Project Redwood 3.0 -by ZapWizard -Jan 15th '05

Is this a personal PC for yourself Zap if so thats gonna be schweeet gaming pc also, why do you always go with ATI cards? sponsor reason?

 

Very nice one, Zap. Keep it up.

 

I believe he said earlier that this pc is going to become his main computer and that he also wants to have the smallest powerfulest wood computer yet........I believe.

 

I've been thinking about your mouse; the problem is it has a compound curve and wood does not shorten nor elongates, it just bends. I have only two ideas to solve that, neither of them looks very easy.

One:cut several pieces of veneer so that compound curves are very small in each piece (you should cut along mouse sides, just over the steepest bendings). You would have to glue the biggest piece first and then test fit the other pieces, cut them to size and glue them; probably you would have to put veneer pieces with grain pointing in different directions to avoid breaking.

Two:sculpt mouse cover. I would carve the inside and reinforce it with a layer about one milimeter thick of epoxy or carbon fiber and epoxy and then carve the outside and reinforce the outside with a clear elastic plastic (epoxy?). Biggest problem: taking too much in the outside and making a hole trough wood; could be minimized making templates of mouse profiles and using them to guide you or using CNC for all the carving

 

Yes, this will be my main personal computer. Right now my main PC is a pre-mod looking coolermaster with crappy watercooling.
/Edit, realized I didn't answer the ATI question.
Besides a dip in the 3DFX world, I have always owned and used ATI Cards. I did have a brief relationship with nVidia, as they talked to me at an event, and wanted to send a card. I still love their chipsets. But now that ATI is a sponsor of some of my projects, I have no problem sticking with them, even then I still prefer them on my own too.

I have talked about both these ideas, and tried the first several different ways. I do like the idea of applying carbon fiber to strengthen the inside after carving it out.

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Text update:

I have the speakers completed with envirotex, I still have to clean it up and take pictures. They didn't envirotex as well as the keyboard and LCD, due to the fact that there isn't much area for the envirotex to stick to, and much of it ran off. It took three coats to get a finish I could live with.

I didn't get anything done with the PC yesterday, due to the fact that I picked up Splinter Cell Chaos Theory....dang that was a good game.

 

i do not like wood cases but this one is just great.

 

Very nice project looks nice that color of the wood i bookmarked this one

 

Update: The speakers are done.

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I purchased a set of Logitech X-530 speakers.
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/CA/EN,CRID=2177,CONTENTID=9067

The curves on them match the PC well, and they sound great for their price. ($60)
I am actualy only using the front three speakers and sub, I sold the rear set to Mr.Red for hacking into his Project Deja upgrade.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/projects/wood/speakers/01.jpg
http://www.zapwizard.com/projects/wood/speakers/03.jpg

I spent three hours, two scratched up faceplates, and three pieces of veneer trying to cut perfect circles using my dremel. Believe it or not, I totally forgot I have access to a laser cutter.
The above speaker is hand-cut

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http://www.zapwizard.com/projects/wood/speakers/04.jpg

I laser cut one set, but forgot to run the grain the right way...
A second attempt resulted in great cuts.

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I laser etched the logi-tech logo back into the wood.

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I vinyle dyed the inside part of the speaker black. (if you look at the first image, they are white around the speaker)

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It is hard to get an photograph of how sharp the wood looks.
I will get some proper images once the project is done.

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Here they are sitting on top of my altec lansings. (Soon to be moved to the bedroom as TV speakers)

Also note the puck-shaped thing left of my keyboard.
That is a Gainward Music-to-go external USB sound card.
While the shuttle motherboard has great HD-Audio, and can drive the speakers very well, on this project astetics are more important.
Rather then have many cables running up into the computer, I will need only a single USB cable. I can then relocate all the audio cables to the subwoofer, and hide them there.

Part of the project is to be wireless as possible, so in the end I may totaly ditch the USB sound card, and go with a wireless audio transmitter. (Which also 2.1, instead of 3.1 sound)
For gaming at LAN events I plan on getting a stereo bluetooth (or other wireless) headset w/mic to stay wireless.

 

I really like the look of the speakers. I wish i was able to pull this off. I might have misunderstood something but the usb sound card is going to remain saperate? If it is are you going to do any wood touches to it?

 

This is awesome, I love the speakers especially. Looking great, as usual. Keep it up man, can't wait to see this thing come together.

 

The USB sound card will probably be attached to the subwoofer.
If I do any wood touches to it, it will happen later.

 

Hey Zap great project

I was woundering what device you are using when you har laser-etching ?

Txx

 

WAS ?????

 

Once again, you have impressed. Can't wait to see how you’re going to solve the mouse delimma.

I think we should start a petition to have one of the cable networks start a show about modding, similar to American Chopper or Biker Build-Off on Discovery. If the nets can follow bike builders around with cameras and sell it, why not modding? I nominate Zap for resident expert.

Awesome job!

 

I've got to know... how do you manage to accurately transfer measurements of the piece of work you're putting veneer over into the PC to be cut on the versalaser?

 

Very nice wood work, the perfection . Fantastic project.

 

I won a Versalaser (www.ulsinc.com) on TechTV with the AmmoPC.
Technicaly I don't own it anymore, I sold it to my parent's scrapbooking business, they can use it more, but I still have access.

Ya, I spent two days skipping work early and beat the game. (I have a bad habit of playing all the way through a game as fast as I can) Played online last night, it's not bad.

I use a ruler and calipers to measure the original piece (as I do with all my 3D stuff) For the speakers it was a matter of getting the circles the right size in the right spot, and overall outline correct. I laser-cut a sheet of paper first to double check things before cutting the real wood.

Thanks, actualy I saw privews for a DIY (I think) show on modding, something like "Pimp your PC" looked ok, but a lot of beginners stuff. I am debating purchasing a video camera to film some steps, but that is even more time, and more server bandwidth. (I run 13GB/month)

 

Also check out the touch-sensative button schematic thread:
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=87440

 

what kind of cooling is going to have?

nice work with wood, only thing i dont like about wood is heat problems

 

I as well am making a wood computer and i have found out that water cooling and maybe a fan or two (40's - 80's mm) will get rid of all of the heat! so far no problems with heating and i am putting the last couple of coats of Tru-Oil on my bloodwood, pics will be up soon!