Here is the link to the discussion of this Project. http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?p=1122516#post1122516 I hope you enjoy this mod. This design is directly spawned off the Sapphire cube. I really didn't get enough time with that case, and I really wanted to do a lot more to it than I did. So when it came time to upgrade my LAN PC the desire was too strong to deny...I had to make another cube. I liked the Sapphire case. It looked good and it was well organized. Things were easy to get into and it was a great design to show off the hardware. This time I wanted to make the cube reflect more of my personality. I also wanted a more dynamic design. Zapwizard, Mr. Red and I were all brainstorming one night and we came out with the great internal layout that I am going to use on this case. So credit must be given for thier part in this creation. Zap is a master with TrueSpace but when it comes to designing things I stick with what I know. That would be corel11. Here is my design. This is the basic layout of the case. You see the front, sides and top in this pic: Drafting style of sorts. The grey is the aluminum and the pinkish stuff is supposed to be Red Plex. The Translucent feature of Corel lightens it too much. The artwork on the sides is an Oliva piece called "Hot Sauce". It is Betty Page dressed as a devil. I think it is hot and saucy so it is well titled. I am not sure if am am going to use this image or not. But I have it on here just to see how it will look. The Theme for this case came from its size. 13" square. We Tried for 12" but we couldn't get everything to fit inside. So 13 it became, and then Project13. Everytime I see thirteen I think of the Thrill Kill Kults "13 above the Night". I also knew I wanted to use Red Plex ever since I became a huge fan of ModSquads "Black Narcisuss"case. The blood red plex, the devil number 13 all pointed me to a Devilish theme. So there you go, I let the shrinks take it from there. The Cube itself is going to be made from aluminum. The front and top will be 1/8" and the sides and back will be .063. I then plan to mount the plex to the face of the Aluminum. I will get more detailed on the process as I go. First thing first. I need to cut the aluminum and route out the windows and holes. For the thicker pieces I used the Table Saw, the thinner ones got cut on the stomp shear. To do the holes I exported the above patterns from corel to my Engraving program. I then cut a template into 1/16" poly and used that as a pattern for the pin router. While I was at the routing I went ahead and did the top acrylic piece. The front and side acrylic pieces will have the more complicated designs lazered. Basically the way a pin router works is you have a bit and a blade. The bit traces your pattern and the blade cuts the inderneath piece. The two pieces are separated with 1/16" foam tape so there is a slight gap to keep you from cutting into your pattern. Fast forward into the future and you have the front and sides. I got ahead of myself in this pic and installed some alum fans I annodized with some duplicolor red annodizing paint. I also was messing around with some finishes. The left one is straight brushed and the middle one is circular. I think I am going to go with the circular. I think I prefer the look of it over the brushed. The Fans I was refering too. These are just plain Jane Evercool Alum. Fans painted with Duplicolor Red Annodizing paint. Don't they just look Sweet. stay tuned...
Project13 The Fulll Worklog thread can be found here. http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?p=1122513#post1122513 This is my first time with this format so I hope I am doing it correctly. If not just let me know. This design is directly spawned off the Sapphire cube. I really didn't get enough time with that case, and I really wanted to do a lot more to it than I did. So when it came time to upgrade my LAN PC the desire was too strong to deny...I had to make another cube. I liked the Sapphire case. It looked good and it was well organized. Things were easy to get into and it was a great design to show off the hardware. This time I wanted to make the cube reflect more of my personality. I also wanted a more dynamic design. Zapwizard, Mr. Red and I were all brainstorming one night and we came out with the great internal layout that I am going to use on this case. So credit must be given for thier part in this creation. Zap is a master with TrueSpace but when it comes to designing things I stick with what I know. That would be corel11. Here is my design. This is the basic layout of the case. You see the front, sides and top in this pic: Drafting style of sorts. The grey is the aluminum and the pinkish stuff is supposed to be Red Plex. The Translucent feature of Corel lightens it too much. The artwork on the sides is an Oliva piece called "Hot Sauce". It is Betty Page dressed as a devil. I think it is hot and saucy so it is well titled. I am not sure if am am going to use this image or not. But I have it on here just to see how it will look. The Theme for this case came from its size. 13" square. We Tried for 12" but we couldn't get everything to fit inside. So 13 it became, and then Project13. Everytime I see thirteen I think of the Thrill Kill Kults "13 above the Night". I also knew I wanted to use Red Plex ever since I became a huge fan of ModSquads "Black Narcisuss"case. The blood red plex, the devil number 13 all pointed me to a Devilish theme. So there you go, I let the shrinks take it from there. The Cube itself is going to be made from aluminum. The front and top will be 1/8" and the sides and back will be .063. I then plan to mount the plex to the face of the Aluminum. I will get more detailed on the process as I go. First thing first. I need to cut the aluminum and route out the windows and holes. For the thicker pieces I used the Table Saw, the thinner ones got cut on the stomp shear. To do the holes I exported the above patterns from corel to my Engraving program. I then cut a template into 1/16" poly and used that as a pattern for the pin router. While I was at the routing I went ahead and did the top acrylic piece. The front and side acrylic pieces will have the more complicated designs lazered. Basically the way a pin router works is you have a bit and a blade. The bit traces your pattern and the blade cuts the inderneath piece. The two pieces are separated with 1/16" foam tape so there is a slight gap to keep you from cutting into your pattern. Fast forward into the future and you have the front and sides. I got ahead of myself in this pic and installed some alum fans I annodized with some duplicolor red annodizing paint. I also was messing around with some finishes. The left one is straight brushed and the middle one is circular. I think I am going to go with the circular. I think I prefer the look of it over the brushed. The Fans I was refering too. These are just plain Jane Evercool Alum. Fans painted with Duplicolor Red Annodizing paint. Don't they just look Sweet. stay tuned...
Nice! There are some pics I haven't seen. So you ended up going with the orbital finish rather than brushed?
Yep, The brushed didn't look like I thought it would. But the orbital I used was just my arm. I like the random circular look doing it manually gave. I should have some updates once I get home. Got a lot done today.
In the 1st pic you posted. How did you make the designs did you use a program? And what program? thanks
I used Corel 11 to make the design. Today I spent part of the day filing and sanding down the rough cut edges of the aluminum, and also sanding the circular brushed pattern into all of the faces (both sides). Here is the finished product. What I started with was this jaggedy router chewed mess. closer until smoothness is achieved. And they all rejoiced. Once all pieces were de-burred, smoothed and given the circular brushed finish they were laid out in the shop and given several coats of clear coat. this makes them look shiny and also protects them. I will try to get a better pic of the finish later. It was getting dark ouside so I was loosing my best lightsource. The flash doesn't do that great for this. The Acrylic Pieces. At lunch I took the acrylic pieces over to a friend of mines Trophy shop. In exchange for his cutting things out for me I get him vinyl prints. It a great bartering system and a fair reason to start up your own local modding club. Pooled resources rock. The Epilog laser with all its yummy cutting goodness. The Front and side pieces lasered out with the top piece I cut with the pin router. I still need to clean them up with a bit of minor sanding, polishing and what not (especially the top one). I will do that next week though. This weekend I wanted to play around with this Ultra Fan Commander I want to put in the case. I had painted the Brushed Silver faceplate annodized red to see how it looks. Looks pretty good if you ask me, but the lighting around the buttons is blue. I need to be changing that to match the case, that would be RED. Should be a simple process of removing these 3mm blue LEDs here. I should get you an update on that later this weekend hopefully if I have the time.
Update 2 Today I spent part of the day filing and sanding down the rough cut edges of the aluminum, and also sanding the circular brushed pattern into all of the faces (both sides). Here is the finished product. What I started with was this jaggedy router chewed mess. closer until smoothness is achieved. And they all rejoiced. Once all pieces were de-burred, smoothed and given the circular brushed finish they were laid out in the shop and given several coats of clear coat. this makes them look shiny and also protects them. I will try to get a better pic of the finish later. It was getting dark ouside so I was loosing my best lightsource. The flash doesn't do that great for this. The Acrylic Pieces. At lunch I took the acrylic pieces over to a friend of mines Trophy shop. In exchange for his cutting things out for me I get him vinyl prints. It a great bartering system and a fair reason to start up your own local modding club. Pooled resources rock. The Epilog laser with all its yummy cutting goodness. The Front and side pieces lasered out with the top piece I cut with the pin router. I still need to clean them up with a bit of minor sanding, polishing and what not (especially the top one). I will do that next week though. This weekend I wanted to play around with this Ultra Fan Commander I want to put in the case. I had painted the Brushed Silver faceplate annodized red to see how it looks. Looks pretty good if you ask me, but the lighting around the buttons is blue. I need to be changing that to match the case, that would be RED. Should be a simple process of removing these 3mm blue LEDs here. I should get you an update on that later this weekend hopefully if I have the time.
wow, i must say i really admire your work, i also think this case and your last case have inspired me to make a cube of my own
no offense, but the design seems a little random to me. i love the anodized red and the shiny steel, it fits together perfectly. keep up the good work!
sweet I was wondering if the pin routing technique can be used whit a regular hand router on sheet alu? just makes me want to quit work and stay home and cut stuff up.
This looks pretty sweet! Looking forward to seeng how you mount everything inside ch424 EDIT: why have you put the log in the comments thread and the log thread?
probably. You would just need the bits with the wheel on top and drill a pilot hole to get it started, and a very steady hand. I have some special plans for the insides. Things I think you will like because I was allready getting questions from people who didn't bother to read the log thread. [edit] sorry I didn't get to the Fan controller. I took a ride on the Hill Country Steam Train on sunday. I didn't realize it was a 9 hour trip. Sheesh.
Not a big update today, but I finally got around to changing the LED's in that Fan commander. It was a simple process of removing the old blue and installing the new RED ones. Ultra used some thin squared off 3mm LED's so my fat roundies didn't fit. I just cut a "V" in the acrylic surrounding the button with an exacto and flame polished the edges clear again. Not pretty but hey it works. and both sides. To finish off the look I took a piece of clear red celephane and put it over the blue LCD screen. Yes that will go nicely with everything. I need to get another can of the red and give the faceplate a couple of more shots but that will be good to go when I get to installing the drives. I have some of the insides of the cubes painted up a bit. I also made a removable motherboard tray that sits on rails made and painted. I just forgot to bring my Camera with me the other day. I should get some pics for you tommorow. In case any of you are wondering what the hardware will be...well you will just have to guess. For now that sits in my Silverstone case waiting for its new home. Notice how it matches the "Theme" as well.
Sheldog, Very nice work on this case. You can't go wrong with a vintage Betty Page silhouette. I'll be subscribing to this project. M.....O..
