Scratch Build – In Progress [Project Mk. XVIII Rev.4] - Update #6 (8th Aug) - The frame is completed!

Welcome to my first scratch build!
This is a case I have been planning for more than a year and a half, so it will be fun to finally begin to build and document it.
For those of you wondering about the name, it's rather simple; The case have been through a very many iterations, and this is the eighteenth version, and the fourth variant. Hence Mk. XVIII Rev. 4.

So, on to the final sketches after a year of evolution (sadly I don't have any of the old files left, although they might lurk in one of the MNPCTech SketchUp Competitions.




It's black, it's industrial (somewhat at least), and it's simple. Those were to goals I had in mind when designing the case. And that it should be pretty easy to build. It's after all my first scratch build, and almost first time working with metals.

Those were the ideas, next up is the beginning of the construction of the frame.
Thanks for reading and hopefully you'll enjoy the journey from 3D model to physical case.

 

Here's the concept for the frame of the case.


I needed around 8m of aluminium, both solid bar and U-profile, and after some waiting time I had it at my house. But then it had to be cut, but a Dremel or hacksaw would be too inprecise, so I used a gig honking circular power saw


After a an hour of work (I did a lot of remeasuring to be on the safe side)


I also needed some smaller pieces of U-profile (later to be transformed into L-profile), and the circular saw had a bit too much power, so I had to use my muscles for this.


And here's the U-profile after some additional work with a hacksaw.


And after an hour or two with a needle file we have all the lengths of aluminium I need for the case.


Now I happened upon my first setback. The drill press I thought of using couldn't take the drill bits I needed (they were too small), and the thought of drilling straight holes with an handheld power drill or Dremel... Ugh...
So I went onto the almighty Internet so search for an drill press usable for a Dremel and happened upon this (link in Swedish) where a guy built himself an adapter to use a Dremel on a normal drill press.

Intrigued I went on to try the same thing, and after a couple of hours scrounging up parts and trying them together I got this:



Almost works perfectly! And that just with an old door hinge, a piece of angle iron, two hose clamps, 4 screws and nuts, and some work! I just have some small adjustments to make and then I can begin drilling the holes.

Thanks in advance for reading and hopefully I'll have another update tonight or tomorrow.

 

Whoaaaa, thats cool! Can't stop your creativity! BTW, the case will be very good

 

Thanks
Unfortunately the Dremel had a way too high RPM to be useful for drilling in aluminium, it just melted. Instead I found an old pin vice I had lying around that had adapters for small diameter drills. So now I can use my 2,5mm and 3,2 mm drills in the big drill press.

Here's the second update, a bit later than I thought, and not very much to show as most of the work have been about measuring, marking, then measuring again, and finally drilling and tapping the different pieces.

I still managed to get some pictures, and here they are:

The finished angle irons (or angle aluminium? ):


This is what have taken up most of the time; marking, drilling and tapping the holes of half of one side of the frame:



And here you can see what's still left to do. The four right-most bars have to be drilled and tapped, the four bars with tapped holes need to have the other side drilled and tapped, and the left-most three need to have their holes drilled:


Thanks for looking, and see you by the next update.

 

me like the design ! gonna follow this one
i didn't see any dvd player, did you hide it somewhere or don't you have any ?

 

Thanks. Hopefully the end result will live up to my sketches.
It might be unusual to not have an DVD, but I almost never use it, and when I do it is mostly to install Windows. So I'll have an external drive that I can share with my laptop. I believe Samsung manufactures one that only need an USB cable, for both data and power, so I'll most likely buy one of those.

 

Sub'd this. Really really like your design so I'll be keeping tabs on this. Good luck.

 

Thanks. Always nice to get some comments

And here's another update. Small in pictures, medium in actual work, big in feeling of accomplishment.

The right side of the frame is completed:


And a closeup to show the countersunk cap screws:


The parts for the left side are currently being marked, and I can hopefully drill and begin to tap them tomorrow.

As always; thanks for looking, and see you by the next update.

 

I figured I should show you a bit if the work in progress as well. This is the work on the left side of the frame that should have finished today. But it didn't, as the M4 tap I used broke of in the hole. I figure I put on too much force, and that it wasn't completely straight as well...
Anyway, here's the pictures of how long I've come so far:

Drilling and tapping the pieces that will hold the outer panels. I assume they are pretty self-explanatory for most people on this forum:



Drilling the end pieces of the horizontal bars that will connect to the long vertical bars. This had to be done with a power drill, as the drill press couldn't take the long pieces. So instead I used an angle clamp to hold the pieces while I used the power drill to drill a hole.


And then tapping the same hole:


And it was there the disaster struck. I broke the tap...And it's stuck


I have enough spare material to make one new bar, but I would rather try to salvage what I already have. Regardless if I can salvage the part or not I'll need a new tap, so no updates till at least after the weekend.

Thanks for watching, and see you next update.

 

Gah. I hate breaking taps! I haven't had any luck removing them without destroying the part.

 

Getting stuck taps out is a MASSIVE pain

I'd always say that it is easier to start the entire piece over again.

 

There is a solution that I've used before and that to drill a hole and get old of small screw with a left handed . As it tightens in it will grip the tap and unscrew it.

 

Sounds like a "damaged screw remover" set of sorts...

 

Along those lines the only time I've succeeded in removing one was when the tap had some bit left above the edge of the hole.

I sliced off the broken edge, cut a small grove on the top and gently used a jewelry screw driver to unscrew the tap.

 

Thanks for all the input. I'll see if I can make use of any of the tips tomorrow.
Don't think it is a good idea to work with this when I'm frustrated and tired.

 

Have a look at 'Boa' screw removal kits. I use M4 - M16 bolts on site and use a tap/ die in a Makita 18v battery drill with appropriate size drill bits. Unfortunately, when drilling stainless (especially), Chrome Vanadium isn't as tough so the taps snag and break. The Boa kit is the best method I have used, as they are reverse threaded, screw then in and turn them out. Another method is to drill out the tap with a smaller drill bit that than intended thread size (say an M3 if an M4 bolt), carefully I may add, and as straight as possible, then pass your tap through the hole like usual, it is a last resort, but as I've said, has gotten me out of trouble a few times on site.

 

By the way, what brand taps are you using? They must be pretty diabolical to snap on ally!!!

 

Wisdom.

 

there is a tool to remove broken taps, i've sent you a pm about it, for everyone else that's interested:

 

aww man, that's a shame. that happend to me once before. i broke a m4 tap in a piece of copper, but i managed to "mill" it out with some really strong mills on a dremel, and could tap a bigger m5 hole, that way i could still use the piece i was working on.