Case Mod - In Progress Project: Bärsärkar-gång, 25th December, no update; Every Who down in Whoville says...

Check PM's nice little suprise wating.

 

@OP: Not sure if you have finished the block, but you may want to try JB Weld insted of trying to solder it. a thin layer of JB Weld should do the trick. I've built a block out of JB Weld + Copper + Polycarb with a bit of Dremeling and no leaks even after 6months of use (using it on a NAS running 24/7).

Here is a previous block example:

Used that for ~ 3 months 24/7 no leaks on a E2180 @3.2Ghz.

 

@Shadow - It's a workable solution, but I doubt it would survive his hammer test.

 

Thanks Asura, appreciate the surprise!

Nice work Shadow and no doubt it would hold up. On the car forums, I hear of guys fixing engine blocks with that stuff. It may even survive the hammer test that Cheaps alludes to. I haven't yet exhausted all the options with soldering so if I do fail with the kiln, I'll keep it in mind. Thanks!

 

^ What he said

 

Also, if you've been pickling in sulphuric acid (as all good jewellers do) then here is a FREE method of copper plating (you might know this already); you don't need a car battery, in fact you can get better results if you don't use one!

Step1: this is a mostly standardised step, ensure that the item you wish to plate is in a finished state (polished) and that it is completely dirt and grease free, we're talking latex gloves and rubbing alcohol and if you've used any polishing compound rouge or other ensure you have it ALL off, otherwise it forms a barrier to your plating.

Step2: take that old blue tinted pickle (H2SO4 [sulphuric acid {sulfuric for you yanks}]) that's stopped working and you were about to neutralise with bicarb of soda. Now don't neutralise it! That sulphuric acid is loaded with copper-sulphate, and still acidic enough to set up electrolysis.

Step3: put into the pickle the item you want to plate, and some iron (or steel), make damn sure that the iron doesn't touch the item you're plating. leave overnight, and hey presto, a good even deposition that you can polish up to a mirror finish. Because the action is slow the copper goes on very evenly, bumping the reaction with a car battery can cause patchy plating.

As with most reactions, works faster if it is hot; WARNING *Fuming sulphuric acid will burn your lungs*

EDIT* Works on copper, brass, silver; not aluminium. May experiment with more materials as I get my paws on them. REALLY REALLY don't do aluminium; in experimenting it ate through my porcelain vessel!

 

This project is stunning m8, congrats... loving all the brass & copper!

 

Thanks Monsta, glad you like it. Thanks for the advice asura! I unintentionally plated my steel tongs when removing stuff from a pickle. I found something called ph Down at my local DIY that works fairly well. The label says its sodium bisulfate.

Well, I've been on a plane for the last month so only minor progress. Here's what I've got so far.


Remember the logo that I showed you last time?


Well its used to conceal a usb jack, the power switch, and a headphone jack.


I was most impressed with myself on drilling the hole for the hinge.


Still haven't mastered the art of hard soldering yet but getting there.


Here it is opened. Headphone jack on the left, power in the middle, usb on the right and a whole lot of sanding and filing left to do. Next up the letters and the cityscape. I'm back in town for the next few weeks so I hope to get back after it. Thanks for looking!


Many thanks to my sponsors!
Bitspower

Galaxy

HardwareLabs

 

That is soooooo cool. Excellent work on the logo, as well as concealing the front I/O ports.

 

That logo look's really sweet. And hiding the front I/O port wth is like killing two bird with one rock.

 

That is really slick. How did you do the hinge?

I can relate to being out of town. I've had to do more traveling than normal this year myself.

 

That's the bees knees Mach! But what I really like is the detail, the extension
of the number two on the fixed frame. Lovely.

 

Thanks guys, still a ways to go but a little more progress.

I took one of the laser cut logo frames and cross drilled it using a tiny drill bit, drill press and vise. With a jeweler's saw, I cross cut it at the black lines.



That gave me a block that I could solder to the back side of the front piece and voila, instant hinge. Well not so instant, I had to adjust it several times so it opened square.


Here's the 0/80 screws soldered in for mounting and a test fit of the components.

Thanks, glad you like it! The layered detail seemed easy when I drew it out in Sketch-up. It was a little more challenging than I expected. One because its so small and two, just getting everything aligned was tough.

So I dug out the old crepe pan, essentially an electric skillet. I used one of these when I was working on Retromod (a WIP that I'll finish one day )


I flattened some solder to paper thin and placed the remaining pieces.



15 minutes later and a little tweaking with a needle. After a little clean up, not too bad.


Now on to the inner piece. Here's the components in place. Made a brass cover for the on off button.

 

Sick work Mach, awesome!

 

Fantastic idea with the crepe pan, and fantastic results, looking very sharp, I am most impressed. Hard soldering just takes practice, practice, practice. Once you get the hang of it you'll be amazed at how little solder you need.

p.s. love the hinge, very elegant!

 

Thanks for the encouragement Oliver and Asura. I'm pretty pleased that the hinge worked.

A little more on the logo, gotta love brass...

 

Definitely shiny

 

What you did with that logo is phenomenal.
The hinge, the soldering, everything.

Amazing~~

 

Omg, so shiny . I love it!

 

Modding at its finest .