Project 'Til All Are One' - Final Update - 27/11/05

Hi all,

This will be my first 'proper' mod, and I hope you enjoy watching the Log, the discussion will be set up in a few minutes, but first a little rundown.

The idea is, a media pc that will be connected to my TV permanently, and if need be, taken to our regular, local LANs to be used for our Movie sessions (with projector).

The only thing I can say about the design is that I'm a Generation 1 Transformers nut.

The Plan (external)





The Plan (internal)

All PC related 'bits & peices' were bought from OcUK (as it's just down the road from where I live.

Shuttle ST61G4 - bought from B-grade stock, missing a drive cage (unforseen mod required), but for the price I got it for, I can't complain. (really cheap)
Celeron 2.53Ghz Processor
512Mb Crucial DDR
160Gb Samsung IDE HD
DVD ROM / RW (haven't decided which yet)
Onboard Graphics (ATi 9100IGP)

Pretty Bog standard system, but as all i'll be doing is watching stuff with it, it's not really a problem.

Also, something I haven't seen before, but something that I think could be quite cool as I hate using a PC on a tv display, is modding a KVM internally therefore cutting down external wires and the like.

So, to the actual work.......


The Shuttle, all stripped and ready for re-working


LinkSys KVM, not really much else I can say about it really.

As I mentioned before the shuttle came without a drive cage, so with what I had lying around i went total ghetto with a solution.


1x Hard Drive, 1x Temp CD ROM drive.......1x piece of leftover HardBoard sheeting......cut the sheet to size, drill a few holes (which match up with the screwholes on the bottom of the hard drive and CD Drive)......screw drives to HardBoard sheet (HD first, for obvious reasons when you look at the pic)


place in space reserved for drive cage......you'll notice that there are gaps on either side of the CD Drive.


cut 2 pieces of hardboard sheet (luckily the stuff i have is exactly the correct depth for the gaps) and insert into gaps to prevent drive from sliding around.

And that is a total Ghetto drive cage, sturdy and secure, but easily removable.

And that is about as far as i've got so far as i am still waiting for materials to arrive......which hopefully will be Tuesday, if i think of anything else i can be working on in the meantime i'll be sure to post it

TheMightySpud

 

Project 'Til All Are One' - Discussion - Update 27/10/05

Hi all,

This would be the thread to discuss This Project any and all comments/discussion is welcome (as long as it's constructive )

TheMightySpud

 

This mod looks like it'll be pretty awesome, I'm a big G1 fan myself! Absolutelly can't wait to see how this turns out!

 

Ooookay, after a couple of days, i have an update.

I started to work on the front panel as I figured it would be the hardest......I was so wrong, it turned out to be really simple.

First of all, the pieces....



to make thing's easier, refer to the image and this numbering system for the pieces

1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8

Starting from the rear of the front panel, refer to piece #7 (yes I know i photographed it upside down in relation to the other pics) this is the back piece that will hold the circuit board portion of the PSOne LCD in place.

Piece #4 is the 'surround' for the circuit board.

Piece #1 is the main housing piece which will hold the screen part of the PSOne LCD.

The four identical pieces (2, 3, 5 & 6) go in front of Piece #1 one to make sure that the housing is flush with the front of the LCD.

Continuing to work forwards, not pictured is a sheet of normal white paper (with an area cut out for the PSOne LCD) which will act as a background for the main image piece which will be printed onto a simple inkjet transparency which will then be place in front of the white sheet of paper.

Last but not least, Piece #8, which is a piece of clear Acrylic cut to size which will be stuck onto the front of the whole assembly to act as protection for the image and to give a nice finish.

The next part will deal with the test fitting and actual fitting together.

TheMightySpud

 

Now for the fun bit.

A test 'fitting' of all the front panel pieces.


From the front, all nicely nicely fitting, LCD nicely flush with the front.


From the back with the LCD circuit board in place.

Much to my joy, it all fitted perfectly. w00t.

Now for sticking all the bits together on a more permanent basis.


Front of the front panel.............don't it look nice? almost as good as the image, I couldn't be happier with it.


Reverse side of the screen section of the LCD.

This as far as I'm going with the front panel fittings so far as I have 3 switches and 3 LEDs to fit before the other 2 pieces are attached and I haven't got around to sorting the wiring out for those as yet, I'll probably get to that tomorrow night.

A small preview of what is to come though in regards to the side and top panels....


All stencilled and ready for cutting, probably do those tonight, not sure yet though.

TheMightySpud

 

Aaaaw. no more comments?

TheMightySpud

 

Rock on! I have been waiting to see a good Transformers mod for a while now, and this looks to be quite promising indeed. I can't wait to see how the cutting and such goes for the case, and look forward to more updates!

 

Project 'Til All Are One' - Update 19/10/05

Jesus H. Corbett, an update.....

Well I've had an idea for a mod on my main rig, so I figured I'd better get this finished first.....

To the updates...


Test fitting of the front panel with all the bells and whistles added (3 switches, 3 LED's)

I'm not actually that happy with it now, a couple of things went a little weird during adding the buttons and the LED's and now I've decided to rebuild the whole thing from scratch, and take out the LCD screen (cause I want to use it in my main rig)

So for now, the front panel is pretty much on the back burner until I get paid and can afford the material I need.

So, on with the panelling......


All cut and ready for application to the shell.


The Shell with the hexagonal 'mini-window', i suppose you could call it, cut out







Various shots of the panels applied and awaiting painting.

Off to spray the whole thing now.......more updates later, when the paint has dried.

TheMightySpud

 

Updated 19/11/05 :-D

'bout time really....

TheMightySpud

 

Update - 20/11/05

Oooookay. on with the paint......







Basic black coat applied. As you can see during drying some of the panels 'curled' pulling away from the shell, so after a timely 'superglue intervention' the whole thing was lightly sanded and paint applied once more.

Now for the interesting bit......the panelling itself.......

This part I was kinda dreading cause I've never done dry-brushing before, and you know what, it's a piece of urination. lol







I found this so simple to do, and it only took me 30 minutes for the whole thing.

I think I was more lucky than anything else, because the paints I was using doesn't like sticking to the black spray I used, so it helped a lot, especially with the two coloured pieces.

Really easy method to the whole thing....

1/ paint the solid coloured parts first.
2/ mix several different shades of grey (included a light blue in the mix on a couple)
3/ go nuts with a variety of different width paintbrushes.
4/ use long brushstrokes that always go in the same direction.

the next bit, I just figured, what the hell, and it works great, well, if you're using water based paints.

5/ take a wide brush (I used a 3 inch) wet it, and almost completely dry it (I used bog roll)
6/ go nuts brushing back and forth over the recently painted surface a few times.

This helps to balance out the the 'layers' of colour and what not, and (even if I do say so myself) looks great.

1 small note, the actual thing is a little darker than the images portray, hadta use the flash.

Next up, rebuilding the front panel (all done apart from sticking it all together, seem to have misplaced my glue) and attaching the 'mini-window'.

Til next time.

TheMightySpud

 

More updates added, all the painting is complete

Remember, any feedback is appreciated.

TheMightySpud

 

I may of missed this, but what kind of LCD is it? looks like it might be suitable for my project

 

It's a PSOne LCD (there's an article in the modding section about it) but I've decided to remove it and use it on my main rig (which will be another Transformers mod )

Stay Tuned.

TheMightySpud

 

This is a great mod Lots of good ideas.

The paintjobb wasnt so bad.

 

Update 22/11/05

Well, it's that time again...

Just a small update this time.

Currently rebuilding the front panel and hope to finish it tomorrow, if I can figure out how to make holes for the buttons and make the DVD ROM slot without screwing up the acrylic.

Anywho, onto todays update.

The Mini-Window.

Very simply achieved.

Cut the hole....(see earlier updates)

Use the overlapping parts of the panelling to secure a small piece of acrylic (which was 'frosted' using sandpaper), with a printed 'pattern' attached to the back to give a crystal effect. Secured LED's (which were salvaged from an old case, including the wiring) with a spot of superglue and secured the wires with black electrical tape. Not pretty but doesn't really need to be as it'll never be seen.


Picture of the inside setup, very simple, very fugly, but screw it. lol


And the payoff........pic doesn't really do it any justice, but it looks really nice.

So, thats about it for now, just the front panel to do

A small note on the KVM I planned to mod inside the case, not gonna happen, nowhere near enough space to make it work, so I'm going to save it for my main rig.

Please comment, I feel all lonely.

TheMightySpud

 

Update 22/11/05

Yet another update 22/11/05

Almost done now.

TheMightySpud

 

I like it!!

 

looking good. Nice to see an original idea for a window from time to time

 

I'm having early to mid eighties flashbacks! AWESOME!

 

Well things have ground to a halt unfortunately....

It's almost done, I have all of the pieces test fitted, all I need to to is straighten out the edges of the front panel to make them all nice and neat.

That's where things go a little pear shaped.

My sander decided to go pop........so it looks like it's going to haveta wait until next wednesday (payday ) before I can finish it (quite a bit of material to remove through sanding and I can't do it all by hand, dont ask)

In the meantime though I'll be working on the prep for my main rig mod.

TheMightySpud