Looking good. Since the project is named pinky I say you add the cartoon charecter on there somewhere.
Little tiny quickie update (more shiny) I got some new materials and bits in on Monday! • Sheet of perforated aluminum, 1/4" holes 48% airflow (40"x60") • Sheet of 1/16" solid aluminum (12" x 24") • 4 toggle switches with red LED's at the tips. • 3 push button micro switches. • jigsaw blades and a new hacksaw Here's most of it. Here's the stuff I really got excited about, the perforated aluminum. And here's why I bought it. ***, what a botched job. Not at all what I intended, not even sure what I was going for here. So, I got this cool stuff, I'm all excited about it, I've got to do something with it right away! Fortunately an application came to light quickly. This is the back of my recent HD enclosure mod (already quite dusty), bit of an error there with the lengths of my shiny top and bottom plates. Perf Alum to the rescue! A little work with the nibbler, a rapid polish, some bending later and quite quickly a solution is fabricated! I like this material! I've got tons of it. Plan is to replace the botched fan guard and use some for the HD fan guard. Finally, use a few touches of it in the interior to help tie it in (but to not get carried away. Comments, questions and suggestions (like what color for the fan guard? White, Black or shiny) are always welcome.
You didn't mention pink as a colour suggestion. Shiny!! (or black but not white) BTW, kickass handsaw. That would have made made cutting the holes in my case soooooo much neater (sorry to steal your thread ).
Thanks so much L2wis, I'm glad you like it! I'm personally leaning toward shiny myself, pink isn't a consideration cause I need the contrast for what's going in front of the fan guard [teaser]. I've been looking for a hacksaw like that for awhile, my local HD never seemed to have any. Jig saws and pexi don't play nicely together for me and my traditional bow handsaw is just to awkward some times. Was only $4.69US from McMaster-Carr. I'm sorry I don't know a cartoon character named "pinky", who is it? Cluttered, messy and shiny, it is indeed all mine. It's perfect for late night work, don't disturb the sleeping family all the way down here. Women folk are welcome here...they just would rather not
For those not in the know this is Pinky. Pinky is one of 2 lab rats from a Warner Bros(?) cartoon called Pinky and the Brain. Brain is constantly trying to take over the world and is the brains of the duo(derrrr). Pinky is.... well..... Pinky is the other one. He's quite cute in a brainless, incompetant, addled kind of way. He'd quite suit the case - not meaning dumb but fun and cute.
actually if you read the entire post, you would already know that pinky is actually his daughters stuff bear... not trying to be a smart ass... Speaking of which, why not post a pict of this bear so we can all see what the project was named after.
I wasn't trying to be a smartass. I deeply respect and admire the work greywolf is doing here. I have read this thread from start to finnish and eagerly await each update. I just can't believe I missed such an important detail. I was just trying to be helpful. Sorry greywolf. /me goes back and re-reads thread to see if I've missed anything else. *EDIT* D'oh! It's in the first post..... and further mention to bears in later posts too. *EDIT #2* After re-read.... greywolf asked the question about the cartoon character Pinky. My comment was not out of place or being a smartass as you put it. Let's just move on and get back to the modding shall we?
Well, that's a fine question, excellent eye Acid Burn. Couple of things, first the drive is installed "backwards" all the connections are at the front. I've got two solutions in mind. Run the wires over the top and plug into the front or cut holes in my new perf panel to accommodate the wires. I didn't want to do any hole cutting just yet until I've decided and that will be after the mobo is installed. I appreciate all the effort Constructacon, and your demonstrated respect for this log. Indeed of course G4m3R_X3r0 was right, but you were right as well, I did ask. The log is now 5 pages long and I can certainly understand if people haven't caught every nuance. For most of the logs I peruse it's all about scrolling to the pics I have no problem explaining the concept multiple times and truth be told no bears have appeared on the case...yet Got to follow those urges, I had it strong when I got the perf alum in. Good luck with your case! Hope you have much fun messing with it as I've had with Pinky2 so far! No worries. Here is the original Pinky. Not very pink is she She's nearly 15 years old (the bear) and she's had a full but rather rough life. She's been much loved and has slept with my daughter every night since she arrived. Of course Pinky and the Brain, now I remember. Didn't get to see much of that one (rather liked it) my kids preferred to watch either catdog or Ed, Ed and Eddie...you know the really brainless ones that parents hate. Thanks for the brain jogg Constructacon
Well I really like what you are doing here. I too have a 15 yr old daughter that I want to build a PC for. I am sure she will appreciate all the hard work. You know, an etch or cutout of 'Pinky' in the side panel would be pretty cool. Keep up the good work BenJ
As the perf. is in place there to hide a "design feature", why not hide it even beter by making a deeper version (extending more in line with other drives) with no bottom. Then you could route the wires through the HD case and out the missing bottom. You still have the nice perf. backplate and the wires come out the back similar to normal. Or you could just run a sheet of the perforated metal down the back of all the drives and hide all the wires. Speaking of which, have you given thought to cable managment yet? The guys at bit-tech have been nice enough to provice this article. You could make it with pink tubing. It wouldn't necessarily have to be UV. Just my 2c worth.
Ah, I like that "design feature", I was using "custom enhancement" but I like your term better I'm going to continue up the case and then make adjustments (perhaps adding more "design features") as needed when I can see how everything looks together. Like your suggestions though. Wire Management. I do have a clear concept on how I want to handle wire management and beautification. One of the first things I purchased was my wire loom.Hopefully my ideas will turn out well. Thanks for the link.
Yea, it's been fun so far. She has helped me enough (the few times her social calendar wasn't too demanding) to appreciate how much work is going into it. After her's is done I have 3 more to build...and way too many kids Ah, great minds do think alike! I'm going to stay away from etching this time, but a cut-out panel on the right side just might do the trick!
Update 11/16 Buttons Next on my trip up the front of the case are the buttons. I need a power on and restart button, plus some sort of HD activity scheme. I knew what I wanted for this, I just hadn't quite worked out how to accomplish it. So the process was a bit slooow...plus I managed to create a few to many inadvertent "design features" along the way . On to the pics: Here's were I started, this will be the power on button. The button is a composite of 3/8" clear plexi with a 1/8" pink cap. Here is the first of many plexi disks I ended up cutting...in a semi circular shape. This will be attached to the back of my button, to prevent it from falling out. Here's what's going to prevent the button from falling into the interior of the case. Again the much used 3/8" plexi. Note again the semi-circular shape...I don't seem to be getting any better More semi-circular shapes in production, my new hacksaw is coming in quite handy. Note the hole in the middle... Sanded semi-circular shape (two layers of 1/8" pink plexi) glued into position, bolt is holding it in place. Another shot...just because. Well of course on the last one I made use of the hole, now we have a really nice circular (not semi) piece. Circular = 5 minutes / semi-circular = 45 minutes./ Thinking ahead of time= priceless (but fleeting). The buttons all produced. Papa Bear button is the power on, Mama Bear button is the reset, Baby Bear button (clear) isn't a button at all but HD indicator. I had bought 1/2" clear acrylic rod JUST to produce the reset button, so of course I manage to drill the hole for it...rather too large. Result: I had to (again) fabricate a semi-circular shaft from plexi Buttons in place in there semi-circular recesses. New 1/16" aluminum sheet for it's first cut, this will be for the bracket to attach everything to the case. Front view of the 3/8" plexi attached to aluminum. Rear view of the 3/8" plexi attached to aluminum. All the bits so far. Note I've bent the aluminum. Note this is my first bend on 1/16" aluminum. Note this will be my last bend of 1/16" aluminum. What was I thinking, the stuff is way too thick to bend accurately! Result: It doesn't fit (too wide), bends had too much curve. Solution, wack the bends off and attach it another way. Buttons in place on the front benzel. Any guesses what I was going for here? So there it is, progress to date. I certainly didn't get as far as I wanted too, must of been all those added design features. Plus of course all the semi-circular shapes I wasted time making. As always comments, compliments , criticisms and questions are always welcome.
Wow that bear does have lot of wear and tear on it, oh well nice to know your daughter got alot of out it. as for the case, lookin good. I like your semi-circular shapes you have going on there... there very... semi-circular Keep up the good work.
Yea, Pinky has been around for quite awhile and "she" is an active bear, no sitting on a shelf for her, she's out and about all the time...and shows it. Teddy bears don't age gracefully Semi-circular...my nemisus. Thank God I wasn't going for an industrial look That's what you get with a DAYG case, lots of unintentional surprises, you either make them work for you (ie "design features") or suffer them as mistakes. I'd rather keep flexible and work through with what I've got...sometimes the results can surpass anything you would of ever intended.
Update 11/21 Today (Saturday), I got some quality mod time in. I couldn't resist any longer I just had to use my new perf aluminum to replace my fan guards. So I lay aside finishing the buttons and jump to the fan guards. On with the pixs: First a little trial run with the HD fan guard, as you can see the third time was the charm. With the fabricating technique worked out it's time to tackle the big boy. First step is to cut out the offending "I'll just drill holes" plexi version. Used the dremel router for the rough cut, filed and sanded for final. There all done, nice and clean. Next I use the hole to draw cut lines on 1/4" masonite for my bending template. Here's the template fitted into the plexi, it's a touch smaller than the hole to accommodate the thickness of the aluminum. With the template and material clamped down, I carefully hammer the edges to get the shape. All done with forming. Nice tight fit to my template. Place it in the hole and carefully tap over the "tabs" that will hold it in place. I'm real pleased with the results. I managed to fabricate this piece the very first time...quite unusual for me (3 seems to be the magic number). Hummm...I wonder what this odd shape is for? Owww....they are multiplying. Aha...that's a bit clearer. This little guy is raised 3/8" above the center of the fan guard and will be back lit by one or several pink LED's. She's made up of a pink front with a slightly larger clear piece behind. The final touch. Well, that's it for today. Tomorrow I get to play some more. Now that you can see the fan guard in place and what's going in front of it. What shall I do with it: A) make it nice and shiny B) make it sleek and black C) make it bright and white D) some other solution/color that's not pink I will carefully regard every opinion and really haven't made-up my mind yet...so your opinions will be helpful. I'll be happy to respond to any questions, consider any opinions, treasure any compliment and appreciate any post!
How cute is that! That looks awesome. My vote on the grill is shiny. It seems to be a theme you have running elsewhere in your case and I believe it would tie in nicely to make a cohesive whole. You could always try and paint one of the smaller reject guards (you have enough for one white and one black - are you sure you didn't do that on purpose?) and see how they look in place. Leave the big one shiny and give us a side by side comparison of the 2 effects. Ultimately it will be your decision but the feedback you get would be more informed
