TRIBALOVERKILL's Project: "Blackout"

FINALLY! It took me almost a whole day to make these stupid little tray panels!!! They are finished so I am happy. Pics,...

Here's is the template I made.


Here is how I rounded the corners. I think it belongs to a toilet.


I cut the first two. I only cut by two because when you cut by anything more it becomes inaccurate atleast when the pieces are this small.


All the panels cut and ready to be drilled.


First panel in place.



Heres the front of the tray. I cut the notches you see.


These panels are removable baby! Hell yea!


Theres a small square of foam inbetween the acrylic and the face of the drive tray. This is to help keep the acrylic vertical because the original face is slightly round.


Both panels finished.




Let me know what you think! I dont know how I will light up these panels yet but I will let you know when I do. Also,... if a cdrom should get stuck inside the devises I will have to remove the devise to unlock the trays.

 

A small meaning less update.
I had to do something about these foam pads. As you can see by the pictures, they weren't really doing a good job.



Mainly because of this. I cut it this big so that the panel could be adjusted to fit the hole in the front panel. I need sosething to cover it up a bit but still be able to adjust. What could I make?!?!?!?!?


I could make these!!! ARent they AMAZING!!! SHOCK ANS AWE BABY!



This is how they work. Esy. I stagger the foam and the plates like this to keep the panel vertical. I do this because the old face panel is roundand the new panel tilts on it.


Also,... check this out. I rounded the edges a bit with a razor blade. I scraped the edges round I didnt cut them. When cutting acrylic, your not really "cutting" or you don't want to "cut", you want to scrape to cut. "Cutting" leads to breaking. remeber that. It's important. Anyways,... I rounded the edges as I said I was going to do so you can see a glowing edge around the whole panel while staring at the front of it. I also saned it a bit too because the scraping left some nice clear scrapes which you could see when it was lit up. That being because the light was passing through the clear areas as oppose to being diffused like the last of the ares. It looks a hell of alot better in person and behind the tinted acrylic.


Next year I will be going to MML with this case,... you all need to come out and see her in person

 

Ok,... you take a razor blade and you hold the blade against the edge of the acrylic so that the blade is vertical or perpendicular to the edge. With a little bit a pressure pushing down on the blade run it across the edge. You should see a string of acrylic come off as you do it. Once down sand it down to give that diffused look

 

UPDATE! YEA! I'm gonna be quick about this. I want to upload my track pics and the wreck pics too. Check it out,...


Ok,... heres a brass elbow I got from home depot. I'm goign to use this with the reservoir but first I need to drill out some of that meat in there. Very narrow passage.


Done. Now, another problem,...


This,... no problem. I'll just drill that out too.


After drilling it again this is what I ended up with. Nice isnt it?



I'm using RED thread locker for my threads. I trust this stuff over tape. I will be using tape when it comes to the reservoir though, it's acrylic.


Here is how everything will be setup. How friggin cool is that! I wanted the pumps to be mounted identical to ech other as oppose to one pump facing one direction and the other facing a different direction. I wanted the reservoir up high so it can do its job catching air. It just crossed my mind now that I forgot and drain line. Crap. Thats ok. I still have a small piece of hose left that might just be long enough. Thats crazy because that mean I bought just enough hose. LOL. Anyways,... feast your eyes.




Check out this reservoir mounting. It's mounted right to the top of the case with two nylon washers which are keeping it from touching the top of the case. One port is for escaping air while filling. Makes it a bit easier to fill. The ID of those ports are a bit smaller then the rest of the system so filling will be a bit slower. But with the air port it won't wont be all that slow. I have threaded plugs that screw into them when the system is filled. The rad housing will be over those ports somewhat hiding them. I dont really want them to be all that hidden because I like them and I want people to kinda of see them so they can ask about them. The fill hose will have a fitting on the end of ti that will screw into the fill port. The fill hose is smaller in diameter so it can bend alot easier. Theres just enough height once the rad housing is bolted to the case to screw in the fill hose to fill. It's perfect. There goign to be a drain port just like this on the back of the case.



Here's what I did for the tray panels. I epoxied and piece of tinted acrylic to the front of the trays. I filed it down to size and when done, it looks like it was there the whole time Just the way I like it I cut little mounting grooves and,...




got this.




Now,... check this out. I needed a support bracket for the reservoir. I didnt want to accidently hit the reservoir and crack the threaded holes. The only thing holding up the reservoir are the ports. I need something to hold it other then the ports. This is the start of the bracket. The long strip you see I cut initially. I cut it from the aluminum I got from the junkyard. When I tried the bend a 90 degree with it,... it broke everytime. I tried heating it. Still broke. I dont have the means of heating it enough to bend it to that degree. The alloy is the same of the case, I think. IT slightly harder which means it breaks a bit easier when bent to much without enough heat. So I cut another strip out of the stuff I got from my friend. This aluminum is a bit softer which means it bends alot easier without any heat.


Here I'm bending a 90 degree. I already started bending the strip around the reservoir.


Here it almost done. There will be a bolts where the clamp is. There will be two more pieces that will bent 90 degrees each. They will be bolt to the top of the case. The support arm will be bolted between them just as it is between the tabs the the bracket.





Tomorrow first thing in the morning I will get back to work! What do you think?

 

Ok. Finished the reservoir support bracket. Intricate work takes up so much time. But, it's worth it. The bracket is the only thing I got done today. I'm ok with that though because it looks cool as hell.

This is going to be the two pieces I didnt finish the other day. I'm about to make a 90 degree bend but have to make sure it straight first.


Here's the bracket all finished.



I lined the inside with masking tape so it wont scratch the reservoir.


Here's the reservoir mounted and ready for the next step. It's sturdy as hell, LOL.



Here's the top of the case.


Tomorrow I will be working a way to mount the pumps. Till then,... PEACE!

 

sXenog, here's your other shots of the bracket.



Sloth,... the title for gruntville is the same. Just came to mind,... I dont know how you would look for each page You might find the worklog but there are like 50 pages Sorry Maybe if you look for "page 13" or whatever number. I dont know.

 

Update.

Ok,...So I decided that I wanted some kind of enclosure for the pumps, tower like enclosure. I didn't have a sheet of the bendable aluminum that was big enough for this task so I went to the scrap bin. I decided to use the shell that I scrapped a while ago. It was shell one of three. Before I could use this aluminum I had to bend it back. It was pretty easy. As you can see it bend back nicely.




Here's the begining of the tower. It was a B@#$% bending this piece! I got it done though. One side here still needs to be cut.


After cutting the other side to size I tried fitting it. It fit perfectly.




Here a shot of it with some more work done. I rounded the corners at the top to make it a bit easier to get inot the case.


Here's what I am trying to accomplish.




Here the pumps are in place. Perfect.





I have to file down the tabs at the back of the tightening ring to keep the blue from showing. It will also allow the pumps to sit closer the mobo tray saving some space, 1/4" to be exact.


I am going to make two egg shaped shields that will be merely for show. They will be bolted to the original bracket mounts. These egg shaped shields that i will TRY to make will cover the old mounting post things and the I/O ports too. They will also cover up some of the rest of the pumps too. I dont know if I will be able to make them. It would require me to bang them into shape. I never done that kind of fabrication but I thought I would give it a shot. Let me know what you think!

 

I am gooooood Check this out.

I ground down the tabs on the pump ring some using a belt sander. This will let the pump sit closer to the tower.



Sound/ vibration dampening Thi sturned out very well! Better then i thought! The OD of the ring is a bit smaller the the pump ring and the ID of the ring is a bit smaller then the motor OD.


Place the foam ring over the hole in the towermaking sure its even.


Gently push the pump through the hole. Now the pump isnt touching the aluminum at all. I dont know how well it will work but it looks like it will do me some good




I am going to make some retaining clamps to keep the pumps in thier holes. I'm going to use this hole saw to make my bends. It's slightly smaller then the motors OD so I know when it springs back it will be just about the right size to fit over the motors.


First, I make a small bend at the end. This will be the first tab in which a bolt will pass through to tighten the clamp. You dont need to bend it a full 90 degrees. A bit past 45 degrees is fine.


Clamp the hole saw ontop of the aluminum like so. When done bend up. The aluminum is very soft so it beds with ease. I put an adjustable wrench over tabe I initially bent to bend it comppletely around the hole saw. The tab bent back a bit but thats good because when you band the second tab they will be paralelle to each other. If they are not they need to be.


Here the almost finished clamp in the vise. I just got done drilling out a hole for the bolt. Before I remove it I will cut off the slack. The tabs are together at this point so if I do cut off the slack it will be evenly cut off from both tabs.



Here I'm going to clean up the tops of the tabs with a file. I'm also going to round the corners.


Done How cool is that!


Both done!


Pumps mounted!





The tower is not done yet. I still have to cut some grooves in it and make look all pretty. Tomorrow I will do that. Till then peace out my fellow modders!

 

Sorry, feel asleep. Heres my first attempt at some shields. Made of cardboard






I think its a bit deep(from the mobo out). I think I can make something a bit lower in profile. Also if I cover a bit more I think it wont look so confined and tall? I'm going ot try something else out now.

 

Ok,... I've been up ALL friggin night working on this issue with the shields. I created two models in which we have tio choose from. Choose wisely,... model #1.





Model #2.



Both models.


Now,... choose one and tell me how you would want it. As in all UV green or some Uv green and some aluminum, half and half. What would you want UV and what would you want UV. Now,... personally. I like #1. Originally I wanted it with polished aluminum sides and UV in the center. But,... my gurl brought it to my attention that if the sides were UV and lit up, you would see a nice glowing edge. That would be HOT! BUT! I still have a lot of other stuff to do to these things. I want to drill holes in them , cut some grooves, and some other shapes. The edges of all of those cutouts will be glowing. Which means if my sides were aluminum and because of that the edges wouldnt be glowing,... so what. Theres going to be plenty of stuff glowing. You know what I mean? It would be sweet though. You would see that nicely through the side of the computer So,... let me know. Pick one,... and tell me how you want it! I'm goign to bed for a little bit. Goingto try and wake up soon to read this and get started on the real deal

 

UPDATE!!! WHAOOOO!!!!

Here I drew a more precise and modified version of the prototype side. This side has better curves. I drew it on the cardboard instead of some aluminum because some of the drawing consisted of freehand. With freehand there is some erasing and I didnt feel like erasing on aluminum.


Also,... because of the fact that its difficult to determine how big the side can be in any particular place of mounting, the cardboard allows me to cut out a trial real quick for fitment. Once I have to cutout I like, I will use it to trace onto the aluminum. This may sound like an inaccurate way of doing it but keep in mind that this piece doesnt really have a target size. Just what I would like it to be. Once it's on aluminum I can file it down so that it looks smooth and continuous. See the difference between the prototype and the new. Much better.


This is the aluminum version. Now,... this is not a piece to be used with the pumps. This is my template I will use this to accurately make 4 others. Looks sweet dont it




Now,... how to make 4 other almost identical pieces in a fair amount of time? Easily! I took my template of placed it on the sheet of aluminum that I will use to cut out the other pieces. Using pencil I drew around the template leaving about a 1/4" inch of space all the way around. I did that 4 times, obviously. Using the lig saw and some cutting oil, I cut out the those pieces. I use engine oil as cutting oil. It dont really matter what you use, just that you use something. Cutting straight you really dont need it but it does improve cutting big time. When cutting circles and stuff you really need it because the blade twists in the little groove it just cut, rubbing alone the edges causing it to heat up. The blade will start to hang on the project kicking the jig saw all over the place. Anyways,... I then file the burr off all the edges and even do some sanding so those pieces are very smooth. You take all the pieces and stack them up from smallest in front to largest in back. This is important so when you put your template ontop of that stack, it's easier to see if the template is covered by all of the pieces. If one piece in the middle is off and you file the whole thing down and then take it apart, you will see what that one piece was off. That will be not be fully formed and therefore you will be one piece short. So,... take all those piece and stacking as I said before with the template piece all the way in front. Line them up so that every pieces covers the template then lock them in a vise. Drill out the mounting holes for all 4 pieces using the hole in the template as your guide. Once done, without removing the pieces from the vise, sand the hole on both sides of the stack. Then pass some bolts through the holes locking them together. This way when you take them out of the ivse they wont move. Check the pic,...


Here I begun filing. YOu basically file away all the slack on the 4 new pieces. File down to the template but without removing to much from the template. Once you touch the template, you are done in the area for now. Go all the way around.


It's important you keep your file perpendicular to the piece while filing. The edge you are working on must be square when you are done. If not them one side will be larger then the others.



Look at all that meat I had to remove! Just picture that all the way around! Lordy! I was dying! I need to come a bit closer to the template with the jigsaw when doing the inner shields.


All done for now. I used a belt sander upside down to sand the edges down a bit. It helps make the pieces nice and round and helps maintaining a squre edge.






I have to cut out some designs still. Well,... I'm goign to back into the garage now to do some more work. PEACE! Need to get some breakfast first though :moron:.

 

Ok,... choose. If you dont like any,... what would you like to see? I was drawing all night trying to figure this out! I went from to plain to crazy tribal like. The tribal didnt go with the case and the plain just flat out sucked. I wanted something either blade looking or better yet structured looking. I like #4. I would like some circles in there but couldnt quite figure out how. #4 doesnt have circles but it looks structured. Also,... with that much cut out,... it would be the material that would be accenting Oh got my mothers scroll saw and a slew of blades for it

 

LOL. #4 I think, would be one of the easist to cut and get right

Some more variations.





I dont think I am going to go with any of them. I need to keep these side things looking kinda like the VFD and LED panels. Simple, with no circle of anything round in them.

 

Here's 3 more,... and the one I am most likely going with. Boddaker is right. I need to keep it simple as I did with the panels. Sometimes simplicity can be a beautiful thing. Also,... I still have to UV stuff that we'll all be drooling over. The aluminum and the Uv piece will work together to look good.

 

Sneak peak.



I like it. What do you think? Dont mind the semi-circle on the last goove of the middle gooves. That was a mess up from earlier. This is only the template. I do the 4 other off this one.

 

Ok,... heres an update.

Got my mothers scroll saw,... which she will probably never see again. Sorry mom.


I went to Sears to get some blades for the saw and found these! There a larger version of the ones I have been using! I love these things! I bought several of them! I'll use these to polish my parts


I also went to home depot to get these Aluminum spacers. They will replace the washers I used with the cardboard version of the shields.


Here are the sides that I unbundled. Perfect.



Here they are mounted to the pumps. I did not make use of the spacers here. So the sides are close to the pumps then they will be. Look cool huh?



Heres the design scratched into the the template piece and colored over with a black crayon. Makes it easier to see the lines.


This one is for Mr. Boddaker,... this is right after the scroll saw. Any filing is minimal. Cleaning up burrs and some left over aluminum.


All filed down nice and clean.


I drilled a hole for each area that has to be cut out so I can get the blade through the aluminum to make the cut. I had to alter the blades a bit because they wouldnt fit in the holes. Heres what the blade looked like before. A bit off topic but I have to say this has to be one of the nicest pics I have taken throughout this project. Perfect lighting and clarity.


Here's the blade after.


Tomorrow I will finish up the sides and start designing the inner shields. Fun fun.

 

HERE YOU GO sXenoG! JUST FOR YOU!!! CHEER UP!

Here's my update for the day. I got some nice results but it's not perfect. I dont have time for perfection. I was told today that I have to move my stuff out of the garage because my gurls mother wants park her new malibu maxx in the garage :x. A malibu maxx? Geez. Anyways,... I have to move all my stuff over to my mothers garage. Not a problem but still I dont want to go to mom house . Whatever,... on with the update.

Done scroll sawing one set and about ready to start the other.


These grooves are all filed out.


Heres the design for the inner shields. You guyz didnt tell me what you thought of this? Is it ok? I think it is.


Look at this mess! Damn.


In the sanding phase.


Check out that shine!!! It's not perfect but still very good. I might do some more buffing but I'm not sure. I want to try and get som emore of those scratches out.





I'm dirty as hell! Coal miner! I'm diesel too! Damn,... I'll kick yo ass!!! LOL.

 

So I started working on the bike and I was like F#$% this. I started working on the puter. Yo,... you have to see what I did. LOL.

I wet saned the sides using 800 grit paper. I then took it to the table grinder and buff those mofo's with a 6" cloth wheel and rouge,... and this is what I got!


IS THIS CRAZY OR WHAT!!! CHECK THAT SHIZZOUT! You see my reflection? No? Just a little?


How about now? Better? HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAA YEA! Thats what I call a shine baby!


I have to start filing the second set still I'll do that in the morning. I am also going to shine the reservoir bracket too. I am kinda hooked on this polishing thing now :-=-:.

 

I finished the other two sides! Thank you god! I am but am not looking forward to making the inners Lordy no. Anwyays,... I must. Check this out!

My little basin for wet sanding,...


Where I do my buffing. See the compond I am using. You need that. You cloth wheel will tear itself to pieces without it. Plus,... it wont buff at all.


See the silver color. Thats the compund mixed with aluminum dust.


Heres the sanding discs I was telling you about. 3 types,... coarse, medium, and fine. I just got done using the fine.


Whats left after using the fine disc. I will wet sand some of that and then buff the rest out.


Wet sanding,... dirty dirty.


ALL DONE! SO HOT!


See the reflection. so cool.


I am going to do the reservoir bracket first thing in the morning. After that I will starting cutting out the inner shields. I was doing some thinking while working today and decided that i will also buff the aluminum front panels to a mirror shine too. This way it will do just that, act as a mirror so that the uv green panels will shine alot bright behind the tinted black. All the light from the front LEDs and Uv green panels will be reflected out the front of the case. I think it would be sweet!

 

Ok,... this is all of my worklog up to yesterday. I work on my puter almost everyday and as you can see I post pics and a small write up too. So be sure to check for updates daily!