Scratch Build – In Progress Level Eleven

Holy moly that is some nice woodworking. Subscribed!

 

No. Just interviewing new size comparators to possibly replace the Coke can.

Thanks. Cabling is certainly an issue with small builds. I consider cabling a separate component whose space requirements and effects on airflow need to be considered early during planning.

Thank you!

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55 born in '55. Try doing that!



Cut out a block to use as the mounting board for the DE box. Rep for guessing what DE stands for. The DE box has a single coat of aluminum paint, first of many more to come.





This is the rig I built to help me sand wood edges down to an exact size. One fence pinches down 60-grit sandpaper and the other fence is "hinged" to give me control. Back-and-forth, flipping it around to even out the process. Shift the sandpaper often to refresh it. Constantly test fitting the piece to judge progress and make adjustments.





Success. This block isn't coming out of its hole...not yet anyway.





I like to use blocks of wood or combinations of different blocks to get the spacing I like. These two boards are what I used to space the Pico and SSD boxes and I'll be using them again here.





Another spacer is set up to ensure conformity with the bottom of the Pico box.





Set the DE box in place.





Flipped it over, drilled pilot holes and fastened the box with tiny brass wood screws.





Now I can flip it back over and pry the DE box off its mounting board. I run a pencil mark around the perimeter of the mounting board.





Remove the screws from the back and using sandpaper I remove the lacquer finish to get back down to bare wood. Stay within the lines. I knew all that coloring book training would be valuable one day. Apply wood glue, re-install the brass wood screws and set aside to dry. After drying I remove the screws permanently.

Screws have a way of working themselves out over time and the surface behind the DE box is the optical drive casing. Besides, an wise old woodworker once told me that screws are used for things you plan to remove one day.





I thought it was a good time for a test fitting. Note the USB ports above the optical drive.



Thanks for looking.

 

Wow, its coming together very nicely. Looks stunning.

And happy birthday!

 

Woohoo! This is an epic build and it's come together pretty swiftly too

Happy Birthday skip

 

level 0.10

looks great man!

 

Oh wow! I haven't looked at this for a while but that looks terrific.

 

Happy birthday! I wish you could have been my daddy

Awesome work!

 

Happy Birthday my friend, mine was on Wednesday .

 

That is one good looking case, just as his big brother

 

That is so cool!

Happy birthday

 

DE = Decorative element?

Did someone say it's your birthday! Happy Birthday!

 

dick extender? LOL

 

Digital encoder?

 

DE = Dummy Enclosure....?

 

Thanks!

Thank you. I don't know about epic but I am having a lot of fun.

LOL Level .333 maybe. I took the dimensions off the TT Level 10 website and divided HxWxL by 3. The results seemed reasonable. I'm just glad I didn't divide by 4.

A "terrific" from oldnewby! That's pretty damn good. Thanks!

Thanks! No kids that I know of but I WAS a sailor for six years.

Happy b-day mate!

Thanks but I actually don't like the Level 10 that much. Odd huh?

Thanks buddy!

Yes...of course. Leave it to Cheaps to ruin the fun.

What it means...not what it does.

Sounds bitchin' The DE box has no access to the support box because the optical drive covers the entire other side. Maybe I'll just use it to hide stuff.

No. Sorry. Sounds good though and it is accurate.

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Painting and wiring...go.



To start the wiring process I mount the motherboard and ALL the onboard connectors to check for clearances and to see if the box still closes over the top of it. I was concerned about the IDE cable and the height of the SATA cable.





The only issue I uncovered was the front USB cable.





I had to peel back the USB cable's factory heat shrink to get more flexibility in the cable end. That worked.





After a couple of coats of aluminum paint it was time to try to remove it all. I used my sanding block to hand mill the edges down until all the paint was gone and all the edges were flat and even.





After about twelve coats of paint.





Handbrushed the interiors with a machinery gray flat latex paint.





Still more flat gray (and much more to come). That paint looks the same as what I used to paint my deck this weekend. Huh? Imagine that...





Back panel interior leaving the glue-down surfaces raw.





Top-side. I didn't paint the vertical box mating surfaces because my hand wasn't steady enough. Too much coffee. I will probably mask it off some how with either tape or just a cardboard edge.





Other half of the interior. The white dots are velcro that I'm using to temporarily secure the optical drive and USB ports while I'm wiring them up.

Thanks for looking!

 

With your friction fit on those boxes, I would think just one coat of paint on the mating surfaces would be enough to cause trouble. I'd leave those areas bare.

 

Yes, that was a big concern. The friction fit will get a little sloppy over time but that's OK because I can always tighten it up with a coat of paint. I'm in no big hurry to paint the sides and they'll stay bare for now. The coffee thing sounded good though didn't it? The wife thought I had masked the flat "striped" board shown above but I actually free-handed it.

 

And you are talking about shaky coffee hands? Lol!
Beautiful work tough!

 

Slipperyskip is one of those super-skilled artists who are sometimes agonizingly humble about their skills. I'm pretty sure he could paint the Mona Lisa in miniature in ten minutes flat if he wanted. Or maybe he has already done that

 

awesome wood skills, lookin good buuuudy.