Project : Far Cry

[Zero_Limits]

Far Cry is not the newest game out there but it’s still one of my favorites and with the largest LAN event in the country (New Zealand) only 121days away I figured it was about time to start my mod for the case mod competition.

Basic plan for this is to make a custom case that will hold lots of hard drives. On top if all goes to plan will be a model of my favorite level from the game “Fort” It was the first level I played when I downloaded the demo and I still enjoy playing round on it today. Haven’t fully decided what I will have on the front and sides of the case but it will of course involve the Far Cry name/logo and probably a Trigen in some form or another.

Started on the plans Last week after finally deciding on a theme for the case and after a few hours at work they were pretty much complete.

I was originally going to construct the case using acrylic but after finding the 6-8mm thickness I wanted to use was going to cost me about $300NZ (about $200US) I was quiet supprised by this as the 3mm acrylic I had used for my last case only cost $70NZ (45US) for a whole sheet.

With that in mind I decided to change plans and go with MDF wood which ended up costing me about $30NZ ($20US) In the end it shouldn’t matter to much as most of the initial case will be covered. Im pretty happy with this now that I have started anyway as the MDF is a lot easier to work with.

Off to the garage I went tonight to start building… here are a few pics of what’s done so far.



The wood for the case
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/thewood.jpg

Next step was to mark things out. I used a metal ruler for this rather then a tape mesure to insure accuracy.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/pencilruler.jpg

It pays to check after marking things out that you have actually drawn what you intended to … things like this can sometimes happen.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/oops.jpg

To make sure I cut the right parts and cut them once I printed out this to show me what I needed to cut and how they fitted into the sheets of wood I had. I also crossed them off as they were cut.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/cut.jpg

Everything was cut roughly with the jigsaw and away from the actual lines as I intended to run the router along the edge after.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/cut1.jpg

After cutting I clamped the parts to the table with another bit of wood under lined up with the cut line so I could use the router.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/rout1.jpg

All the parts nicely cut out, just a bit of sanding on the edges and they will be done.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/parts1.jpg

After many attempts and bits falling over I finally got the thing to stand up to show the basic shape of the case.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/mock1.jpg

After that it was just after 11pm so I decided to pack up before I started getting yelled at by Mum. I’m Pretty happy with the first days work. 1 hour on it so far…. Many many more to go.

Thats all for tonight more updates tomorrow. :D I look foward to any comments, ideas or help you guys provide.

Thanks :D

[Zero_Limits]

Yep did have a look at crimson’s far cry mod, as with all his work it was impressive :D

Update for tonight:

Didn’t get much done as I have some work to get finished by tomorrow. Here’s what I did manage to do though.

Finished cutting everything out. These pieces will go in the center, the mother board will mount to one and they will separate the cube into to parts one for mobo etc and the other will have the PSU and hard drives in it. With a little space in between the two separators to hide all those messy wires.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/center1.jpg

Next I made this little bit out of some angle aluminum I had. As seen in the next couple of pics I used it to drill holes for some doweling that will help hold the case together.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/drilljig1.jpg

Here it is showing how it will be used.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/drilljig2.jpg

This is my attempt to hold a bit of wood the camera and drill all while taking a photo, that’s why its kind of blurry :P
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/drilljig3.jpg

Tested it on a couple of scraps of wood first.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/holes1.jpg

The results were pleasing so I went on to do the actual case parts. Ignore the extra holes, they were mistakes when I used two bits of wood which weren’t the same size to test it. :(
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/testfit1.jpg

1, 2 miss a few 99, 100… missed out a few pics of drilling the case parts as they would pretty much be the same as the last two pics. Heres one of everthing loosely put together (was much easier to get it to stand up this time :P)
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/test1.jpg

Nothing to interesting at the moment. Hopefully that will change soon though. :D

[Zero_Limits]

Haven’t done much on this for a while, was busy trying to get one of my model boats painted in time for a race meeting.

Anyway here’s the latest.

I started work for the day by chopping the back panel down to make room for a removable mother board tray.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/HalfBack2.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/HalfBack.jpg

Next step was to start making the tray. Took a while to get things drawn out and ready for me to cut. Here are a couple of pics of the parts.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/MoboTrayparts1.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Mobotrayparts2.jpg

A few minutes later and a bit of glue and the two parts become one.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Mobotrayass1.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Mobotrayass2.jpg

All fits quiet nicely

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/MoboTray1.jpg

So I decided I would try paint as I need to paint most of the inside of the case before I assemble it. The proper primer for the MDF that I used when making some furniture for my room is really thick and can only be brushed or rolled on, because of this it comes out quiet rough and would require a lot of sanding to make its smooth. I don’t know about anyone else but I hate sanding. I thought I would try use a normal sanding primer and to try avoid it soaking in I didn’t thin it down quiet as much as I normally would.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/mobotrayprimer2.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Mobotrayprimer.jpg

As you can see the paint is very rough because it didn’t come out of the gun nice and evenly due to the fact it was way too thick. Also it still soaked into the MDF slightly and made it swell up a little bit but not to badly. After a little sanding and a few more coats of primer it turned out not to bad though. I will still be trying to find a better way though.

Seeing I was just playing round with the paint I found some old black spray paint lying around and decided to give it a quick spray.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/mobotrayblack1.jpg

Here’s a few pics of the painted mobo tray in the case. It wont keep this finish as I intend to redo it later with some more decent paint.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/blackmobotrayin2.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/blackmobotrayin1.jpg

Its hard to tell from this pic but its slightly out of square.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/notsquare1.jpg

So it was time to make some corner braces.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/mobotraycornerbrace1.jpg

Roughly cut out

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/mobotraycornerbracerough.jpg

A little sanding and a bit of time with the router and they are almost complete. Just have to fill the couple of holes that are there because I used scrap wood.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/mobotraycornerbracefinished.jpg

With the corner brace in place you can see more clearly the problem.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/mobotraycornerbracesinplace.jpg

With the braces glued in place the tray is now near enough to square.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/mobotraybracesglue1.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Mobotraybracesglue2.jpg

A pic of the tray with an old MATX board sitting on it. Also gives an idea on the size of the case.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/mobotraywoldmobo.jpg

The Motherboard Tray still has a bit of work to be done on it but I will leave it for the moment and go onto other things.

Only other thing I have done so far is make a few little corner pieces for inside the case to help keep it all nice and square.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/casecornerbraces1.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Corner1.jpg


I also played around with a few scrap bits of wood to see if I could find an easy way to seal it for painting that doesn’t involve a heap of sanding. So far the best I have come up with is spreading thick CA over the wood. This works quiet well, the only problem is it would be reasonably expensive. I have a few other things to try though.

I have a couple of other projects on the go at the moment so ill update this when I get more done on it.

Oh and thanks for the comment Aero :D

[Zero_Limits]

Hey guys…

Just a very small update for now. Haven’t been doing too much work on the case lately as I have another project which needs to be completed. Still I must get busy on this case soon as there is only 92days left till the competition.

I was very bored at work today, as I have been most days recently. Luckily my boss is cool and lets me do stuff when there are no customers around. Unfortunately with all my tools being at home etc there’s not much I can do.

Anyway this is what I did today.

I took a sheet of 0.8mm Plasctruct, drew out the Farcry logo.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Photo-0050.jpg

And cut it out.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Photo-0051.jpg

Still a bit of work to do on it, the edges are mostly angled like the logo with only the rounded ones to go. Obviously there’s a bit more to cut out in the r’s and a and a few scratch marks to do. Then time to paint…. Not sure how I’m going to do the painting part yet.

That’s all for now people, hopefully more very soon or this might not get done in time.

[Zero_Limits]

It was another day of nothing at work. So I spent most of the day working on the logo for the case.

I added another layer of 0.8mm plastruct onto the back for a bit or strength as it was fairly weak around the groves. Then a few hours with some needle files and this is where it’s at.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Logo1.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Logo2.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Logo3.jpg

A bit more sanding and maybe a little filling in the unintentional scratches and it will be ready for paint.

[Zero_Limits]

Thanks so much for the kind words people :D

Yep the whole thing wasn’t that easy really, probably took me about 2-3hours over 2 days to get it where it was in the previous pics. At that rate the case will never be done in time, which can mean only one thing… I have to spend more time on it :P

Anyway didn’t get a whole lot done over the weekend as I had other projects to get done. I have started playing with some paint though.

First off I put a little black on

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/logopaint1.jpg

Then a bit of darkish grey

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/logopaint2.jpg

Then a few light coats of racing white, which is sort of an off white/cream type colour.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/logopaint3.jpg

After that I spent a few mins with a fine paint brush and some brown and black paint. You can also see the background better in this pic.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/logopaint4.jpg

BUT tomorrow I bring out the wet and dry sand paper and sand it all off again because I’m not happy with it :P

It’s a bit like every sketch I have ever done in my life, looks really nice as plain pencil, then the teacher or friend or whoever tells me to color it in and it just ruins the whole thing. Unfortunately I do want this to have a bit of color so it will look like the real thing.

This isn’t the sort of painting that I’m used to, have never really done natural looking sort of things before so it might take a bit of time to get things right.

Once again thanks guys. More updates soon!

[Zero_Limits]

Well I finally got to do some more work on the actual case. At the moment I am pretty happy as I finally know pretty much exactly how it’s all going to go together. Did a couple of sketches at work today buy the a bit small and not the best so I wont bother posting them.

Luckily for me my brother works at an aluminum joinery place so I managed to get some little bits of angle aluminum cut. More specifically 20 of them, all 25x25x1.6mm angle and 20mm wide. What took them probably 10 minutes would have been a minimum of an hours work for me.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Brackets1.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Brackets2.jpg

Didn’t take to many photos of this process as its all fairly basic. I used a tap to make a thread in the aluminum so I didn’t have to fiddle around with nuts.

This is the proper T handle for the M4 tap I was using.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/tap1.jpg

And this is what I used

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/tap2.jpg

Now I don’t recommend using the battery drill, I only used it because I’m lazy and it was only 1.6mm aluminum, if it was any thicker I would have used the proper tools.

These are the bolts I plan to use. They were all left over from my last mod (Blue Flame) after I took it apart. I didn’t realize I had used so many while I was building it.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Bagoscrews.jpg

Here are a couple of pictures of the joints with angle. I am not worried about the outside looking bad at this stage as most of it will be covered in the end.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Brackets3.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Brackets4.jpg

Here is a photo of the whole case all bolted together so far.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Progress120406.jpg

That’s all for now but there should be more in the next couple of days. 86 days left till the event now… time to get moving :p

[Zero_Limits]

Small update, but quiet a lot of progress.

Didn’t get too much done on the case over the long weekend, only got to work on it tonight for a few hours.

Did some work on the side panels so the case is no longer just a cube. I didn’t take to many pictures as I went for this stage as there is not a whole lot to show.

Here is a pic of the bits I cut for each panel

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/sidepanelbits.jpg

I then used some thick CA to glue them to the side panel and some thin CA in each corner to hold it quickly so I didn’t have to hold it for to long. The thin also soaks into the wood and adds a bit of strength.

I was a little worried about the strength but thanks to a foolish mistake I got to see just how strong the glue was. Took quiet a bit to break the join again and now I just remembered I actually have some CA debonder, would have been handy to remember that at the time :p

Here are a few pics of what it currently looks like.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/progress180406.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/progressfront180406.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/progressside180406.jpg

And just for fun a pic of one of my mistakes I blame the New Zealand educational system for not teaching us to add without calculators. Hmmm maybe not, it was just a stupid mistake caused by me not thinking properly before I cut. Just proves the old measure twice cut once.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/mistake1.jpg

That’s all for now. 80 days left but with that small amount done I am much happier and am pretty confident I will have it ready on time :D

comments.....

[Zero_Limits]

Update time…. Finally

After days of doing absolutely nothing to the case which can be blamed on nothing apart from me bring lazy I have finally made some more progress.

Started By modifying the side panels. As you can see from this pic they are solid in the little triangle area. I wanted that to be cut out for a side window. So I did this….

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/sidepanel1260406.jpg

Roughly marked out the wood underneath.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/sidepanel2260406.jpg

Drilled holes in the corners for the jigsaw blade.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/sidepanel3260406.jpg

As you can see I didn’t take my time with the jigsaw at all. The results of that are rough edges and un-straight lines.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/sidepanel4260406.jpg

That’s ok though because the next step was to spend a bit of time with the router to neaten things up and make them all straight.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/sidepanel5260406.jpg


I also started gluing all parts from my previous post together. I was a little worried about strength where the side panels joined the front curved part so I added some fiber glass. I was to lazy to mix up resin so I just used some thick CA and then thin to wet that parts that weren’t quiet covered with the thick. The result was a much stronger but very ugly join. That doesn’t matter though as this part will be covered by something else later.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/FGreinforce1.jpg

Added a layer of finer 2oz cloth to try make it look a little prettier. Turns out that didn’t help at all, it did make it a little smoother though. As I said though it will be covered later anyway.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/FGreinforce2.jpg

Add some CA

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/FGreinforce3.jpg

What it looked like after that from a distance.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/partprogress1260406.jpg

Next I cut out some more bits for the side panel

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/sidepanelparts1260406.jpg

Then stuck them on.

That’s the progress so far. Here are a few pics of where it is at currently.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/progress3260406.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/progress2260406.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/progress1260406.jpg

More updates soon!

[Zero_Limits]

Very small update which is not really an update because I haven’t actually done any work on the case. Some of my water cooling gear arrived yesterday :D

Now I know everyone has probably seen the gear before, but I’m going to post pics anyway because its my first lot of water cooling gear and I’m excited lol I got this first lot off a member of some forums over here in NZ (Thanks hobogoblin!!!), Paid $130 NZ for the lot. Should have a Pump coming soon again thanks to hobogoblin for the deal! Also in the next few days I should be getting a 5inch bay res… but that’s not really for this case. All the gear will just be going in my normal everyday case until this one is complete.

Photo time

One Copper TDX Block for Athlon64 754/939/940

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/TDX1.jpg

When I got the block it was a bit dull and not pretty on the bottom, I didn’t take pics as I was to excited to get the gear and went straight out to the garage to make it shiny lol Here are the results. (so I did sort of do a little work)

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/TXD2.jpg

One Xflo 2 bip radiator. Didn’t quiet get the idea of how massive this things was even though ive seen them before :p Wont be easy fitting it into my normal case but that’s noting a jigsaw and dremel wont fix!

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/RAD1.jpg

Finally, all the gear together, you can also see a fillport, t line and a couple of elbows. Once again thanks to hobogoblin, real great guy, he thought he took a little long to get it sent out to me (which I wasn’t worried about… and I told him) but he still decided to throw in the fill port and t line for free! Will be buying him some Redbulls at the LAN

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/WaterGearall1.jpg

All for now, must get moving on the rest of the case though. Only 71days till the event. :eek:

[Zero_Limits]

Seeing there was nothing good on TV tonight (not that there ever really is) I got out to the garage, after a quick job for a customer at work it was onto the case.

I needed to cut some Blue foam today. Instead of cutting it then spending hours sanding it to make it square and fit properly I threw together a simple little system to make things much easier. After a little trial and error this is what I came up with.

Screwed one bit of wood to a sheet of 18mm MDF with a strait edge and checked to make sure it was square.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/foamcut1280406.jpg

Put the foam on the MDF and a bit of 25x25 angle aluminum on top for my other strait edge.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/foamcut2280406.jpg

Added some clamps so that the angle didn’t slip while I was cutting.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/foamcut3280406.jpg

Used a hot wire cutter that I got from work and spent way to much on because I was to lazy to make my own at the time. These are the results. It turned out perfectly square :D the small lines aren’t bumps or anything just different shades of the blue caused by the wire moving slower in some places.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/foamcutresult1280406.jpg

Oh yeah probably should mention. Safety. Because it’s a foam when you heat it by cutting with the hotwire it lets off smoke which is like bad and stuff :p the dust isn’t good for you either… common sense really… I wear one of these, not comfortable but better then being dead.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/mask1.jpg

I used the drop saw to cut them to length and on the correct angles. After a little trimming they fit well.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/partoverallprogress1280406.jpg

Cut a couple more bits for the front.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/partoverallprogress2280406.jpg

Here you can see where I will need to trim for the corners. You can also just see where some smart person (that would be me) forgot to allow for the thickness of the wood and made the foam to big. Better to big then to small I guess.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/problems1280406.jpg

So it was back to the cutting rig to trim. Such a small amount, really annoyed me but it had to be done!

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/trim1280406.jpg

This is where a previous mistake came in handy. If you have read the whole thread you might remember a while back I cut a part to small for the front at the bottom where the rounded corners are. Well I didn’t throw that out (because it wouldn’t fit in the bin) and it turns out I have a use for it. I placed it on top of the foam to use as a top guide for the hot wire.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/corner1280406.jpg

I am pleased with the results… glad I didn’t throw that bit out now!

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/cornerfin280406.jpg

All that’s left to show is an overall pic of where it’s at currently.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/progress280406.jpg

I should be getting some more blue foam off a friend in the next couple of days to finish things off. In the mean time I can start shaping this lot.

[Zero_Limits]

Finally got the rest of the foam I needed last night. So today I spent a few hours cutting carving shaping sanding and generally making a mess of the garage :p

Not much to explain on this one.

I marked out roughly what I wanted in red marking pen. Attacked it with the dremel type tool. Then sanded for a bit of detail.

Here are some pics from today’s work.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Topfoam010506.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/lsidemark1010506.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/lsidecarve1010506.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/lsidecarvefront010506.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/rsidecarvefront010506.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/rside1010506.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/rsidetopcarve010506.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/lsidetopcarve010506.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/frontviewcarve010506.jpg

You probably can’t see it from this next picture. After I had done that to see the detail of how I wanted it I actually went over with the 60g sand paper to remove most of the detail but to still show the basic shape.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Progressfinal010506.jpg

Also the top block of foam isn’t in that picture because I had taken it inside to mark out for carving tomorrow as that one has to look similar to something in the game.

Next step will be to shape the top. After that its fiber glass over the whole lot using epoxy resin to seal the foam as a lot of glues will melt it. Hopefully tomorrow if I have enough money in the bank I can get some rock moulds from work and start making rocks to complete the sides.

More updates soon.

[Zero_Limits]

After going to help one of mum’s friends with their computer I got home and it was 9:45pm :( This didn’t leave me much time to mod but still I worked till about midnight and got a little done. I also got a bit done at work today.

Got my rock mould. I will be getting another with some different shapes in the next couple of days.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/rockmould020506.jpg

Tried one first to make sure it wasn’t going to stick. The instructions that come with the mould recommend using something called hydracal which is similar to plaster of paris I believe. I decided to use body filler so that I could shape it later and glue to it. Plus I already had a big tin of it.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/boginmould1020506.jpg

The results were very pleasing. Although you cant see it because the stupid camera wouldn’t focus on it the rock is very detailed and it popped out of the mould with no trouble at all. Now I just have to make a heap more of these things :p I might take my mask and building supplies to work tomorrow so I can get started.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/firstrock020506.jpg

That was what I did at work today, along with some internet time and actual work of course :p

This is what I managed to get done tonight after I got home…

The block of foam from the top which I had taken inside got marked out for carving. It then got redone as plans changed :p

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/markedtop020506.jpg

Next up it was time to start attacking the foam. Unfortunately my dremel type tool died not long after starting :( so I used a metal ruler to scrape the foam out. This gave a very ugly result but with a bit of sanding I thought It should come right.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/topcarve1020506.jpg

I was right, after a lot of sanding this is how it came up.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/topprogress020506.jpg

Still not perfect but it will be covered with a layer of fiber glass so any small imperfections will be hidden. It will then be covered for the most part with rocks like the one I made today so I’m not worried to much about how the fiber glass looks either :p

I then glued all the bits down to the top of the case. After that it was time to pack up.

Here’s a pic of how the case looks overall at the moment.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/overallprogress020506.jpg

Tomorrow I need to finish off the front around the bottom then fiber glass all the foam.

All for now, more tomorrow hopefully. Again, thanks for looking everyone!

[Zero_Limits]

Didn’t get much done tonight. Should have gone out to the garage earlier but I was busy playing GTA SA online :p

I basically just finished off part of the front. Not much to show or explain really.

Here are some pics…

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Progress1030506.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Progress3030506.jpg

Oh and to get the MDF to make the curve I Cut a series of slots most of the way through on the back side as shown in the following pic. I will fill the groves later on.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/Progress2030506.jpg

That’s all for tonight. It might be a little while before my next update as I want to finish another project which I have about 26days left to complete it. 26 days vs 65 …. 26 seems more important :p I also have to try find some tygon tube and a couple of water fittings so I can finish some things off to do with the water feature before sealing the foam.

More updates as soon as I do more work!

Thanks for looking people!

[Zero_Limits]

Hey guys,

Damn, almost got pushed onto the second page :eek: well….it’s finally time for an update. A very small update, but still an update. As I said in previous posts I wouldn’t be doing much on this due to other projects. Well the other project is almost complete with just a little sanding then painting to go. Also haven’t had much $$$ to spare … stupid youth rates :( Found some bits I can go on with on the inside though. Outside is waiting till I get some tubing and bits.

Anyway here is what I got done. Not much but still took a couple of hours to do.

Mounted the internal panel in the right hand side (looking from the front) of the case.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/inside120506.jpg

Only other thing I did was increase the size of my rock army :p

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/rockarmy120506.jpg

This is my other project that has been taking a bit of my time. Almost done now though so I should be able to spend more time on the case soon.

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i83/Zero_Limits_Boats/progress120506.jpg

More updates soon :D

[Zero_Limits]

Finally time for another update. Haven’t done much on this lately… no excuse this time, I have just been lazy. Plus the garage is a bit cooler these days, stupid winter!!!

I did this little bit the other night but it was so small I couldn’t b bothered doing an update for it.

I started to mark out the mounting holes for the mother board. Then I thought there must be an easier way. So I went to www.formfactors.org downloaded the ATX spec guide type thing. Opened up the page with the motherboard layout on it in photoshop. Then copied the pic to a new document that was the size of a mother board and stretched it till it fitted nicely. All I had to do after that was put the pic in place on the mother board tray and drill. Much easier then trying to measure and mark everything out.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/mbtray150506.jpg

I didn’t take anymore pics of this as you couldn’t see much detail so there was no point. I did take the motherboard out of my computer to test fit it and it fitted perfectly. Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of that.


The night before last I just marked out some holes I needed to cut for the fans radiator and psu. Again no pics of that because they would be very boring :p


Last night was a little more productive. Time goes fast when you’re in the garage with no watch on and your mum falls asleep in her chair watching TV so isn’t around to yell at you to pack up… I got in from the garage at 2am :p Didn’t really feel like updating then.

Here is what I got done…

First I cut out the bits that I had marked out the previous night.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/backcuts170506.jpg

Didn’t cut out the 80mm fan holes on the right as I’m not sure if I will use them yet.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/bottomcuts170506.jpg

After that I started work on the hard drive rack.

Earlier in the day I had drawn up some rough plans on auto cad. So I stuck the template to the 20x2mm aluminum sheet that I got my brother to cut out earlier in the day at his work. Unfortunately they were 25x2mm and cut roughly on the band saw so I had to do a little trimming and smoothing. Still cant complain to much as it didn’t cost me anything.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/002hddrack170506.jpg

After that I went through with a screw and hammer and went through and punched little holes in the centers to make it easier to get the drill in the right place. It seemed pointless to take a pic of that so I went ahead and drilled the holes.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001hddrack170506.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/003hddrack170506.jpg

I used my high tech bending device, also known as a vice and a off cut of angle to make a couple of bends.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/004hddrack170506.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/005hddrack170506.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/006hddrack170506.jpg

Skipped a few steps here as they are all basically the same. I also used a countersink bit I had to neaten up the holes and take the burs off. Oh and I did it all again to make a second one.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/007hddrack170506.jpg

Next I need some angle to join the two.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/008hddrack170506.jpg

Used the same method as before for drilling the holes. This time you can actually see that I have cleaned up the holes before I took the pic.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/009hddrack170506.jpg

Bolt it all together and you get.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/010hddrack170506.jpg

Wooooo the hard drive fits!

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/011hddrack170506.jpg

I realized after that I had a couple more holes to drill that were covered by the angle at the bottom. Once I drill those It will fit 5 hard drives with 20mm spacing between. All the holes are there for better airflow as the rack will be mounted side on to the fans… plus they look kind of cool :p All that’s left to do on this is drill those holes, polish it (my dremel type tool is broken at the moment so I cant do that yet) and mount it. All that and you wont even see it once the case is done.

Going back out to the garage in a few minutes to do more. Hopefully be in before 2am this time :p

[Zero_Limits]

Wow!!! Work on the case to nights in a row. Hopefully a sign of things to come for me!

Small progress but lots of work tonight.

First of all here is a pic I forgot to include in my last update of the back plate I made out of 0.8mm plastruct the other day while bored at work.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/IOplate140506.jpg

Now on to tonight’s work.

I changed a bit on the hard drive rack so that I could mount it easily. Didn’t take a whole lot of pics as I went but its not hard to see the difference.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/hddrackmod180506.jpg

That means these go in the bin :p

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/thesegoout180506.jpg

This is part of the mount. The tab on the left in the pic of the hard drive rack slots into here.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001hddrackmount180506.jpg

Then a simple thumb screw like so and the rack is mounted. With only 1 screw to undo it takes way under a minute to get the rack in and out. Very handy for adding hard drives at LAN’s :p

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/002hddrackmount180506.jpg

Here are a couple of pics of the rack mounted in the case. You can also see where I made some cutouts in the internal panel for the hard drives and powersupply.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/003hddrackmount180506.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/004hddrackmount180506.jpg

That’s all for tonight.

I hope to have most of the internal stuff mounted with just finishing work like painting to do by the end of the weekend. Hopefully this isn’t an unrealistic goal. If I manage that ill have about 45ish days to get the rest of the outside done.

More soon :D

[Zero_Limits]

Ok first off I will show my wonderful paint drawing of loop for the water feature and explain a little.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/flowdiagramwaterfeature.jpg

The light blue lines obviously represent the water.

The curved line under the top is roughly the shape of the pond type thing at the top.

The green line goes from the lowest point at top to the front of the case to allow water to drain from the upper area.

The red lines represent the tubing. As you can see there is a tap there so I can adjust the flow to the top area. This will most likely be set and left in one position. So that it doesn’t restrict the flow to much and put pressure on the connections there is a T joint before it where the excess water can go back to the res at the bottom. There is also a on off valve there. This is so I can turn off the flow to the top. Then the water will be just pumped back to the res and the water from top will drain to the bottom. This leaves all the water in the bottom res for transporting the case. The flow splitter will allow me to take many much smaller tubes to different areas of the top section so its not just one mass of water coming up in one area. They will be spread around the little island and hopefully look as if the water was heading towards the island like the waves in the game. It wont give the exact effect like the game but it will be a lot better then a single large lot of water coming up.

Now on to the actual work I got done last night. I was going to post this last night but I fell asleep before I got a chance to.

As you can see I got the power supply and radiator mounted.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001side200506.jpg

This is a shot from the other side. The wires are hidden quiet nicely I think. (sorry for the bad pic)

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/002side200506.jpg

Shot from the bottom showing the radiator

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001bottom200506.jpg

Once from the back of the PSU.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001back200506.jpg

Then I cut some holes in the mother board tray to allow power wires etc to come up through. I had marked their positions earlier when I had the mother board in for test fitting. (again sorry for the bad pic)

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001moboholes200506.jpg

Last but not least more water cooling gear :D Thanks to Razorfoot for the pump and Sapper Wang for the NV-68 (from game planet forums in NZ). I have been lucky to get all the gear at a good price second hand so far. Only thing left to buy is some Tygon.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001pumpgpu200506.jpg

All for now. About to get something to eat then head out to the garage to do some more.

[Zero_Limits]

Wooooooo I reached my goal. Everything is in and working. In fact I am typing this on the computer running in the case. I will be taking it all out again tomorrow now that I know it fits though.

Here’s what I did tonight.

Modified the motherboard tray. Unfortunately this meant moving the motherboard back a little and so I had to re-drill all the mounting holes. No big deal though. After putting everything in I found I need to change it a little but at least its better to find that out now then a couple of days before the event once its all painted.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/trayback210506.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/tray210506.jpg

Here are a couple of pics with everything in.

The wires don’t look to messy. Unfortunately the wonderful engineers at Asus decided it was a good idea to put a molex plug right next to the top PCI-E slot for the SLI or something. I will have to do something about that wire as it looks very ugly strung across the motherboard.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/moboside210506.jpg

Also on the topic of wires. I don’t like how you can see some of the wires behind the hard drive rack. This wouldn’t be as noticeable it was full instead of just having two drives but I will still do something about it if I get time.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/psuside210506.jpg

Just a back view. You can see where I need to change things slightly around the graphics card to make a little more room for the DVI plugs.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/back210506.jpg

That’s all for now people. More tomorrow, I plan to work on this most nights now in an effort to get it all done in time.

Thanks for looking.

[Zero_Limits]

Haven’t updated for a few days. That’s not because I haven’t been working on it, I have been working on it lots! Just haven’t had any interesting pics to post. Thought I better do a little update now so the next one isn’t so massive.

With most of the work done on the inside part of the case it was time to start working again on the outside. First off, I fiber glassed the outside of the foam. Well I hoped to get the whole thing done but I ran a little short of resin so ill have to do the last little bit later on once I get some more.

I cut some mat roughly to the sizes I would be needing. I used 10oz woven cloth, because its what I had lying around. I would have liked to put a 2oz cloth over the top to give a cleaner finish but ill explain why I didn’t later.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001fglasscut230506.jpg

Next it was time to wet down the matting. I was a little worried when I mixed up the resin. It was some old stuff I had got off a mate that works with the stuff for a living and it was just in unmarked containers so I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be 4 to 1 or 5 to 1 mix with resin and hardener. I took a guess and went with 4 to 1, it was good because it worked out about right for the amount I had left of each.

Oh yeah standard health and safety notice :P When working with epoxy resin It may seem ok to not wear a mask as it doesn’t let off a great stink like the polyester based resins on fillers. IT’S NOT THOUGH!!! It’s just as bad for you so wear a freekin mask! Also it’s best to wear gloves if you can as getting the epoxy on your skin isn’t the best for you either, apparently there’s some harmful crap which can be absorbed through your skin.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/002fglaswet230506.jpg

Well my worries of the resin not going off were soon taken away, but this wasn’t a good thing! The resin started to go off as I was working with it. This should never happen with epoxy. If you have the wrong amount of hardener it just won’t go off, unlike polyester resin which just goes off quicker depending on how much hardener/catalysts you use. I figure the resin was just a bit old or something. Unfortunately the matting lifted in a few places due to air bubble I couldn’t get out. I’m pretty sure this was due to the resin starting to go off.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/003fglasdry230506.jpg

Next was time to start the filling and sanding process. My favorite part… NOT!!!! Little bit of this stuff we all should know what this is :P

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/004bog1230506.jpg

Then sand.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/004bogsand230506.jpg

Then I ran out of 60g sand paper so went off to the shop before work to get some.

Skipping a few steps here because they are all the same, just more filling and sanding and this is the result.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001finalsand250506.jpg

Could probably do with a little more sanding to get rid of some of the scratches left by the 40g sandpaper but most of this will be covered in fake sand/rocks so its not a big deal.

Just for fun a few shots of why you have to wear a mask while sanding this stuff.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001dust250506.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/002dust250506.jpg

The piles from the case in the last pics taken out and put next to an crappy old spray can for scale.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/003dust250506.jpg

Now imagine that in your lungs… bad… very bad!

All for now. I will be starting on the fake rocks and things soon. Look out for an update in the next few days :D

[Zero_Limits]

Well people it’s finally time for an update. I haven’t done a great deal of work on this in the past few days. At the moment I am up to putting the fake rocks on which could take some time. Anyway no point typing lots about it when pics work so much better.

Because I can be fairly impatient when it comes to certain jobs like waiting for glue to dry I used some of my favorite CA glue to stick down the rocks.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001rocks250506.jpg

Obviously there are gaps which aren’t wanted here. So I went over the gaps with some more filler. I actually used a cores paint brush to apply it to give it a rough texture.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/002rocks250506.jpg

Then a quick and random run over with this. Checking a couple of times to make sure I haven’t taken to much off.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001grindbit250506.jpg

I ended up with this.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/003rocks250506.jpg

It was hard to see what it would actually look like due to the different colours of the ground down filler. So I decided to add a quick coat of what ever paint I had lying around for no reason other then to see how it would look. It will be painted over again in the future.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/004rocks250506.jpg

In future I will be shaping each rock slightly to make it fit better with the one next to it. It’s a long process but it has to be done.

I also got another rock mould so that I could do larger areas without having a heap of joins to fix up later. These ones cover much more area but are a lot flatter.

The mould

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/002newrocks290506.jpg

The rocks it produces.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001newrocks290506.jpg

At the moment progress is slow on things which are basically the same so I might not update this to often but I will be making progress!

Thanks for taking the time to read this or at least look at the pics :D

[Zero_Limits]

Woah!... I was very excited to see this amongst the great work of the other featured articles. Thanks guys, its an honor!

Well I got a little bit more work done on the case last night. It was a little bit which took a long time!

I needed to make some elbow type joins for the water fittings to go to the top of the case.

So I took a bit of ½ inch brass rod.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001brassrod010606.jpg

Cut it into a few little bits.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/002brasscut010606.jpg

Then a few more and cleaned them up a little on the bend grinder.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/003brassfinished010606.jpg

I drilled most of the way down through the bottom then through the side. Then I soldered in a bit of 5/32 brass tubing.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/004brasssoldered010606.jpg

Close up of the solder. Lots of excess, not pretty but at least I know its sealed all nicely.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/005closeupsolder010606.jpg

This doesn’t really show much and I’m feeling a bit to lazy at the moment to explain where these go exactly. Next update they should be all finished and in place so look out for another update tomorrow if you want to see.

Thanks for reading.

[Zero_Limits]

A little later then I said it would be, but here is an update.

Got a little more work done tonight. Mainly some more soldering, its surprising how long it takes to do all the soldering. I also got a few more rocks made while waiting for the blow torch to cool down a couple of times.

This pic should explain a little better what the things from the last update are for.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001top040606.jpg

Close up on one of them

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/002topclose040606.jpg

As you can see they are just elbow joints. I was originally going to just bend the tubing but it quickly became obvious that wasn’t going to work.

It’s a public holiday over here tomorrow so I will have the full day to work on the case.

Thanks for looking.

[Zero_Limits]

Time for an update as promised.

Haven’t done a whole lot on the case lately. Progress is slow due to be not being to into the boring repetitive work of adding fake rocks to the case. This will change over the coming few weeks as there are only 25 days left till xLAN. Its going to be a bit of a challenge to get it done on time, but with a lot of hard work I think I’ll get there.

So first up we have a pic of the top as it was a little while ago. You can see the outlets up the top and how they will be covered by the rocks. Also note that the small tubes coming out of the rocks are left to long and will be cut down flush with the rocks later. This is just so I don’t get filler or glue down them and block them up.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001top110606.jpg

Just a different angle of the top right side to show the new rocks.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/002top110606.jpg

This is the underneath showing the inlets. This was a real pain to solder as I had to do it without heating the tubing seeing it was going through the case. Hopefully it works out. I will leak test it for a while before it goes near any computer parts.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/003bottom110606.jpg

That was one or two days work. So this is onto a new day…

As you can see, my new method for the rocks looks a little more natural and closer to the game then the old way.

New…

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/004leftside110606.jpg

Old…

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/005rightside110606.jpg


This is due to me using rocks from the new mould I got which creates larger flatter rocks. Also my new method of filling the gaps between helps a lot. The way I do it now rather then using filler and trying to shape it later and make is natural is … I put a little thin CA down and while its still wet (which is quiet a while as its sort of a contact glue) I get an old block of dried up filler and the sanding drum for the dremel tool. I then sand the block of filler down with the dremel tool while aiming the dust that’s flying off at the wet CA. I then repeat this method a few times till the gap is filled. Doing it this way is completely random as you don’t know where it’s going to stick better then other places and you don’t know how the filler dust is going to fly. I feel it gave me a much better result soooo…..

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/006thetoolstodestroy110606.jpg

And the newly remodeled left side of the case.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/007thedestruction110606.jpg

After that destruction it was time to start rebuilding. You can see in this pic some bits of wood. This just fills up a large gap rather then filling it with the more expensive and heavier filler. If you look closely at some of the pics from the other side you can see that I have done the same there. That’s where the left side is up to now. I will be going out to the garage as soon as I have finished writing this to complete it.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/010newright110606.jpg

Onto the other side now. I tried another new thing for the other side which I had been thinking about for a while. While making some new rocks I took one out before it was completely dry but dry enough to keep the rock details on the front. I then put it in place and taped it down till the filler had finished drying.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/008shapingrock110606.jpg

The results were pleasing. You can see from this pic how it shaped the rock. It still doesn’t fit perfectly in place but it is much closer then before.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/009shapedrock110606.jpg

This is just a pic of the right side to show progress. Again I will be going out to finish this as soon as I am done writing this.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/011progressleftside110606.jpg

So all this means much to do and little time to do it in, my own fault really for not working hard enough on it at the start. I think it probably looks worse then it actually is though. The bulk of the actual building work is done and it’s just finishing and painting to do.

Check back in a few days for another update. I’m not sure when though, I will have more work done by tonight but I normally don’t feel like writing after I get in from the garage.

Thanks for looking guys, hope you enjoy seeing my progress on the project. Much much more to come in the next couple of weeks.

[Zero_Limits]

Well peoples it’s finally update time! I have been working pretty hard on this thing trying to get it done in time. I have done a lot of work but as you will see from the next few pics it doesn’t look like much.

I have mainly been working on the rocks up top. Here are a few pics.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001top200606.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/002top200606.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/003top200606.jpg

I did a little work on the side window area. This next pic shows where I have cut out very roughly. It wont look anything like this once its done as I said its very rough.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/004sidewindowopen200606.jpg

This pic is of the other side. It shows the bit I cut out stuck back in place to be removed again later. This will be explained a little better in the next couple of updates as its far easier to explain with pics them my writing.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/004sidewindowfilled200606.jpg

Also today at work I started on the second logo…

Printed out the logo to the size I needed.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001newlogo210606.jpg

Stuck it onto a bit of 0.8mm Plastruct.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/002newlogo210606.jpg

Then cut it all out. I left the bits on the side till last so the paper was still stuck on.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/003newlogo210606.jpg

Here it is all cut out.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/004newlogo210606.jpg

A couple of hours of work with the needle files and it will be all done.

More updates to come in the next few days… 14 days to go :p

[Zero_Limits]

Hey guys

Got a little more done on the logo today at work. This little bit you will see in the following pics was the result of about 2 hours of work and one snapped needle file.

Sorry for some of the pics being unclear but its hard to show details when the whole thing is white. Anyway here are the pics.

First I decided like last time I would add a second layer of 0.8mm plastruct for strength. So I stuck the logo down to a sheet of it. The reason I did it in two layers rather then one 1.6mm layer is that using the 0.8mm is much easier to get a neat cut. Then its just a matter of running the knife along the edges to cut out the second layer.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001logo220606.jpg

Then I roughly cut out the shape so it was easier to work with.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/002logo220606.jpg

Big jump ahead now and its all cut out.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/003logo220606.jpg

It’s a bit hard to see in this pic but I have done a lot of work with the file and angled all the edges and neatened up the sides.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/004logo220606.jpg

After that I stuck the print out back on to mark the damage.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/005logo220606.jpg

Then some more filing and this is how it turned out. I may do a little more work on it as I am not quiet 100% happy with it yet.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/006logo220606.jpg

This is just a close up of the center of the A and some other letters to show the detail of the damage.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/007logo220606.jpg

Once I was home from work I stared on the case again. This next pic should explain why the cut in the last update was pretty rough. Because it didn’t matter as you weren’t going to see it anyway. The rocks act as the boarder for the window. I think its quiet effective.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/008side220606.jpg

That’s all for now. Should be another update tomorrow providing I get round to writing something up.

13 days to go now… much to do in the coming days. Thanks for looking guys, as always comments are appreciated :D

[Zero_Limits]

Time for the update from the weekends work. There isn’t a great deal of progress but that’s mainly because I cant make the filler dry any faster then it does :p.

I added the rocks around the window on the right side to match the left.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/002rside250606-1.jpg

Then started on the sides where the water comes down. This is what it looked like originally. With just a thin layer of filler that I used to try get a sort of rocky look.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/003rsidestart250606.jpg

So then I mixed up some of this

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/004filler250606.jpg

With a bit of this

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/006westpowder250606.jpg

Which gave me some mega thick filler (I actually snapped an ice block stick mixing it once) that I could use to add the shapes I wanted to direct the flow of water. So I added a
little and got this.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/007rside1250606.jpg

Then a bit more to get this.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/008rside2250606.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/009rside3250606.jpg

After that I got the chisel out to shape it up a little and take off the high points while the filler was still a little wet.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/010rsidefinal250606.jpg

This is how the other side looks.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/011Lsidefinish250606.jpg

There is a little more work to do smoothing it out and making it look a bit rocky. I have to get some more fiber glass resin so I can start doing the very bottom as well though.

I also stuck the logo on the front quickly to see what it looked like, I took it off straight after taking this pic.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/005logotest250606.jpg

I will be heading back out to the garage in the next few minutes to work on this again.

[Zero_Limits]

Well its 3:25am and I’m writing updates, FUN FUN!!! lol This is an update to show last nights work. There will be an update with tonight’s work a few minutes after this is posted.

So last night I just spent more time working on the rocks down there side where the water will be running through. I will show what I have done on one side as I have done pretty much the same thing on the other.

To start the night off I put a thin layer of filler over the whole side and smoothed it out as well as I could with my finger (Wearing gloves of course)

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001smoothfiller260606.jpg

I then sanded it a bit with some nice rough 40g sand paper. I didn’t want it to be dead smooth so you will notice some ups and downs highlighted by the different colours of the sanded and non sanded filler.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/002sandedfiller260606.jpg

After that I went over and dabbed on more filler using a very coarse paint brush to give the surface a rock like texture.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/006rockytexture260606.jpg

This is a close up to show the texture. I may add some actual rocks from the mould to make it look a little more realistic if I have time in the next couple of days.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/007rockytextureclose260606.jpg

Also I added the drain holes in the bottom area. One here on the right side at the lowest point.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/004drainhole260606.jpg

And one on the left at the lowest point.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/003drainhole260606.jpg

This is just a pic of the mega cool wood twirly thingi that was made when I drilled through the MDF with a 12mm drill bit… aint it pretty :p

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/005megacoolwoodtwirlythingi260606.jpg

Another update will be up within the next half hour or so.

[Zero_Limits]

Now for the update of tonight’s work.

I was quiet happy with the amount of work I got done tonight. I thought what I have done was going to take much longer then it did. Anyway I know you guys want the pics more then anything so here is what I did…

Cut out some frame type pieces, 12 of them to be exact.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001bottomribs270606.jpg

I also cut some little supports for them out of some triangle balsa wood. I cut more, the pic only shows a few.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/002bottomtriangles270606.jpg

Then I glued them onto the base.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/003ribsgluedon270606.jpg

Even with just those bits glued on there it was strong enough to hold the case up.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/004standingonribs270606.jpg

Then I added some wood sheets. I used some wood that I got for free from work. I think the boss said it was a type of balsa that is grown here in New Zealand. It is certainly a lot tougher then your average balsa wood.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/005ribssheeton270606.jpg

As you can see from the pic above I didn’t want to just continue the sides down straight like an extension of the top case. So I put a little angle on this bottom section. To make it look a little more interesting I decided to make the rounded corners a little different again. I used the lid from my filler container as a pattern.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/006fillerlidpattern270606.jpg

Cut a bit of balsa the same and stuck it in with thin CA.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/007roundwoodinplace270606.jpg

Added a few bits here, not quiet sure what to call them.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/008supportsstart270606.jpg

Then a few more.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/009supportsfinal270606.jpg

Here you get an idea of what its going to look like. Far better then just continuing the sides down I think.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/010standingup270606.jpg

Finally I sheeted it with 0.8mm plactruct. I only got one side done as I realized once I had finished it that it was 1:20am and decided to pack up.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/011covered270606.jpg

That’s all for now. I will be doing more work on it tomorrow so look out for an update if I can be bothered writing one :p For now Seeing as its just after 4am I think I should head off to bed :p Thanks for looking people :D

[Zero_Limits]

I was in from the garage at about 1:30am again this morning and its not 3:45am. At this rate I will be stuffed before the 3day LAN event even starts :p

Tonight I started out by making up some mounting brackets for the DVD drive which fits in the gap at the front which you can see in some of the pics of my last update.

I was lucky enough to find this one last bit of 20x50x1.6mm aluminum. Unfortunately as you can just see from the pic it’s a bit dirty. I actually used it to sit some of the brass fittings on while I heated them up to add solder.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/001dirtyaluminium280606.jpg

I then covered it with masking tape to protect it… well not really. I just used the masking tape because its easier to draw on then the aluminum :p You may just be able to see some of the markings in the pic.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/002coveredaluminiumwmarkings280606.jpg

Next it was time to cut. Seeing that I am fairly lazy I used the jigsaw with a fine place to cut this.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/003firstcut280606.jpg

Then I drilled a whole in the corner where I need to cut. I could have done it without but it just makes it look a little nicer.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/004drilled280606.jpg

More jigsaw action and I got this.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/005secondcut280606.jpg

I then started to remove the masking tape and luckily I realized before it was fully off that I hadn’t drilled the holes to actually mount the DVD drive yet, that was almost a stupid
mistake :p So I drilled the holes and removed the tape.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/006cutanddrilled280606.jpg

Next came some quality time with the file. I also sanded it up with just some 100g sandpaper. I didn’t really need to as you wont see it but it just made me feel better not to see the grubby marks, blobs of solder and runs of epoxy. If it was something you would see in the end I would have polished it till you could see yourself in it. To tell the truth if I had the time I probably would have done that anyway… I like polished aluminum

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/007filedandsanded280606.jpg

Here you can see the brackets attached to an old stuffed 52X CD drive.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/008mounted280606.jpg

This is roughly where it will sit in the case. As you can see I am holding it there with my figure as I have not yet decided on the final position so didn’t have it bolted in place.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/009inplace280606.jpg

While I had the case upside down I started working out where all the tubing would go and where I could stick the pump. Lucky for me the DD MAG pump is pretty tiny so I could fit it just about anywhere. This position worked out quiet well.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/010tubing280606.jpg

Last pic for the night is just a general overview of the case. You can see I got the bit of plastruct stuck on the other side and have also added a little filler to make them blend in a bit better. What you cant see from this pic is that I have finally fiber glassed the bottom section of the water feature. I also applied the left over epoxy to the case to seal it using a rag and wiping it on. This made it fairly smooth so I shouldn’t have to sand much.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/011overview280606.jpg

That’s all for now. Check back tomorrow for more updates. Thanks for looking everyone :)

[maximan1]

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/009inplace280606.jpg

This is roughly where it will sit in the case. As you can see I am holding it there with my figure as I have not yet decided on the final position so didn’t have it bolted in place.

Nice finger :D

[Zero_Limits]

Unfortunately there weren’t enough pics on the camera of the final days to construction to make any sort of decent update so I will just post some pics of the completed case.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/002Final110706.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/004Final110706.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/005Final110706.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/006Final110706.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/007Final110706.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/008Final110706.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/009Final110706.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/010Final110706.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/011Final110706.jpg

Me with the Farcry case, my prize the Silverstone TJ07, its massive box and my pretty medal.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/mewithcaseandprizes110706.jpg

Time for all the thanks and things…

Thanks to all that commented as the project log progressed, your comments were greatly appreciated and I look forward to reading some one my next project. I also have to thank my big brother who helped out with the painting of the rocks when I was running out of time near the end and also let me borrow some money for my replacement pump. Thanks to the xLAN crew for the great event (Hopefully there is another next year). Thanks to my mum for putting up with me being out in the garage to all hours of the night. A big thank you to the kind people at Playtech who were major sponsors at xLAN and had a replacement pump available when the one I had for the water feature crapped its self 5am in the morning just before leaving for xLAN

At this point I have spent too much time and money on this case so I think I might just leave it as is and be proud of its achievement of first place at xLAN. I am not 100% happy with it because as I said there are a few things I would have liked to do and a few things I could have done better if I wasn’t in a rush. It’s now time to move on to the next project… Project - TJ07 *insert name here* That will be a little way off as I have to save some money. I might look for some sponsors for the next project now that I have a few reasonably successful mods under my belt .

That’s all for now. Look out for my next project in a few months :D

[Zero_Limits]

Hi Guys

Thanks for all the comments and kind words :D Just thought I would put a couple of pics that were taken by the xLAN crew at the event.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/farcry1.jpg

In this pic you might just be able to see the water running down the front of the case. You can also see the case that won second place next to mine, the letter box one.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/farcry2.jpg

This is just me getting my mega cool TJ07 from the event organizers Tmdude and Dee-Zilla, a big thanks to them for organizing such a great event. Hopefully they do the same next year.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/mewithprize.jpg

Just for fun here is a pic of what comes up on my screen when I turn my PC on now.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e46/Zero_Limits2006/rip6800gt.jpg

RIP 6800GT :(

Will still try get a vid up of the water feature running. Might be a little while though.

Again thanks for all the comments :)



Link To Original Thread (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2250)