Scratch Build – In Progress WORKLOG: 'IOU' – GAM's QubeLok Cube Case with IO connectors facing Up (Apr/Aug 07)

nice work.cant wait to see the finished product.

 

@Dj Ovin, wbdog206, thanks guys! Hopefully I'll get a chance to hit the workshop again later today and post another update this evening.

 

Workshop - Day 16: Sway bays are for cars, aren't they?

Workshop - Day 16: Sway bays are for cars, aren't they?
Note, click on images for higher res. versions.
Only a couple of hours in the workshop this afternoon. I dearly wanted to do more, but I had a commitment with government revenue generators that I had to fulfil. In Australia, this particular form of revenue generation is called GST (Goods and Services Tax)… and the generator is called the 'Tax Department'! I am obliged to submit a Business Activity Statement (BAS) to them every quarter. I was close to a month late. That said, I'm taxed good now and Australia is better off because of it! :roll:

5.25" Device Bay continued… rrrr
I'm getting tired of this damn 5.25" bay. For that matter, I am getting a little tired of this mod. Little mistakes keep arising and are starting to eat at my resolve. Nevertheless, I persevere and prevail.
Mistake number 1
I permitted too much clearance on the drive bay with my spreaders. In fact, the original versions I made that I thought were too narrow are actually much closer to the mark. I thought inserting a washer or two on the outside of the bay, where the spreader is attached, but didn't feel this was appropriate. Washers are a PITA and I'm always thinking about practical disassembly/reassembly methods.
Although this case might be considered a one off, I am consisting thinking of it as a reusable design. It must be as a practical and functional as possible within my limits. For the moment, I opted to bend the spreaders to reduce the spacing. Note, I couldn't find another old 5.25" device (looked everywhere, but must have chucked them out ruthlessly) but I did remember this crappy, plastic, SATA mobile rack that I purchased a little while ago. It's not good enough my machines, so I thought that this would be perfect for an additional test device. When this is all over, I'll probably offer it up to someone in need as I don't want it.

​

Nice. <=1mm gap between decvices. This is what I was aiming for and it means that the slots are good. By the way, I discovered another paid of those screws, but only two, so I used some slightly bulky 'hex head' M3 screws for the rear mounts. They'll do for the moment.

​

Noticing the flimsiness of the sides, I thought another spreader/brace might be in order. I considered using this left-over brace I made earlier. If I go ahead with this, I'd cut slots either side so that the flat section of the brace would sit horizontally and, as it is only 1mm thick, would just fit between the two middle devices. Later I deemed it unnecessary for the moment.

​

Not happy with the oversized, now bent/bowing, front spreader I decided to replace it with one of the 'small' ones I made earlier. Here I am marking the centre lines so that the new and existing holes would be located correctly. I failed on one side. I don't know what happened but I stuffed up. A little filing later, to oversize the outer hole, and all was good. Note, sorry for the bad shot. You can't actually see my little pencil line on the bracket. Also, with the replacement bracket, if a device is slightly bigger than 146mm, then I will have a problem. From I've noted so far, they're all 146mm. But you never know. There's some flex and a little give, so I'll be chamfering the front-inner edges to help locate and guide devices as they're being inserted.

​

5.25" bay test mounting… again
After wiggling into the right location, using a square and a ruler to measuring and mark various things, I penciled in the mounting holes on the frame and then removed the bay to centre punch and drill. It was at this time I realised another mistake/oversight that I had made. My mounting hole is too close to the top vertical tube of the frame which meant I couldn't get the drill perfectly horizontal. I decided to start the hole with a very small pilot hole trying to ensure the result wasn't higher than required… I tried to hard, as you will see later.
Holes were then tapped with an M4 tap. The walls of the tube are very thin and I didn't want to risk an M3 for the bay mounts, given the weight and stresses and after my experiences with the panel mounts. In the end I will probably replace all these with rivets, but I need to be able install and uninstall the bay while the finer details are still being worked out.

​

Mistake number 2
As much as I tried, I failed to drill the correctly. Note that the bay is slightly left of centre. Well, I fixed it… but only after some careful filing with a needle file.

​

If and when these are replaced with rivets, I will have to be sure to centre and locate the bay before pop the rivets! As you can see from the front view, I've managed to correct the problem. Also note, I couldn't leave it uncentred as I didn't have any tolerance given the style of mounting screws and slot system that I was using and the clearance that I had allowed in the frame. There is about 0.5mm to 1mm tolerance in total!

​

Mistake number 3
Notice the top-right mounting hole? It is too hard to get at. I could have removed that upper centre panel, but didn't suit my 'ease of disassembly' factor.

​

Moving on, I marked, drilled and tapped the rear-upper mounts and then reinstalled the bay again… Look at the left hand side for plumb as the flash has distorted the right hand side. It is plumb now.
Mistake number xxx, I hadn't allowed enough clearance between the head of the M3 screws joining the sides of the bracket/mount with the head of the M4 screws fixing used in the rear-upper mounts! Getting frustrated, I forced the issue and stripped the delicate thread holding the sides to the bracket. In the end I decided I didn't really screws for functional purposes, nor did I really need the rear-upper mounts, as the hole thing is held very firmly and aligned by the four front mounts. I decided to leave it there, unaffixed just to keep the sides spread at the rear.
Note, I may come back to this later, but I keep thinking of the limited time I have to get this project to minimal 'completed' stage for the Overclockers Australia competition by 31 May 2007.

​

Testing and checking again with devices installed. Yep, happy enough.

​

My day was over now, so I thought I'd play around again with some ideas on the HDD cage mounting and location. I have to fit in three 38mm thick NMB-MAT fans that will arrive soon (care of my new sponsor MNPCTech Pro Case Modding & Supplies)…
NMB-MAT 120mm Fan

…under the HDD cage but still ensure that each, or most, drives can be easily swapped over without entirely removing the near-side-panel of the HDD cage.
To test, I've placed a couple of pieces of angle at an approximate height from the bottom and clamped an old crappy PSU at the rear to see how I'm going. Note, I also want to leave at least 10mm (preferrably more) to fit in a duct or some small vanes that will direct some of the airflow over the heatsinks, rather than just straight over the drives.
Steps are; list up, rotate over, and them slid out. Works perfectly with 52mm between the floor of the case (bottom surface of the lower frame tubes) and the bottom of the PSU.

​

Before I closed shop for the day, I remembered my, by now 'cured', glued in spring fitting for the quick release locking mechanism on the 5.25" devices. Look, it works! …and it gives me enough throw with barely a millimetre tolerance to accept and then lock the Compaq 7mm-dia.-head mounting screws.

​

Still not wanting to retire yet, I also considered the false floor that would surround the top of the NMB-MAT fans beneath the HDD cage and also the top natural 'venting' panels that I have in mind, using the medium-diameter perforated aluminium I picked up the other week. Here's a mock-up to give you the idea. Noting how visible the top 5.25 device is, I think I will end up bending and fitting another 1mm aluminium panel to the top of the 5.25" device bay to hide most of the 5.25" ugliness, replacing the rear strip mounting bracket that is stuffed now anyway.

​

Sorry, pretty mundane update, but this is how goes for GAM… mods! Slowly but surely.

Cheers,
GAM

 

Awsome !! Well done . keep going , want see more

 

Cheers Computerking, hopefully will have another update this evening

 

Workshop - Day 17: The wait of indecision

Workshop - Day 17: The wait of indecision
Note, click on images for higher res. versions.
Today's title sums up today's efforts nicely. I spent a lot of time frigging around changing things and getting no where. Lack of sleep doesn't help… after 3hrs of sleep last night, I spent the morning dealing with some potential customers of my recent endeavours—importing Thermochill products to Australia! This is the beginning of new and interesting times for GAM.
Anyway… on to the indecision and waiting….

Mounting the HDD cage
I wasn't happy with the 3mm thick aluminium angle that formed the bottom rails of the HDD cage and decided to replace them with some 1.6mm stuff, which was the same 12mm x 12mm. These rails were also cut to the length of the sides and will form the 'base' of the removable unit.
I've used a 4mm bit and lightly drilled to mark the centres of the existing holes onto the new rails and then removed the top piece and drilled out the rails with 3.2mm holes for M4 tapping. I wanted to use rivets here, but the vertical face of the narrow angle obstructs the rivetting tool and leaves a makes for a dodgy job (I know, I tried ).

​

Support and mounting system #1
After some time playing around with different dimensioned aluminium angle and trying to think through mounting techniques, the first idea I had for mounting was to fix to long rails from front to back, one either side of the device half of the frame.
As I had intended to use pop rivets to fix these in place in the narrow openings at the front and back, I had to be careful drilling my holes—as you can see, you can't fit a drill in there and I don't have a neat 90º conversion for my drill (I was not about to disassemble the frame at this point either ). So, to try to get the holes right, I started with a very fine 1.5mm bit, removed the pieces of angle and then redrilled with 2.5mm and then 3.2mm (rivet diameter).

​

I then wasted more time cutting to length and cutting out the ends of the 12mm x 12mm cross-piece angles. Here you can see the mock up. The plan was to fix the cross-pieces down with screws or rivets into the long support rails. Then, one M4 capped hex head at either end through the drive cage rails to fix it in place yet still allow it to be removed easily (two screws). I intend to use grommets or some 20mm x 5mm adhesive foam I have to dampen the vibrations between the cage and the support rails.
Note that the cage cannot be located past the inside left edge of the vertical framing tube to allow the 'access' side of the HDD cage to open. This would have left a funny gap at the rear that I didn't like. So I started to consider another piece of unequal angle (12mm x 24mm) fixed to the back of the rear cross-piece which would cover the gap… the design was getting to be too complex for my liking. So I had another idea.

​

Support and mounting system #2
After more time playing around with different aluminium extrusions I had and conceiving of alternative methods, I came with this; A piece of 25mm x 25mm channel at the read—no gap, and another at the front. I liked this better but I wasn't happy with the unnecessarily thick cross piece at the front but this is all I have in 25mm. Later in the evening it occurred to me to cut the channel down to 12mm x 25mm i.e., cut to the two sides and rotate the channel around, top face forward. I think I like this, method although I am not sure what that it will work with any centre panel I install and I don't like the idea of long screws to fix these down to the frame. Hmmm. More conceiving, hopefully over the drawing board, tonight I think.

​

Tidying up
Not convinced of my new methods, I spent the remaining time in the day tidying the protruding screws and sharp corners of the drive cage frame. First I cut the screws with the hacksaw as you can see and then ground them flush on the grinder. I also did some grinding on the ends of the rails and the cross pieces. Those cross-pieces jutted 1.6mm above the rails before. Note, when I reviewed the photo for the worklog, I realised that I hadn't trimmed the ends of the rails flush with the cross pieces—10 sec. job in the morning.

​

Another mundane update… :shakes:

Cheers,
GAM

 

I like this log for two reasons:
1) Obviously this is fine work by a skilled modder
2) I appreciate a log with a bit of well written text that both amuses and informs

I await the obligatory cat picture......oh wait we had a dog already, this log has it all!!! lol

 

Thanks mate, I'm glad it amuses you

LOL, it's funny you mention the 'obligatory dog'. I had just read another thread at that time and noticed the author had posted and mentioned 'the obligatory dog' picture... I never realise this before, so I thought I'd better not buck the trend, and followed suit

You've also reminded me... I've got to get Sam(antha) the cat onto the internet...

Cheers

 

Nice work ! well done , you have real skills

 

Workshop - Day 18: Pop goes the alu…

Workshop - Day 18: Pop goes the alu…
Note, click on images for higher res. versions.
A good 6 hours in the workshop today and something that I am relatively happy with, although I had hoped for more progress…

Maintenance
I started the day by installing the 'Speed Grip Converter Kit' I had purchased ages ago but hadn't installed as I wanted to wear out the existing 'adhesive' sandpaper version first. After ripping off the old disc, there some adhesive residue left which had to be removed. Enter… good old Big Kev's Goo Remover. Great stuff, a little on a rag, lots of gentle rubbing and away it goes. After that all the adhesive goo was removed, I cleaned the surface with a some methylated spirits. The speed grip conversion kit is simply an adhesive backed Velcro disk and adhering sandpaper discs which can be removed and swapped very easily.

​

Things were getting a little out of square lately I noticed, so I did some checking and adjustments when I reinstalled the 'table' on the bench grinder aka disc sander/linisher.

​

HDD drive bay mounting continued…
This mounting is really starting to **** me. I spent a few hours last night on the drawing trying to figure out the optimum mounting method that accommodate all my requirements:
- Easily removed
- Secure
- Allowed for other interior finishing touches with excessive cutouts and fabrication
- Would accommodate the fans beneath and the little shroud/vanes that would direct a little air over the heatsinks

I did some checking and confirmation on the fan mounts and whehter I still had adequate air intake area i.e., the height of the fans are off the ground/desk would determine the area through which air could be drawn in, as I've been trying to ensure that there is no restriction with the bottom mounted fan arrangement.I also measured up the castors that I had bought and checked their location and any obstruction to their sweep. These castors are much lower than I had originally planned for. Anyway, althoug I think I have game plan I know I will have to make changes as I go along to overcome new obstacles that present themselves.

I decided on having the 38mm thick fans sit lower than the frame bottom rather than protruding within the case and installing a floor in the device area. This also provides something to which the fans could be fastened and allow the fans to be installed anywhere without making new brackets and the like.

HDD cage mounting continued…
New mounts for the HDD cage
Given the current concept for the HDD mounting, I decided that 10mm above the floor would be an adequate height for the fans while still allowing little air direction vanes to be included. This meant making up some 10mm high brackets for the HDD cage to be mounted on. I started by ripping down the 25mm x 25mm U-channel aluminium I had cut yesterday.

​

Next, I cut the new floor panel out and cut out 25.5mm square sections from each corner to fit around the frame. I used a fenced, stop cut method on the table saw again to achieve this. Note that the bench square with the block of wood clamped is fixed in position, stopping the cut from going any further.

​

After some filing and little recutting here and there, I had a good fit. Not perfect, but good enough. One floor panel cut to size. Note that fan holes will be cut when I have the fans and are absolutely certain of their location after I have mounted the HDD cage.

​

The mounting concept that I am about to try and put together.

​

I wanted to fasten the mounts to the floor seperately from the floor fasteners to the frame so that the floor could be removed with mounting brackets intact and without removing the mounting brackets first. To do this I thought I'd use pop rivets… but I overlooked the maleability of the thin sheet aluminium that I had used for the floor. (I knew there was a reason for going with the 2mm stuff!). After marking and drilling necessary hole, I proceeded to pop the long rivets in place… Wrong! The thin aluminium didn't handle the pressure and the rivets pulled straight through. Damn. Not the exact word I used at the time, but you get the idea.

​

Okay, well, let's look at it again. I couldn't be stuffed making another bracket, so I endeavoured to remove the rivet. Not so easy. First, I filed a flat spot on the bottom of the rivet and centre punched so that I could start a drill hole and drill it out. This worked adequately but left slightly oversized, irregular holes. Hmmm.

​

Anyway, moving right along, I had the bright idea of placing a solid spacer between the top of the bracket and thin aluminium sheet below. This would have worked, but because the holes in the floor sheet were now oversized, the pop rivet pulled straight through again. Damn. Not the word I used at the time but you get the idea….

​

DAMN this! (need I say it again ) Stuff the removable plate with brackets intact, I'm going to screw the buggers straight into the frame with M4 screws.
I had intentionally located the mounting holes 27mm in from the edge so that I could fit the drill within the frame without skewing the drill. I'm glad I did this, althought it wouldn't have been an issue for the rivets, it would have been for thread. Btw, I also hammered the aluminium back into shape where the rivet had made a little mountain.

​

The bottom framing tube was tapped, the floor and bracket were redrilled to M4 and then the lot was fastened in place with 16mm screws.

​

Finally I moved on to the front mount. Note the square being to ensure bracket was square to the frame and the clamps holding this in place.

​

After some drilling, tapping and redrilling the top holes, I have an HDD cage mounting system and mostly secured floor.

​

Some installation shots…

​

Cheers,
GAM

 

OMG . your tools and skills make work like hell

you just a pro . well done this HD rack awesome

cheers

 

ComputerKing, your praise encourages me Thanks mate.

I got another update for you and everyone else...

 

Workshop - Day 19: Another Bay Day

Workshop - Day 19: Another Bay Day
Note, click on images for higher res. versions.
Spent all weekend doing lots of things but modding. Finally managed an afternoon in the workshop today.

5.25" Device Bay continued…
Additional M3 mounting screw slots
After a fair while precisly measuring and marking the additional slots for device mounting screws to mount short devices and/or to secure problem fitting devices that don't like the quick-release mechanism, I was ready to start to a series of drill holes that is meant to both remove material and provide a guide for subsequent filing.
The two sides are clamped together but loose on the drill press table. I've got a back fence that is determinining the outer most drill holes and a block of wood between the fence and the workpiece to determine the inner most drill hole. A side fence is determining the line of drill holes. In hindsight, I should have done this the other way around. Nevermind.
Note, with and without block.

​

Not all perfect but I used a smaller drill bit than required to allow for some deviation. They're better than they look in the photo because the protective film makes them look furry.

​

Some quick rotary tool cutting action to 'join the dots' and open them up.

​

Lots of needle filing later and then I remembered the 'sanding disc' alternative for the Dremel.

​

Back to needle files to finish the job. Sorry about the bad pic.

​

Cutting the sides of the bay to size
I mentioned earlier in the worklog that I had deliberately left the device bay sides oversize. Well, time to cut them down to size, so to speak.

​

5.25" Bay locking mechanism
Now onto that quick release mechanism again. The method I used on the table saw to establish the initial slots has been covered previously. Anyway, this is the starting point and lots of careful, fine filing with some very careful help from the Dremel with sanding disc and sanding drum to remove some bulk waste.

​

Finally, I 'neat' fitting spring. The spring is clutching the pin that has just been fashioned.

​

Quick test and I realised that I need to lower the spring further down the pin i.e., make the pin deeper to allow sufficient throw in the mechanism.

​

I've cut both the locking and guide sections to size now and checking the movement of the locking piece and ensuring that is will accept and lock the mounting screws in their slots. I don't want to mount this until I have the front panel on the case to ensure that I'm locking the devices in precisely flush to the exterior front panel.

​

5.25" Bay top and bottom panels revisited
So… time to fix the top and bottom panels of the device bay. I mentioned earlier that I was going to swap the bottom for the top and reclaim the other panel I made that I originally thought was too narrow. It is a little tight, but will work fine.
As the holes top and bottom are exactly the same, I had to widen the outer holes so the screws could be inserted and threaded home. Rather than filing the holes into odd shapes, I decided to simply drill a bigger hole… instead of 3mm, I redrilled them to 4mm.

​

All good now.

​

The new bottom piece after some cutting and tweaking here and there and then the bottom panel was put in place and clamped while I drill two new mounting holes.

​

Quick-Release locking mechanism mockup
Done. Mock up with the locking mechanism.

​

Refit the 5.25" device bay
After refitting the bay back into the case, I've noted how much the device is not aligned with the case from front to back. I will grind down one of the front faces to even this up. The photo looks worse that it is as the masking tape is not straight on the frame seen on the left.

​

Some smooth touches to the bottom of the locking mechanishm.

​

That's all for now folks. Hopefully, I will have another update for you all tomorrow.

Cheers,
GAM

 

man you really doing a kickass work ! I never think it will be like this you care about the small things well done

 

agreed with Computerking, this is a great mod and also a great worklog.

 

Cheers Guys. I have another update coming shortly.

 

good work! Agree with ck and jokkos aswell

 

Workshop - Day 20: Gifts downunder from upover

Workshop - Day 20: Gifts downunder from upover
Note, click on images for higher res. versions.
Unlike yesterday, after going to bed at 4am the night before, I had an AAe courier arrive at 8am with a new account package for me (rates, forms, etc). Stupified and still mostly in a dream world, I had to greet him at the door wearing only my boxers! Not pretty . Today, I was up and about when a courier knocked on the door. Good old Aussie Post with a package from the States. Alright! The package from MNPCTech had arrived!

Sponsorship package
Let's have a look at what we have here …
The box! Hmmm… big. After removing the protective packing, this is what I found :shock:


The contents… Well packed inside, was the following:
6x NMB-MAT 120mm fans (2x with 3 pin connector, 4x with bare lead)

1x (pack) Large 1.5" cutting discs (5 discs included)

3x U-Channel Trim Molding

2x SONEX Mini Willtec Acoustical foam sheets

4x 3 pin wire extension kit

1x Bulgin Switch Mounting Plate



Due to some confusion on my part, the only items missing are the 2x Vandal Resistant Momentary Switch


Bill Owen and the crew at MNPCTech are tops! (Aussie expression = excellent). These are quality items that I am very grateful to be able to incorporate into this scratch case. Keep your eyes peeled for their implementation.


Call for more
Let me take this opportunity to send out the call to potential sponsors again. If you can't offer the guts (MB, CPU, RAM, GPU) of this beast, let me remind you of some other things that I need to fulfil the requirements of this deserving project:
Miscellaneous (in order of priority)
- Fan Controller
- Monitoring
- Front Ports / Card Reader
Watercooling (in order of priority)
- Pump
- Waterblock(s)
- Tubing
- Fittings
- Resevoir
- Monitoring

I'll try to be more proactive, but I'm quite run off my feet at the moment. If you happen to work for a supplier/reseller/manufacturer and you think this project is deserving, then please advise the proprietor of this project and my needs and make contact with me or provide me with their email address. Cheers GAM.

My apologies readers, for trying to get this project sponsored, but I have no immediate work and am spending much of my time on this project.

Now, on to today's modding…


Foam insulation for panels?
When I designed this case originally I had in mind using some of this 20mm x 5mm soft adhesive backed foam, that I purchased from Bunnings ages ago. The idea was to line all the panel to frame connections with it to provide vibration dampening and extra noise insulation.
As I was about to cut the front panel, I thought it was about time to do some experiments. My concern, which turned out to be true, was the aluminium panels I was using would flex at the mounting points due to sponginess of the foam and the placement of the fixing points. I wanted only a 1mm or 2mm gap between the frame and panels, so the panels had to be fastened down reasonably tightly to squish the 5mm think foam.

I experimented on one of the lower fixed side panels. The foam tape was held on loosely with masking tape.

​

Using the tip of the clutch pencil, I punched small holes in the foam through the screw holes to mark their location in the foam and then use a leather punch to punch out holes in the foam.

​

The result
That looks fine as the fixing points are relatively close.

​

Looking along the length, where the fixing points are spacer farther apart you can start to see the bulging in the panel between screws. It is hard to capture in a photograph, but if you look closely at a higher res. version you will notice it. No good for me. I am still keen to have something insulating the mating surfaces between the frame and panels but I will have to have a look around for something suitable. I thougth of electrical tape, but I don't like the idea of the adhesive on it… it always gets messy over time.
If you have any suggestions for something <1mm thick, let me know !

​

Table saw table addition
I decided to apply some masking tape over the channels on the table of the table saw that tend to catch and scratch the aluminium panels and also on my fence support to assist with sliding the material during cuts. Work a treat.

​

5.25" Device bay front panel
Although I had given some thought to the front panel 5.25" device bay considerations, I hadn't come up with anything that I particularly liked. After much pondering, I decided that a separate but flush insert into the front panel could work well and still satisfy my requirements. The panel will have 4 thumbscrews and captive socket screws, one in each corner (I think) for quick removal and replacement of devices.
Here I've started to cut out the device space using the same drop cut techniques table saw used throughout this project.

​

Once the cuts were finished by hand, I took my time (quite a lot of it) careful filing out the corners. Note, with the cuts on the table saw, I intentionally erred on the small side as I wanted to ensure minimal gaps around the devices. After trial fitting and recutting several times, I ended up with a perfect fit.

​

Note that I've intentionally left the outer edges oversize so that I can trim back to the exact line of the rest of the front panel. In the shots below you will note that I've recut the bottom edge so that there are now only two width dimensions; top and right equal, left and bottom equal (31mm and 12.5mm). The outside edges will overlap the side panels.

​

Quite happy with this and keen to make a start for tomorrow's tasks before 'noise out', I started to cut into the front panel that I had cut out of a sheet earlier. Note, if I had realised how I was going to do the bay, I would have cut the front panel sufficiently oversizeded (at least the blade's 3mm thickness) to allow the removeable piece to be cut out of it and then recut the front panel to dimensions. As it happens, I've got lots of extra unusable off cuts that is a bit of shame.
To make matters worse, I stuffed up the cut to the front panel, rendering it useless for the rest of the case! Look at the line in the photo and the end of the cut. The line indicates where I should have stopped, well short, but I wasn't paying attention trying to get the job done quickly. Bugger! That defeated my resolve to do anymore for the day.

​

Cheers,
GAM

 

YAY you are good brother , you are good ..

 

ComputerKing, you must be my number one fan!