Project Tomoyo-chan! Updated 24/10 PSU modded + pics

Have you tried halfords? I think they call it vinyl paint.

 

What you are trying to achieve could actually turn out really great! Can't say I've tried the white before, but I've seen the newest Ibook, and damn, it looks good...

 

Yeah, sadly they only have black, as do all the other car shops I tried. Gonna look online.

MoJo

 

What it really needs is plexi on the outside, like some of the Apple stuff (G4 cube for example). I'm still trying to figure out if I can cut it well enough myself, or if there is somewhere that will do it professionally for me.

Actually, the Mac stuff is plexi painted white on the inside...

MoJo

 

Okay, I'm having trouble getting a mirror finish... been following the PC Workshop guide, but I just can't seem to get it perfect

I have three options. I could strip it all back down and try again, or I could go for normal gloss paint, or I could just go black. I'm thinking black sounds good.

The problem with white is that it stains so easily. You rub it with a non-white cloth, it stains. You rub it with rubbing compound, it stains. You wax it, it stains. Every bit of dust, every tiny imperfection shows up. It would probably be okay if I get it done professionally at a car spraying place, but I don't think I can afford it.

Help?!?

MoJo

 

are you using enamal paint or laquer?

and whats your curing time

for enamal paints only sand the first layer after 3-5 days of curing and dont sand any more of the layers. then when yu put the clear coat on sand that.

for laquer you can sand all levels but you want a lighter touch for it and may not need to sand the final coat of clear .

( laquer is softer than enamal so it sands easyer but is also easyer to make a mistake on but generaly goes on smoother giving a shinyer coat without the sanding)

 

I am using the spray on Plasti-coat stuff, and left it for nearly two days to dry out.

I think the main problem is that it's just very, very hard to make it perfect. There are too many edges, and white shows up every little imperfection.

I am thinking I might go black instead, but I have also been looking at metallic looking paints. A sort of dull metallic mirror look might contrast well.

MoJo

 

Where are you using the plasticote?

Metal or plastic?

 

that a lota case man to mod 2 computers in one maybe???

 

Metal. Maybe it's the rubbing compound or something (T-Cut). All I know is it's damn hard to do, especially in my garage, so I'm going black.

Actually, here is hint no. 4: Black hair

MoJo

 

plasticote on metal, eh?

I think the plasticote is the equivalent of vinyl dye, so you oughta sand all that off, prime it with normal auto primer and stick to auto paints, meant for metal.

 

how about no, plasticote can be used on loads of stuff, its just called plastikote. getting hte finish right is f*in hard tohugh , i bodged my first generic case right up it was pants.

 

It's just a brand name. They make all kinds of paints, like metal protection, metallic, hammered finish, mirror finish, primers etc. The paint I tried was general purpose high gloss, suitable for plastic, wood and metal.

I have done it black now anyway. Looks 100x better. Will put up some pictures tomorrow.

Moral: white paint is a pain in the ass to work with. I'm sure if I had somewhere better to do the spraying and could do better hand work (my wrists are screwed from too my typing) it would be okay, but I can't

MoJo

 

My bad then. Just the titling of plasticote seems odd.

Already did black? Man, I was hoping somebody would finally try white

Meh. So long as it came out good

 

Try here:

http://www.plastikote.com/

Okay, it's with a 'k'

So, anyway, yeah, I have done it black. Another problem with white is that I can't for the life of me get white vinyl dye anywhere. Every bloody colour but white... so I did the manly thing and gave up

I have suddenly got a hankering for UV stuff. Maybe it will go away, maybe it won't. As you can tell, I have no idea what the hell I'm doing really, I just have ideas for loads of cool mods (particularly on the electronics side) so I'll see where it ends up.

Is anyone still trying to get the reference? It's surely too easy now...

MoJo

 

Okay, update time...

First, I finished one side pannel, and the other is just drying off:



It's not too bad, but I'll probably re-do it (again) at some point to use 8 screws. Yeah, I'm a perfectionist...

I have been working on the electronics side of things too. Built a couple of fan controllers based on the schematics at cpemma.co.uk, and am working on little bar graph displays for them. I plan to have five in total, and the controlling pots are switched so I can turn them off completely.

I have been wondering about the LEDs on the front of the case too. There is room for 8. One is usually power and the other HD access, then the other six are for individual HD status (so you can see which one to swap out if it goes bad). I want to have individual lights for my RAID, although I'm not sure how good it will look. I was thinking that instead of using the standard LED positions I could instead put them in banks behind the slots in the front of the case. The only issues I can see are routing the wires and possibly obstructing airflow. It would free up the other LEDs for use as a CPU meter or something though.

It would look awesome with blue LEDs, but I figure I would need six per HD which = $$$

I have also started work on the PIC RS232 controlled 7 segment LED display which will accompany a Noritake VFD. I'll also stick on a thermometer too.

Finally, I am experimenting with ways of doing a backlit logo. For backlighting I have an old laptop screen which uses a white CCFL and some glass.

Another hint (someone must get it): Best friend

Stay tuned...

MoJo

 

Dude... the black turned out nicer than I would have thought. Still I would have preferred the white, but I can't argue on the choice of black! It really looks smooth. You did a good job, keep up the good work

 

Thanks a lot! I really appreciate the encouragement. I was a little bit displeased with it at first, but now I think it's okay. My room is so poorly lit anyway, it looks more or less perfect. The window hole is actually so well cut that I almost left out the rubber moulding. More blind luck than anything I guess

But yeah, white... knowing what I know now, I'm sure I could do it really well... damn, might have to get sanding

I'll hold off for now though, as I still can't find white vynal paint. I'm not sure what to work on next, the plastic or the electronics. Suppose I had better try and sort the electrical side out first.

MoJo

 

Well, it's been too long since the last update, so I'll try and do some pictures tomorrow!

In the mean time, here is what I have been doing. I finished all five fan controllers, they are PWM and based on cpemma's circuit. I have also finished prototyping the LED bargraph level meters for them, and am going to lay them out on stripboard soon.

I have also been hacking more bits of metal out of the case... fan grills mainly. I don't see the point of built in ones where there are mounting holes anyway, and they reduce airflow too. Airflow will be important if I'm running low speed fans. My plan is to have all the intake fans filtered for dust.

Been planning the front of the case too. I really want to mount a VFD in the front, but the problem is that the VFD requires a fairly chunky cable (currently it's got a short 26 strand ribbon, could probably halve the number of wires though). If it is mounted on the door, the problem becomes opening the door and having room to route the cable without major surgery. A picture would help explain it... maybe I can get some really small wires or something.

The other thing I have been sorting out is the backlit logo for the other door. The lighting part is basically done, it's a cold cathode with a chunk of glass to spread the light out. I am going to get the logo printed onto a transparent sheet to mask it.

I was never really happy with the paintwork... it's okay, but not perfect and I'm a bit of a perfectionist I'm thinking about stripping it down (again) and just sanding it to a smooth, brushed finish. Some car wax or something to protect it will do nicely.

Been thinking about a PSU mod too. Stay tuned for that.

MoJo

 

Little piccy:



Needs a case or something. The breadboard has the level meter circuit on it. Sadly just out of shot is my 75% finished tri-colour LED matrix display.

I had another idea today... not exactly a mod, but anyway. You can have scripts run on startup and login with Win2k (and presumably XP). The scripts can do all sorts of things, including running programs. I was fiddling with some OpenGL I've been hacking (Lightwave object loader), and thought "hay, it would be cool if I could have an animated 3D intro for my machine while Windows loads!"

MoJo