Project:Rise Lord Vader (FKA RLV) Update 12/7/06

Small Update. The DVD Drive is here. It was finally in Stock. I am not trying to figure out exactly how to mount it. I ordered bolts. It cost $21 for 200 bolts and I only needed six. Oh well. It was cheaper than just ordering the six. The AC adapter is also on its way.....Which brings me to my next question. can I boot the PC with no ram and get to bios??????

 

You paid $30 for a VGA cable? That better be one long cable!

Here's a dozen different cables under $10:
http://www.computergate.com/products/prodlist.cfm?prodseq=J3MR01

Cool project, I'm anxious to see all your port extension methods, since I plan to do the same on a future project of my own.

 

looks like vader's helmut from a costume.

nice

 

AFAIK - no.

Great project, interested to see how this turns out!

 

Somewhat of a big update. It has been a while since I updated the log, but a good bit of

work has been done. It may not seem like much, but it was very time consuming. I had to do

a lot of measuring and designing and remeasuring and redesigning.

Also the AC adapter is here.

First off, somehow I broke off the power switch! So now I have to solder up another
Broken Switch


After some careful measurements, I managed to figure out how to get the DVD drive in. There

is only 3mm clearance between the DVD drive and the PSU and the PS2 header. First thing to

do was to remove any plastic in the way of the drive.

Drive Area Cut


Then I drilled some holes in the remaining plastic to mount the angle that will be

supporting the drive.

Holes Drilled


The next item of business was to cut out the slot for the DVD drive. Originally, It was cut

to only show the slot where the disk goes in, but there was no access to the eject button.

After some thinking, I did not see a reason to use the eject, so I went on with the cut and

thought that I could drill a hole later for the eject button and glue something to the

existing switch later. This was all going to plan until I decided to change to a blade with

less teeth on the coping saw that I was using. I changed the blade because the fine tooth

one was getting clogged up. This resulted in changing plans to cutting out the entire space

for the whole bezel of the drive.

Drive Area Cut


Some angle was cut and drilled to mount to the plastic to support the DVD drive.

Angle Made Up



Another problem with the drive was that with the case open, the drive needed to be mounted

in the upside down position so that when it was closed, the disk would be entered with the

label side facing the user. This posed a problem because one edge of the drive had the

mounting bolts near the bulk of the drive using M2 bolts. this was resolved by making an

adapter plate that used the existing mounting holes, but moved the new ones to the edge of

the drive.

Adapter Plate


Now the adapter is bolted in place.

Adapter Mounted


Some more angle was used on both sides of the drive for the actual mounting of the drive.

Side 1

Side 2



Here is the drive in place. In the bottom left corner of the drive, there is a machine

screw that is screwed into an existing hole in the plastic.

Drive In Place


The final part was mounted using the angle. All of it was bolted with M3 bolts.

Drive Mounted


Now it is time for some tidying up of the case. There are just too many wires everywhere

that will no longer let the case close. I cut a patch out for the IDE cable for the DVD

drive and drilled some holes below it for some zip ties.

slot Cut and Holes Drilled


Eureka! The light bulb above my head glows dimly. I got the idea to run the front panel

switch wires in the holes also!

Cables In Holes


Now the IDE cable is installed

IDE Installed


Yet more holes are drilled and some of the power wiring is zip tied. This keeps it from

being pinched when the case is closed

Power Wires Zipped


Now the IDE cable is Zipped

Drive Side Of Cable

Motherboard Side Of Cable


That is it for now!

 

wow man amazing project man .
keep up the good work .
(subscribed)

 

nice cable management!

 

Thanks a lot!

 

Just a quick note. The final three hardware components: Memory, VGA cable, and Audio Cable are on the way!

 

hey where did you get that slim line adapter?

 

http://www.logicsupply.com/product_info.php/cPath/47/products_id/108
Small update
Memory is here. Windows installed! working very well! Still need 2 more cables and then final clean up.

 

Wow! Christmas is coming soon and I need to finish up soon!!!! Good thing I have been working on this! The best news is ALL the parts have been ordered

and have arrived. Now there are no more excuses (other than work)! What all has been done you ask? Well, here is a list:

The Switch is fixed
Memory installed
The power adapter is here
The VGA cable has been mounted
the audio Cable is installed
The Vader audio toy is installed
The Bottom fan has been "fixed"
And one more item has been done....will see that in a little bit!

First off, the switch has been replaced. Thanks again to Dwayne for his awesome soldering work! Go D-Rock!

Switch Fixed


The memory is installed. This part was very labor intensive!

Memory installed


The power adapter. Not much to say about this one other than I plugged one end into the wall and the other into the back of Vader


The VGA cable was a much harder job than the DVD drive. I tried to lay it out just like the IDE cable for the DVD drive, but it is so stiff that it just

forced the case open in areas when it was closed. I managed to figure out a way to route it, but it blocked the bottom fan a little. There was no other way

that I could figure out how to do it. Anyway, I mounted the template that I made out of some scrap steel. This was then mounted and the hole cut out. Then

the cable was installed in the case.

VGA Cable- I did not want to take the zip ties off of it for a real pic because of how difficult it was to make it fit!

Adapter installed and hole cut


Cable Routed


connected to motherboard


Mounted inside


Mounted outside


Now the audio cable was relatively easy. The only issue that came up was it was a little long. There was plenty off room above the top fan to route the

excess cable.

Hole cut


Cable Routed


Plugged into MOBO


Back of Case
PICTURE COMING SOON

Inside Case




Remember that Vader toy that says all the phrases from earlier in this log? Ahh, good! The idea was to install another switch for this to run

independently, but I really didn't want to add anything else that would be excessive. so, instead, the reset switch that was already installed would be

used. Of course, this means there will be no reset switch. But how often is one used? Not too often.... First step would be to figure out where the

speaker would be mounted. I decided to mount it where his mouth is. Then some holes were drilled to allow some sound to pass through. They are small

(1/16") holes and not too many. Next was to extend the wires for the switch and the speaker. I just used some CAT5 wire and soldered it. Afer this, the

box containing the batteries and the circuitry was taped with black electrical tape to cover the old speaker and switch holes. The velco that was meant to

mount the toy on the dash was taped to the bottom front of the case for ease of removal to change the batteries. The plan is to hot glue the speaker in

place after the case is painted.

holes Drilled


Wires extended


Box taped
PICTURE COMING SOON

Velco mounted
PICTURE COMING SOON

Speaker mounted temporarily with tape
PICTURE COMING SOON

Box mounted
PICTURE COMING SOON

The bottom fan issue was the fan blows in the case. It was sucking the screen into the fan blades and making noise. I tried to no avail to make a guard out

of plexi, but it did not look good. Some expanded metal was installed.

Fan fixed
PICTURE COMING SOON

So you ask yourself, "where did that vader go that was on that sound board?" Ah! The original plan was to give it to my son as a toy. But noooooooo, it

had to be included in the project! So, I took some bolts and drilled some holes in the sub. These holes were tapped and the bolts were installed. Vader

was mounted using the existing holes on the bottom.

Bolts
PICTURE COMING SOON

Vader's holes
PICTURE COMING SOON

Vader on Sub
PICTURE COMING SOON

WOOOOOOO HOOOO!!! The hardware is done! I loaded Windows Vista RC1 on it. It installed fine. The first item of business was to see how it would handle a

DVD movie. FAILURE!!!!! Vista had used 55% of the system memory before media Player could even play the movie. This is because it has the onboard video

and reduces the system memory. vista is graphically taxing and this little board just can't handle it. With that said, Windows XP Home was installed as was

PowerDVD. Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift played just fine.

As sad as it is to say, this is the end until the paint job is done. With that, I have some questions for you BTers!

What kind of primer and paint should I used?
What can I put around the DVD drive to fill the holes? It needs to be smooth and paintable.
Can the paint be clear coated?

I will post a video of the PC booting soon.

QUICK NOTE; THE PICTURE COMING SOON MEANS I RAN OUT OF SPACE ON FLICKR. I HAVE NOW MOVED IMAGES TO MY OWN SPACE, BUT I NEED TO RESIZE THE IMAGES.

 

I did update this thread, but since there was no new post, it was not noticed.

 

to fill the holes how about BONDO?

 

You should use some plastic polish (novus etc) at the end to give Lord Vader a nice scratch free shinny shell

 

is bondo good for a someone who has never used it?

 

should i do this instead of painting?

 

I would. IIRC that kind of plastic doesnt look too good when its painted.

Looking sweet. Vader F T W

 

F T W?????

 

bondo is pretty easy stuff, just dont mix ALOT at once, just enough for your job, and dont put too much hardener in or it will harden insteantly or get chunky