Scratch Build – In Progress Project: Metal Gear Mk. IV Case (Update Oct 07- Final Construction Shots Posted)

Looks fantastic mate. The white really sets the whole project off.

 

*Patiently waits for the next set of updates*

Great job.

 

Well... sorry to say this... but no updates for a week. I'm off to Maine for a week. I'd love to post the next update... but its 4 and I have a 9am flight.... *sigh* But the case is together and the base is together. Fans installed and hinges installed... just not computer guts. Sorry! I can't wait to finish tho. Thanks for the patience. See ya all in a week.

 

sweet!

 

UPDATE - August 17

Whew. Life has gotten hectic. But fear not, the case is nigh completion as we speak. Sorry for the one week break, I as up in Maine canoeing on the St Croix river between Maine and New Brunswick. Very cool. Very chill compared to case work, lol. Ok, but on to the case. Most of the pictures speak for themselves, so I'll keep comentary to a minimum, but if you've got any questions, speak up, I'd love to answer them.

Before I post the pics, I've got to appologize... I was cramming hardcore to try to get it at least semi-funcitonal for a LAN party... and it just didn't happen. However a casualty was that a lot of pictures got skipped... sorry. Before I called it a night (at 4 or so...) I got the base to light up.... but thats about it, didnt' get anywhere near finished. Time time time. At Architecture they told me how to gestimate how long something will take to finish: take your first thought, multiply it by 3, then add two hours on top. Yup, thats basically right. So this update is over a week old now... as the case stands now its just needing the motherboard tray put in place... and then all the cords connected. Its so exciting! Wooooo! Ehem. Back to the (old) update.


I'd primed it in the middle of the night... now to spraypaint on the heatresistant (up to like 1200 degrees F) white paint. Damn, its hard to tell where you've painted when you have white spray on white primer.






By the way, this blue tape work... it takes a white. A LONG while. Whew. But its totally worth it.



Had a friend of a friend (who was also recommended by another friend, totally unrelated) who was able to laser cut my base for me for cheap. Very cheap. Nice guy.


The little white things are to go as front USB guards. Also, I don't have pictures, but I wetsanded the outer cut edge for about 45 mintues with a big bucket of soapy water under a sink, so the face loop that got lasered is perfectly clear. Sweet. And I also brushed up the bottom of the disc to help the base cast off some light upwards.


Time for grey paint







You see what is happening here? Eh? Dremeled the little holes for the LEDs in with a funny little sphere-cutting-tipped bit on the end of the flexy hose. Worked great.










Its an... Arc Reactor! Sigh... no... but that would be awesome.







Yes... it looks horrifically cluttered... and it was. 40 zip ties (I bought the bag thinking that it was massive overkill... I ran out at the very end!) and lots mounting pads, some electrical tape, and a touch of double stick tape cleared that all up. More update later today... seeing as its 3am...

 

You have made a lot of progress. It looks fantastic. Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

Sand that paint with some 1200-2000grit and repaint it Make it smoooooth.

 

I couldn't either... I just put the guts inside of it and closed the door on the side today... its so so so- Erm, I can't give anything away... theres still at least one more pics worth of updates before I show of the final pics...

 

What's wrong with it? We all at one time or another have put "parts" in just to see/check. This is a well made case and we will watch as you sort out the cables and such.
John

 

Ok, wow, I just noticed that I phrased that horribly. Its not "so so"... Its so AWESOME. I was just typing that while talking and I suppose I put too many "so"'s. It was supposed to be more like... "its so- Oops, can't tell you yet" type of thing... I'm reading up on overclockin' at the moment over in the hardware forums. 3.0 ghz is not going to stay that way for long.

 

Ok, wow, I don't know why I haven't gotten around to wrappin' this up. Sorry folks. I'll get it done asap. Its finished and functionally and I've been using it for a month now! Heh, its great... and I got myself a little present... 28" monitor. Te he.

I promise, pics comin' in the next few days. College is busy... especially Architecture major at UT. Whew.

 

Can't wait for the final shots mate, should look great.

 

You found someone who can lasercut in Houston?!?!?

Take your time on the pics. When they start making you build models you will have even less free time.

 

Heheh, thats why its taken so long... I've been building models. I'll load up some pics of one of em.

 

Sweet

It can be cool if you made the "Head" to a webcam.
This project is sow f.... cool!! want to see more

 

Update - October 7, 2008

Well... its been a while... I've been super busy with Architecture here at UT. College is great, but this major is busy as it gets. So now I've turned to building modding... er, something like that. Anyways, here's my second major design project in its final phase (First I had a 6inch square piece of wihle paper that I had to make an orthagonal composition with black paper, then I had to design and build a 6in cube in teh same vein and finally I had to enhance and rebuild the white cube with some use of color). I thought case modding takes a while... whew.
You can see the original 2d composition in the foreground then the white and blue cubes made outa exacto knifes, elmers glue, elbow greese, and museum board.




Alright, so here's all my hardware for the motherboard layed out and put into the board. That zalman cooler sure is big...



Hard drive one in with L-brackets and screws...

And now harddrive two. Quite a close fit.


So here's the rear IO as it looked


With all the components shoved in, there is actually a pretty good volume of air able to move easily (all things considered).


Well... its easier to but it in when its on its side, and now you get a way overexposed shot of the LEDs glowing. Its goin' in to test the fit.


Closed...


Open!



Its working! Woooo!





Ok, posed finallized shots comin' later this week some time. Sorry for the delay but I hope ya like the work.

 

Amazing what you have done until now i subscribe

 

very gooood

This build turned out really good, congrats...but considering that you have access to a laser cutter able to cut a decent thickness of acryl, you could've made this whole build out of such making it much more interesting (when you consider the many LEDs you could've added to an acryl case) but in either way this turned out a nice build.

 

Wow nice, first i didn't like it , i never get the shape but now i see it, nice ^^

 

Well, I didn't really have "access" to a laser cutter. My physic's teacher knew they guy as a friend and said he could probably cut my piece for a super great deal, but it was A) quite a drive, B) still cost money, and C) came too late in the build. But I'm very pleased with how this turned out. Its extremely functional and yet still very small for its power. Runs pretty cool all things considered.

I can't wait to have the time for a new project.... so many ideas. Final pics later this week.