Scratch Build – In Progress Project: Blue Horizon - "MOTY" Nominee

Cheers everyone

lol, glad to know my log is entertaining enough to read for 5 hours

I dread to think lol, it could be in months, the project started in july 2010

Yeah sure you can call me that lol , thanks Alex


Update:

I've had a small set back I've just noticed that the new motherboard I bought has the USB headers in the opposite direction from how I've made the connectors, so I've had to buy another and sell the current one on ebay doh! . This time I've checked everything before buying, live and learn I suppose


Anyway back to work, I've drilled holes through the MB tray and inside curved panel with a cone drill to fit the double angle barb into:



They had to be quite large holes so I can slide the curved panel out in the future should I need to for what ever reason:


I then used liquid polyurethane rubber to both attach the barb and to dampen vibration from the pump:





And here's the curved panel in place (though's large holes for the barbs wont be left like that):



I then had a panel laser cut for the PSU cover which I then bent by hand and covered with carbon fiber DiNoc film:





I then pushed some insulation tape between the gap and filled it with clear resin:





Next I'll spray the resin with a translucent blue paint.

 

Couldn't drill those holes any closer, no?

PSU cover looks very nice, but a shame that the curve isn't completely smooth and a tad angular. That's just my opinion though, so take no heed

Looking fantastic as ever Riek!

 

This is the best wire management I've ever seen!

 

That's a really nice build youve got their, and the cable management is insane!

 

Yeah would be difficult its 0.5mm lol, That first picture of it makes it look very angular then on the last one it looks much smoother like it is in reality, not sure why that's happened.

Cheers Razer2007 & Shadowsong316

 

I had to lol

And that cover does look really nice

+1

 

Thanks Sarakon , I'll try and get some better photos when its finished, I always have trouble getting my DSLR to get good pictures of black objects. I end up with really bright backgrounds with a dark black object, which I then have to wash out the colours by increasing the brightness of the black object in photoshop.

Can anyone give me some tips on how to take good pics of black objects?

 

This project is so original that seeing the ubiquitous fake carbon fiber DiNoc film on the PSU cover made me creep! I'm beginning to hate that stuff...You're a genius, you can't cut corners! Your audience has high expectations. Astound us!

 

Well, I guess since you've already went ahead and said it.... I was thinking something similar. I don't particularly care for the fake CF myself, and to be honest I was slightly disappointed when I saw it creep into this build... granted, the application you've done looks good and clean, but still...

Other than that personal grievance, this thing looks fantastic, and I'm getting excited to see it all come together

 

Its not too late I could get some proper carbon fiber fabric : http://www.carbonmods.co.uk/Products/Flexible-Carbon-Fibre-Sheet__CMFLEXCFS.aspx

??

 

My opinion is that it would look better with the sheet you linked, however it's obviously your mod, so you do whatever you see fit, it's not anyone's place to tell you what to do

Maybe it's the exposed aluminum edges under the CF cover that throws me off, but something about the CF vinyl sheets just doesn't look right to me

 

+1...
My first reaction as well: oh no don't ruin (sorry, just my personal opinion) this magnificent piece of art you're building with a CF piece.
You're using mesh for some parts of the case, why not use that to accentuate the psucover?

 

Some absolutly stunning work.

 

Cheers

I tried having the bare metal but it really didn't look right with having just all the same color in that corner where the psu is. I could paint it a shade of black? It just needs some sort of color contrast against the rest if the case. Mesh could look cool, but I'm unsure how I would work it into the design, unless your thinking of a completely new design?

 

I definitely agree that it needs something to contrast...

What about a cover similar to the ones for the hard drives/DVD drives? Or maybe something like that, but use the mesh link by cutting open some of the sleeving you used on the PSU instead of the aluminum band? Just a few ideas to build upon

By the way, thanks for taking things so well, none of it was meant as criticism, just opinions, and it seems you understand that +rep

 

Blue horizon is schweeet! I'm only as far as page 35/64 but so impressed already! And from a Manchester lad too, I'm at the uni of Manchester so right round the corner from you riek maybe I could steal some help on a project I'm planning?.... Lol

I'm pretty new to the forum but I believe the expression is cheesecake!

 

Yeah that's cool idea, never thought of using the stainless sleeving as mesh, I'll have to think of a design I can make though as I only have a heat gun for bending plastic which might make the current design difficult to make as the folds are very close together and the gun would melt both folds. Just thought it would also be quite cool to have the fan hidden underneath frosted blue plastic so you can slightly see the shimmering light from a LED fan coming through the plastic

Yeah its all good , I like opinions even when they go against my original designs, it helps to improve the part and to give me ideas for future parts. Its one of the main reasons I enjoy this forum as anyone can get opinions of their work as well as seeing how other people would make things.

 

yeah I have to agree with Mosquito -- it's good to see you're so open towards our criticism.
I was thinking more in the lines of a plain alu piece (or perhaps black acrylic) with a mesh part (a broad 'stripe' perhaps) on the top. That way you can just cut out a part of the alu or acrylic over the fan of the psu and the mesh would cover it. Actually I was thinking in the lines of what you did with the top part of the case -- it would be nice to repeat that on the psu cover (but again, just MHO )

 

You get the same effect on a circle in sketchup & needs 4 or more curve lines depending on how big the circle is to make it a nice round edge & then erase all the straight edges but if you say it's not like that in reality I believe you, cameras can do some odd things looks good & like the grill & making a feature out of the box gap, nice me likey .

 

O right wups, I was thinking it was the curve of where I bent the alu that you were talking about lol, yeah the fan guard curved bit is like that in reality.