Project Angel by Ho-Man [21. May - Harddrive-rack ++]

Thanks to:
- Nitrob - For making Sketch-Up drawing

Sponsors:


Yes yes, my first case-mod project here on BT and hopefully not the last My plan here is to build my own case, since I'm getting a bit tired of my old Project River here, and I don't like all the "more lights more fun!" - cases out there. And since I'm not all that creative nor any good at building stuff, I've always found the simple and clean style to be my way to go.

As said, I've done a few casemods before, last one was Project River in which I actually was kinda satisfied with, but now the sight of my old Lian-Li here makes my kidney hurt. So that's why I wanted to try to make my own case. Plexi is the material, Project Angel is the name, and here we go!

Soooooo, I thought I'd start off a bit slow here... Since I don't know how to use Sketch-Up (Yes, I've tried!) and I definately can't draw by hand, I decided to use Photoshop to make a simple sketch of the back-side of the case, as I've been planning so far, so that you may at least get a little hint of what is to come. Sketches and physical planning isn't my best skill so...



Well, ok, so I can't draw sketches in Photoshop either What I'm trying to illustrate here though, is as following:

- The case will be made of 2 x 2 acrylic plates which will be 50x50cm each. These plates will be the 2 walls on each side. I won't say more about that
- The goodies inside will be neatly placed on 2 shelves, as you can see. Motherboard, Harddrive and maybe the optical drive on the lower shelf. PSU, Radiator, Pump (w/tank) on the top shelf.
- I will use watercooling, and since I'm no spoiled brat with too much money (rather an unemployed 22 year old with no money ) I'll use the Waterchill set which I use now. CPU and GPU are being cooled by it. The whole cyclus will of course be set up through the walls from upper to lower shelf
- The shelves will be held up by 4 aluminumprofiles, picture below
- The 2 walls will be held together by 4 metal poles.
- I'm also planning a cover to be over the whole case, which will be able to be opened at the back, making access to the sweet stuff easy. I didn't manage to draw that in PS though

Here's some pictures of what I've been shopping so far:


Screws, Bolts, Metal Poles, Aluminumprofiles, Hot Air Gun, Some Dremel-stuff, Sandingpaper and LockTite glue







Today I also ordered the acrylic plates from a glass-shop. Don't know when they are ready though, as the stupid lady hasn't called me yet

At the end here, I can also tell that I'm planning to use a Rheobus to control the fans in the case, and some lighting etc... Blue will be the main color of the case.

Please be kind and comment, positive and negative, and any good tips is also appreciated

Ho-Man

 

So, no major update yet, as I called the glass-shop and they said the plexi won't be ready until the beginning of next week... Slow *******s Last time I ordered from another shop, and they had it ready the same day... Oh well... I've spent some time sketching up how the front should be. Sadly my scanner just took the night off and didn't come back, i.e. it's dead, so I cant scan the sketch in here :/

Anyways, I'm getting the damn plexi next week and then I presume my updates will be frequent

Ho-Man

 

Good luck with your first Bit-Tech mod. Your sketch has piqued my interest.

 

Hi again Putting up a couple of work-sketches I've been drawing now. As I said, I suck at drawing, so it's doubtful you get anything out of these sketches, but I've tried to make them understandable, considering my "skills"



This is a temporary sketch of how the front will be. Notice that the "front" I'm talking about, is the right side of the case Hard to explain but... It's gonna be the front of the case, and it's pointing towards right! Anyways, starting from the bottom here, I'm gonna cut of a small piece to give the case "legs" or whatever. This is gonna be done on all the 4 pieces of wall-plates, and in the front I will place a LED beneath it, making it glow upwards. Reason to be continued...

On/Off button, pretty simple and plain, a Bulgin-button! With blue or white light, not sure yet...

My DVD-Burner will be over the button, and of course it shall be stealthed. Integrating it with the wall itself is kinda obvious

2 x 120mm fans with blue LEDs, not sure if they should be placed there or a bit higher yet though...

In the middle there I've placed a small "window". I'm gonna engrave a bit there, might not recognize what it is, but it's just my superior drawing skills attempting to draw an angel Hence the LED in the bottom as well, as it will make the engraving glow

Over the window, maybe a Rheobus. Not sure yet though... Maybe an LCD-Screen as well, but still this is not confirmed. Gotta see if my job interview next week kicks in first

The front will be 50x50cm squared



As stated earlier, the case will be based on a system of 2 shelves, and this is the sketch which shows the lower shelf, where I'm placing my motherboard, dvd and harddrive.

The motherboard doesn't need any further explanation I guess, but my DVD looks like it's gonna rape my RAM I'm actually gonna build a new shelf just for the DVD, which will make it lie over my RAM. It'll probably be a bit further out, as the DVD are gonna be put through the inner wall and on to the outer. It's gonna be stealthed, ergo it has to be pushed all the way to the outer wall. This is just how I drew it now.

My harddrives will be put up on some kind of hdd-rack. I tried to illustrate it on the right side of the sketch here, where it's gonna be 2 x that plexi plate I drew. The "legs" are going down into the shelf-plate, glued tight, and the disks will be put up by big rubber rings on those "pins" in the middle of the plates. I have only 2 disks and no plans of expanding, so if there some time in the future will be new disks, this rack isn't the hardest thing to build a new one of

So I'm just gonna finish this quick with a small teaser



Please comment on my plans so far

Ho-Man

 

looking good like the drawing at the top, is that the one getting one the front?

 

nah, the first sketch is of the back side. The way I thought this out is kinda hard to explain, but I can try with a small sketch again.



Well, this should be an overview of the case seen from above with complete see-through and no hardware. Most is explained with hand-writing, and the 2 poles with lines over them on right and left side there are the metal poles holding the 2 walls together, with bolts. They are placed in all 4 corners, under the shelves in each corner, and on top of the case in each corner. They will work as framework.

Over these frames there will be a "lid", tried to draw it to the right of the sketch. The left side of it will be placed over the front half and mounted, and the back side of the lid will be able to be opened for taking out the shelves and for easy access to the hardware etc.

I will try to make a cardboard model before the plexi arrives, for more easy explaining, as it's kinda hard to place my idea on paper

 

I meant the angel image thats in your first post, is that the one that will be on the front?
Cardboard is indead very handy for that, so easy to quickly create a nice image of things to come.

 

Ah ok, misunderstood then Well, yes, it's that image who will be used for the engraving

 

I make drawings in that style but to bad my engraving sucks
Good luck with it i'll be watching it

 

Are you any good at drawing? I'm open for new suggestions for the engraving drawing

 

i always like a mod that is well planned out with sketches. but most times sketches differ greatly from the final product >_< good luck

nice sketches

 

Tiny little update again here, doesn't seem like I do anything else

Anyways, Nitrob from hardware.no has been so kind to draw me a Sketch-Up image, and since my sketches tend to.. err, suck... This should give you a better visual image of how the case will look like



Ho-Man

 

That is a sweet model. The finished article should be great.

 

Ah, I understand it better now. Looks VERY nice! The only thing that'd look weird is the metal hinges behind the acrylic, unless it's going to be opaque acrylic.

 

I'm not a top artist but i can draw something that can match the first picture, if you PM me i can send you some

 

Hehe I won't reveal anything, but if you watch the small piece of plexi I posted earlier, it should be kinda self-explanatory

Anyways, another sketch from Nitrob with hardware. You can also now see the bolts holding the walls together



Ho-Man

 

Here and example of one:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w73/basvanderwerff/Afbeelding601.jpg
I also have some more in the same style like you showed if you like that better

 

very nice, pm sent

 

Well, let's kick this off by announcing a very wanted: UPDATE!

So, today, I finally got the freakin plexi. Which I'm pleased with, but of course, no glass-workshop should have to need 1 1/2 week just to cut off 6 pieces of acrylic, and to top it all, they were more expensive than the competitor here. Off course I couldn't withdraw my order, so I paid the money with a on my face and walked away into happiness, as I get to start working now

Anyhow, I haven't been able to do so much today, since this also was a day to get a new kitten in the house. So I drove to pick her up, and now she's sleeping in my bed.



Ain't she cute

Anyways, that's all there is to it for today! Tune in in about 3 weeks from now!



Haha, just kidding Making this a short one though, here is the plexi!



It's not green, obviously, it's just the protective sheets. I think... Moving on to measuring where to drill, and we're kicking this casemod off:



And after drilling with the proper tool, I put together the first wall-to-be:





And here are the 2 walls, done and done, at least put together.





Tomorrow I've scheduled a couple of cold ones in the sun with some friends, but maybe we'll postpone it, as my gf is sick atm. So if I get to scramble up some work tomorrow, I will start cutting and making it all look so much better Fans from my sponsor: Vendur.no is ordered and is expected at the start of next week

Comments are appreciated!

Ho-Man

 

nice *****.....cat
nice work, too! this plexi seems green to me, protective sheets and all. maybe it's just the fotos