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Case Mod - In Progress Project: Ingraham

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

  1. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    Man this really is an interesting mod. Very nice progress.
     
  2. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    Sleeving a two wire cable that is less than 2 inches long. Hmmm. That would be radical modding.

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    They sent me a single sheet of gnarly black walnut with this batch. Here I used it on the back panel. It will be interesting to see how it finishes.



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    Flip side shot showing the lip veneering. Rule of thumb for veneering....do the boring stuff first and leave your money shot for last. This rule helps to determine where the edge seams go.
     
    Last edited: 8 Jul 2009
  3. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    When doing a money shot, start on the *ss. -Got it...
     
  4. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    It does look very nice.
     
  5. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    Got some painting done over the weekend. I call this the motherboard thong because it is all the support the board needs.



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    Painted Thong Red of course.



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    Ready to mount some equipment.

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    The mini-ITX board I'll be using is the new VIA VB8001.

    Bit-tech article

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    Last edited: 8 Jul 2009
  6. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    The veneering is progressing. Here you can see my "crack line" behind the front panel that has been sanded and buffed with steel wool so it is darker than the rest of the case.



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    A little something red peeking out from behind. Isn't that the way it always happens?



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    Clamping operations when veneering on a curve. Almost art in itself.
     
    Last edited: 8 Jul 2009
  7. Slatter

    Slatter Mesh Addict

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    beautifull
     
  8. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    @Slatter...Thanks!


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    Unboxing ceremonies seem to be big thing so I thought I would try one. Box from Crucial.



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    Here's my goodies from Crucial. The larger box is an external enclosure kit for a 2.5" hard drive. Next is 4GB of DDR2 (2 x 2GB) and finally, the big daddy....a 64GB solid state hard drive. I got the enclosure because it has a 3.5" bay mounting option that I might use in the project.



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    Finished veneering.



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    The wood is going to get seriously dark (and hard to photograph) after I start to apply the finish



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    This post brought to you by:

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    Last edited: 8 Jul 2009
  9. Nolimited

    Nolimited What's a Dremel?

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    really nice job done with the wood :jawdrop: can waiting to see the next update
    Keep it up man :thumb:
     
  10. ModMinded

    ModMinded Are you throwing that away?

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    That veneer looks awesome... I kinda prefer blonde to brunette, but to each their own. :)
     
  11. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    Lovely work. It's a shame you didn't get any more burl. It would have looked good on the bottom front bit.

    If we are comparing wood to women now... I prefer dark and exotic, but always end up with badly bleached and knotty.:D
     
  12. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    @Nolimited Thanks. You don't have to wait long for updates with me.

    @ModMInded If you prefer blondes then this is not the project to watch as you'll see in this update.

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    This is after a single coat of lacquer sanding sealer. I don't do stains. This is the natural color. This photo was taken with natural light and no flash.



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    I use sanding sealer mainly to highlight the flaws like glue marks and high points. It also lets me cheat and look ahead to see how it will look when finished. :D
     
    Last edited: 8 Jul 2009
  13. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    Thanks. The burl is looking pretty good but it looks so very bad when it is raw. I decided to wimp out and put it on the back in case it went bad on me.

    My supplier sends me a bundle of 12 strips. He tosses in a couple of ugly pieces and a burl now and then to average things out. I guess that is how it works.

    I have been partial to red-heads (mahogany) in the past and will probably go back to them after this little fling.
     
  14. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    The lacquer turned out beautifully. Nice goodies from Crucial.
     
  15. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    Thanks but I haven't started applying the lacquer yet. This first coat is a sanding sealer that fills in pits and pores. Something like a primer coat. It is specially formulated to work with lacquer.

    Another unboxing ceremony. What fun!

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    A box from VIA over-nighted from Taiwan complete with obligatory nasty dent in the side.



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    Bits and accessories.



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    The VIA VB8001 mini-ITX mainboard. Now and then the gods let me play with Unobtainium and this is a nice chunk of it. The new VIA Nano CPU (this one a 1.6GHz variety) mated to a 16x PCIe slot and 4GB of DDR2.



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    Test fitting. I need the board installed because I have to modify the back of my "grill" to relieve some internal interferences.



    This post brought to you by...

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    Last edited: 8 Jul 2009
  16. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    Meanwhile, back at the grill...

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    This is my disassembled louvered structure called "the grill". I sanded down every side of all 37 pieces that make up the structure. I'm preparing to glue the whole thing together...finally.



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    The 2.5" SSD is screwed into a backplate as I begin construction of the world's most expensive/elaborate 2.5/3.5" drive mount adapter.



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    The backplate slides into the brushed stainless steel carrier and the end cap is screwed into place.



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    The 3.5" hot swap port is attached to where the hard drive should go. The carrier is "plugged in".



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    The device is ready to go. The push button ejects the carrier and there is an LED activity light mounted to the center section. Woo hoo! Light feature!

    Why? you ask....well I would have had to buy a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter and a 2.5" SATA power cable adapter. Now I don't. The 3.5" hot swap section takes a plain floppy power cable. Besides, there's that blinky fancy light feature that fulfills my case modding requirements in that area. :dremel:
     
    Last edited: 8 Jul 2009
  17. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    Looks really neat. I really want to get an SSD to run my OS off.
     
  18. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    Thanks! The SSD is groovy but still seriously expensive. They will eventually drop in price I hope.

    Just a note....I place my captions below the relevant photo because that is the way I was taught. I'm sorry if that causes any confusion.

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    Here I'm analyzing the interferences that the installed motherboard w/ memory modules creates with the back of the grill.



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    Not as bad as I expected. The memory doesn't come into play at all. I had to modify these two pieces to clear a few caps, the front panel pin connector and the CPU fan power plug.



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    I spent most of the weekend trimming each of the 28 edges that make up the vent holes. This shot shows the supports flush to the front to better illustrate the work.



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    Here the supports are pushed, or indented, 3/8" into the structure creating the louver effect.



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    Slightly angled upward causes the vent holes to vanish. The drawn-on circles will be sanded off.



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    To create the center circle I took 3/8" stock, cut and carved the edges, and inserted them into the matrix.



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    Finished center circle minus the top arch.

    Thanks for looking.
     
    Last edited: 8 Jul 2009
  19. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    I'm finally getting to the grill glueing. I have put together the 37 pieces exactly as I want them and lightly spray painted the still clamped up structure.



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    Taking the structure apart layer by layer.



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    Revealing shadows where the pieces need to go back together after a light coating of wood glue.



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    Everything back together again for a good drying. I left the uppermost support layer out of the structure because it will be used to shim the grill into the case. The big unknown here is how much height the 15 layers of glue will add to the grill structure.



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    I thought it was time to discuss my inspiration for this case mod. This is the 1946 Stromberg Carlson model 1110H radio. The two things that attracted me to this design (besides the wrap-around louvers) are the gently curving roof and the foot structure. This was the end of the art deco era and the beginning of the streamlined era when curves and other aircraft-inspired styling cues came into fashion.


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    The wooden case was designed and built for Stromberg Carlson by the Ingraham Co. The two photos above were captured off of ebay a year apart. Part of the reason I was convinced to emulate this design is the fact that I still liked the radio's style a year later.


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    The big controversy at the moment is whether I should include the "top strap" or leave it off. I am leaning toward putting it on because I like the contrast that it brings. I even considered doing the strap in mahogany or cherry but the cross-directed wood grain looks pretty good IMHO. Anyone with an opinion?
     
    Last edited: 8 Jul 2009
  20. Nolimited

    Nolimited What's a Dremel?

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    SSD drive nice :thumb: but expensive but good choice :lol:
     
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