Scratch Build – In Progress Project: Enigma Reborn (5/26) Rad Grill design, more forth coming

I appreciate the compliments and tips guys! Can't ever get enough of those tips and ideas!

As far as the support of the top and middle of the case, I have that worked out

I've worked out 2 different solutions to the problem, if one doesn't work I have a back up that will positively work.

Well, out to the garage for me!

See ya later for an update.

-Tolk

 

Update, and dang I'm tired.. lol

First off, I completed the 2nd hinge hide, and here are the 2 together.
I didn't feel like taking 100 pics about the same thing I already showed you yesterday.


Next i started in on the top pump box/cover thingie....

Finished cutting out one of the curved side pieces.


And started in on the second, I wanted to show ya my ripping technique. I line up this thick MDF board (also known as my curve makin jig)
exactly 1.2" from the outside of the top of the cut i'm going to make. Perfectly straight cuts every time


Here's a pic of the back plate of the top box, damn pretty as you can see. They sold me some of the PVC alum sheet for the same price as the none PVC.


After cutting out the back plate, i riveted one side to one of the side curved plates.

Then i attached the other side curved plate.
And bam.. finished top box!


Here it is mocked up on the top of the box, ugh @ the lighting. I'll have to take some more pics tomorrow in the sun light

Another, better shot, with my previously (not yet completed) curved piece up for a little mock up.
Not quite prefect, seeing as i still have that tab poking out the bottom of the curved plate. but it still gives ya a great idea of how it's going to look.


Well, i'll be out all day tomorrow workin on this, so stay tuned for a huge update

Thanks and g'nite!

-Tolk

 

Ur wlcm, always happy to be of service! ^_^

Hehe, keeping the mystery alive.. smart. <=)

Oooo, huge update, can hardly wait! 8D¨

 

Well, i promised a huge update today..

And i hope this delivers!

First off, I know the pics yesterday didn't do the top box justice, so i grabbed a small L bracket and riveted it down, then temporarily
clamped down the side door to give you a better idea of what it'll be like finished
Here's with the door closed.

and with the door open.

Lookin sweet


Ok, next i moved on to mounting the main front arches. This has been a scary point for me because i have to get it RIGHT
or the whole case could be off balance, wobble, and in the end not support the weight of the box and the rads up top.
So, after measuring everything out for about an hour.. (my head hurt after this one)
I finally got the spot down, and clamped it into place.

As you can see, spot on level woot


Next, drilled, countersunk and moved on to the other arch. After about 2 hours of pain staking alignment...
This was the result...


A free standing PERFECTLY balanced shell... WOOT

And just so there aren't any doubters out there.. i took a few more shots

I love this shot lol Right off the end of the work bench.. how awesome is that? Yeah it's upside down, lol i didn't notice till after i went to
attach the door for the next pic. lol

and then here's a pick with a side door clamped in place, STILL BALANCED! (this one is right side up though lol)


Well, needless to say I'm EXTREMELY Happy with how this turned out.


So after a few min of just sittin there lookin at it, i moved on. Took some tape and measured up from the tip of the end of curve
to the bottom of the case.

Then I measured and cut out a cross section and attached it to the box, lined up with the tip of the arches.
This will be the main support for the top Hinged Radiator plate.


And that my friends... is my big update!

It's now lunch time, and I'm in some serious need of FOOD!

-Tolk

 

Great job! glad to see it free standing

 

Nice not much more i can say.. nice.....

 

WOW! Absolutely amazing... it's standing up by it self... I can hardly believe my eyes!!
It looks so cool! Like some kind of space ship or something!! Awesomeness!!!

Btw, how many computers / chassis do you have lying around in your garage? I've counted four so far.

 

it's kinda HUGE....

 

@500mph, & Meddish : Thanks love it when a plan comes together...

@Macros_the_Black: lol thanks man, after so long of planning this thing i wasn't shocked, just very HAPPY that it did
what it was meant to do. As far as the computers, you're close but there's a hidden one broken up a little, so total of 5 lol
Eh... what can i say? I love Computers

@Rodeo45: lol Yeah it's a little on the larger side for computers.
The ending detentions will be 2' tall, by 2' long, by 18" wide.
But ALLLLL beautiful



Thanks for the responses guys

I have a little teaser update coming in a few min..
-Tolk

 

Here's a little teaser for tomorrow's update. I'm kinda tired, been out there all day.
So I'm gonna call it a day after finishing these two small pieces

First I grabbed the excess pieces of my .100" alum that i used to cut out the 2 side arches.
and drew a line exactly .800" from the center line on each piece.


Both cut out, and a little rough around the edges.


So i grabbed my new belt sander (damn i love that thing) and went at it until they were both smooooth and pretty.

Then a few more strokes of a nice fine file, to even out the edges and make them a little more smooth.

And the finished product.


You must be asking yourself... What are these for?

Have to stay tuned for tomorrows update to find out


Hope y'all have a great night!

-Tolk

 

ok so i told a little fib.. i wasn't able to give an update the last 2 days.

Been really busy with work. I did get out there tonight to work on my curve jig a little but i keep failing to
get straight cuts, i have to work on that. BUT I SHALL PREVAIL!

Nothing is gonna hold me back on this case!

Oh, i got some toys at home depot tonight too.. So I'll post some pics of those tomorrow.

Have a great night!

-TOlk

 

Why the .... did this pass me by?? I found this mod by looking at MOTM nominees...
This is gonna be crazy... I simply love it! Keep it up M8!

 

Thanks man! lol I doubt I'm going to win, I should have voted for G5 Sacrilege by jhanlon303 but in a sudden fit of nubness i voted for myself thinking I could possibly win. lol All the mods up there are top notch, and i have mad respect for all those modders.

I guess i should update.... and once again I have yet another failure.
Although i don't think it was my fault totally lol

I'm working on a jig to help me with making these correct curves on the case's outer shell.
So i grabbed some stuff from home depot. gotta love tools!


Probably bought more than i should have, but i can't help it when i go there.
I got some Welding gloves and a new Tech Torch, this will be for when I get my welding rods later next week.

Then i got me some various kinds of jigsaw blades, and a nice piece of 8x48x1/2" wood to start my curve jigs.


So, next i cut off a junk of the wood, and drew the curve of the first bend i'm going to weld when i get my rods.

I cut it out, and mounted a scrap piece of aluminum to see how it would turn out.


I placed the small curved piece inside the jig to see how it lined up, and i noticed a weird gap on the bottom of the small piece of alum.
So after about 10min of playing with it to see what i did wrong, i realized that the cut between the two pieces of wood wasn't straight through.

Frustrated I closed up shop and went inside for some coffee, and a figure out how the heck i slanted a straight curved cut through WOOD....

After about 20min of relaxing i went back out and did some investigations. It seems that ALL my cuts, in aluminum, wood no matter what the material i was using, was slanted a little. I checked the plate on my jig saw, and it said it was at 0, (aka straight) So i grabbed my trusty square and checked it out.
Damn thing was off!! by a LOT! (insert cussing fit here)

I played with it for about 10min till i got it just right. Tightened that thing up as tight as i could and tried again, this time producing a MUCH better cut, although it was still angled slightly in side the curve of the wood. So i called up my pops (carpenter for 38 years) and asked him what i was doing wrong.

Simple. wood was to thick, and would bow the blade of the jig saw... ugh.
So now i gotta go back, get some thinner wood, do the same thing, and then just glue the pieces together. So that i can make something like this.

With this jig I'll easily be able to tack on the side brace pieces (in yellow) with the welding bars, let them cool, and have a completed curve in like 5min.

Well, i decided to leave this for another day. To much of working on one thing drives me nuts, frustrates me to no end and then i start making mistakes.

So i went onto something else that had been bothering me. The back plate.

I hate the curved ends, it mucks up the inside the case, and doesn't give me the clean lines I'm trying for.
So i grabbed a piece of my .062" aluminum and cut it to size like so.

And the finished piece.


And my weird, kinda sorta mock up of it. Fits like a clove. Can't wait to see this thing welded on


I know this isn't a big update, but it's an update.

I'm waiting on some parts to come in, because if what i'm dreading is true than I'll have to make some further adjustments to the case to accommodate them.
So for now I'm doing clean up, and making sure everything fits properly. I'll most likely get started on the Drive bays tomorrow, and work on that until my parts come in.

Man it was beautiful out today, hope it was the same for the rest of ya!

Have a great weekend!

-Tolk

 

@Tolk - Man it was beautiful out today, hope it was the same for the rest of ya! Have a great weekend!

Nice here in Colorado today, snow tonight and a little tomorrow, Monday should be record highs, I hope so 'cause I need to get outside and whack some more on Sacrilege.

You really need to put MOTM nominee in your title - You earned it!
John

 

Thanks John I put it in my sig, that much I'm good for. The title? Nawh, you and the other guys deserve it more than i do. Although I'm quite proud of the fact that someone liked it enough to put it up there in the first place
Besides, give me a few months of working on this thing, THEN I might be more likely to push it for a MOTM win

-Tolk

 

What's up everyone!

Sorry for the huge delay in updates. I've been quite the busy man lately.

First off what i have for you, is a botched attempt at saving myself some time, but in the end just waisting it. lol
I first off tore apart another sacrificial case that's all alum, so that i could use the 5.25" bays,
1- Cause they looked good
2- cause i thought it would save me some time.

Next i Added some old broken down CD-ROms for stability. Measured out the limits of the hight.

And cut...
You'll notice that i bent back the side tabs, huge mistake, i should have cut them off, but i wasn't thinking.

Eh, i really don't like it. I'm probably just going to end up fabbing my own anyways. I want it to match the over all theme of the curved arch anyway.

Ok, on to the next project. I measured out and set a 8x2" Alum plate at the dead center of the case.
Like so..


Next i Measured out and cut a piece for the right hand side of the opening above.
This is what will cover my Hard drive bay. (final version sketch up to follow, for reference)

Then i cut measured around the edges 1" on all sides and cut out the middle

Then i used the scrap from the middle cut out and made the circle. Worked damn hard on getting this right.
One of the reasons for the new toys that you'll see me showin off in down below


Now, it's not complete, but here's a picture of the sketchup version of what i'm making. So you'll see where I'm going with this.

Hope you like it, it's one of those wake up in the middle of the night with the idea, so you spend a good 3 hours of your sleeping time designing it, so that you can get back to sleep, kind of things.

So, time to show off some new toys! WOOT

One of the reasons why i haven't done much in the past week, is lack of the tools to do the job right.
I promised myself i wasn't going to do it, if i didn't have the right tools. So thanks to a 10% off, and no interest for 12 months deal from Home Depot i got the following!


First off, a beautiful Ryobi 10" Band Saw, with a really cool folding X table that i can also use for my drill press.
I'm tellin ya, this thing is really nice. If you are in need of a good table for your tools this is a great deal.
Rated at 750lbs. Sorry the pic isn't the best of the table, but I'll get a shot in of it tomorrow evening when I'm finished with my modding session.


Next, i got me an awesome new jigsaw. I mean this thing is top notch!
One of the problems i was having with my old one, is the table kept moving, so as ruining my cuts and making things look very sloppy.
So i broke down and bought this beauty. Even comes with it's own case


Here's a link to the specs on the Jigsaw, I'm rather proud of the research i did on this thing.
http://www.boschtools.com/Products/Tools/Pages/BoschProductDetail.aspx?pid=1590EVSK#


Well, expect some more updates here soon. As some computer parts, and more building materials are arriving next week!

-Tolk

 

This is a very interesting project that ive been following in silence,making a complex and nice design in the computer is one thing but building it is the thing that use to be the hard part and sometimes impossible when the design has proven to be more then the modder could manage when the build started of, sorta you can talk the talk but can u walk the walk, u seem to cover both very well and not just the talk part.

Regards.

 

Thanks man, Always nice to know that your work is looked upon with approval.
My favorite part of doing this from scratch is figuring out the hard stuff, and making it simple. There isn't anything better than that moment in time when that idea strikes you, and you can't help but smile to yourself.

Soon as my materials come in i'll be able to make some more consistent updates, but for now i'm just working on little crap. Nuttin much to show up here.



Hope everyone had a great weekend..
-Tolk

 

Nice on the selection of tools. Good tools will last longer and cause less problems in the long run.
John

 

Thanks John

As far as an update goes, I'm waiting on some parts to come in. So I'm going to work on some smaller items in the case over the weekend.

I should have everything i need to get going and make some major progress by the end of next week.



See ya around!

-Tolk