forcifer

alright im finally going to start on my next project :) no more mods, this is going to be a build :D

thats the basic idea. it will have a small base but im going to but alot of weight on that bottom edge so that it balances mostly by itself. http://www.delviesplastics.com/mm5/m..._Clear_Acrylic getting 10 of those sheets. its going to have as little external mods as possible, the idea is that you want see the IO panel all i have have is a small hole that i rout all the cables through. its going to have an internal hinge so that i can easily open it if something goes wrong. will have angled fan slots as well to look as clean as possible. this will hopefully turn out better then silverstoned (disappointment to me there are so many errors i dont really want to talk about it)

all i need is the acrylic :)

Ssrogg

Ok, this will hurt the pocket book, but look into Polycarb before acrylic. Much tougher for the thickness. This means a lighter/stronger case. Keep in mind Poly is a bugger to keep scratches out of, but so is Plexi. Also, Polycarb is more brittle, but not enough I'd think you'd notice the difference.

My .02

Eric

forcifer

unfortuently $$ really is an issue. it would be cool to use poly, but it about 2x as much to use poly then to use acrylic, and poly doesnt have mirrored finish. :( thanks for the idea though

forcifer

ordering acrylic on friday. got delayed because of paycheck >:(

forcifer

be honest...who forgot about this project?? well, i for one, DIDNT. :P heh acrylic came today, and being a good little modder i got right to work. here goes nothing..

10 sheets mirror acrylic, some hinges, some weld on #3, and an applicator bottle. FINALLY here.

hinges. going to make things much easier...i hope

applicator bottle. not much more to be said

weld on #3. THIS STUFF IS A HUGE PITA to get into the applicator bottle. or im just dumb. i ended up puncturing the secondary metal thingy and using the top as a basin thing to poor it into the applicator bottle. this stuff kinda stings flesh but isnt too bad.

cant mod without meh tunes!!! ayreon ftw

just a little test to see how this stuff works. seems all good

w00t for amazing gluing system. to the left is a sub that i dont use much (dont have it setup, i will soon im being lazy right now), and on top is a secret project that your going to have to wait on :P

to the right is another project that you get to wait on. i decided that it was important that i really shove them together.

success!!

could have been better but i think its pretty good.

gluing on panel number 3 (technically). only doing one joint at a time. this is what the setup looks like right now. i might flip it in a minute and add glue on the other joint because i think its dry.

anyway, sorry for the wait, ill work quickly so you dont have to wait much. expect at least 1, if not 2, updates tonight. l8r for now

forcifer

update #2

modular work station :)

i need to cut the 12x12" sheets into 6x6" for the boxes. wait, 6x6, you only get 4 per sheet! i realized this thats why i have 10 sheets. 3 x 4 = 12 6"x6" sheets = 2x 6x6x6" cubes. kinda confusing but it works.

tool o' the trade

hi

line cut through. seems pretty smooth.

cut that in half

*repeats a bunch of times*

now i have 12 of the 6"x6" sheets.

my current progress as of 5 minutes ago. then parents got mad at me so i get to get ready for school =.= look for more updates tomarrow...well not this many, but some :)

Ssrogg

Lookin good so far. I remember tryin to do an acrylic cupboard in high school. Was a bit a pain.

And, Forc, we need to talk about how to resize a pic! = )

Eric

forcifer

photobucket says it automatically resizes them to 800x600. 1024x768 isnt that bad =/ its just such a huge pain. its why i stopped watermarking them also. just not really worth it to me. ill see what i can do though

forcifer

after 2-3 days of work, here is what i got. soccer practice and school, materials have slowed me down but im actually fairly close to finishing. well, kinda anyway.

gluing meh hinges on. this was an insanely dumb process in which i was stupid and the acrylic was even dumber. but it worked, and nothing was damaged (more on that later)

you can kinda see how the gray backing was destroyed and you can see the mirror part. i was freaking out right about now because i thought the mirror would be jacked. its fine (again, more later)

going to be the top of one of the arms to the boxes. the whole in the middle is where the hole saw is going to be drilled through. im using a 1.5" diameter hole saw bit. 24 pins fit through it, and thats all i care about...

carbide bit. teethed bits with just destroy it (at least thats what i hears) so DONT use them. unless its hacksaw bit but i couldnt find one of those.

box with 3 sides up. a few things need to be worked out however. im going to attach the final sides (not the ones with holes) with velcro and scraps of acrylic, which will be so much fun.

the joint boxes are coming out of this sheet. 3x3x3 :)

:) hole sawed out, 1.5" diameter (or close anyway)

THIS is how i know that just because i showed the mirror part im not screwed. i scratched off, with the same glue stuff that i attached the hinges with, the gray backing till i exposed the silvery part. it was this piece and can you tell at all?

12x12 getting sawed

original little hole thing

not sure why i dont have more pics, but they wouldnt really be needed. i just repeated the hole saw thing with the 12x12s, so im done with it (till the joint boxes anyway which are going to SUCK) unforuently, i dont have anything for tubing. going to use either copper, aluminum, or PVC i have decided...

magnethead

You can either use 2" conduit (easiest, use ready-make joint pieces and can bend it) or copper (bronze together for the angles, but takes skill).

__________________
I'm not the world's greatest speller. Deal with it.

forcifer

not too many pics, but i dont need many.

saved me several hours of work when i found this :D old mobo tray from x-navigator. needs some cutting though..

cut, bushed, and im happy :)

was all done by hand with a sanding block. not bad...

i found that i can weld into the acrylic other substances and it holds really well. :) makes life soo easy, its almost cheating...

as of 3 minutes ago. coming along quite nicely

kenownsryu

Looking good so far. Too bad suckers like me have to buy cases lol

forcifer

dont you just love it when life says "f*** you, go ahead and die I dont want you anymore."? project put on hold for a few days....stay tuned...

forcifer

dont really want to post a full update because, well, yesterday...sucked and i dont have that many pics. anyway, this is what i spent alot of time yesterday doing, and i think it paid off.


ill get some progress pics later. not sure when, depends on how im feeling. sorry about how sparatic this is, but sometimes....arg i just cant

forcifer

looks simple, but the 3x3s were really jacked up. took me a lot longer then it should have for me to glue them.

if you look closely, there is a thin piece of acrylic in there. thats to make a really good bond for both main sheets. without it, the 2 squares wouldnt even touch. now, its uber super strong :)

another technique i used. that is a small shard of acrylic that, when covered in acrylic cement stuff, turns into a really good glue. used it when bonds were too weak. these 3x3 cubes really need to hold alot because of the steel...

nearly same pic as before, but with the acrylic shard covered in the cement stuff. works really well :)

these are just some pics of what i have done, and whats left. thats everything (acrylic wise) that i have done

3x3 cubes

6x6 cubes

meh precious 12x12 :D

what i have left to do with the 3x3

6x6 (i finally know what im going to do with them. sucks i dont have time to explain, but you should like it i hope :D)

em biggens. wont be too hard

steel tubes ftw

Ssrogg

How goes the battle, Forc? Looks like yer gettin closer!


Eric

forcifer

i have an update soon, too tired now...wait till tomarrow. sorry bout the wait. i havent done THAT much because i got a new comp and am ocing it, but i should hopefully be done by this weekend