Project 'not yet named'

[liquid_fire]

Hello all!

I've been reading your forums for a little over a month now, and I'm impressed with the level of expertise and helpfulness of TBC's members. I've recieved a lot of inspiration and insight for my next project. Enough sucking up.. a little about me:

24 yr old recent college grad, finally have time to do what I love, which includes computers and modding (and not homework and papers). I've done a few mods in the past, (like, 3-5 years ago) which i'll dig up the pics from my other computer and show them soon (gotta have a resume!).

I love SFF's, and how little space they take up on my desktop. I like them to look sharp though, unique, maybe even a little extravagant. I'm tired of the 'boxy' look (90 deg edges) and i'm ready to build a case from scratch for the first time. So here goes!

(ps, like the rest of the great members here, i appreciate feedback and ideas, so keep them coming!)

[liquid_fire]

Design:

I'm new with the sketchup, but i've used other cad programs before. It's pretty intuitive, but i've seen much better representations by other members.

Here's a design layout:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/casemod.jpg

You can see the footprint of the case deviates from the normal rectangle. The overall dimensions of the case are about 12x7x12 (HxWxD). The front of the case is about 3.75" wide. This screenshot was made to show a buddy the cooling design for the case. I'm going to design a front face that integrates the facia into a fan grille, rather than having a seperate grille

Here's da guts:
8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Brisbane 2.3GHz Socket AM2 Processor
BIOSTAR TForce TF7025-M2 AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 7025 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
POWMAX PSLP6100AA MicroATX 300W Dual Fan Power Supply with SATA - A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel

I'm parting out my old shuttle too, if anyone wants a 1G of ram, a shuttle mobo & amd barton 3000, or shuttle PSU, let me know. (sry for the seller spam) I'm reusing some of the parts from the shuttle such as trays, buttons, aluminum, etc, but i'd like to make the case as home-made as possible.

[liquid_fire]

Here's a cardboard mockup of the case: (Milwaukee pride!!)

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01455.jpg


My parts!!
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01462.jpg

Power test & MC05 install:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01464.jpg

Unfortunately my work center is also my play center, so when I work on the case, I have to move all my computer stuff off my desk and store it safely on the other side of the room. When I want to play, I gotta re-assemble everything. (Hence I wanna get this thing done!!)
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01467.jpg

[liquid_fire]

Making the frame out of 1/2" x 16" aluminum angle from the local ACE:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01466.jpg

It's very important to design strength into the joints (overlap / slots) lest it falls apart when you pick it up. Lernt from experience...

Using clamps & whatever surfaces I can to do metal work. Go easy, it's my first time working with sheet metal.
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01470.jpg

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01472.jpg

Finished bends, cleaned up a little and straightened with very patient tapping:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01471.jpg

Frame w/ front and back panels roughed in: Remember, there's plenty of modding on those panels to come!
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01473.jpg

[liquid_fire]

First order of plexiglass arrived! Time to experiment a little and get used to working with this stuff. I've used dremels on plexi windows in the past, and if you're patient and go slow, allow for cooling, you won't melt the stuff like everyone says. I decided to try something new and got a coping saw:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01474.jpg

It was still a pain, and hard to keep a straight line, what with my flimsy "workbench" shaking and all...

I also got a heat gun, and started bending the plastic. Here's a heads up: once you make a bend, even if it cools...when you heat it up again, it will "stress relax" and you'll lose your bend, so work carefully and get it right the first time. Cool the piece as soon as your done to preserve the form you worked so hard for.

I crimped the bend with a piece of that aluminum, which worked great:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01475.jpg

Here's a test fit on the case:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01476.jpg

Twas very rough, and this is just a test piece. I have more plexi coming in this weekend to do the rest of the case.

[liquid_fire]

Here's a design I sketched (REAL sketching!! not sketchup! =P) for the front facia / fan grille. See where the fan will fit, behind the flames? the edges of the flames are about 85mm, perfect to cover the fan.
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01457.jpg

It will be cut out of aluminum, polished, and have some colored plexi btwn it and and the black (eventually lit). I gotta tell you this now, so no one takes credit for the idea: The eyes will be the power & reset buttons, and hopefully will be lit w/ some UV LED's (assuming the black plexi lets enough light thru.)

Here's a lil teaser:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01477.jpg

Here's a mockup of an alternative front...
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01478.jpg

This one is stainless, and could wrap across the contours on the top of the case. I'm def. leaning towards the skull still, cuz its so bad azz.

[Luke122]

Lookin good so far! I think it's a cool looking idea, and hope that you keep the updates coming!

[liquid_fire]

It may seem like there's a lot coming all at once here, but this is about 2 weeks worth of work so far (bout 2 hrs a day, every other day). We're all caught up now.

I'm debating and brainstorming how to access the DVD drive on top the case:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/doorideas.jpg

The door on the left would be large and bulky, and create the typical "boxy" look on top of the case. I came up with the door on the right in the shower this morning, which is surprising since I usually don't have a conscience thought until after my first pot of coffee. This door would be small enough to have the drive push and pull the door open & close. Needless to say, I'm leaning toward "Door number 2!" hehe

[Killdrath]

Another possibility would be to attach a moveable section of the "door" directly to the dront od the dvd drive and have it slide forward and back as the tray does. Kinda like how I did my drive in THIS thread (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10188).

[liquid_fire]

Thanks for the tip kildrath! I'd like to see what you did in that thread, but the pics are dead. I thought of that as well, I'll have to play around with a few things. I ordered a bit of extra plexi for experimentation, I'll keep you posted.

[Killdrath]

doh! I'll fix the pics. Try again soon! I changed my domain names around.

[liquid_fire]

All right, update time for all (2) of you subscribers out there :redface:

So, on to the most critical piece of the design, the curved side piece. I have to get it perfectly bent top to bottom and end to end, or the light will bend off it like a dent in a car and make it look crappy. So here we go:

Because it's such a large area I need to heat, I use the stovetop set to Med/High heat.
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01510.jpg

When it begins to lose strength and bend on its own, I form it over the counter top's edge:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01504.jpg

And then quench to make it hold its shape:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01501.jpg

Check the fit:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01494.jpg

And repeat over and over (and over) until the fit is correct. Then I spot-treated any irregularities w/ a heat gun, to focus the heat directly on the spot I want to change, so I don't lose the entire form. (see previous posts about stress-relaxing)

My ruth-goldberg spot treating setup:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01506.jpg

I finally had something that fit, although it wasn't perfect, and began test fitting things.. (insert blatantly obvious foreshadowing about the entire design doing a 180...here.)

[liquid_fire]

aight, sorry about the dirty kitchen in the last set of pics, that's what happens when you have friends over for the weekend, get drunk, and make food. don't worry, it's all cleaned up now and no one got sick. Moving on...

After making that last piece, I couldn't figure out a good way to mount it w/out using a ton of screws that would be a b!tch to take out every time you wanted something. I also began to notice many other design flaws detailed here:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/badcasedesign.jpg

now this is a friggin pickle.. I had already spent mucho dineros on materials, and scrapping this project was not an option. I began searching newegg for a cheap way out, then felt like a piece of crap for even considering buying a case after promising a completely custom case. So I said, "*uck it, figure something out" Long story short, here you are:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/cubecasedesign.jpg
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/exploded.jpg

The best part is, it uses nearly the same amount of materials as my previous design. I'm short a 5x24" piece of plexi, a stick of threaded rod, a short aluminum tube, and some nuts. (that came out wrong, :think:) erm..hardware.
For $20, i'm def. going to change the design. It even uses the same motherboard tray that is already completed, (pics to come)

The best part is, the whole thing will come apart by loosening the four decorative nuts (come on people, hardware) that will cap the threaded rod in each corner. or, you can loosen the nuts on the bottom of the case (the feet) and access the drives w/out taking the top apart. It also gives the user an unobstructed view of all the expensive goodies on the MOBO.

Another long story short: don't be afraid to mod your mod! while planning is critical, a design is only as good as reality. And my previous design wasn't that good. What do you think?

[dgrmkrp]

I like the old and the new design. No shame in changing plans, as long as the structure is not sturdy enough to do its job.. I mean, you could do a case out of paper, make it look good.. and when rain comes.. Mod on and don't worry about your nuts.. j/k ;)

[Blebbz]

The first design is good, but the second design is awesome. Great accessibilty and perfection for showing off, but only one fan?
i think you're going to need a few more than that, even if you are watercooling it, like one for intake, one exhaust.
I still love it though

[liquid_fire]

thanks for the feedback!

actually, if you look close at the pics, there are 3 fans showing, 1 intake on the "top body" front, one outwards on the back, and one intake on the "bottom body" for the drives. The power supply also has 2 60mm on it to pass air through it. The PSU is loud as hell, so i'll probably swap the 60s for quieter 80's. So..yep, 5 fans total, plus the GPU and CPU fans. hopefully it won't be TOO loud when it said and done. I think 1/4" plexi should insulate a lot of that noise.

[liquid_fire]

aight folks, got a dilema: glowing black on black, or aluminum face on the glowing skull?
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/alternateskulls.jpg

The orange / red you see is 1/4" plexi loaded w/ amber and yellow LED's. the eyes are the power / reset buttons, back lit w/ the system activity lights. I've seen aluminum over green used in a spectacular fashion, but the black face might work better on my all black case.

what do you think?

[Blebbz]

Sorry for not looking properly lol, and definately black on black in my opinion :D

[liquid_fire]

all right, back to that custom mobo tray i told you about...

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01482.jpg

I dremeled a slot the exact width of the flats of a #8 nut, and glued the nuts in the slot. The plexi supports any torque applied thru the nut, while allowing for a flush mount with no thru-holes in the plexi tray. Not sure if this is relevant in the new design, since the back of the tray is now inside the case and not an exterior piece, but its an idea you can tuck away..

Here's a shot of the tray and the mock up. Plenty of space under the mobo to run wires all stealthlike...
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01525.jpg

Here's an assembly sequence of the lower body.
1) Bottom plate w/ drives and PSU:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01522.jpg

2) 1st layer of plexi side-supports:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01521.jpg

3) Add optical drive and fans: http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01520.jpg

Eventually, #4 will be to addy the lower body, as shown in previous post.

Here's the 3.15" aluminum spacers i cut tonight (same height as 80mm fan):
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01517.jpg

And again after 180grit, 320grit, and some light polishing:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01518.jpg

[liquid_fire]

I started making strips for the bottom body from teh piece of plexi that I bent and un-bent earlier. Unfortunately, the piece was very weak from all the cold & hot working done to it, and it didn't snap on the line I cut:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01526.jpg

So I left it for now and moved on to that skull design I showed peviously. Here's the materials:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01486-1.jpg

Take 1, "bomb's away!"
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01528.jpg

Lesson learned, gotta be really gentle!! :( Progress:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01530.jpg

Wish I had a shop..This is all being done with a coping saw and a dremel, little bits at a time so as not to break the delicate parts. Man would I flip a nut if I broke this thing now... :hurt:

Here's a little more progress:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01532.jpg

And with a portion of the edges roughly finished:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01533.jpg

Time for some P90X, the rest will have to wait til tomorrow...
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01534.jpg

And gotta clean this **** up before the GF finds it!! :eek:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff117/mlaner/DSC01535.jpg

[b4i7]

very nice cutting

yeah...id clean before she finds that :)

[Remy]

Hey Liquid. I'm not sure of the level of polishing you are attempting toreach, but if you want something closer to a mirror finish (I think it'd look good in your black case), go all the way up to 1000 grit sand paper and wet sand it. And since you have the dremel, grab the buffing wheel and some polish. You can get a mirror shine on it. Like the shot below. Took me about 10 - 15 minutes to get that shine.

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/359/1000587eh0.th.jpg (http://img524.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1000587eh0.jpg)

I think I like your second design better, but I would've liked to have seen you finish the first. The point is though, you're still modding. Nice work so far.

Remy

[liquid_fire]

Hey Liquid. I'm not sure of the level of polishing you are attempting toreach, but if you want something closer to a mirror finish (I think it'd look good in your black case), go all the way up to 1000 grit sand paper and wet sand it. And since you have the dremel, grab the buffing wheel and some polish. You can get a mirror shine on it. Like the shot below. Took me about 10 - 15 minutes to get that shine.

I think I like your second design better, but I would've liked to have seen you finish the first. The point is though, you're still modding. Nice work so far.

Remy

Yea, I'll have to wait and see. The brushed look might work in the end, but i'll try a polished sample in the finished product and see. I was pumped about the first design, but I just couldn't pull it off with the tools and "shop" that I have. So, I modded my mod! :D