possible. I thought about cutting a female barb into the CPU block, but with the barbs on the other blocks, it didn't shave off much space.

 

-I figured out why you guys have problems with nibblers. The handles are sh*t. It's all sharp and pointy. I figured out a quick fix for that. The bar goes under something heavy, (in this case, between my leg and my chair,) and then I just push down on the handle to snip.

-Initial test fit here. I was working out where to put the mounting tabs.

-How do you hold onto something to countersink when it's smaller than the bit? You don't.

-I glued the tabs in place and marked out some drill holes. Here I'm using barb-in-a-ruler to keep my drilling level.

-The cover and hood mounted. I noticed here that the hood was a little off. I thought at the time it would be OK.

-Hey! I built a little level10 to fit in my case.

-With the motherboard assembly back in the case, I noticed that crooked hood mount wouldn't work. I had to fill the holes with plexi glue and re drill them. -And yes, it was tight. The fins rub against the front panel.

-Lastly, I had to remove some of the cover to fit the GPU clamp.

-Cut.

-Now I had some points to line up the pump with.

-I have a block of wood clamped behind my drilling again. It stops chipping,etc...

-Pumped. Pumpified? pumpulated? pumpernickel?

-RIGHT! back to those bends I can't get done. The bending jig needed some re shaping. I prefer to work wet with plaster. There's enough dust in the house. Just sponge it down and treat it like that clay ashtray you made in school.

-I added a bit of sheet metal, and had some baking sessions at 210 degrees Fahrenheit. I couldn't get the flat sections to flatten out, though.

-Since I really don't want to make a positive/negative mold, I'm going back to plan A: bucket and hose clamps. (I'll probably just ruin the bucket.)

-I figure I need some really tough material for the flat spots, so I'm going with tile grout this time. OK, I just need to get rid of a bag of old grout, but... it should work.
...At least it will if I remember to fill in the little round spot on the bucket before I pour the grout. This batch ended up funneling right through. I had to clean up doodoo colored mud and wait for another free day.

-I dyed part of the sata cable for the optical drive. I need to dye the pump grommets next.

-and I finally found a USB motherboard connector. The only problem is that it won't fit under the coverplate like this. I'm shopping for .05" connectors to make an extension cord. I can only find them at digikey at the moment, but that's ridiculously high. (I'm still cheap.)
Thanks again to my sponsors.

 

Awesome update cheaps, love your creative solutions for things using anything around you that will work, awesome common sense.

 

I get a bit giddy when ever I see a gwass update never disappointed

 

So I'm gone for a (rather long) while, come back, what do I find? Cheaps is still positively insane. AWESOME!

 

I didn't know what you were on about in the thread about the USB connector. But the photo makes it all so clear. Didn't know you could get those. I need to watch closely what you're doing with the molding.
Looking cool and complex=

 

Cheaps, you never cease to amaze me. But please use bigger pics next time. I want to see better what's going on!

 

Thanks, everyone.
@Attila - The 3.0 parts market is still in it's infancy. This stuff is hard to find and never exactly what you need.
@Nutman - I save bigger pics for finished goods.

I figured out with help from another thread that the connector type I need is a Harwin m50-300 series. -.05" pin spacing.
...and my usual sources for cheap electronics don't carry them.

Edit: ^That info is wrong. the spacing is right for .05" laptop IDE, but the pin holes for the USB connector are much smaller.

 

Agreed they are small and a bit blurry but well done I think.

 

Yeah, the blur is coming from trying to photograph glass on polished black. The camera just can't lock on the target.

I've been stuck doing other stuff for a few weeks, so I thought I'd dump the pics I have.

-I thought I could do a USB3 to Micro IDE jumper, but the USB uses a smaller pin standard.

-I finally gave up and got a different cable.

-Infinite POWAHHH!- um, I mean, here is my speed controller for the Rotozip. I decided the bend I had was good enough and put the duct together.

-I roughly cut off the excess with a drill bit.

-Then I worked the edges down closer with a drum sander bit. You will notice I have a chemical mask here. Cutting like this causes some strong off-gassing.

-I finished the edges with my favorite file. I taped the end so I could run it over the surface without scratching...

-until the edge looks like this. Then I finished up with sandpaper.

-I drilled some mounting points and DONE! POW!

-For the 2nd curved duct, I used plan A: Oven, bucket, sheet metal, and big hose clamps. There was some pinching by the clamps I could have fixed with thicker sheet metal and filling the bucket with cement. Since I was cutting the edges off, it didn't bother me.

-The sheet metal is ruined now. I can't make sawblade music with it now that it's bent.

-The test fit of the new duct in the lower tract.

-I had to trim the inside edge so I could get it past the mobo cover and the radiator.

-I glued some mounting tabs on the inside top edge. (-Black on black parts, had to tweak the image. sorry.)

-I had to whip this bad boy out for the first time to drill the mounting holes. No action photos; it's hard enough just keeping your hair out of the drill.

-Countersinking.

-Duct #2 mounted in place. Quack.

-Here's a shot to show how snug it is to the radiator baffle.
If I ever get a chance, I will be working on the PSU cover next. I only have that and the reservoir left to do. That's probably why a million other things popped up.

Thanks again to my sponsors:

 

That's a really nice perfect duck Cheaps.