ZapWizard's LAN PC -Custom Ammo PC -Completed Jan 18 '04

no chance of using a piece of smoked acrylic? that way the LCD shines through when on albeit at a little less brightness... Smoked would match the case better.

 

i'm working on a similar project using a WWII french radio! YOURS is turning out really nice! i'm not modding the faceplate of mine, instead i'm just rewiring all the connections to do stuff! keep up the good work it looks great

 

guys... its vfd, not a lcd.

amazing work there btw

 

thats what I meant you ninny, pls replace LCD with VFD in every preceeding post... Anyways whatchya done today zap?

 

As I try to answer all questions; I don't think this would work out well.

This is good for stealthed mods, but for this case nothing should appear hidden.
In either case the VFD's grey off apearance, and it's green ON apearance look very much like a CRT screen.

Well look at the next post:

 

I bought a new toy today: a Dremel Router attachment.
This allows me to do straight lines better.

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The inside of the door on the Ammo box, isn't exactly good looking.
So I cut a few parts out to make everything even.

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I then installed a piece of black plastic grilling.
I this really helps the looks of the entire case a LOT.

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I bought some Lexan at home depot.
Printed out my new template, and cut away.

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Now, a technique I just thought up.
Using vinyl dye to texture flat shiny lexan.
What I did was to put a normal flat coat down, and let this dry.
I then sprayed vinyl dye onto the surface, while at the same time blowing the surface with a hair dryer.
The vinyl dye then freezes in place, and builds up in texture.
The surface is then again dyed with a final top coat to seal in any loose particles of dye.

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The result matches the case perfectly.

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Even with the router attachement, I couldn't get totaly straight lines in the lexan.
The fix? half round door molding.
The moulding had to be heated in the corners as it didn't bend that sharp on it's own.
I then trimmed some overlap on the backside.
It really finishes the area around the VFD

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Next: How to hold the faceplate in place.
Well the components are all so packed that I don't have room for a set of bolts.
The fix? Magnets!
These are very strong magnets.
The magnets and brackets were each superglued in place.
I would have screwed them in, but the case it too thin for screws.

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Here you can see the matching magents on the back side of the face plate.
You can also see all the components that have to be wired up.

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With the face plate installed the case looks complete.

The original fan grill in the rendering was going to be the same plastic grill as the bottom right fan outlet.
But now I think I like the chrome fan grill that is shown here.
I am still not sure which I will end up with in the final build.

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How much clearance?
When closed; about 1/4" from the tallest component to the plastic on the door.
(The flash on my camera really makes the above two photos look fake...but their not)

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A final shot showing the case open.
As you can see in this shot the VFD looks just like a CRT screen.

 

Dang.... you made me wait 19 minutes... blimeh it was worth every F5 press (of which there were many)

Looks the dogs mate

 

that tinting for the plexi turned out perfect! that was one thing i thought might mess up the look of it - having the rugged case with shiny plexi. but it looks perfect now, along with the modified door. if you DO keep that fan grill (which i do kinda like - maybe give us a pic with the mesh for comparison) you need to remove the orange sticker from the fan!

and is this the final cut out for the plexi, or are you still going to get it CNC'ed? the reason i ask is some of the ciruclar holes aren't QUITE perfect, but that may not even matter once the hardware is installed and covers it up

lol - same here. i was gonna post something to mess him up sinxe he said "look in the next post" but i had to resist the desire to spam

 

-> excellent work there zap.
-> you might want to take out the orange sticker on the fan though

 

The rounded edges look much better for the VFD zap

 

very nice work there, shame you aint in the uk, i wanna see this in the flesh

 

*drool* Like I'm gonna be able to beat that with project Rain

 

Zap that is looking amazing.

Wish we could get lexon over here. Well we can but it's too damm expensive....

Can't wait to see it all up and running. especially that VFD....

Keep it up........

 

Great Zap!

Really great!
But I have one question: As for the keyboard light up
Woulden`t been easier to take a 12v adapter for the CCFL and then make that switch on the keyboard? You have 2 cables out anyway in both of this solutions.

However Great job!

 

That looks very , Zap. Just a question: Won't the magnets interfere with the voltmeter on the right, or worse, the hard drives?

 

Normal Ferromagnets are not strong enough to mess the hard drives ... even if they are placed right on top of them.

Dont know about the voltmeter tho.

 

Re: Great Zap!

I did think about putting 12volts down the USB Cable then putting a 5-volt regualtor to power the keyboard.
But since the Keyboard has a HUB I didn't want to risk smoking the regulator by plugging too much in.

I already checked to see if it messes up the volt meter, and it does not. (Which supprised me considering how close the magent was)
As for the harddrive, It should end up far enough away to be safe.
Oh, and these are Neodymium or Rare Earth Magnets, so they are very powerfull.

 

Re: Re: Great Zap!

Zap, did you know that hard drives contain Neodymium magnets?
http://dansdata.com/magnets.htm
I actually have 8 of those magnets from 200mb HDs.

 

Re: Re: Re: Great Zap!

How strong are they ?

I thought HDs had very strong electromagnets.

 

Yes, harddrives do have the strongest magents in your PC.
The stronger they are the more precise the harddrive can be.
Which equals larger capacities.

So these magents are not going to effect the harddrive in any way.

The next update will be some of the electronics, IE: Fan Controller, and Vue Meter connection.