Plexiglas cutting/design help

[Fuganater]

I am starting to rethink my design for Maximus Servers... firstly a name change and a change to the windows. I'm feeling "inspired" by the nanx tower in the CM11 competition and I think a honeycomb type server case would be sweet.

Here is what the window would look like on the HDD side of the case.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Fuganater987/Project%20Maximus%20Serverus/newsidepanel.png
How does that look? Too exact? Should it look a bit more crazy?

Here is my idea for the front. Its really rough because I can't figure out how to do it in Sketchup yet....
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Fuganater987/Project%20Maximus%20Serverus/grillidea.png

Here is how I want to arrange the front fans. No reason other than might look cool.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Fuganater987/Project%20Maximus%20Serverus/newfrontpanel.png

The BIG question.. How do I do this? The spacing is only like 1/8" and idk if I am that good.

Really need help on this. Huge thanks to anyone that can help!
Cheers.

[Fuganater]

Ok I lied... After messing in Sketchup for the past hour I got a good mockup of the mesh I want.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Fuganater987/Project%20Maximus%20Serverus/frontwithmesh.png

Somehow I would like to get the Orange on here too.. or would that be too much orange in front of the Orange fans?

[RogueOpportunist]

Hmmm, what if for the HDD window you made a honeycomb pattern on the actual window part, like say via etching with orange side lighting or even going a step further by etching deeper channels and running EL wire through them and around the border of the window giving you some super-glowing honeycomb look... Dunno if that would be too bright though, could always undervolt the EL wire.

Looking at the front I have to admit I like your first draft better, having the round edges of the circular cutouts in with the straight line look of honeycomb patterns just doesn't sit right with me... Makes it look more like a flower than a honeycomb... but that could just be me.

If it was me I would probably make the front look something like the HDD window except instead of plexi/EL/etching I would follow the honeycomb through with the metal, then for the places where there is no fan opening you could fill them in orange and the places with the fan openings would could open up but have the orange fans pushing light through or something? Make it look sort of like a closed/open honeycomb... I'm makin dinner right now so can't draw what I mean but to give you an idea of the look I found this pic with google...

http://www.bishopscs.com/wp-content/gallery/1/3D-graphics_Honeycomb_Mosaic_006958_.jpg

[Fuganater]

Interesting idea but idk how/if I could do that.

[Beta-brain]

If you don't want to do etching by hand you can use plasti-kote glass frosting (http://www.plasti-kote.co.uk/Product/pcode---4144/pccode---3620)

You can cut those shapes from plexi even with 1/8" between them, drill small holes around the edge of the hexagon inside the edge line and then cut through the holes with a fret saw or dremel or small file and use files to smooth up to the edge line, a file is more accurate and easier to control than a screaming dremel :D a bit delicate but can be done.

If your cutting a lot of plexi that has exposed edges that will need smoothing and polishing you might want to get a plexi scraper and have a look at a short tutorial I made here. (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?p=247964#post247964)

[Fuganater]

I bought that scraper just a few days ago for this project.

[Fuganater]

Here is a better one.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Fuganater987/Project%20Maximus%20Serverus/newgrill.png

I'm starting to rethink the mesh idea. Maybe I should just find some modders mesh and bend it out a little bit.

But I'm working on a new window idea. Here is the new mobo side window.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Fuganater987/Project%20Maximus%20Serverus/mobosidewindow.png

Here it is with the Orange Plexi part.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Fuganater987/Project%20Maximus%20Serverus/newmobosidewindow.png

Looks ok?

I'm thinking about making the HDD side irregular looking too. Thoughts?

I also still need advice on some precision cutting tools for pelxi.

[Fuganater]

bump

[mDust]

Mixing organic and geometric shapes has always looked weird to me. It's pretty rare to find 'neat' geometric shapes in nature, so that's probably why. The blobby window constructed of hexagons looks 'off'. That's my opinion though.
The orange is translucent acrylic to be lit?

If you want more responses, I could say something controversial to start a discussion...but it tends to derail the thread.;)

[Fuganater]

Yes I'm going to use SMD LED strips to light it. Now you have me redoing my design lol. I can't find a honeycomb mod anywhere to look for ideas.... I'm still trying to figure it out.

Suggestions welcome.

[mDust]

Yes I'm going to use SMD LED strips to light it. Now you have me redoing my design lol. I can't find a honeycomb mod anywhere to look for ideas.... I'm still trying to figure it out.

Suggestions welcome.

I think the current design would look better (to me) if each hexagon was defined. It really doesn't even matter how, just as long as it's hinted that there's more organization there. Do you have a rotary tool? Maybe you could route a shallow groove to outline all the hexagons in the clear acrylic and then light all the edges of that.

I think the front fan grills would look like they were accidentally placed the way they are unaligned. Unless you're going for a completely unsymmetrical look, they should be organized somehow. Currently, they just look haphazard to me. If you are trying for unsymmetrical, you should continue that theme with other parts of the case.

[Fuganater]

Here is my new design. The Gray will be black. Its just gray so you can see the depth.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Fuganater987/Project%20Maximus%20Serverus/newsidepanel2.png

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Fuganater987/Project%20Maximus%20Serverus/newsidepanel2view3.png

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a190/Fuganater987/Project%20Maximus%20Serverus/newsidepanel2view2.png

Comments welcome.

[mDust]

It's more interesting than the original design.

Any special plans for the interior? Or the top or other side of the case? What are you thinking about when you're designing this? Any goals?

[Fuganater]

I just decided on a honeycomb themed case. I've haven't seen one yet even after searching Google. I am thinking about that nano mod in the CM11 competition. I completely admire that guys work and think it would work well when combined with a honeycomb theme.

[RogueOpportunist]

I'm liking the newer side panel look better as well but agree that the plain window in the middle kind of throws the look off a little.

As an idea, what if you made the window out of a combination of orange plexi and smoked plexi "honeycomb" cutouts that you could then adhere to a thin piece of clear plexi to hold it all in place? You could do it up the same way you would tile a floor, heck you could even use spacers and "grout" the plexi tiles with some colored silicon afterwards, depending on how you did it you could even lay some small LED's into the channels between tiles to help illuminate everything.

[slaveofconvention]

Actually, I think the combination of Black Orange AND grey works really well - I know you only put the grey in for demonstation purposes but that looks really sweet imo..

Course, you COULD argue that I'm biased about Orange and Grey...

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/slaveofconvention/projects/antec900/163.jpg

[diluzio91]

haha... with the honeycomb you could market that bad boy to google.