Project: D3R!V4T!V3, The Carbon Case

[jefe_de_estado]

So I've been building computers for friends and family for the past few years and now it's finally time to build my own. I just graduated from college and got a job where I deal with carbon fiber quite a bit. I've always wanted to make something with CF, and now here's my chance! This is my first major mod, so any suggestions will be appreciated, and don't be too hard on me!

Here's what I have in mind:
http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/derivative_small.jpg
It's not going to be anything extreme, except for the fact that it will be carbon on the outside. I'm going to have to make the radii a bit bigger because the CF I bought won't be able to bend that well.

I plan on making the front face with brushed aluminum, but we'll see about that later. I might have enough carbon to make the face too.

Oh, and the logo will probably be different. My little bro is getting me some vinyl sticker cut and it might look more like this...
http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/derivative_2_small.jpg
We'll see what shows up in the mail this week...

http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_006.jpg
The Donor. I will be using the guts of a lame old case.

[jefe_de_estado]

So, I have a compressor and I spent $15 at Harbor Freight and bought a sweet little detail paint sprayer. I have been digging through the forum and I have seen that everyone seems to get orange peel with spray paint, and this sprayer seems to lay down the paint pretty smooth. Mind you, I really don't have any idea what I'm doing, but it sure is fun!

http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_015-1.jpg
http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_016-1.jpg
http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_017-1.jpg
Not much room to work.

So you all need to know that I can get really lazy and cut corners.... I didn't prep as well as I should have, and I used water based paint. I didn't want all the downstairs neighbors to freak out with the smell of solvents, and it makes it easier to clean the gun and the carpet when you drip black paint on it!:redface:

Here's a close look at the paint after about 3 kind of light layers of the base black.
http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_009.jpg
http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_010.jpg

[jefe_de_estado]

I wanted a deep candy blue so I mixed a bit of bright blue with a bit of black and mixed that in clear. Shot 2-3 light layers of that. Then 4-5 heavy layers of clear. Well, I thought they were heavy, but I found out while wet sanding that I had sanded through the clear in one place.

http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_016.jpg
http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_017.jpg
Parts painted and cleared before wet sanding.

http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_028.jpg
During wet sand
http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_029.jpg
Opps... :eek:
As I said earlier, I'm a bit lazy, so I just polished it up anyway, and unless you know what to look for, you don't really see it.

http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_033.jpg
http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_034.jpg
All shiny!

Here it is with my inspiration...
http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_035.jpg
(the blue road bike...incase you didn't catch that)

http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_036.jpg
A close up of the carbon on the bike. This is a twill weave of some sort. The fabric I bought is a plain weave (looks like a checker board). It was on sale because the tow is really wide. The tow on the bike is maybe 1/8" but the stuff I have is 1/2", so it should have a nice 3D effect to it. The fabric alone was a steal at $35 for a linear yard of 50" wide fabric. The twill was around $58+ for the same amount of material. I will end up doing 2 layers of carbon and then backing it up with a few layers of fiberglass to give it some thickness and stiffness. I don't want to get my carbon out of the paper wrapping yet, I don't want to jack up the fabric. Too much messing with it and it won't be square anymore.

http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_003.jpg
So that's the best pic I have for now, but when I'm ready to pull it out, I'm sure I'll have a bunch more.

It might take me a while before I'm ready to layup the carbon, but I'll be slowly working on this project until it's done. So I may not have anything new for a couple of weeks, but in the mean time, how about some pointers for using pnuematic spray guns!

[DaveW]

Wow man, nice finish! I think Mashie's done some good stuff with Carbon Fibre. Type his name into google.

Looking good, and i can't wait to see when you finish it.

-Dave

[simon275]

Carbon Fibre is making its way on to the modding scene. I my self have never messed with it but it looks like a promising material for future mods. Good luck.

BTW Nice glasses for painting.

[jefe_de_estado]

Yeah, I have to make sure I'm REALLY cool while I'm painting... 8) I was grinding right before I painted, so I kinda forgot about those

[.Maleficus.]

Man, that blue looks awesome! Great work so far, keep the updates coming!

[JacobS]

Where did you get the Carbon Fiber, I am plannilng on using it for my case but can't find anywhere that sells it at low enough prices for my budget, any suggestions on where to get it. I will post a worklog on my case later but for now it's still in the concept phase

[jefe_de_estado]

I got it from a store called Fiberlay. you can get it from thier website www.fiberlay.com, click on specials in the upper right corner. But be aware that the tow is very wide. There are lots of other websites that have decent deals, but just know that you will be spending around $60/yard of 50" wide material. Since this is only for looks, only use 2 layers of CF then back it up with fiberglass to save money. For about the same wieght and width, fiberglass is only about $6/yard. You can use the same epoxy, and it will not affect the look as it will be clear with only a few layers of fiberglass.

I just got my decals and I started work on my mold, I'll try to get some pics up later. Aparently my server has been a bit unrealable lately. Where does everyone else put thier pictures?

[Drac998]

It'll be tough to see on dradeus.

[JacobS]

Well, I don't need it for structure (the case will be made out of aluminum with an internal steel frame) so I may just use a vinal decal or overlay or something, but I don't know the cost difference and I'm on a pretty tight budget


:D Wow, when I get around to building my case it'll be awesome:D

[jefe_de_estado]

Welp, it's been a while, but I have been busy the past couple of weeks. I finally got my mould built and carbon laid-up. First of all, I'm wondering if I spent the time to write a book or something about how to do this, would people be willing to buy it? ... just a thought... Here's what's going on.

http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures.jpg
Here's the vinyl logos from my brother, he didn't think the machine could cut the one I wanted, but that's okay cuz I really like the more square one too.

The mould is just mdf and bondo to smooth it out a bit and to make the fillets in the corners.
http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_045.jpg

Next to prep the surface, 3 coats of wax and one layer of PVA. This will allow the part to come out of the mould. Just make sure to leave room around the edges for tape for the vacuum bag...
http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_052.jpg

Next cut all the material to the size needed. Mix up the epoxy and slap down a thick layer right on the mould, then lay down the carbon. More epoxy, more carbon, more epoxy, fiberglass, more epoxy. You get the point.
http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_058.jpg
(dang.. I should be a hand model....8) )
http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_061.jpg
http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_063.jpg
http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_064.jpg

Next bag the whole thing up. You can see the black strip is for the tacky tape to seal up the bag. Sorry, I didn't get a good picture of the vacuum process, I was too excited :-)
http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_066.jpg

Since the vacuum pump exhausted a bit of smoke, we couldn't leave it running for a long time, so we pumped it down and then cranked up the heat in the room. And after letting it sit over night, this is what I pulled out of the mould (the wax and pva made it very easy to pull out).
http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_069.jpg
That is the bad side, some of the tows got a bit scewed up, but I can use that side for the window. The junk all over is the left over PVA, it kinda leaves a sunbruned skin to it. It comes off with water.

http://www.mrt.usu.edu/downloads/jeff/Pictures_070.jpg
This is the inside of the case. There is a layer that will be peeled off, and the bubbles are because I decided to use a chopped mat at the last second instead of the fiberglass cloth. I wanted to add a bit of thickness to the part, and chopped mat is a bit tricky to fill in and not get bubble like this. But, in the end you won't be able to see that side of it, so no big deal.

So this week it will be clear coated and cut, and cleared again. And I'm slowing gathering computer parts together.

Now I have a question for everyone. When I connect LED's for power and HDD, do I need to add a resistor in circuit? The reason I ask is I have a couple LED's from another case and they don't have one. I'm guessing that it's already built into the mobo.

[tybrenis]

Looking good!

With most newer mobos, you won't need a resistor because they supply the correct voltage and current for an LED. However, it never hurt to check the voltage with a multimeter.

[jefe_de_estado]

I got a bit behind again... So I got the case back from clear coating and I then noticed all the bumps and divots and junk from not being able to run the vacuum pump long enough during the cure.
http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/8671/pictures072yg4.th.jpg (http://img177.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pictures072yg4.jpg)
I had to sand the clear all off and sand a bit into the carbon to smooth it out. Now I have a good plan for next time...

This is what it looked like before sanding.
http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/2699/pictures074zf1.th.jpg (http://img177.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pictures074zf1.jpg)

So after giving myself the black lung (time to buy a resirator), I sent off the case to be trimmed and cleared again (my co-worker that is helping me has some good automotive clear).

So here's the final result of the carbon:
(it's really hard to get a good pic, this looks REALLY sweet in real life)
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/3995/pictures087vs3.th.jpg (http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pictures087vs3.jpg)

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/2765/pictures0932ao9.th.jpg (http://img90.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pictures0932ao9.jpg)

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/6271/pictures0902ns2.th.jpg (http://img177.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pictures0902ns2.jpg)

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/3397/pictures0972co4.th.jpg (http://img177.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pictures0972co4.jpg)
mmmmmmmmm.... I love the smell of new hardware! That last pic was just a fit check, looks great so far. I just got in all the compy parts yesterday and now have Vista running. So far so good! Obviously I have many hours of cable management ahead of me, and I still have to do grills for the fans, front window, brushed aluminum front face and power buttons to work on. That might take me some time, but it will all come eventually.

[gaz_the_chav]

Urm none of the pictures are working lol!

[simon275]

Man carbon fiber is cool and on and by they way pic arent working try and upload them to http://imageshack.us/

[jefe_de_estado]

Thanks for the heads up on the imageshack thing. That seems quite handy. They should be working now.

[YoungBlood]

Can i just say... I love your case and all... But you are far too happy on your pics.... Your ment to be doin hard and gritty work!! but ur smiling ur ass off..... Thats the whole point, You be miserable then once its finished you can sit and look at it for an hour... trust me! it works xD

[jefe_de_estado]

hahaha!!!! Yeah you are right, I am a bit picture happy! But I do alot of photography to pay for all this junk so I'm used to taking hundreds of pictures of the same subject... I won't have many pics after this, just because everyone has already done everything else that I'm going to do. I just think that there is so many things that can be done with CF and no one is doing it. So now that you have all these pics you have no excuse! :-)

[YoungBlood]

hehe dude just ignore me :D Im still P***ed at the fact that i cant get my mod finished until after christmas :| (i censored that again xD)

[Zephik]

That is a pretty cool Mod. I like the carbon fiber and window design. Very cool. :up:

-SF

[simon275]

Wow the carbon fibre looks so space age. I like very much. Is the carbon fibre expesnive?

[jefe_de_estado]

hehe, Youngblood, I have to stop posting while I'm at work. I was in a big rush and for some reason I thought that you were saying that I posted too many pictures. :redface: I'm just so dang happy that I finally get to build myself a new compy that I just have a stupid grin that just won't go away!

Yeah the carbon can be pricey, but if you watch ebay and local shops you can get a good deal. I paid about $30/yd (something like 16 pounds/meter...). It normally around $60/yd. But you really only need 2 layers of carbon to get the look, and then you can use fiberglass or whatever cheap stuff underneath to beef it up a bit. The dude that helped me is going to be making a couple more blanks. We're going to try to sell them on ebay so if you are interested in one of these, I'll let you know when we post it. We're going to make one with a more standard twill weave, and one using a fabric called texialum (I think that's how it's spelled). This is an aluminized glass that is weaved just like CF, but it's silver in color. Looks really nice.

I did get my fans installed this weekend and most of the cables cleaned up. Hopefully I'll get the window and logos in soon. The face won't be done until thanksgiving or so.