Scratch Build – In Progress Project: YM Inside, December 07-March 08 (FINISHED!)

Hi

I previously started a thread detailing how I was going to mod a PowerMac G4 into a PC for my A Level (2nd Year college) DT project. Well, my teacher wasn't entirely thrilled with the idea because it wasn't a scratch build.

So for the last few months I've been generating my project going through the motions that we are forced through on the course (folder work blah blah). I'm nearing the final design stages and I'm going to make my final CAD today.

I have been largely inspired by the "Sangaku" scratch build, and you will definitely see some similarities. My design is influenced by Islamic Art, in particular lattice structures. As a member of The Young Muslims UK, I am also incorporating the organisation logo into my project for my 'client'.

The project is going to be majority wood, notably the framework which is by far the most efficient way of constructing a wood case (due to thickness). Front and back panels will be metal probably thin steel. I will be making use of a Computer Aided Manufacture quite possibly laser cutting for some of the intricate patterns and lattice.

- YM Inside

I'll keep this thread updated as I progress, will post the CAD to give a better idea too.

Final CAD:



Final Product:

 

Sounds good.
Is it me, or does that logo look like a japanese school uniform? (Too much anime...)

 

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=113985 ...

Cheapskate: it definitely is you and your anime. It reminds more Transformers to me

 

Yeah, don't worry I'll be updating the thread regularly I just wanted to kick it off so that once I put up my CAD's and stuff I can get feedback instantly. Those rules aren't written in stone

 

Actually they are. Read the 3. paragraph. Those rules are there for a reason.

 

the rules are written, but they [strike]arent always followed mind you.[/strike] are bent sometimes.
this is supposed to be for computer project logs, but why do we have a log of a trebuchet(catapult), or someone modding their garage.
(no offense to those lots, great job you are doing)
so lets just wait for him to put up some CAD drawings.

p.s. no strikeout tags?

 

yes there are [ s ]strikeout[ /s ] (w/o the spaces) will produce a strikeout . =)

@pcgamez: will look forward to seeing some CAD drawings and mod progress later.. the Islamic art could make for an original and very nice mod imo.

 

finally an update

I've been so busy trying to keep up with the A Level paperwork I've failed to keep this thread updated Anyway, i'm here now with an update having made some progress and also to try and motivate myself to add to my folderwork..! I wonder if they accept bit-tech logs as plans of manufacture...

I'll start with the basic CAD i started off with:



Basically the fame based structure is one of my 'design developments' so I decided that all the side panels would be modular and slot into grooves along the frame. I chose to use Pine for basic framing and different materials depending on the panel (perspex, 2x4mm ply and steel). Not using expensive materials because a) I can't be trusted with it and b) The criteria are such that I don't have the resources to make it worthwhile really. Reason for Ply, as you will see, is that it can work well with the laser cutting/etching which I use on the two large sides.

I will add to the preparation stages later, I need to save some more of my CAD drawings including my 2D Designs...

Initial Experimentation:

This is a sticker of the logo made using a cam machine..



And this is a 'template' of the logo - one of my models which exemplifies how the CAD-CAM method will be used to etch the logo into the side panel


Second model is how the side panels are going to work - 4 mil grooves on circular saw (yes, not the safest way I know) with the 4 mil ply. The grooves are about 6mm deep.



Use of CAD CAM

Our school doesn't have a laser cutting machine but the teacher has access to one that does, so he made this service available to us for our projects.

I have designed the two large sides of the case in techsoft (2d design). The Islamic Art patterns were difficult to get to a level which I had initially imagined because i was made aware that such complex patterns would be difficult to cut and the plywood wouldn't be able to handle it. The other side I wanted it to be simple, a large YM logo.

Techsoft converts bitmaps into vector format, however I was fortunate enough to get hold of the YM logo in vector format, which resulted in a very crisp and accurate cut as opposed to the rather straggly vectorised version of the bitmap logo.

Here are the two final 2d designs:

Door panels (the caligraphy in red is Arabic and it says "Salaam" which means "Peace")



Side panel:


And here are the final cuts:

Doors:



Side panel:



Three reasons for using plywood for the sides:
1. It gives a burned effect on the inside of the laser cuts, which is nice
2. Plywood is layers of different woods, when etched a layer is removed revealing another colour/wood. This is effective and attractive.
3. Its dirt cheap and pretty strong.

Ortho Design

Here's the ortho, it needs cleaning up and the sizes aren't right at the moment - so its just there to give you an idea



Constructing the Frame

The frame consists of the TOP frame, BOTTOM frame and four Pillars to connect the two.

I love this beast:


Frame pieces cut to size:


Creating grooves in the framing (central):




I decided to use Haunched Mortise&Tenon joints for joining the top and bottom frames (marks are in the handmade joints). The reason they are haunched is to factor in the groove which requires covering. Clever eh? (rhetorical dont answer that )



Here is Wikipedia's diagram of this, no i didn't copy this...



Complicated method of marking out ensures that the joint is cut correct (almost) every time:






Use mortising gauge for the tenon cuts (cant believe school didn't have a single 1)...or use standard marking gauge.



Cutting the tenon:



Tenon cuts


Tenon cuts with groove


Remove the two outside pieces to leave the centre tenon intact with haunch on the groove side



Another beast I love, the mortiser saves a lot of chisel work. Again, setting up is key to ensuring a perfect mortise every time as you can see its been set and there is a piece of wood making sure it hits the right place.



Another nifty tool, this handheld belt sander (wait, aren't most of them handheld...oh well) is really handy for cleaning up joints. No thats not me btw.



Nicely done



In we go...





Top frame with Ply (changed mind for using ply on the bottom frame...will explain)



The clear acrylic (perspex) goes into the top frame



With all the joints complete, the two frames are assembled:



Just for personal judgement, I now place the 4 pillars to see how the box will look. Note at the stage there are no fixings.



How to fix the circular saw cut on the edge? Fill it in with the same material:



Leaving the piece jutting out for sanding over later



The grooves for the front and back panels need to extend all the way, something that can easily be forgotten! You'd be surprised how much you can achieve with a stanley (or even better a locking knife).



The frames can be glued and cramped, slotted the perspex in and lined everything up. Obviously what you don't see here are the numerous modifications to the joints because lets face it, human error counts for a lot (and inexperience more so!). Any chipped off pieces were glued back and the whole thing sanded over once glued.



bottom frame cramped up



So thats the top and bottom frames done.

Making the Base

I have opted to construct a solid base as opposed to grooving it like the other sides. This is mainly due to the later attachment of components...

Two planks of pine will be glued together, gorilla glue is very useful (note that's the brand but its the type of glue im on about) for ensuring fast drying attachments, its foaming can really pull up some holes.

Just checking how I want the base to be positioned and how much to take off after its glued:





Another beast of a machine, I used this planer to take out some of the extreme cupping in the pine and it did a great job to be honest. Did both sides to keep it even.



Glued together, got it cramped up exactly. You have to be especially careful if the wood is twisted the last thing you want are two pieces inaccurately joined together. Had to attach some clamps at slight angles to make sure it was level. Can be useful to get a 3rd party to take a look.



Out comes another crucial tool...belt sander. Excuse the gloves, it was subzero temperatures in the workshop (which is a garage).



Tis me!



So we skip ahead a little, using another nifty powertool (wood router) I've chamfered the edges of the base (and frame) after cutting it down to size.





Me routing the frame





The frame and the base actually strengthen each other and straighten each other out by being attached to each other (...hmm can relate that to so many things in life?). Just used standard brass screws



No need for countersinking, by manually screwing the heads come flush with the surface or a little deeper if need be.



The uprights / pillars

So this is basically where i'm at so far...and the stage which actually gives a clearer image of the direction.

Due to the numerous cuts in the ends of the wood (for tenons, grooves etc) the best joint to use for these are 6mil dowel pegs.

Again, another system is used to ensure that all the dowels are accurately marked. This is crucial to having a complete structure which will end up square in all possible corners.Luckily I have 3 marking gauges at my disposal (technically one of them was a modded mortising gauge) so I set each one at the appropriate location. One for the centre line and the other two for the two holes.





Step 1: mark out the centre





Step 2: puncture dowel point 1



Step 3: puncture dowel point 2



Step 4: Use bradle to clear the holes:



Step 5: Create a drilling jig to ensure that the depth is set constant and the holes are straight:



Step 6: Drill!



Step 7: Mark secondary holes using dowel pins. These are rare/expensiveish but perfect for the job. Had to use paper towel to make them fit



Step 8: Peg and attach. If the pinning stage was accurate (using blocks of wood on the edges) then generally they line up well.



Coming together nicely:









oops...It appears I miscalculated along the way....back to the chopping board :|


Perfect fit!





Phew it took me ages to update this...time to sleep its almost 3am

 

Very nice start on an ambitious mod! The lattice designed doors are striking in design, as well as the YM logo. For some reason they don't exactly complement each other, but not in a terrible way. The geometrically-inspired tile work, lattices and art in predominately Muslim countries are quite colorful and beautiful.

Good luck on your college project. I'm looking forward to your continued updates.

 

Nice Update.
I like the side panel etching of your logo.

 

Because the doors only open a doors width (and therefore internal component fitting could be difficult), I increased the top groove to double the depth so that you can now physically remove the doors by pushing them upwards and then pulling them out. This works particularly well because plywood is quite flexible.

Can't believe the school network blocks all imageshack pics...

Here's a quick illustration to demonstrate:



In order to make the doors slide nicely I will be using the 'candle rub' technique where you apply a dry candle to the surfaces in order to improve motion and smoothness. Probably will do this towards the finishing stages. I am currently working on the internals for the PC.

 

Update!

Hey i'm back with another chunk of an update...

So firstly, I was lucky enough to get a P4 machine donated to me from a friend - it's not a very good spec I imagine its one of the lower end P4's and only has 256megs of ram but i'm not complaining because it's perfect for the next step which is of course, the internals.

But before that, I left you with no front and back panels so a quick update there. I decided to use aluminium layered polycarbonate so basically its thin aluminium on both sides and plastic in the middle.

Cooling/Airflow?

I will be using a simple back to front airflow scheme



Using 3 x 120mm Nexus/Yate Loon silent fans



Difference between nexus and yate loon is the colour and the price, yate loon is a fraction of the price (i got 3 for around £10 delivered).

Heres the nexus one

Heres the yate loon ones

Components?

I intend to install my new machine in this case in the summer (end of June hopefully) but for the completion of this project I will be installing the PC donated to me. Obviously I don't want to fork out for a new machine until I can use it, so I'm going to wait until after my exams. If I want to liquid cool obviously i'll further modify that case at that stage, these fans are suitable for that.

Panels

Because I had already planned to use aluminium, i had to widen the grooves using the milling machine. Obviously more widely used for metal work, but can be used for accurate cuts in wood too.



And here's the glorious pic of me...no comment about my uniform :\



Obviously had to do this for all the concerned sides (8 in total!) in order for the panels to fit. Here's how it looks after they've been fixed in place after much adjustment and just brute force





Caging

Now back to the PC. Well best thing really is that its just a standard ATX case which is perfect for me.

This is it with all the external panels removed:





Time to rip those components out:



ok so I definitely want to use the steel framework as a way of fitting my components, especially for the motherboard (with all marked holes) and the back panel. Time to drill out those rivets:



Also, remove the feet. Rivets can easily be drilled out using a similar sized drill bit. Yes, I did snap one bit in the process how embarrassing...


nice pops


So removed all the caging and detached:



Just placing to see how it could go in the case.





Front panel for CD bays, will probably be ripped apart to allow for front fan:



I had to separate the front and back because my case is XL using the guillotine.



bundled everything into the case ready to work..



Back Piece

Cut out the back piece slots using the vibrating saw



Modifying the panel to allow for my 120mm fans. Pretty nasty stuff to cut, the guillotine is good but only works on certain angles, and junior hacksaw with file is tedious.





Oh and a glorious pic of me lol...



What now...



Some crazy hacksawing later.



A better way to allow for filing



Not too bad:



Lining up



Positioning fan



I stole the grate off my PowerMacG4 PSU Fan which is HUGE (120mm but really thick), perfect for this. Cut the circle on the vibrating saw too, and pretty neat circular cut if I may say so myself



Fiddling around with the fit, using the supplied screws



Countersunk holes ensure the fan pulls up tight



Fan secured in position



Doors

Remember the doors. I experimented with them using paper like the Sangaku case, but teacher suggested translucent acrylic which looks pretty nice

Paper allows nice lighting effect



Mark out on the perspex where i want to place glue. This is to prevent it coming through on the other side. Don't worry, its on the peel-off part. Purposefully using the dull side for matt effect.



Using impact adhesive for quick drying and hard stick



Applying to ply



Applying to acrylic



Leave under a weight to dry for 24 hours



Looking good With a bit of light behind those panels I think this will look pretty cool.



The weight of the perspex has given the door better sliding capability





That's all for today, but expect more soon because the deadline is creeping up!

Peace

 

*Bump* any progress pcgamez?

 

Hey guys, sorry for not updating. In a nutshell, my teachers bummed out when I bought my project in the day before the easter break (destructive criticism)...and they didn't let us take our projects home to finish/improve over easter so I was really annoyed. Anyhow, I'm back at school now and the deadline is tomorrow. So I promise to update the log with the final pictures on the weekend

Peace

 

Final Updates!

Peace....so it's all over, the deadline was Friday and I've handed the lot in (i think!). Was using firefox3 to update this last time...and it crashed half way through so I'm going to switch over to 2...

This is a bulk update from the last few weeks, you can tell when each set was due to the different environment.

Positioning front fan


Jigsawing out holes for optical drives


LOL yes that is me looking ridiculous


Belt sanding surface to remove the plastic layer. This was really difficult, tried blowtorching but the plastic in the middle melted first. With the beltsanding i had to be really careful not to remove the thin layer of aluminium.


Leaves a brushed aluminium finish, which I then buffered using wet and dry glasspaper


Testing the front panel in slot


Used the nibbler to cut out hole for front fan. This is an excellent tool, it would've been so much more difficult without. (Junior Hacksaw went in the bin when this came out!)


Perfect fit! Very circular, im proud.


For the frontal grate, I initially planned some kind of large circular grill. My best option here was a three piece grill which is usually used in gutter drains. I found [urlhttp://www.steelselect.com/products/detailedproduct.php?cid=108&pid=348=]this site[/url] which has some nice CADs of vents and other building objects.


This was hard!


The good old handheld belt sander is back to speed up the process of removing the fins


This took longer than it appears! Getting them all to fit perfectly was a hassle


Re-riveting a section of the internal framework back together


I modified the internal caging so that the Hard Drive bay component hooks onto the second slot instead of the first, this allows it to be set back a little but still be perfectly secure. Positioning HDD fan


Support for the front caging


Internal supports to keep the caging level


This is the back panel all cut and finished


Cramped it up to make sure the positioning of the caging doesnt need to change once glued


Nibbling out the hole for the HDD fan


This is the front half of the caging roughly positioned


This is the internal case with no components, all supports visible.


What makes up the frame


Varnishing (Decided to use mahogany varnish with gloss.)
















Using enamel spray paint for the vents and inside of the panels


I love spraying...shame it only takes seconds






All internals varnished and drying



Setting the places for front panel switches.




Again, quite a task making the hole the exact right size


Finally glued and cramped up ready to be taken in to school for the final varnishing


I couldn't resist testing the lighting before i took it in!




Last few days of working on it













Final Finished Product



















Final Pics





So thats basically it! Because its a school project I don't yet have the chance to show it in its proper environment hooked up to a screen and stuff. Eventually I will have this running at home hopefully

 

Looks Fantastic. Wish the light was a bit more even.

 

It's Sharkon Cathode tube lights so obviously they're linear. They're not actually fixed in that position, when I eventually take it home i'll use the velcro strips supplied to position them nicely.