Thanks I used AC Ryan meshX panels. Don't know if they're still for sale. I had a couple on stock of them. It's hard to explain how much it would restrict the airflow. But I think this will barely affect it in my situation, since i use a bigger surface than the radiator. Cooler Master uses mesh on front of various cases like the stacker, cm690 and cosmos, and it works just fine. I wouldn't advice using mesh as a fan grill. Near to the fan the wind speed and turbulence is higher. The small holes will restrict the airflow, with added noise as a consequence.
Looking great, can't wait to see the finished product! Only wish I had tools like some of the stuff you see on here! Great log mate, thanks.
Yeah, I've got a CM and thought of using this kind of mesh to keep the looks consistent, but I guess you're right and in this case decent airflow/cooling will have to trump aesthecis. looking forward to seeing this project move forward
Hmm, looks like i'm having a problem with the anodisation: As you can see the aluminium turns very dark, uneven, and well, not the way i want it Does anyone know how this is possible? I was thinking that the acid might has lost power. So i have to mix up a new bath? Last time I bought 2 bottles of 38% acid, and 2 bottles of demiwater. I don't know how long it will last in general? Anyway, i cut the holes in the front panel. Note that this is the base panel, so after this one is done i can finish the second one which will be anodized and glued on top of this one, so you won't see those screws and stuff. Also send an email to Onkyo repair center, to see if they can provide me a power button and onkyo logo.
Continued working on the front. First of all I created a way to mount the LCD screen. I had a couple of 19" rack blinding panels, strong and thick anodized aluminium. And it was the perfect height for this monitor. Including the mounting holes 4 screws, 4 holes with m3 thread, and a hole for the USB, and we're done! Although the front was going fine, i decided the sheet of aluminium was not strong enough to be a real front panel. So i took another 19" panel to create a new one, this one is +/- 2x thicker, so it won't bend, sounds much more massive, and it's much better when using countersunk screws. Together with the top-front panel it will be as thick as the 5mm front i have on the amplifier. Really need to clean up some day.... New panel is almost done. Note that i flipped the USB. makes it better aligned with the powerbutton. Perfect mounting for the LCD. And it fits (although it's not correctly aligned on the photo). So after removing the tape, and filing down the edges at the bottom of the LCD and dvd slot i got this. The amplifier has those edges as well. And although it's a precision job to do it by hand, it turned out great. That's it for now. Bought more acid today, hope to fix the PSU bracket soon with some fresh anodisation!
Woah there. But in all seriousness, this is a spectacular build. It really looks like an onkyo product! awesome work. I can't wait for your next update!
Thanks guys! Guess it's not a standard HTPC case then? Most of them are designed for mATX boards making them much smaller. This one is 43,5cm wide, 40cm deep and 19cm high (exl. feet). Quite standard dimensions for a ATX HTPC like Silverstone, Zalman or Origen has
nice build and great metalwork! i see You use standard optical drive but what about slot-in drive? IMHO it will be more 'slik'
Jeah, a slot-in is more hidden, totally agree. But the thing is that they're hard to find, more expensive, and the ones i found were slimeline. I alreay bought a blu-ray reader for 45€. A slime line optical would cost twice as much. Since the cd player has a normal drive as well, i decided to go that way. Hope that the loading tray will look nice once i have it finished and covered with a nice aluminium front. (which is better then the plastic one on the CD player )
Since most of the "rough stuff" has been done, i spend some time on smaller bits and pieces. In general i could describe it as boring parts, like cutting and mounting some aluminium profiles, cut the bottom panel to the right size and stuff like that. So, i havn't got any pictures of those. But i made enough pictures of other steps in this procces: Bought the blu-ray and wireless keyboard, should be pretty usefull for couch-surfing Couple of days i tested a bit with the powerswitch. It's nice, but i had something different in mind then the actual button was looking like. Anyway, i could post another 100 pictures of creating the power button. I tried several techniques. But every time i failed. In general, it was not the acid creating my problems, but the aluminium itself! I had some pieces of aluminium i bought at the local store, guess they have a different alloy. With some trial & error i made this adapter to glue a piece of aluminium on. And put it in the press drill due to the lack of a lathe With the dremel some material will be removed to get the V-shape in the button. And sanding it down to get the correct looks. And the finishing touch with the scotch bright stuff. The edges will be done afterwards. Oops... left it to long in the anodizing setup. Like he did too much tanning I'll redo it. I've spend some time on the blu-ray. The cover should fix exactly, but on the same time i should be able to bend it slightly, to trigger the eject button. So i made this piece of acryl, which can act as some kind of spring between the cover and tray. New button. While anodizing (on the right time setting ). Result was OK Got the spring mounted. I heated and bend the 2 parts which are mounted against the tray. Don't know if this thing will do the trick. It was my first idea, and there's only 1 way to find out And it fits very well. Not much space left, so i should be able to align it. Started to milling this piece of acryl. See pic.2 if you want to know what it will be. PSU bracket... alloy problem.... not satisfied...will redo...
for eject button You can place it near PWR button and solder it to BD drive with couple of wires - simple and elegant solution IMHO. no need to sacrifice look and structure. $0.02
It's funny, at a Dutch forum we discussed the buttons, and they asked: "Can you hide the eject button? It would be smoother to have a minimum amount of buttons." Sure! should be possible. So i'll try I have also a power button for the LCD. I will place that one on the side of the case, next to the front panel. So it´s not in direct sight, but easily to reach tho.
I was thinking about the logo today, and i knew there should be a way to make one myself. So here's a small teaser, only 3,1cm wide, and 4,5mm heigh to be exact: (and yes, it's already finished ) But now I was thinking to use a piece of illuminated acryl instead of the black plastic Onkyo uses. What do you think? This is what you'll find on the amplifier, but mine is more polished:
I wasn't able to find a Onkyo logo... fast enough. So i wanted to try making one myself. I knew it should be some kind of "possible" since i've made a (Porsche) Speedster logo from aluminium as well. Although it was much bigger First i cut the letters with a thin saw. And after the saw i continue with a file and X-acto knive for the final edges. The aluminium is 0,5mm so it's easy to work with, but also easy to bend. Not what i wanted this time I used the smallest saw blade, actually for the hand-saw. Covered up the hole with some tape, otherwise i might lose the letter between the sawdust. Yet another done. And another one. 1 of the hardest part was to get the aluminium away in those small spaces in the middle. The x-acto knive can cut it, but it's hard to move if the spot is so small. And the result after exactly 2 hours of work. I'm happy with it But they are'nt finished before everything is nice & shiny. So i smoothened them at some sanding paper, and started to polish them. Try holding such small parts while polishing them... Removal of the polishing paste in the ultrasonic cleaner. And now with a perfect finish! After all i glued them on a piece of black aluminium, didn't go for the illumination thing, since there's very little space to illuminate between the letters, and the light would make any imperfection (even though they came out very well, it's still handwork) extra visible From this close, photographed with a macro lens, you can see any imperfection. But once placed in the final design i think it turns out great. And i rather have something handmade where you can see that it was handmade then something directly from the shop What's special about buying a case and stick a Onkyo logo to it... I started with the other parts on the front panel. 3 standoffs, and a piece of plastic has been cut exactly to fit the power switch. And had a sparkfun IR receiver laying around. Easy to use and perfect for my application. IR receiver, Power LED with some fiber optic, and the power switch. I used a piece of fiber optic to prevent the power switch from rotating, or else it could get stuck in the opening. Another thing i had to fix was the USB connector. The front panel was to deep, so a milled it down for +/-2mm. And now it's much better. Last thing for this update: The PSU bracket is ready. What to expect in the next update? Well, there's still a lot of mounting, assembling and test-fitting to do. Pretty boring actually I think i'll try to mount the front panel on the case.
This case is going to be sick, the brushed finish looks great and thats with the case still apart! Keep the good work up mate! Attention to detail is unbelieveable!
It has been a while, but meanwhile I bought myself a great addition for the modders workshop… It’s a small Lathe. I hope it can save me some time in building parts, and create stuff I couldn’t realize before. 1 of the purposes is creating a nice powerbutton. Here it’s compared to the ones onkyo made. Although it has yet to be anodized it looks very similar. Another part is this small tube, which connects the 2 passive radiators. It had to be 9mm thick, and acryl tubes are sold in 10mm. Few minutes of work with the lathe, while it would have taken much longer to get it by hand. Meanwhile i was creating a couple of *****’s, made for a perfect fit, girlfriend will love it….. … Nooo, it was just part of this ufo!! :banana: I was making the cockpit by turning a half ball. Building another 2 of these LED lights for my future house. To shine a light on the table. Powerbutton after anodisation. Looks a bit smoother right now. And the frontpanel is pretty much done as well. Made all the cuts and brushed the front. Perfect fit x2 Here you can see that i milled down a rectangle to fit the logo. Otherwise the logo would be recessed to much in the front panel. Thats it! Next couple of weeks I’m pretty busy with some other projects. But vacation is on his way as well. So I might have a couple of hours left to anodize the front and work my way up to a more completed casemod
