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Case Mod - In Progress Project: Ingraham

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by slipperyskip, 8 Oct 2008.

  1. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    Final completion photos...jump ahead to here :clap:

    Greetings Bit-techers!

    Welcome to my latest project log. I'm calling it Ingraham because I'm taking inspiration from one of my favorite radio designers from the thirties and fourties. Ingraham didn't build radios. They were a clock company that got into designing and building wooden radio cases for the big name radio companies like Emerson, GE and Stromberg-Carlson.

    This project will be a case mod and not a scratch build. Oooh..Aaah! Comments, suggestions and ideas are welcome.

    The front of the case is dominated by a 7-slat horizontal louver (louvre for you Brits) system that is designed to hide two 3-incn (76mm) ventilation ports.

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    I apologize for the crude photos. I haven't got my photography kit together yet. My tripod has walked on me. Pictured above is seven 3/16" x 3" basswood planks cut to the width of the case. Spacing the slats out are 3/16" support planks.



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    The support planks are set back at a 3/8" depth all around. This photo kinda simulates what it will look like. No glue here only clamps.



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    The support planks are brought back out flush with front edge. This gives me a flat surface draw my 3" circle.



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    The support planks are pulled and cut at the pencil marks. The resulting pieces are reassembled.
     
    Last edited: 7 Jul 2009
    cpemma likes this.
  2. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    Cool! a proper log from you this time.
    -None of that hiding for 6 months and then yelling surprise!
    It's not a scratch build, but I bet the entire outside of the case gets worked over.:D
     
  3. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    Guilty as charged. Sometimes a worklog isn't appropriate such as last year when VIA gave me their latest equipment and paid my way to CES Las Vegas to do an unveiling. They paid for the exclusive, if you know what I mean. This project will also be going to CES in January but obviously not for an unveiling. I have another secret project for that. :D

    There is suppose to be a rule here against backfitting a worklog for a completed project. Right? :confused:
     
  4. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    [​IMG]
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    When finished, the computer will be viewed on a tabletop at a downward angle. The vent holes magically disappear behind the louvers. All together now...oooh...aaah.



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    I took the newly made support pieces and cloned them by clamping each piece down to some stock. I then use my Xacto razor saw to make clean-edged cuts. This is how I make all my cuts. I've never used a power saw of any kind.



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    The cloned supports are inverted to form a mirror image and mounted on the other side of the louvers. The edges are still very square and will be sanded down later to help form a cleaner circle.



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    This work forms the outer two edges of each vent hole. The inner edges will be formed later by adding support pieces to the center resulting in two (hopefully) perfect circles.



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    The victim...a Silverstone LC06. The large blank space at the top part of the faceplate is where the louvers will end up. The entire faceplate will be replaced along with the top cover.



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    Ass end shot. Silverstone is sending me a new LC06 but I've owned one for years and know quite a bit about it. Interesting thing to note about the LC06....it has no case fans. How cool would it be if case manufacturers made cases especially for modders that have no fan holes? You could cut out holes wherever you needed them and whatever size you wanted. Hmmmm.....



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    Inside shot. The LC06 is solid aluminum except for the tiny mini-ITX motherboard tray. The tray also mounts a 3.5" hard drive below the board. The full-sized optical drive mounts directly to the case floor.
     
    Last edited: 7 Jul 2009
  5. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    You only use an X-acto saw?!?!?
    You sir, are one tough SOB! :hehe:
     
  6. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    LOL Yes, an X-acto saw and a lot of time. I don't like the rough edges you get with power equipment. I like the "feel" of the woodgrain. It's hard to explain. If you have ever driven a car without power steering you know what I mean by "feeling the road".

    Someday I'll tell you how I drill holes without a drill. :eeek:
     
  7. Darkraven

    Darkraven What's a Dremel?

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    The zen of wood and your craft. Something spiritual there (for me anyway). Especially when it brings joy or pleasure to others. And that may be as simple as the pleasure of a good thread. I'll keep an eye on this one, looks interesting.

    Reminds me, need to get rich so I can replace my oak desk with birdseye maple design in my head. Sorry, will use power tools tho, not as tough as you. LOL
     
  8. murtoz

    murtoz Busy procrastinating

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    :clap: go skip!
    subscribed :)
     
  9. Burnout21

    Burnout21 Mmmm biscuits

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    real men just punch there index finger threw the material where they want a hole, why do you think we got 5 fingers, gives us 5 different sizes of hole to make!
     
  10. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    Or...seriously real men use their incredibly manly stream of urine to erode the material away to form a hole. But that's messy and used only for hole emergencies.
     
  11. 985323

    985323 I am Jack's smirking revenge

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    Id go with the fingers... Im a carpenter i know what you mean about the wood, great work so far
     
  12. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    I love this mod so far. Very original. can't wait for more.
     
  13. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    I'm looking forward to discussing other topics besides the "Holes without a Drill". These topics include "Planning is for Pussies", "The Pros and Cons of Measuring" and "Measure twice and cut twice-What's wrong with that?".

    Sometime soon my favorite people will show up. The guy who says you can't put a computer into a wooden box because it will overheat and catch on fire is one of them. Another is the guy who says my computer sucks because it won't play Crysis.

    Stay tuned. It should be fun.

    Meanwhile, back at the ranch....I got a package from Silverstone with my LC06. I gutted it and ripped off it's faceplate. Hmmm...case carcass.

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    I've decided not to build my own cover. Instead, I'll be cladding the existing aluminum cover with a wooden shell. There is pencil mark across the front where I'm going to dremel off the top of the face. The dremeling will continue back about three inches into the case and up across the top resulting in removal of the entire front corner. I will call this operation "The Frontal Lobotomy".

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    This stuff will get remounted onto the back of the plate because my replacement face plate is thinner than the stock face plate.
     
  14. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    Oh you know them too? I have never met the negative wooden PC guy before but I know the guy who hates PCs that won't run Crysis on Ultra High with all the eye candy, I hate that guy.

    I hate how people gauge how good a mod is by the quality of the internal technology used. Just because we'd rather eat for the next year than go out and buy 3 GTX280's, an i7 upon release, a $500 motherboard and a $1500 CPU. IMO people like that are either plain stupid, have excessive amounts of money or have very poor money management skills, personally I'd like to have excessive amounts of money but meh, no ones perfect lol.

    A truly awesome mod is about what the modder has achieved oh their blank canvas which we call a case.

    Sorry for my rant.

    I really like this mod so far. I have a thing ATM for wood clad electronics lol. I really like where this is going.
     
  15. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    [​IMG]
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    More panel cutting. I use 3/8" x 3" planks of lazer-cut lumber to form a fence. One side is "tacked down" using mini-clamps while the other is used to keep the saw at 90 degrees. Here I'm cutting the side panels out of 3/16" 5-ply aircraft-grade birch plywood.



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    The side panels being fitted up.



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    Showing off some materials and things. On bottom is the 3/16" plywood mentioned above. Next is a sheet of 1/32" birch plywood...yes...1/32" or .8mm 3-ply aircraft-grade plywood. On top of that is a 3" wide sheet of American black walnut veneer. Topping things off is my master carving for the domed roof. I'll be using five identical "rafters" to create the slightly domed top to the computer case. I built the master carving by eye using a razor knife and sandpaper.



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    The master curve is mated up with the other rafters so I can start cutting out the excess corner material.



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    The original faceplate is an impressive chunk of aluminum. Here I'm using it to cut out the openings for the front panel ports.
     
    Last edited: 7 Jul 2009
  16. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    I am really looking forward to seeing this together.
     
  17. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    1/32"? AND it's 3 ply?!?!? The metal shell should keep your top from having soundboard properties.
    I haven't met Crysis guy yet. With my hardware it's only a matter of time. I'll confess I've been the anti-wood case guy before, DireSnake's wood PSU scared me a little. -Mainly because I've seen PSU on fire before.
    When I'm in a hurry, I drill holes by burning through the wood with an angry glare.:naughty:
     
  18. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    I have some 1/64" 3-ply that I use sometimes. I use utility scissors to cut it. :D The "guitar" effect, as I like to call it, can be a problem. I once made the mistake of mounting a fan directly onto a thin sheet of wood.

    Crysis guy doesn't get that you can have more than one computer. Checking e-mail and reading this post on a computer with quad SLI and hovercraft-like noise is really pretty stupid. The era of specialized PCs is here and its time to stop judging every computer to a single narrow standard. 3DMark scores for a 24/7 bit torrent client? Really?

    Putting hot electronics into wooden boxes has been going on since the invention of radio. It hasn't been widely used since the '70s console TV era. It was cheap plastics that brought wood down and not TVs and radios bursting into flames.

    Subsets of the "anti-wood PC" guy are the "EMI/Faraday cage" guy and of course the "How do you ground that?" guy.

    I find that redirecting the wife's angry glare burns three times hotter with pinpoint accuracy.

    Some work progress:

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    Frontal lobotomy brought to you by the Dremel Corp.



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    The front panel ports and power switch holes are cut into the 3/8" thick face plate.



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    The face plate is attached to the computer using countersunk machine screws with nuts and washers. Later, the screw holes will be wood puttied, sanded down and covered up with a tasty walnut veneer.



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    A progress fitting. The louver sub-assembly will fit here, sorta, kinda.
     
    Last edited: 7 Jul 2009
  19. Jipa

    Jipa Avoiding the "I guess.." since 2004

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    Good work, as usually, from you :) I also love the random cheesecake-ish discussion along the way... It's not often that I actually read the comments, but with emergency hole-making via peeing I just couldn't resist.
     
  20. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    Keeps getting better and better.
     
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