Scratch Build – In Progress Project Z1X -- 3rd November -- Restarting as a scratch-build

Thanks Heero195 and Rowin4Kicks

Yeah that's not a bad idea, Rowin, thanks for the suggestion!
I'll ask around the local shops and see if they have anything lying around or going cheap, but any time I've dealt with any of them before, they've been obnoxious, snooty b***ards
We'll see how it goes.

 

Can't wait to see how the res turns out

 

Thanks

I'm ordering the acrylic sheets either tonight or tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to work on the window & res soon.

 

A major flaw in my plans occurred to me today : Balance.

Placing the Motherboard in the upper portion of the case along with the radiator and a reservoir full of coolant raises the center of gravity the system a lot, in a case which is quite tall to begin with.

Noticing this flaw was a blessing in disguise, though, because I wanted to do something more to make the case interesting and move away from the basic box shape a little more.

So I designed these:











Adding those support legs will give the case a much larger footprint to disperse weight, while also adding some weight to the lower portion of the case by themselves.

I intend to make each one from a 'sandwich' comprised of one layer of 3mm acrylic between two layers of 2mm steel, then I might embed blue LEDs with strong resistors in the back of the acrylic to give them a subtle blue glow, but nothing overbearing.
The front supports will be attached to the case with brackets riveted to the front, just in front of the side panel.
I'll need to devise a method of attaching the rear supports such that they don't interfere with the removable side panels.
2 possible solutions I'm thinking of are to either attach the supports directly to those removable side panels, or mount the supports on locking hinges such that they can swing back to accomodate removing the side panel.


I think they fit with the visual theme of the case, what do you think?

I still need to do something with the front of the case - That nice, sleek Aluminium door sticks out against the rest of the case, I might remove it and create my own door to replace it, but I need to design one first.

 

I got some inspiration for the front panel!
(Yes, at 4am - I already know I have no life, you don't need to tell me! )

Instead of trying to modify the existing Aluminium door of the case, I'm going to remove it entirely, and create my own door from Aluminium and Acrylic, to fit the theme of the project.

Sketchup designs:








I will post photos of actual progress eventually, I'm waiting for materials to arrive right now, and my impatience leaves me staring at the Sketchup model, coming up with ideas.

But now it's time for bed, I can hear the dawn chorus beginning.

 

nice couple of designs there! i think you should deffo go for it!

 

Great Designs, Looks really cool.

 

I thought it all looked great before, but the custom front is definitely makes it much better. The legs look good, too, but there's something about them that look a little tacked on. Nothing drastic, just a vague feeling. Maybe they need a varied thickness? Something to make them a little more 3d? Not sure. I could be way off here. Might just look that way in the sketch. Also, in the sketch, it looks almost like the legs both aim backwards. If so, I like it.

Keep it up!

 

Love the case feet (lateral thingies). But i don't know about the new front door, it looks kinda excesive, adding a bit too much to the case. Just my 2 cents. Instead, you could put some blue lighting behind the original door grill.
Also, you could put some kind of temperature monitoring lcd, right in front of the rad box, like in the pic below.

 

Thanks for all the encouragement, I appreciate it!

I agree about the legs - They are just tacked on
Right now they're just floating there in 3d space, clipping against the chassis, but once I figure out how I'm going to mount them, I'll change the model to reflect it.

The legs are indeed aiming backwards, I think it makes for a more interesting shape than just having them at right-angles to the case.
Here's a shot which shows the leg positions better:
Image (~500Kb)

Thanks for the critique!

I think I needed the new front door design to finish off the theme in my mind.
Hopefully I'll be able to create it in a subtle manner, I hate Lighthouse-like PCs with overbright LEDs and CCFLs, I prefer subtle, gentle lighting and accents. (That's not in response to your lighting suggestion, btw, I just mean in general)
I had toyed with the idea of backlighting the front grill, but I don't think it'd be enough to bring the front up to spec with the rest of the case, so I went for the whole new front.

Where you suggested to put the LCD is where I had intended to place Firewire/USB/Audio I/O ports, but you know, I prefer the LCD idea.
I think putting the I/O ports there would ahve cluttered things, and I never use the front panel audio or firewire ports anyway.
I think I'll go with the LCD idea, so thanks Though it'll be a tight squeeze to fit it in.


Thanks for taking the time to comment and offer advice, I appreciate it a lot.

 

wouldn't it be cool to split the door open in the middle so the 2 parts open to both sides, hope you understand what i mean

 

That would be quite cool, and would fit much better with the symmetrical frontpanel of the case.
The case even has the 'hinge-hole' bored for left-side hinge already, oddly enough - Maybe Silverstone designed this case with my mod in mind.

I may have to do something elaborate for the drive-bay covers if I make the door open down the middle. We'll see.


Thanks for the input!

 

Materials and hardware have been ordered.

I've ordered two 1000x600 sheets of smoked blue acrylic, one 4' x 2' sheet of 16G aluminium and a 500ml bottle of solvent adhesive for the acrylic.
(Ordered from www.hindleys.co.uk - Quick to respond to an order and very courteous and friendly on the phone)

Due to the inevitability of mistakes, I'll probably be ordering more again later, but fingers crossed.

I've also ordered the following from DangerDen:



I know the HDPE reservoir is bad, but it's cheap and may help me out in a fix.. and I know I've probably ordered far too much Clearflex, but at least buying it now saves me from buying more in the future and paying for delviery again.

Hopefully it'll all arrive soon.

 

very very nice plans... wait to see them good luck

 

I love your designs for this case, and thats before I saw the fluorescent pcb idea

Definately going to watch this log, Its given me some ideas for my first case mod
Hope it all goes well

 

Like the plans. I had one of those Packard Bells! (I kept the heat sink.)
The flourescent pattern is a neat idea too. One problem you're going to have with that is that most flourescent paints are latex based, and not transparent. Paint pens are oil based paint, but not transparent. So you will need to shop around for something that suits your needs.

 

the design looks cool. and if your finished mod looks like your sketch up then it will be sweet.

 

Hopefully it won't be too far off

Thanks for the support and compliments everyone!

This arrived today:




My order for the Acrylic and Aluminium was delayed a bit, so I'm still waiting on those sheets to arrive.
When they arrive, though, I'll be able to dive straight into the project fully since I now have everything I need to ensure that my measurements are perfect.

 

14' of tubing?

Why so much?

 

Its quite a big case, and I guess some of it is incase he mis-cuts something