Introduction By the will of the Omnissiah was issued with Imperial console 02 (ЕЕЕ PC). I love it and I always carry it with me. But while this is not an issue in the winter because of the pockets of my jacket, when the weather became warmer I had to carry it by hand and that was a problem. I did not enjoy it at all. One day while I was performing my duties on the roller knife and was conjuring a system of belts and straps that would allow me to carry it secretly, all of a sudden inspiration hit me like a ton of bricks. Why in Omnissiah’s name would I want to carry it secretly? When I have such a great opportunity to show it to everyone! So... The idea The idea that hit me was rather simple really. It was something I have saw on multiple occasions, a motive that had always fascinated me. Like for example the books in Unseen University Library for example, or some books in the Warcraft universe and quite frequently in my favorite Warhammer 40.000 universe. You’re caching on aren’t you? I decided to create a book with which to carry the laptop. Of course that couldn’t be a real book, but I sure would try as hard as I can to make look like one while it hangs by a chain on my waist But how exactly should it be looking? From what I’ve said so far it should be a dead giveaway but still hear me out. Although I like the Discworld the books from the Unseen University Library have chains for a different purpose, not to be carried around for sure. The Warcraft variations offer a lustrous alternative, but for a Warhammer 40.000 fan that’s not enough. So as a believer in the Cult Mechanicus doctrine I decided to keep it as close as possible to Adeptus Mechanicus canon, while at the same time I would try to indulge my weakness towards the Iron Hands chapter and get what I can from them. The build In the beginning I started with a search for a proper book to cut up, but gave it up very easy. A book measuring at 274х214х50 millimeters is a hard thing to find, and honestly speaking Cult Mechanicus is all about acquiring knowledge, not destroying it. So I choose to make my own from scratch. I began with the basics – got the measurements from the machine and draw a model for the pages in CorelDRAW. Cutting through 50mm of paper in the desired shape is not easy and it’s definitely harder when you need to be extremely precise. That’s why I never attempted it. By the Omnissiah’s blessing my job grants me access to printing presses, mechanical cutters and presses, so I ordered a die in the exact shape. I choose 90 g/cm2 paper, it’s the closest thing to the ordinary 80 g/cm2 А4 sheets both in sturdiness and weight. Of course some additional cutting would be required, but creating 3-4 more dies would not be cost-effective for one and I had no way to be sure of the actual extent and shape of the additional processing in order to blindly entrust it to mechanical processing. The rapid response of my colleagues at the printing house supplied me with the material for the main paper body, which I glued together from the insides and the side of the middle cover. The other materials More or less the setup was like this – the hollowed pages would have hard covers wrapped in either leather or cloth (in the end I went for cloth) and would be kept in place by 2 aluminum plates and 2 bolts to a larger plate in the middle cover, where would also be the holes for the chain. Yet at a certain moment, after a toyed around with a 15mm wide aluminum strip I got somewhat worried about it bending so I buffed it up to 3 bolts, 3 pates and 20mm wide strip. Additional strength would be provided by two semi-decorative aluminum strips riveted to the back cover. And speaking of Semi-decorative, only the back cover strips are. The front cover strips have purely decorative purpose, even though it’s arguable that they do provide some reinforcing (and protection). On the picture below you can see the most of the materials I choose to use. I picked 8mm bolts and aluminum rivets for the front cover and the corners. The lock you see is a simple drawer lock. The original idea for using leather for the covers was sacked in favor of cloth after I carefully examined few books. Velvet was the initial thought but later changed to much more durable black synthetic cloth. Some Velcro tape to keep the laptop in place. The white sheet bellow the whole pile is some sort of very light, soft plastic plate (I suspect foam formed) at 2mm thickness. Poly-vinyl-acetyl-something glue, ideal for both paper and cloth and a can from universal paste (for the material, finding thin white sheet iron was a difficult) I you can see that all of my choices lead to the use of only three colours – black, white и and silver (metal), which was the goal. You see, the colours of the Iron Hands chapter are black and silver and although Cult Mechanicus doesn’t limit its colouring schemes, often used colours with them are rusted red, black and white. So the colour scheme gets to be quite canonic even if I do say so myself At this point of course the whole appearance was a mere drawing inside my head, the days were passing by, carrying the EEE PC by hand was aggravating me to the point of leaving it at home. The great cutting I began processing the covers, the decorative and mounting elements. With a print on paper foil I transferred to the sheet iron, plastic plate and the metal mesh (that volunteered for the build) the forms to be cut. And the great cutting began. Gear wheels are common motive with both Iron Hands and Adeptus Mechanicus, so I cut from 1mm plastic sheet six of them (2х3 with different diameter) for the lock of the book. I picked combination of 9, 10 and 12 teeth, since I couldn’t decide which looked better on the screen. At the same time I ordered the Adeptus Mechanicus logo to be made on a cutting machine. As always the result was excellent, still even though on the picture it doesn’t show the black was rather gray. With my old friends the sheet iron scissors, we did the rough cutting as always. The dremel took care for the fine details, the circle in the mesh and the aluminum strip. A file was used upon the edges of the sharp ends in order to greatly improve appearance. I also cut the properly marked for drilling covers. It might show, it might not, but I used a file to make approximately 45 degree slopes in the edges of the covers at the place they join. That was done, so the finished product wouldn’t be too squared, but rather rounded, just like real book. I was time for drilling.
Part 2 The drill holes, the bending and even some more cutting Holes, so many holes, I drilled great number of them. Most were 4 mm for the rivets but I also drilled six 8mm ones for the bolts. It was at that point exactly, when I dropped the idea of hanging the book on a chain through two holes on each end of the support aluminum strip in the middle cover. Instead, I used 2 cable clamps, true, not the way they were intended to be used, yet nevertheless effective. Then I used a hammer to bend the aluminum strips for the back cover, the mesh for the lock and to form the metal corners. I’m kind of proud with how they turned up, not as fine as I wanted them to be, yet rather good for a first attempt. I carried on with processing the main paper body. Beds for the nuts of the wire clamps and holes for the bolts/lock had to be cut in it. So I separated it on to 4 layers, and cut each of them with a sharp knife as much as necessary, so the details could fit. My lack of attention almost got me in trouble. Few times I got the thickness of the layers wrong (in my head), but I managed to correct it in time before any cutting was done. I was reassured that my concentration is on the blink when only my fast reactions saved my toes. The knife just rolled on the table... And while replacing a lost in battle limb with a mechanical one would only draw me closer to the Omnissiah, damaging any part of myself in such a careless way would be most dishonorable. Keeping it all together Drawing ever so close to the end. With the use of liberal amounts of glue I attached the cloth to the covers. I pressed them together temporarily until the glue dried. Until it was drying I sprayed a layer of clear finish on the Adeptus Mechanicus logo, thus both made the black really black and protected the whole detail (the silver layer is extremely thin and gentle) I am aware that it shows, alas after the first gluing I managed to ruin the cloth with improper use of a tool. That’s why the picture is from the first attempt, even though I put a new piece afterwards. Then I got on to riveting. Pop rivets are easy to work with, while the standard ones that have to be shaped with special tools are a bit trickier. I myself as yet not that experienced Techpriest had some trouble with them and had to consult with the more experienced Magus (my father that is). After his wise guidance, I learned how to work properly with the tools and as you can see it all went well. After riveting everything I attached the main paper body to the cover with the aid if the bolts and the aluminum plates. On the picture below only one is seen but I assure you the final mounting uses all three of them. There was one last step for finishing with the functional part of the build. The lock. Again the initial idea was changed. Instead a cloth strip attached to the back cover, passing above the lock and locking itself on the front cover I choose to do it this way – a locking element on the front cover. While this simplifies the look a bit it was necessary because of security issues. In what sense you might ask? Well, you see, the lock is for a drawer and using the initial method would allow anyone to “exploit” it. It would be enough to pull up or push down strongly enough the locking detail and to simply slip it off from the lock. The new firmly fixed locking detail doesn’t allow this to be done. Finishing touches All that was left to be done was to take care of the nice and sleek appearance of the book. With another liberal amount of glue and cloth I made soft walls for the laptop inside the book. For the time being the bottom covered with cloth is a ~5mm thick polystyrene sheet, I am considering a variation for the future where it will be replaced with a double bottom. 5mm isn’t much, but it’s enough to carry either a spare SD card, a flash drive, USB adapter/compact extension cable or even small amount of documents. I painted black a 12 teeth gear wheel (from the smaller diameters) and glued it to the lock together with a metal ring. I also painted silver the wrench/lock, mounted it and wrote my rank on it A single step towards completion was left. Since this is a Techpriest field manual, it was supposed to be full of prayers, rites, liturgies and incantations. Besides it’s much cooler not to reveal the true purpose of the “book” even when you open it. Sadly I had made one more engineering mistake and inserting the list of ten rites and one liturgy, made locking impossible, the thickness of 11 pages was too much for the lock. That’s why I narrowed it down to a single rite – Rite of Protection. Under the circumstances it seemed most appropriate and besides, Techpriest are supposed to know their rites by heart anyway. Final words Any true bookbinder is probably horrified, I’m afraid they’ll have to excuse me, my whole experience is based on reverse engineering. I also expect strong criticism on the weight and size vector. True, this “book” is a bit bulkier and twice as heavier than the ЕЕЕ PC (2,5kg against 0,9kg), but that bothers me not. Strapped to my waist (by the belt) the “book” doesn’t feel heavy or bulky. Then again… I can imagine the effect on thinner people that don’t wear belts.
Nice work. They sell triangular things that slip onto the xacto knives. That knife stuck in your floor is why they make them.
Should be an easy find as they sell them in the US for pens and pencils. Office supply or even a big Grocery store(my King Soopers has them). Pink but they keep stuff from rolling. Probably many colors. $0.02 John
May the machine god smile upon you and bless you work. Have you submitted the pictures to any gaming forums? Coolminiornot? warseer? 40konline?
Thank you for the kind words you foul Eldar scum (no, seriously - thanks) As for posting it in game forums - no, i haven't. It kinda has little to do with any actual gameplay usefulness, be it tabletop or computer related.
Hay its a 40k related mod so who cares. 40konline = stick it in modding, warseer = scifi, coolminiornot = well Im sure you could find someware. Bah monkeith skum praying to a corpse ! sorry couldn't resist but were all friends here?
I'll think about it. And yeah, no hard feelings. (though I'm chanting a blessing rite for my Power Axe right now... )
Great job and I have a question. When you sent the adeptus mechanicus logo to the metal cutters, did you send an autocad file or a jpg. Also how much did it cost?
I had them working with .cdr (CorelDRAW) file. Autocad files are fine too (as well as any other vector format), JPG however is useless. As for the cost - sorry, it was too long ago to remember the exact value. Couldn't have been more than 10€.
