Case Mod - In Progress NZXT Lexa -Experimental Modyssey - June 5 - new CCFL, lighting question

Yer' doin' great.
You got them sanded to down to 600 grit. Why not put the same effort into hand polishing. A few seconds with a bit of felt and polishing compound will finish it. I was never a fan of flame polishing anyway. Sanding to 600 grit to hit it with a torch is counterproductive.

You got half of a 90 degree power sander set up. All you need is the work rest.

You put the 'wet' in wet sanding there. Personally, I like how the sheet sticks to a flat surface when you just dip it and slap it on the counter.

The white and green looks good. You will want to use water or oil when drilling thick plexi. The bits get hot fast.
As for the mystery pic... Are you mooning us?

 

Hey thanks Cheapskate for the comments... tips from the master!
Interesting, I didn't think I could try the polishing yet. I don't have any felt, but did you see my spin polish attachment for the drill from a few posts back? What do you think about me using that at this point, instead of hand polishing? Whatever, to save me another several hours with the 1500 grit!
I did try the flame on one piece after my last update last night, and got it bubbly. Not what I wanted, so I'll be resanding that.

Any tips on squaring off the bits I do have, with the tools I have? I'm still thinking a jig is required (plus I gotta return the tools I borrowed to the library, and might find some others.
and no, I'm not mooning anyone...

 

New toy!

aka Tool!
aka the Ryobi 16" adjustable speed scrollsaw:

Ta... Da...




(ah... wish I noticed this before my first cuts... not set level! I was all over the place trying to cut a straight line!)


Didn't get much in the way of actual modding done today, but I did drive over 30 miles on the wet highways in rush hour traffic to pick up this deal I found on craigslist. Slightly used, but everything works well, at least to my inexperienced eye. I had some real problems with cutting a couple straight lines earlier, but that is probably due to the table being off level by almost 10 degrees! (found that out while I was cleaning it up.) Haven't tried any more cuts since then, but hope to be able to stay on the line (or at least on a consistent margin from the line) in the next cuts.

 

Nice scroll saw, that's a tool very high on my list to purchase.

 

Stop modding and go to bed!

Thanks. I'm pretty happy with it. Next on the list is a bench top drill press, then I have to make a nice(solid) stand for it the drill press and the scroll saw (it really vibrates the table.) A friend at work has an old drill press (with speed adjustment by manual manipulation of the drive belt and spindles. I think it's a 5 speed.) He's offering a good deal, and may throw in some bits too.

And now, for the pics.
Even though the previous mystery pics were not a big crowd participation cue, I'll bet you know what these pics said to me...
It all starts and ends with this:

What is it?

hmm





Who can tell from these shots what happened? I'll give you my guesses later.
I'll tell you what those pics said to me... "GO TO BED!"

Happy election day Americans, and may you vote your conscience and not hurt others!

 

That's a burn mark from cable shorting out my friend lol. I did that recently while testing my 3.5mm fan connectors.

 

very nice work with the acrylic so far,
i like you sow.. i hope that i'll get one of those some day..

and.. good luck with your fans wiring..
keep up the good work!

 

I'm no stranger to electrical fires either, and I've jump started myself more times than I can count. Welcome to the club.
I forgot you had a polishing rig. I only sand down to 600 grit. The polisher will take care of the rest. I sand edges to only 400 grit, and use a stiffer buffing wheel on them.
For squaring: Find or make something with a 90 degree angle. -One side smooth, one side sandpaper covered. Right now I'm using a bit of angle aluminum and a board with sandpaper sandwiched between in a vice. The aluminum is the table surfade I drag the work over.

 

Fire! Fire!

Damn, you're good! Yep that's correct. (I might have given it away with the other pics, but felt the whole story needed to be told.) Care to try the previous mystery pic?

Thanks arkadur for the comments and the good luck wishes!

Thanks cheapskate for the sanding jig tip. (and the previous counter top tip, I have to see if I can work something out with that, so as to avoid spoiling the cooking dishes!) Any chance of a pic to be clear on the image? I get the alum angle with one inner side covered with sandpaper, and rubbing along the other inner edge to get the right angle, but where does the board and vise fit?

Yeah this was the first time I actually put wires on fire! (I did put a hairpin into a wall socket when I was a little kid that sent sparks flying everywhere, but that was way back when.)
The wire that melted/caught on fire was a single cable from an IDE ribbon cable that I was using to bridge the 12v terminals. I'd originally hooked everything up to my weak bench PSU, and nothing happened. When I disconnected it, the PSU did start up, so I figured I was drawing too much current for the psu to handle, and then hooked it up to the newer 350watt antec. As soon as I flipped the switch there was a big poof of smoke, and flames from the melting wire which scorched the cardboard below.

I'm not sure if it's (A)just that the wire was too little and the circuit is fine (ie, I can put a thicker gauge wire and not worry) or if (B) I have too much current being pulled for safety, or (C) if I've cross wired some things which is causing a fault. I haven't had the time to test anything to make sure I didn't blow them up, but I figure the shorted wire will have saved anything from burning out (like a fuse!)

i've got 3 fans hooked up, with a switch for 2 of the fans LEDs (as detailed previously, switching the ground), and the potentiometer to control the voltage going to the 3 fans. The leads for the LED indicators are connected straight to ground.
I guess I should be smart and actually count out what the draw on this circuit is to be sure... especially since I still want to have another 2 fans and the potentiometer and leds (6) added to the circuit.

Also on a related note, is it important to have both the ground cables from the molex connected, or is it just ok to have one, along with the red and yellow to feed the terminal strip.

 

Man that sucks. I did try the previous mystery pic and got that one right also. The one about the busted rivet right?

 

Yeah, normally, I'm not one to say fire sucks... but an unexpected one while half asleep is scary, especially when it's possible all your hard modding work may go up in flames! But... that didn't happen.

You did get the first and 3rd one... but there was one you missed.
It's at the end of this post:

 

Dude, I have not had any fire and scorching in my career but I did defibrilate my self in college. Dropped a nut inside the machine removing the cover and reached in for it. Prof says 'You did that?" And I said yeah - twice. Down on the floor twice. My dumb a$$. Be careful of voltage and current limits on wiring.

John

 

Lol... Well don't start now, just cause I did it and got a cool image out of it.
That defibrilation sounds like fun!

Off to the shop for a bit of polish and playing with the new toy.
Any tips/thoughts on figuring out the wiring? Does it seem like it's just too weak of a wire, and thicker wire would work fine for it? Or is this evidence of a short? I'll post up a pic of the current scheme later tonight, once I draw it out.

 

one quick point - don't coil up any wires - stretch them out until you're ready to finalize the length. Coils will make any current and/or heat greater. Coils wills build upon them selves and get hot.

John

 

There's a reason I don't wear a watch anymore.-Bzzzt!
When I get home I'll get some pics up.

 

Don't know about watches but I had to pull my partner off of a PBX backplane when his wedding ring fused a 5V - 50 AMP circuit. It was melting and the hospital was needed for serious burns. Large currents can hut you as well as large voltages. Be Safe.

John

 

Ah I see, I did miss a mystery pic. The background is black and looks like plastic. The only part of the case that are plastic are the front, the feet, the rear cover and the pieces on the top of the case. The plastic surrounding the white piece in the picture has prongs so it looks like the power or reset switch housing.

 

That's a great tip John, thanks! There were a couple loose loops there as well. I'll do the math on planned devices and required wire gauges. I think I have 24 or 22 gauge hook up wire, but I was just reusing one I'd cut up for Jack O'Lantern. Didn't realize I was stressing the limits so much.

Cool! I look forward to it!

You're partly right... but you're wrong... and there shouldn't be any white. I like the reasoning though. You missed a plastic part, common to almost all cases.

 

Common to all cases ey? That leads me to think it is the drive rails even though it doesn't look like it. Or perhaps the plastic bay covers or the Power or HDD LED, if not I am stumped lol.

 

It's a hard one... real blurry. I still can't get reliable macro shots.

Here's one in focus.