Scratch Build – In Progress Project: MPi-L (Mac Pro/G5 Acrylic), quite back..and a realization

Intro:

My first quest on building an ambitious case from scratch ...

I'd like to brief that I am in a place where great tools are hard to find(really really) and that I only have with me my vector computations based on pictures of the sexiest case my eyes have seen, and the PIII that I have to place when this is done. Hopefully some of the things here will change, and that you'll have fun on watching my log.

The title, MPi-L, means Mac Pro inspired - Lucid...you get the idea.

For those who don't, imaging an all glass Mac Pro case.. that simple ...I sure wish i could render it in 3D.

Started at around 12 hours before 2008.


Now let's get started ...

Stuff:
Cheap "John-Benzen" dremmel ~$24 or Php970 (only thing i can afford to get started.. can't afford a Black and Decker ~$120)
Mask + Eye wear ~$2
3 piece clamp set ~$3
1/2 sheet acrylic plastic ~$36
Pliers + cutter, table, extension, pen, etc. ~free at home




i'm measuring the actual size of the sheet to know my limits when i get carried away



the edge cut was a bit crooked.. need to clean it a bit



this plexiglass was just a half of the whole sheet, and the provider didn't have tools to cut them in half except to do the glass style of cutting.. they are a glass company



grinding has been so much fun for a newbie, pretty poor camera shot here tho, but nothing compared to the lots of great shots you can see here at bit-tech



my rotary tool with its flexishaft on a partially cut plexiglass, cutting the outer piece of the case mod



finally i got to finish that painstaking cutting




drawn the hole lines for cutting the outer case



finally got the first hole of the outer piece.. fun time begins again(dremmel grinding)



vrrrrrr~ hehe



after grinding and sanding... first hole is set! ... im happy with the final result



ok.. about 4am of New Year 2008, and the outer piece is done! (bad shot tho)



higher quality on the next post.... thanks

 

I've got a hold of my girlfriends better camera

Here's just clearer versions of the what I have..

My working table setup





My dremmel



My progress



The plan was to have one whole strip for the front + top + rear + bottom, and just bend them to make a rectangular box to serve as the inner piece of the case body, to make it more sturdy.. but the size of the half sheet seems short so I have to cut it the planned strip in half so it will be top + front, and rear + bottom. I've ran a short test on some scrap pieces, sand the edges using 200grit, then 400, 800, 1000 and buff them to shine to see how it would be sturdy if it is attached using acrylic cement.. and lo, it had a very strong bond..they were right alright so i proceeded with the new plan.

Marking for the top + bottom strip, and cutting it...

 

Good start, but do you have any designs we can look at to see what you are trying to achieve?

 

Progress so far...




Now on to marking and cutting the rear + bottom piece...


While I've been abusing this dremmel quite fairly since i bought it, it was quite fun cutting and grinding anything that my eyes can see (i was even tempted to use the buffing tool on my brother's car finish lol ), i broke a few cutting disks along the way ...newbie excitement was the main reason why lol


Cutting the rear + bottom piece, and there goes the last of my 6 cutting disks that came on the set...

 

I snap so many of those bloody cutting discs when using my dremel. Annoying. Need about 500 in stock before doing a full on case I reckon

 

It just a vector cutting/bending layout I did in Flash. But the design is....think about the Mac Pro case but the material is clear acrylic plastic/plexiglass..

I used the shots from Apple website, images.google.com, and other G5 and Mac Pro mods here

 

I went back to the store where i brought the dremmel and ask for cutting disks they have for sale. Luckily, they have. 8 disk pack original Dremmel brand. But it was like ~$36... almost twice the price of my dremmel... i was like "wtf! ...if that's the case then i'll just opt to buy a new JB dremmel then" ..but I realized it will be wasteful since this dremmel, tho cheap, kicks ass.. and its power is screaming i'm just using it at speed #2-3.. similarly powerful when i tried the Black and Decker for sale at the mall hardware. I decided to look for more at the "china town" of my city and had no luck, tools like this are hard to find in my place ...except for power tools tho (which is much more expensive for my purpose and pocket).

Later I got the idea of using tin as a cutting disk , and so i experimented again.. and the lucky object is a bottle cap heh..





Trying it out... it seems to have a cleaner, quieter, and have almost half the cutting time yeah!



I was intruiged of the idea that maybe giving it a bit of teeth so it will be more effective.. but alas it went noisy instead lol, but much lesser noise compaired to the cutting disks that broke.. I'm not sure tho if it will be this effective in metal.


Finished the cut and now have two of the strips pretty cool cutting disk i should say..

 

heheh yeah snapping was quite annoying..specially when you just attached a new one then suddenly.. *snap* wtf?!

 

Finally, dude! You got around to posting your project. I must daresay that I am very excited to see what's up and coming the next few weeks (if all goes according to plan). And I'd bet you'd get a lot of replies as well. Hehe If nobody knows what a Mac Pro is, just rename it to your original G5A. As in, G5 Acrylic wahaha

 

Looking nice so far, what colour is the plexi?
And lol nice cutting disc

 

Some good looking pieces you have made. I think they will make a nice case when put together! Will be watching for updates. I'm going to try your cutter idea for a front panel that needs cut. No metal caps here except for beer. Oh well can't complain about that tho. lol

 

It's clear. acrylic plastic When I first bought it, the glass store have both translucent black, and clear. I opted for clear cause it was the plan in the first place..but i had to admit i was tempted for that translucent black too.. kinda can't make my mind that time heh.. maybe on another project

 

Moving along... another week has passed, and its the 13th of January 08...

Readying the stuff and sanding the edges of rear + bottom and front + top pieces..



It occurred to me to try the acrylic cement even if it is not yet a high quality sanding/polishing... you know newbies and curious minds <---

So out of excitement, i took a peek at how the plexiglass would look like(even though i saw plexiglass countless times), and bring them together. And with just this, it really felt like heaven lol

 

Time to bring in our solvent stuff...





And try it on....
*DISCLAIMER WARNING: This was just to add humor to the photo collection. DO NOT EVER TRY THIS AT HOME!!! ..even in school.. DO NOT!!! EVER!!! The solvent is highly toxic!*


..try it on the piece...




The next day, PLEXIGLASS 101...lesson learned, it proved to me that you really need a smooth surface for acrylic cement to have a very very strong bond like it were mold together.. hehe ..gotta resand these edges... so much for curious minds eh?

 

nice cutting discs, nuff said

 

While waiting for my dumb experiment to dry that day... i proceeded with marking the outer piece for bending..



When I was still looking for a dremmel, I was also looking for a heat strip to bend the plastic nicely.. sadly i can't find it on any store here at my place ...i thought that was the end of such a sexy dream project and will just flew away from me.. Then I consulted back to the glass store where i bought the plexiglass if they have ideas on bending it using the tools that we have, and she(yeah, a hardcore sweet lady) advised me that they use butane mixed with oxygen on bending it so it won't soot.. she also advised that there are off-the-shelf butane torches available at the National Bookstore (quite ironic place to find a flammable tool) and I found and bought these...

Detachable Gas Torch


Portable Butane



I quickly did an experiment and it was cool using it , feels and sounds like a jet engine in my hands heh ..but it's just too much powerful and hard to control.. either the plastic just bubbles soon enough or the plastic won't bend but untouchably hot..

Then comes another idea ...the new best friend of a plexiglass modder that saves the day...

*TADA!!*... Ironman! ..oh yeah!







Had another experimentation...and it was oh-so--good! ...i was virtually having a "variable heatstrip" lol

 

Nice project, all case will be made in transparent plexiglass?

 

nice project good start
(finally somebody who read the project log rules)
make me want to start my cheap dremel too (and attach some bottle caps)

 

hehe, i recognize that cutouts . I was doing same cutouts - but in aluminum... Gl with ur mod man!!! Im interested to see more!

 

Very nice! I like your idea with the cutting wheel
Is it easy to cut plexi with dremmel? I used jigsaw.. now thinking to use dremmel as well.. is it easy to cut round edges for example?