Case Mod - In Progress Project: Gearbox 2.0 - mini P180 Back to Basics

i tried something new today, i sat my ass down (big accomplishment already) and i made PLANS and even a 3-d model for my mod!
ive never done this before, but sketchup was pretty straight forward, heres what i got after 2hours

started with a sketch:

then it went into the computer and i got this:





closeup of the mother board tray assembly:



a few things not shown:
SATA jacks for the tray cover
ATX 24 pin for the cover
friction hinges
100 cfm cross flow fan
the card in the rendering is a 7600, but the designed tray is meant for a 8800gts
side panel design is not shown, it will be almost impossible to model what i'm planning in sketchup (at least with my current abilities)

well what do you think guys? questions? comments?

 

sorry no real updates in a while, needed to help my dad fix this mess:

VAIO craped out after 8 years, couldnt fix it so i had to help him backup and destroy the data. Anyways, thats not important right now, what i need right now is some input
ive been toying with some ideas for some detail for the case and i came up with this after a rough cut with the scroll saw and mounting the RCA jacks..

its about the size of 3/4 of my thumb:

now.. that dosnt look like much, but with some lighting (used the white LED built into my scroll saw station)

well, what do you think? i want to mount these onto the mobo tray for detail

 

so i decided to run with the gear idea and made some sketches
check it out:

ill probably start on these once i get the mobo tray cover made
well, its time for bed

until next time

 

looking good

 

Very nice. You have the same motherboard as me, it's a decent pice of kit, definately the best uATX mobo around.

You also have very similar speaker spikes to the ones I bought for my project 6months back. They will really add the finishing touch to this project which is shaping up to be very nice indeed.

I think the acrylic gears will really add to the overall effect, great work.

Excellent sketchup model by the way.

 

thanks for the replies guys, now i need some advice, ive run into a bit of a problem with drawing the gears, first of all they are extremely difficult to draw, and the ones i do draw are imperfect, does anyone know of a method to draw perfect gears or know somewhere online where i can find a template for gears similar to the ones i've drawn?

 

-Love what I'm seeing. I wanted to do a gear theme too, using stuff from acrilex.com.
They never sent me a quote, so i dropped it. (Subliminal hint?-I want to see someone use this stuff-hint.)
Also, don't use the spiral bits on plastic. It chews it up pretty badly.


If you don't need the gears to mesh you can make them pretty quick by:
-make a long flat box in a drawing program. (2d will work. I use illustrator.)
-copy it and rotate from the center point 90 degrees.
-merge and copy what you have, then rotate again.
-continue till you have a radial pattern. you will need to work out angle increments on your own.

 

This looks great.. good idea that gear theme.. keep it going..

 

Give me some measurements, I'll knock one up in 5mins for you. If you tell me the radius/diameter of the inner and outer circle and the amount of teeth you want on the gears. Basically as many measurements you can. I can get it to you as a .jpg, obviously to scale.

 

@ dullonien
that would be awesome if you could do that for me! i've sent you a PM of the gear specifications.
@ Cheapskate
Thanks im trying to stick to using the acrylic leftover from my previous project, so i dont think ill be ordering from Acrylex anytime soon, thanks for the site though, ill keep that in mind if i decide i do need something.
____________

ok now on to the update!
i started working on the motherboard tray cover today, here are the progress shots

Here are the things i need to fit on the motherboard tray:
\
Starting from left to right, top to bottom: disassembled 100CFM cross flow bay fan, Acrylic reservoir (forgot the brand, didnt come in a retail box and its been lying around in my room for the longest time), D-tek db1 pump, 2 quick disconnect fittings, and 2 friction hinges

not too much right?

lets get workin

I measured everything out on to the plexi:


Then I cut it down to size:


All the while, i used my two new best friends, File and Sanding Block to get clean edges:
\


Then i got started on drilling/cutting holes to accommodate all the stuff that needs to be installed:

First i measured out the the holes that are needed to accommodate the CPU block, holes for the barbs and the mounting gear, i finished the holes with the scroll saw + spiral bit + file and sandpaper:


Got something like this:


The process went well, so i proceeded to mark up the other holes:
-hole to allow air from the crossflow fan


-used a quarter to round the corners:


-everything was drawn and cut and finished:


this is how the reservoir will be mounted:
-

well, thats it for now, i will continue once dullonien helps me with getting the gears drawn

until next time!

 

looking good!!!

 

scroll saw Cheesecake. I got a cheap one like 3 years ago in 7th grade, it broke last week im very sad... going to get a good one though. Say, how much did you pay for that!?!?!? looks like the dewalt ones which are like 400 bucks :O id rather... well... buy like 4 cheap tools then buy 1 really expensive tools.

You got skills with it though. For some creative genious/inspiration with a scroll saw, check out tribal-overkills work

 

@ Teyber
I payed about 150 USD for it, note, this is not the retail version this is factory refurbished, so it was a lot cheaper, however it did come with a few missing screw so i cant use the combo'ed sanding disk until i go buy replacement screws. Its Dremel brand and IMO its pretty nice

thanks, I did see some of his work and it is indeed awesome

 

interesting design. seems like everything is going to be a tight fit though. hope all your measurements are accurate.

 

so ive hit a snag in the road there are major clearance issues to be solved i had to step back and just sit my ass down for a few hours to get creative with the motherboard tray, i got most of the problems worked out have a feeling im going to be needing a major redesign of the motherboard tray :\ .

Well there is some good news, Dullonien, the awesome guy that he is, drew me the gears and sent me a PDF of them so that problem is solved!

anyways, the next few days will go to designing and working out kinks, so wish me luck!

-until next time!

 

Looks sweet!

 

owned.. hard

As if it was not hot enough outside (~95 degrees Fahrenheit) i decided to heat things up by starting motherboard tray bending


here is the revised tray with the necessary cuts


I clamped a thicker piece of acrylic over that to ensure a straight line, then a sheet of cardboard over that so the acrylic dosnt melt


result after using my el cheapo $10, 1500W heat gun from harbor freight, not bad


continue with the other corner, by now over an hour has passed'

then everything went wrong...
the heat and smell of burning acrylic plus the heat from the sun resulted in impatience..
which ultimately leads to...



my work getting completely owned

I stopped working today and will wake up early (when its not hot) tomorrow to fix the mess
moral of the day: don't push yourself especially when its hot, things in the workshop get pwned

 

damn i know how you feel, workin in a hot garage in houston with a little fan 7ft away with NO wind. i f`ed up a piece of aluminum i had been workin on for 3 weeks. best thing to do in those situations is to take a break, get something cold to drink and watch some TV. good luck on the rebuild.

 

We can rebuild it, we have the technology

I thought about it then i thought about it again and i concluded that plexi bending is NOT going to work with the equipment i have now, the only decent way of making the mobo tray would be to first build an aluminum skeleton which i could then cover with plexi plates. So i took advantage of the good weather and rummaged through my scrap heap and found an unused bar of aluminum angle and i began making the outline of a skeleton. Here are the bars cut to size:

looking good. BUT i broke the last fine blade on my scroll saw, so the mobo tray is on hold till i can get to the hardware store

However, i did manage to get another mod done for the tray, the cross flow back blower. I do'nt have any in progress shots, but heres the final product


back


side


mounted with 2 screws and 2 nuts


other side

it was difficult to attach this since the blower mounts originally looked like this:


so i filled the gap with a perfectly cut plexi rectangle:


strangely it was the exact thickness and filled the hole perfectly

So now that i did everything i could, i felt that i should go ahead and mock fit everything to make sure clearance issues were solved:


first hook up the CPU block (notice the quick disconnect fitting)


then the reservoir to that


attached the quick disconnects to the radiator


everything stuffed in the case and ready for a fill


Fluid of choice: Fluid XP in "Phantom Black"


Filled and i got the pump running

for a small pump this thing pushed quite a bit of water, heres a video of it running.


Powered on:


Ill install windows tomorrow while im at class

Until next time!

 

man that res looks sweet with that phantom black on it. nice job. hope you get ur scroll blade soon and get started on the mobo tray