MB tray update 2005-11-19 As I broke already all the cutting wheels that came with my Dremel clone, I had to get new ones. Unfortunately the spare parts for it are hard to find, but fortunately Dremel tools, altough overprized, are easily available. Thus I bought 36 Dremel cut-off wheels and four sanding rolls. Unluckily the cutting wheels didn’t fit the wheel bit that came with my tool, so I went and bought Dremel diamond cutting wheel, which came with proper wheel bit: The bonus is of course that now I have also the diamond cutting wheel :-]. I am sure I can find some good use to it. This one I have had for some time already, and now it’s finally used: What is it for? Might it make more sense when cut to size (it’s *very* tough stuff to cut, I tell you): So, it will be mobo standoffs. I browsed through Biltema to find something pipelike that would have some amount of softness, but would be rigid enough not to give in too much, and this is what I came out with. It’s maybe the hardest type of rubber I have come by and in addition to that it’s reinforced with glass fiber, or something similar. Works like a charm. Next thing on my todo list is to get mobo rails fastened to lower compartment cover and add the pieces that will press upper edge of the mobo tray to mobo rails once it’s in place. I resolve both these issues with same pieces of acrylic. The third function for them is to fill the gap between the bent lower compartment top cover and mobo rails you can see here: Here is the plan for the next stage and some of the plans actually transferred to a piece of acrylic: To get sharp corners, I cut two pieces from L-shaped alumium profile I had lying around from some long since abandoned modding project: I found the hacksaw with brand new blade be very effective on this one. Diamond wheel would have done the job, but with a lot more noise and time. Thus I first cut a starting point for the hacksaw to prevent it from sliding alongst the edge of the metal and finished it off with hacksaw. This is it for now, now back to actual bending .
Quick update on mobo rail supports / mobo fasteners: So lots of bending, miniscular parts to work with, only a single straight angle in the plan and bad-looking result. Oh well. Maybe I can still use it, if all else fails, I can always paint it black :-]. On another front, I drilled, threaded and screwed lower shroud parts together: I used combination of self-made threading tool and "method Hal" to thread the acrylic: Here is the inner side with screwcaps visible: And the front side once installed: I used M5x10 screws and as you maybe can see, the two 3mm sheets leave still 4mm of the screws visible. But no worries! I will add third 3mm layer there to attach mobo tray to the same screws, and in addition to that, the screws are placed in such a way that they are hidden both by sound insulation and mobo tray. In addition to getting worse-than-hoped-for results for mobo rail stand I also almost destroyed the bottom layer of my mobo tray today but I think I have a recovery plan. Not exactly the best day of this mod.. Images of mobo tray progress will be posted once I've got some sleep.
Probably the most original design on bit at the moment, tho I can't yet imagine what the finished article will look like, but I know it's going to be nice
I am Just thinking the same, Looking nice and differant but how it is going to look like is also for me a big question. Grt
Thanks for your kind words . And yes, I have to admit that I keep on changing my mind on how the outer shell will look like, so I guess there is no one who *really* knows how it will look like . I have at least three intrigruing plans for the final outlook, and I am pretty satisfied to all of them, it's mostly just a case of figuring out how they will look in real materials and what's the one I can best complement with matching details.
MB trails, 2005-11-20 Here are the rest of the images from last night. I first rounded tray corners with modsquad method. To stay true to the modding god, I naturally chose the coin that matches 25 dollar cents in value, 20 euro cents: And then proceeded to bevel the edges to better sit on the rails: And then the oops moment: I had cut the holes into wrong side. ****. At this point I was about to throw the miscut piece out of the window but then I figured that I could still use it - just align the sheet by the cuts and make new holes for the mobo mounting screws. This way the stiffness of the tray is not compromised, I will just have 9 extra holes there. I think I will figure out some way to mask them, but even if I didn’t, it’s just 9 holes *in the backside of the MB tray*. No one, except me, will ever see it. So here it is flipped over and filed to match the rails: And the ugly rail support isn’t *so* ugly now that I have slept a long night. It will stay there for now, until I can decide how to replace it: I am beginning to think that my acrylic glue is not the best possible stuff. Some of the seams I glued earlier this week broke apart yesterday - not good. This means I will maybe go for plan B, using bent acrylic and screws to support the corners. The alumium L-profile and screws would offer superior straightness and durability, but it wouldn’t fit my vision..
Screw cap covers Since I needed some practise before going into embedding mobo nuts into mobo tray, I tried one idea I have had in mind for a while. It’s nothing too fancy - I just need a look to the screws that fits the overall theme. One option is to cover the bolt heads with acrylic. This way: I first drilled holes that were a bit too small and then played around with heatgun. The lower layer is very tightly in place, I could actually screw the bolt by turning the acrylic. Upper layer is a tight fit, too, pretty naturally since hex-head has better grip. In real use the acrylic of course would have some fancy shape and color, but this was just to test heat-combining bolt and acrylic.
Going for the real thing My dremel-clone suddenly ceased to work on late Saturday, so I gave myself an early x-mas present and bought a real Dremel: Oh the power.. Being properly armed I decided to throw away my old mobo tray lower layer and start all over again. After all, I am not doing modding to produce results that do not please myself, even if they are not visible. So here we go. My first idea was to use my new toy, Dremel circle and groove cutting tool: It was too rough to the acrylic. Back to the traditional methods - cutting disc and files: Pretty nicely aligned around the center support line, don’t you think: Still lots of finishing to do, but at least I haven’t screwed it up yet.
Going for the real thing and starting all over again Going for the real thing and starting all over again
MB tray rails, take two Now that I have acceptable mobo tray coming, I needed rails that would fit it perfectly. However good the tray is, it's of no use if it doesn't sit nicely on the rails. So, after lot of planning I decided to scrap the idea of gluing pieces together and instead went for U-shaped pieces between the rails and made it damn sure there U-pieces are exactly the right size. I started with the most crucial and the most difficult ones, the middle rail spacers. I measured distance between the straightest edges of the tray grooves to be at 29mm distance, so as rails are 3mm thick I needed 26mm of spacing. Since rails being exactly parallel is yet more crucial than having right spacing, I made a "mold" by clamping to pieces of plank to the table and going through with cardboard guide of exactly 26mm to make sure they had the right spacing all the way. To further ensure parallelism I did both U pieces from one piece and will cut it to two separate spacers only after it has been bent to right shape. Here is the starting point: planks, cardboard measurement tool and piece of acrylic with bending points marked: Since it's pretty hard to get so tight 180 degree bends, I started first just making a U bend approximately the correct size: And then proceeded to force it between the planks: As you can see, the original U bend was a bit too wide and now the borders bend inwards: But a little more firm and determined guiding will teach it how to behave: Fine-tuning the last fractions of millimeter by adding enough newspaper there to make it bend back enough and then adding some heat: Final measurements. Pretty close to the 26mm I aimed at, huh? Discuss this entry at the discussion thread.
MB standoffs prototyping Instead of advancing with leaps and bounds I have delved deeper and deeper into pondering different details in the project. I have also been working almost all time when awake, so not much got done. Three deadlines in two weeks is too much. Anyway, here is the most successful design this far realized in plastic: And here some rubber foam between acrylic supports to give mobo smoother ride: And foamcore piece acting as MB: On another front, I started covering the lower shroud. I will put two to three bitumen sheets on the bottom and then softer material on top of it. Here is first piece in place: My aim is to level the shroud by adding layers of bitumen (as there is the acrylic top and then some structural flaps on the bottom) and also use it to start giving some curvature to the body. Discuss this entry at the discussion thread.
Advancing on multiple fronts I continued adding bitumen layers to lower shroud: As you can see, I added also third layer to the very bottom. It's there to make a form a bit curver when it gets sound absorption and acrylic layers. It also helps to dampen vibration where there will be most of it: on the height of the lower fans. Finished the bitumen layers: After all the desperate hours with acrylic, the self-adhesive bitumen sheet (~1.5-2mm) was really easy to work with. You can cut it with just scissors (altought I am sure it does bad things to their blades..) and it can be stretched and formed to some extend with just fingers. I made holes for underlying nuts and bolts just by pressing firmly around them with my thumb fingernail and then peeling of the protruding part. Also I could ensure complete sealing of the border areas by cutting thin strips of the bitumen sheet and then applying enough force to force them to the smallest gaps. I forms almost like a very firm plasticine. The additional bonus is that even though bitumen sheet is somehow soft, it makes the shroud sturdier. And of course it adds a lot of dense mass, which does very good to dampening vibrations and sound. Foamcore shroud alone could possibly rattle in very unpleasant ways. I also continued work on MB tray rails: This is advancing very slowly, mostly since it’s very time-consuming to get the measures of acrylic just right. When heated the hot areas expand and then retract when cooling: I needed tens of iterations to get a piece bent exactly 152mm wide. Naturally the visible fans will be modded, too. In order to make the upper shroud less bulky and visually more intriguing I proceeded to make the fans a bit rounder. Here is the first corner cut: Naturally it will be filed, sanded and polished later on; now it's just cut to roughly the right shape. I have a cunning plan for installing these. You will see . Discuss this entry at the discussion thread.
Interesting idea on the fans. I think it'll be one of those things that'll have people staring for hours saying "Something looks different... But I don't know what it is!"
