The Orb

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hi freaks,

after completing two Casecons (Reactor (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8199)and CUBE (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8198)) and making the 10th place on the German Case Modding Cometition I thought it would be nice to get away from the cubic cases seen everywhere. As I am a fan of straight geometrics, what would be nicer than a sphere?
TBCS is simply the coolest place in the web, when you want to see mods that go far beyond some LEDs and windows in a standard case. So I hope to find some helping "hands" in here with good suggestions and experience.
Hope you like my Orb ;)

The basic idea is to construct some kind of Pacman or motorcycle-helmet that can open a visor driven by a motor. And to make it really challenging, I wanted the cooling-liquid inside this visor :D

I will start with some renderings from the plans I did:

5BdoTHfW_uQ

http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/rendering02.jpg http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/rendering01.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/rendering03.jpg http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/rendering04.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/rendering05.jpg http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/rendering06.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/rendering07.jpg http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/rendering08.jpg

I am not quite sure, if I will build the feet this way, because the Orb has to fit on my desk and with those feet it will be huge.
The diameter of the spehre is about 40cm, giving me enough space to hide all hardware, waterpump inside. Only the radiator will be outside of it.

As you can see, I planned two versions (in fact some more), once a realistic one and one I could build with unlimited cash :smoker:

So, what do you think? Top or flop? Worth to spend time and money on it or rather a stupid Idea to build a spheric PC? I love to hear your comments!


---------------- EDIT -----------------
This is how far I am at the moment:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/fertig8.jpg
---------------- /EDIT -----------------

[dgrmkrp]

The basic idea is to construct some kind of Pacman or motorcycle-helmet that can open a visor driven by a motor. And to make it really challenging, I wanted the cooling-liquid inside this visor

You mean like having a submerged mobo or having a reservoir the shape of the visor?

I like the idea, and if you have the time and money to do it.. go for it :)

[jdbnsn]

Wow, very original design I agree that the feet are going to be a bit large but all in all it looks great.

[Eclecticos]

Kewl! Can't wait to see the build on this thing.
When you get around to building the Unlimited cash model you could put your orb on a LynxMotion Hexapod (http://www.lynxmotion.com/Category.aspx?CategoryID=3). Just a thought.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Well, I have to admit that I have been working for about two month now on this project and that I put a lot of time and quite some money in this project. So I'm going to write a log about the work that is already done, show you some big set-backs I encountered and how I solved them.
And hopefully in some month I have a finished Orb and a nice worklog :D

First of all, here is a little sketch and some drawings I did:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/sketch.jpg
The visor is made of two quarter-spheres, one a little smaler than the other. Glued together with about 5mm of space for the water. This will definitely be the hardest part to create...

http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scan01_kl.jpg (http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scan01.jpg)

http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scan02_kl.jpg (http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scan02.jpg)

[elbarto241]

those are some really nice renderings, i like the idea of a sphere instead of the regular box looking PC. GL!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

One critical problem I had:
Where can one buy spheres with 40cm in diameter?
It took me about 3 month of hard search till I found a manufacturer of garden-lamps who sold a plastic lamp with exactly 40cm in diameter! So I ordered one. When it arrived I needed some tries till I figured out a way to mark an equatorial-line... The sphere had one open "side" which I needed to cut out. I finally drilled a small hole and attached a string in it with the lengh of 1/4th of the perimeter. With this I could draw the equator:

Here you see the mounting of the garden lamp.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_03.jpg
My first try to mark an equatorial line.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_04.jpg
The Orb sitting on my last casecon CUBE2.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_05.jpg
All the red lines are only for orientation. The lines I cut out were marked with a thin cutter. You can see my tool for marking is made of a cable...
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_08.jpg
... fixed with a pinboard-pin.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_10.jpg
Drawing the lines. I corrected them with a bending ruler.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_11.jpg
The result:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_12.jpg
Unfortunately the sphere is made in a way that the material has not the same thickness all over ): At some spots it's only 2mm thick and somewhere else it's 5mm.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_14.jpg
Drilling many 0.5mm holes to get this special form where the hinge for the visor will be built in.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_15.jpg
The case is made of three parts: One half spehre at the bottom, one quarter sphere for the top rear and one quarter made of plexiglas for the visor. Here you see the bottom.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_17.jpg
This is the upper quarter with the circle that hides the hinge of the visor. It's not final in this shot. Has to be filed off.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_21.jpg
As I mentioned above, the material-strengh differed a lot which led to a crack in the upper quarter, I had to fix with some plastic left from the mounting.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_09.jpg

So far, so good.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hey Eclecticos,
thanks for the hint with the Lynxmotion. I am studiing robotics and those are some nice toys (:

@elbarto: Thanx - I rendered a little movie. Will try to put it in here tomorrow.

Btw: Sorry, if my english isn't the best. Hope you can figure out, what I want to say :redface:

[doesi87]

This is simply great man. Subscripted and will definitely be watched.

[rendermandan]

This looks pretty cool. Hope you can pull it off, Good luck!

[alphastryk]

looks great... I will definitely watch this one...

[chaksq]

Awesome idea, can't wait to see the worklog on this one.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

I added a video to the first post. Unfortunately you can berely see the water in the Visor. I think I have to render it again...

All right, lets move on. In this post I show you the first version of the basement-plate. I spent some thoughts on making it from fiberglass but dropped this thought. Now it's made from pressboard.

With a milling cutter mounted on a kind of compass I milled the circels from the pressboard. At one point, I got this funny piece. To me it looks like a rocket :D
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte02.jpg
I really annoyed my neighbors, because the mill is horribly loud. And I needed some time for the circles:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte03.jpg
This is the top of my sandwich, where the motherboard will be mounted on.
I plan to mill in an area exacly as big as the motherbord and 3mm deep so only the chips will overlap the wood. I think this looks much better, when you look into the visor.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte04.jpg
Next two sandwich layers with a space for the DVD-Rom:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte05.jpg
Glueing it together (fortunately the glue takes only 15 minutes to harden):
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte06.jpg
The result (top down). The piece of plexiglas you see is going to be mounted in the slits left and right to the DVD-Rom and will be illuminated by LEDs.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte08.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte09.jpg

Wood is really a nice material to work with (even if it's pressboard): All you see above took me one afternoon. If I tried to make this piece of fibreglass, plasic or something I would have needed some days. I hope, that after filling, sanding and painting it will look like plastic.

The filling:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte11.jpg
And after sanding and filling and sanding and filling and.... Smooth like plastic!
Here you see the slits for the illluminated plexiglas.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte15.jpg

As you have probably seen in the sketches from my second post, the whole case is rotated about 15 deg but the motherboard lies horizontal. So I need the mounting for the lower hemisphere glued to the base in this 15 deg angle.
So far no problem. BUT: If I had cut this mounting circle with the mill in the same way as the other circles and fixed it with 15deg to the base, it would have left me a big gap...
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/sketch2.jpg
My first try to solve this, was a selfmade 15 degree mounting for the mill. But this didn't work. So I milled the circle 5mm bigger and carved the form I needed by hand. This was annoying: Carvin, holding it to the baseplate in the right angle, marking some spots, carving them away, holding it to base and so on...
Finally I could glue it:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte17.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte19.jpg

And that how my first version of the baseplate looked like:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte22.jpg

I don't know, if you can tell from the pictures. But I made a huge mistake, and glued the outer ring in an angle much bigger than 15 degrees :dead:
Another problem was the filling I used on the wood: The mixture was wrong and it did not harden right :down:
So, thats why I say "first version"... I had to tear it.

In the next version, the outer ring will be made of some harder wood, so that the screws fixing the hemisphere to it have a better hold. And hopefully the filling will harden out right!

I am curious about your comments. Perhaps you come up with an idea to build this baseplate in a much easier way! It would be welcome. If someone can offer me an industrial mill, where I can carve this whole thing from one big block of plasitc, it would also be welcome :rolleyes:

Tomorrow I will upload the pictures and the story from the Visor.

[rendermandan]

Damn, looks good event though you messed up. But that is all part of modding, taking a chance and trying something, an if it doesn't work, learn from you mistakes and push on!!! +rep

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Only a quick update on my new hardware now, pics from the visor will follow later this day.
A friend of mine was on a big computer fair here in Germany and signed in to almost every lottery on this fair. The result was quite amazing: He took home hardware worth more than 2000€ ! From him I bought my CPU and RAM.

So what I got so far is:

ABIT Fatal1ty Micro-ATX Mobo
Intel Core2Duo 6600
Cooler Master Hyper TX Intel CPU Cooler
2GB Corsair 800MHz DDR-RAM
500 Watt Be Quiet PSU
WesternDigital 2500KS, 250Gig, 16MB Cache HDD

It rocks!

Sorry for those crappy handy-pictures...
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw01.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw02.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw03.jpg

Those scattered parts are my current workstation, lieing on my CUBE2 case :lick:
As long as CRYSIS is not out yet, I will wait with buying a new DX10 GPU. The on-board GPU supports DX9 and dual screen by using the HDMI-to-DVI adaptor. Thats all I need for work.

When I'm back from office-work, I will post visor pics. So stay tuned, you will probably like them :banana:

[|NQ|Squelsh]

All right, here we go with the visor:
- Pre-Story:
I found a german store that sells decoration material for shop-windows. They sell 40cm hemispheres made of plexiglas. This time it was not as complicated to draw a aequator line, as it was a hemisphere and not a whole sphere.

The hemisphere had a little mark at the center. So I drilled a little hole there and marked two points that were exactly on the opposite "end" of the sphere:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier02.jpg

Then I tried to draw lines from the center to those points. First try was a laserline but it got too scattered by the round plexiglass.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier04.jpg

So I used a bendable ruler. The white thing under the plexisphere is the cut-out from the garden-lamp I used as a support and ended with this:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier0.jpg


Next step was to build two templates for the quarter-spheres. They had to differ in size, as one of the quarters sould lie inside the other one and had to be smaller.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier01.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier10.jpg

I could then cut the plexiglass exactly:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier06.jpg

Then I dissassembled my template, cut the wood smaller and repeated the process.
This gave me two quarter spheres of the right size:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier00.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier08.jpg

At this point, I stopped working and left the workshop. When I came back the next day, some stuff that fell from a shelf over the workbench had destroyed one of the quarters :eek: From all the sawing the stuff must have been shaken a bit and crashed down in the night.

So I had to order a new sphere and wait a week for the delivery :down:

[|NQ|Squelsh]

- Restart:
After slicing another sphere it had to be sanded a little but I was quite happy with the result.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier07.jpg

These are the left-overs from the work. They were used later:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier09.jpg


- The Logo:
From the destroyed quarter-sphere I started to carve out my logo:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier11.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier12.jpg
I glued 3 layers together and let the sanding machine do the rest :smoker:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier21.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier24.jpg

- The bending:
I needed some kind of spacer that had to be placed between the quarter-spheres. For that I used quadratic Plexiglas bars with 8mm side-length.
Of course they had to be bended in a 39cm diameter. I experimented with a hot-air-stream and a template made of the leftovers from the template mentioned above:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier13.jpg
Results were unusable :mad:

After searching the whole house, I found a really huge saladbowl made of aluminium. Guess the diameter: 40cm 8) I used thick tape to produce an edge on the bowl, so that the bars could not slip to a wrong position.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier15.jpg

Then I put together a new template and threw the plexi-bars in the oven. 3 minutes at 80 degrees celsius made them flexible enough for bending.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier17.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier18.jpg

With two more helping hands from my sister and some burnings at my fingertips I got nice circles:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier20.jpg

So far, so good!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

- The hinges:
As the visor should be able to rotate for opening and closing, I built two plexi-pieces where the water flows through in the center and then gets in the right direction in the visor:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier14.jpg

- The glueing:
For that I bought special plexiglas glue in an onlineshop. I came in two componets: The glue itself and a hardener. I ordered some pipettes too, to be able to mix the doses right. But I had to recognize, that even the pipette was not the right tool for measuring 0.3 millilitres! Thats the amount Somewhere I had read that about 24 waterdrows make one mililitre, so I used 8 drops of the hardener and it worked.

Piece by piece the parts found their place:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier25.jpg

After each piece I had to wait one day for the glue hardning.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier26.jpg

Here you see the duct where the water will flow upwards:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier27.jpg

Here you see one corner with the hinge and the water-duct inside the hinge.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier28.jpg

I was quite happy, that I got so far without breaking any parts :)

[FrooP]

:eek: one thing is for sure, that dude got skill
so +rep for creativity, machinery work and the whole everything great stuff(wondering why im writing this in english, because were both german)

[|NQ|Squelsh]

- The engraving:

As the logo needed some touch-up, I constructed some kind of pattern on paper (the thing on the left will be discussed later):
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scan03_kl.jpg

Then copied it with a pair of compasses to the plexiglass:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier31.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier30.jpg


- The outer hull:
Even if the glueing edged did look better then on former projects, I wanted to hide them. So I fixed the outer quarter-spehre with some tape to the inner one and masked the glueing areas with tape:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier32.jpg

And sanded the plexi so it got opaque:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier33.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier34.jpg
I think, the result is pretty cool :banana:

Last pic shows you the hardest step of all: As I got only some minutes to work with the plexiglass glue, I really had to hurry. Putting the glue to the spacers in the inner quarter-sphere, then placing the outer sphere and fixing it with all screw-clamps I could find. All within some minutes...
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier35.jpg

Tomorrow I will show you the latest pictures of the visor and with this the bitter end of the story (at least for some weeks) :dead:
At this point, you I will have shown you all the work I have done to the current time.

I would be really happy about some posts and your thougths of this project so far. I need some encouragement at this point :think:

Thats it for today.
Thanx,

Squelsh

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Only one more post:
Dankeschön FrooP (:

BTW: I made it to the frontpage of http://www.chinadiyer.com/ with my verry old Reactor (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4852) CaseCon *YIPPIE* :D

[rendermandan]

Encouragment? I've got some words of encouragment for you. "Holy **** thats incredible!" You are doing an excellent job, Very unique idea and cool design. I love it, Keep it up.... Should I go on?

[ollithemagicbum]

that's nice...+rep

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Thank you guys!

As I wrote yesterday, the only thing left to show are the final pics of the visor or what's left from the visor :(


- Disaster:
When I glued the stuff together, I noticed, that there was a tension in the plexiglas. Thats nothing special, even the manual from the plexi-glue writes about it. They also write, that one should temper the material for some hours and that this should release the tension.

So I put the visor in the oven, switched it on at 60 deg celsius (for bending plexi I used 90 deg) and went to my computer to see, what Google said on the time it needed.

Normally the oven (it's a little older) needs some time to heat up. But when I came back only FIVE minutes later, I saw the desaster :eek: :
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier36.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/visier37.jpg
All three layers are destroyed. Even my logo melted.

The visor must have been to big for the oven and so the top of it was to close to the heating. :evil: When I saw that two month of work just melted away I really needed a cigarette...

- Status:
So, thats the current status. That happened about one week ago. Since then I did not touch any tools. I am really struggling with myself if I start again or just pack the hardware I already have in a standard ATX case... :(
I think you can understand now, why I needed some encouraging words after my last post.

Hope you liked it so far (excluding this post),

Squelsh

[FrooP]

You Will Build This Case, It Needs To Be Build And If You Dont Build It I Come Over And Slap You






:D

[dgrmkrp]

Well... I like the last post too (modern art and new test puppy if needed).. we learn from our mistakes.. You've done one hell of a job and as I learned till now, the second time can be better :) So, I would go with do it again, but be more careful with the final step.. Also, why don't you use some "viscous cement" for the last join? Use the glue as much as possible, but when you need a thicker adhesive.. you can just use a thicker adhesive.. Also, I'm intrigued on the swivel mechanism and the water-proofing side of things.. Are you going to use some kind of pivoting fittings? (that's what I would do.. if I found the heart to do what you do.. which is awesome)

Go on and do your best! We'll be watching and cheering! :)

[rendermandan]

That really sucks. Sorry to hear about the melting. but don't let it get you down. Like I said, learn from your mistakes, and get back on that modding horse.

[xRyokenx]

Dude, sometimes the best things take lots of time and many, many tries. This is a cool mod and has been coming along well, minus the few disasters. It's giving me more to think about for when I build my next rig in a few years when I get the funds, etc. I want to build a case possibly with some similar characteristics of the mods I see here, such as the orb design for yours, I say go with it and try again. It's all about perseverance. Try try again until you succeed, or however the saying goes.

I went through a processor and mobo (and plenty sanity too) with my current rig, and now I've finally gotten it to run like a champ, it could use a few upgrades, but that'll come with time. At least now you have some experience with disaster and possibly know what you can do to avoid it for next time.

Good luck with continuing this and completing it. You'll feel more proud of your case after you finish it especially after screwing up a few times, believe me, there's things I would've given up on without help from others (such as motivation, etc.) that I finished and am quite happy with the results.

[doesi87]

Sorry to hear about the oven disaster, but you have to go on with this. It's a very nice idea and a very nice case it will be!

If not, then:

You Will Build This Case, It Needs To Be Build And If You Dont Build It I Come Over And Slap You

And you know we live somewhat near you :)

[FrooP]

well hes living 30 kilometres far from my house ;)

[SgtM]

Awesome work man! I know how frustrating it can be when something doesn't work out. My vote is to not let a little snag stop you from building this. +rep.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hey everyone!

Thank you for your support. As I fear FrooP and Doesi coming to my place and slapping me ( :santa: ), I ordered a new plexiglass sphere today.
Seriously, you all animate me to go on with the Orb.

Unfortunately I have a diploma exam on Robotics in September and I sould really put more time in it. So, from now on this worklog comes in much smaller pieces till september. But I worked out some nice ideas for the automatic opening and closing of the visor and some other gimmics.

So, I hope you stay tuned. See you,
Squelsh

[calumc]

good luck with everything!

[doesi87]

puh. won't get any vacation till winter, so I'm glad you continue this and we don't have to come around :) . Good luck with your exams!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

All right! Back on track: Today my new plexi-sphere arrived. With a 7cm scratch on it. :( But I thougth thats not worth all the paperwork and shipping-time to get a new one. I have to polish the scratch out later.

An other thing I had been waiting on is finally ready. It's this little controller:
Mäusekino (http://selbstbau.ct-maeusekino.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=53). Thats German and stands for "Cinema for mice" :alien: It's a display controller with some I/O functionality I plan to use for the motorisation.

That's it for today. Pictures will follow tomorrow. See you.

[Scotty]

Enough polishing and it'll be gone, shame it had it though :(

And a Cinema for Mice... Well ok...

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Update time!
- Visor, the third (:

It's amazing, how big the speedup is, if you do something the third time. Within 6 hours I got almost all parts for the visor done! I saved the time that I needed for bending the plexi-spacers because this time I try something else. Also I could reuse the template for the smaller ones of the quarters.
Here are the pics from today:

The hemisphere as it arrived. I tried to capture the scratch, but the cam didn't focus right.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_01.jpg

This time I was clever enough to cover it with tape:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_02.jpg

That hurts: Sawing through former work... I cut stripes from the side of the visor that did not melt down. Those stripes will act as the spacers between the spheres. So I don't need to bend more plexibars. I can tell you, that it's not easy to make a straight cut through a spherical object :down:
As with all plexi-work I used lots of oil so that it didn't get too hot.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_03.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_04.jpg

Those are two of four stripes I made from the old visor:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_05.jpg

At my last try I fitted all parts perfectly together and then glued them. This time I try something else: Glueing the parts together and then put them on the sanding machine and fit them all in one working step. I hope this leads to a better result with less work.

Some pics are missing here :( With my old template I marked and cut out the smaller one of the quarters. But as the template had been sized smaller I needed a new one for the bigger quarter:

With the jigsaw I made out a circle first and then cut it in halve. The pices attached to the old template gave me the right diameter for marking and cutting the bigger quarter.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_06.jpg
Template with attached halves:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_07.jpg
Temeplate inside the sphere:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_08.jpg

All the plexi cutting was done in two hours of handwork with a normal manual saw *sweat*

[|NQ|Squelsh]

- The new hinges:
Last time I cut the circles for the hinges from 8mm thick plexi-sheets. I thought it would not be a problem to glue a flat piece of 5cm diameter to a sperical object with 40cm diameter as the gap between them was less than 1mm. As I recognized while disassembling this 1mm made a difference :think:

So with some pieces of plexisphere left, the solution was obvious: Make the hinges from the leftovers:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_10.jpg

I need 6 layers for one hinge so the old visor looks like swiss chese now.
But with a hole-saw the circles came out nice:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_09.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_11.jpg

More handwork was needed for the innermost circles that may not have a hole in the middle. But with some filing nothing is impossible :)

http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_12.jpg

The stacks are made up like this (from inside to outside):

Layer: Cirlce without hole as a cap.
Layer: Cirlce in packman style with one quarter left for the inner sphere
Layer: Cirlce with water duct
Layer: Cirlce with water duct
Layer: Cirlce in packman style with one quarter left for the outer sphere
Layer: Cirlce with hole for water connection

[|NQ|Squelsh]

- Glueing:

In the first glueing session I put together the two inner hinge cirlces so I can carve out the water duct in a next step.
Also I fixed the innermost caps.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_13.jpg

This time everything has to work out! Wish me luck :D

[xRyokenx]

Great job! I guess the third time really is the charm. Perseverance truly pays when it comes to art. + rep for continuing on.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Thank you xRyokenx.
@ dgrmkrp: I still have not figured out, where to buy you "viscous cement" from page 3 :D But you were right at my plans on the swivel mechnism: I found some pivoting fittings in a watercooling webshop. I bought two different versions of them. But I have the same problem with both versions: The pivoting joints need to much force to turn. I know, this is a central problem with this casecon, and I don't have the perfect solution till now, but if all plans fail, I can go with two flexible tubes outside the case that can bend those needed 15 degrees. I rendered a still from the movie with blue tubes:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/schlauch.jpg
If I can find a working pivoting fitting, I omit the external tubes and put the hinges inside the case.

Another goodie I did not mention till now is my Logitech Quickcam Sphere :bunny: Cou can see it in the renderings on the first page. I have to paint it in Orb colours but simply the geometry makes it the perfect addon to the case. The cam is sold with a 20cm long extension and can turn it's eye 180 degrees in two axes.

Today I glued the next parts and worked on the new circles for the hinges, pics will follow tomorrow. See you soon.

[xRyokenx]

You're welcome, this mod is giving me ideas for when I mod a case for a new rig in a few years.

[Crazy Buddhist]

This is great. What a nice log. +rep. I love working with wood too. Where did you source the spherical parts please - the lamp and the visor? I'm plotting something lol

[elbarto241]

wow. this guy is a CAD GOD! i kid you not people! RUN AND HIDE YOUR CHILDREN!!!!


hehe :D +rep for you know what

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Thanx guys!
@Crazy Buddhist: It took me three month to find those spheres. The information you want is not cheap...
:lick: Just kiddin. You can get the acryllic hemispheres at Deko Woerner (http://www.dekowoerner.de/) in Germany. Don't know, if they ship this stuff in the world.
The gardenlamp came from the designer-lamp dealer Skapetze (http://www.skapetze.com/). They sell this stuff at eBay.
@elbarto: Thanx for you know what :) 3D-Modeling for fun since 1990, so this one was an easy one.

Here comes the update, I wanted to do two days ago but the world was against me...

-Hinges again:
I decided not to hide the water supply inside the case. So the hinges don't have to rotate as the tubes can compensate the movement.
The hinges itself will work pretty simple: I'm going to cut a big hole in the outer hemisphere in wich a plexi-cylinder can rotate. The visor is a little smaller than the rest of the sphere so it can rotate inside.
Today I started with the cylinders that will be glued right and left to the visor and contain the ellbow fittings. Because I don't have an cylider, I needed more circles:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_17.jpg

Two of them will be glued together so they needed to be the same diameter. Unfortunately the cicles I cut out with the hole-saw aren't perfect. So I put a screw though and rotated them in the drilling machine. So I could form them with a file:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_19.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_20.jpg

The ellbows fittings will be screwed into the circles and then be covered by the rings:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_21.jpg

This will become clear through the next updates in some days ;)

[|NQ|Squelsh]

-Baseplate:
Today I got some nice material:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte23.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte24.jpg
It's stuff called "Tischlerplatte" in Germany. It's a verry hard wooden plate, made of 20 layeres of different wood.

The piece is 45*30cm and this will be my new circle for the baseplate. As I wrote some posts ago, I messed up the last one. Also the pressboard I used before wasn't the best material to mount the spehre on, because it shivers when you turn screws in.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hey: I just found some pictures which are worth posting as they show, how the things fit together.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview01.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview03.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview04.jpg
The last picture shows the old mounting-circle wich has a much to big inclination. This will be fixed soon.

Hope you like it. It's a rough preview. I try to imagine, how this will look painted and glowing in nice blue cathode light *G*

[elbarto241]

nice too see it coming together, that case is going to come out amazing by the time your done with it :D good luck

[jdbnsn]

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/jdbnsn/8-2-07/Untitled-1.jpg (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com)

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Yippie! :banana: Thanx jbdnsn and the all TBCS members reading and answering this thread :)
I hope to fulfill your expectations and to deliver some updates during the next days because I leave for holidays on August, 7th for two weeks.
The next big step is to have water flowing through the new visor!

See you soon,
|NQ|Squelsh

BTW: |NQ| stands for NetQuarter (http://www.netquarter.org). We make LAN-Parties in Germany with 100 to 400 gamers. (In case someone wants to visit us)

[elbarto241]

congrats man, make us proud and make a heck of a case for the ages :D

[doesi87]

Congratulations man. Oh and please cancel your holidays and continue modding this :) . I really want to see what will come next. Especially if you put water in the sphere.

[FrooP]

Congratulations man. Oh and please cancel your holidays and continue modding this :) . I really want to see what will come next. Especially if you put water in the sphere.

agreed :banana:

[kingstog]

Man I love it when you can see a great case brewing from the start, the excitement is killer. Can't wait to see more, keep it up 8)

[NocturnaL]

Awesome mod, for some reason foreigners are always better modders

[Spawn-Inc]

dude, this is freaking awesome, + Rep and i will have to watch this. that water res is genius!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Wow, thank you verry much for those compliments! :redface:

I have only a small status update for you at this time (with some mobile-phone-pics):

So, the third Visor-Reservoir is 90% completed. As you see on the pics, the water ducts and hinges are on their place:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_22.jpg

Left hinge (water inlet):
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_24.jpg

Right hinge (water outlet):
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_25.jpg

Water outlet in the top:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_26.jpg

All the glueing is not perfectly smooth looking but I need this to be water-proof so I use a little to much glue all the time. But nobody will see the mess later as I'm going to sand the top sphere at those areas like last time. So you can't see through.

What you can hardly see on the pics: All plexi spacers are made of two layers. That's why I need so much time for it. Glue one piece, wait some hours and then glue the next layer over it... It's annoying but as someone here said: "This case has to be built!" :)

While I was waiting for the glue to harden, I started on the support for the hinges:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_27.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_28.jpg

This is 1mm aluminium. It will be placed between the visor and the outer sphere and hold the visor. The aluminium will be bent later and then fixed to the wooden pase-plate.

Thats it so far. I'm going to work on it this afternoon and I really hope to get the visor done to a state to show you the water flowing throug :up:

See you,
Squelsh

[xRyokenx]

Looking quite good... I like how you're putting the water res into the visor, quite coo.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hey guys, only a small update and some "lost and found" pics:

Today I got the visor 95% ready. Only the outer sphere and the outermost hinge-layer are missing. All water ducts and my logo are done :D

The pics I have show the water in- and outlets:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_29.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_30.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_31.jpg

I turned in a big screw as some kind of handle and sanded them on the sanding machine to make them concave so they fit to the sphere.

Next pics show my Logitech Sphere webcam:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/cam.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/cam2.jpg
Isn't it the perfect adon for the orb?

I still hope to show you pics of the water filled visor tomorrow :)

CU
Squelsh

[Scotty]

Res in visor = SWEET <3!!
Will the motors or what ever be able to lift the weight to allopw the drive to open?

[lukeisthecoolest]

i would suggest using servos if u are gonna list the lid (like the one willetFX uses)

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Good question ;)
The idea is to use a seperate motor to open the visor and not the DVD tray. I will use the microchips from the LCD-display for I/O with sensors and motors, so first the visor opens and if a sensor says that it's open the controller opens the DVD tray.

[kingstog]

It might be a good idea to counter balance the visor with a small weight so you don't need a powerful servo. You could take a servo from an old optical drive, if it pushes a weight down at the back of the case that would make the front rise.

[NocturnaL]

Nice mod so far Squelsh, as expected. You always come up with some out of the ordinary designs, +++rep man.

[rendermandan]

this is comming along nicely. Glad to see your still at it... I'm still confused as to how the water hinges are going to work and not leak. I'll just have to wait and see. +rep

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hi altogether!

Unfortunately it didn't work out as good as I expected :(
Fortunately I leave later this night for my holliday, so I don't worry about computers for two weeks :)

The glueing I did today was not perfect because it was too hot (33 degree celsius, quite good for Germany).
Well, here is the result:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig1.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig2.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig3.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig4.jpg

The problem is the water duct inside the visor. It's not water-proof and so the water does not get up to the logo :(

Well, I have to fix this in two weeks.
Thanks all for watching and your tipps for the servo.
See you,
Squelsh

[FrooP]

have fun in your holidays, wobei ich das auch in deutsch hätte schreiben können :D

[isunktheship]

Been a while since I've posted, but this definitely caught my eye..

first off, this mode is very precise, you are dealing with spheres, which is tough to think about when compared to a normal box.

secondly, you are building, or have just built I should say, 45 degrees of a spherical window with water flowing through. VERY IMPRESSIVE. Even if your model has a manual opening, or NO opening at all just the fact that you build a homemade enclosure for water is awesome.

I'm looking forward to the rest of this mod, what do you use to render? It looks like you are using 3ds max + skylight for the high definition renderings... which is what I use ;D.

-AJC

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hey everybody!

No, this project is not dead :)
But I had important exams and then I've been on holidays. But now I am back working.

As you can read in my last post, the visor was glued together but the inner water-duct leaked. I spent some thoughts of tearing it apart again but then a new idea came to my mind:
I drilled some 2mm holes into the outer sphere along the water-duct and injected glue into them with a hose quite slowly. During the process I held the visor in a way that the glue flowed along the duct.

The visor wrapped in some foil to protect it against scratches:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_38.jpg

My injection-tool :D Made of a pipette and a hose:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_37.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_36.jpg

The result:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_40.jpg
All the ugly smearing will later be invisible because I will matt that section of the visor as with my last version.
Later I will add some fake holes so the visible dots will be evenly distributed.

Hope it's waterproof now!
Test results will arrive in some hours, when the glue hardened.

Wish me luck 8)

[FrooP]

ohhh yeeaahhhh 8)

[kingstog]

The suspense is killing me! LOVE THIS MOD!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

:up: Yeah!
It's waterproof now!

Only some small improvements and the matting have to be done. And of course the fittings for water in/out. But I think the most critical part of work is done :D

Here are the videos I made:
QqJzLS7zI3U
ccVcGe27VR0

As you can see, the water does not flow right downwards over the logo :down: But I hope to get this fixed in the next glueing session this afternoon.

Thanx for watching. New video will follow.

[FrooP]

lol i thought the water will FILL the visor and not flow through it, or did i miss anything...?
oh yeah.. +REP

[rendermandan]

yeah, I thought it was supposed to be filled. but then again, if it were filled, how would you be able to tell? Hmmm...

[Mach]

Suh-weet! I'm glad to see that your mods back on! +Rep for the visor work and update.

[kingstog]

It's ALIVE!!!!!! +rep for putting me out of my misery :)

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hey, thanx guys for your rep and for still following my thread!

To answer your questions: The water level in the visor can be chosen freely. In the video the water flows straight through because it's no closed loop with the pump. I'm not sure how much water will be in the final system. I think something about 50% capacity.

Back to the work:
To correct the water direction I installed two small pieces of plexi in the visor. Drilled some holes and filed them:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_41.jpg

These are the pieces, formed to fit the radius:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_42.jpg

Half inserted...
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_43.jpg

...and glued in:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_44.jpg

Tadaaaa, the result: The water now flows perfectly around my logo.
XuVgxmt34iA


After that I went on sanding the outer sphere to matten the spaces where the ugly glue was visible:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_45.jpg

Sandblasting rocks! Why didn't I tried this before??
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_46.jpg

The pic ist not as perfect as the result :) The white dots you can see is condensed water.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_47.jpg
One can realize fine patterns with real sharp lines and I think I will use this technique on some other parts. It's much faster than carving and makes fun.


See you tomorrow.

[FrooP]

*hits refresh until the cool pics are up*

[NightrainSrt4]

Wow, that is pretty cool. But............


You seriously made me have to go to the bathroom. I know it was probably the water draining into the sink or whatnot, but all that running water/tinkling sound made me have to go...:p

Really cool though!

[chaksq]

Nice, I like the results of the sandblasting especially.

[Luke122]

Very cool looking project so far!

The only thing that concerns me is the logo.. it looks an awful lot like the one for PPI (Precision Power). (http://www.precisionpower.com/)

[|NQ|Squelsh]

@NightrainSrt4: Yeah, it's funny: When I started my browser the YouTube tab was still open in the background and I thought someone was peeing in front of my window... :think:

@Luke: :dead: ****, you are so right with that logo. But I am from Germany and I have never seen this logo before. I think I will drop them a mail: They should get a new corporate identity! :devious:

[Eclecticos]

Verry Interesting. I like how you've used the Logo to divide the water there. .Looks Kewl! Also glad to see that you're back on this project after the meltdown. +Rep

[FrooP]

Omg I Feel That A Update Is Comming In A Few Seconds

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hey FrooP, where did you know that from?? :think:

Well, it's only a small but important update:
My constructions seem to fit :D

I tested today how the Visor fits into the outer quarter sphere. What should I say? Look at the pics and the video:

WvsyxAlY3fQ
I will close the gap between the Visor and the sphere with something flexible like foam or fabric. The adhesive tape you see is only for protection purpose.

Closed:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_48.jpg
Open:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_50.jpg

To make the video, I added some provisional hinges made of two needles and some cork.

When I assured that everything fitted quite well, I started to work on the real hinges:
The holes in the upper quarter-sphere are the mountings for some plexi-disks that get fixed to the Visor. You can see them some posts ago.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_52.jpg

The parts you can see here are the last parts missing at the visor. They make the base for the plexi-disks through which the real water-hinges will lead:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_51.jpg

Well, I glued the stuff and now I have to wait till tomorrow.
See you soon,
Squelsh

[p0Pe]

thats nice:D i especially like the water in the visor xD... green fluid? and uv would look more than cool!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hey p0Pe, thats exactly what I am going to fill into the visor :)
I'd love to see how it looks but I don't have enough UV-color for a test...

Today I continued work on the wooden baseplate. But when I compared the visor to the plate I was shocked!
The Visor isn't spherical any more. All the layers glued on the inner sphere made it elliptical :mad: That makes it necessary to build an elliptical Orb...
The difference is only about 1cm. Thats not too much compared to the 40cm diameter, so I hope no one will notice it. But it makes things even more complicated...

Pictures of the new baseplate will be added later.
See you. Squelsh

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Sorry if you have been waiting for the announced pics. They somehow got lost :(
But they looked pretty much the same as the last two pics from http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showpost.php?p=119558&postcount=13
Only the material changed from pressboard to hard wood.

Well, I have some new pics instead:
These are the parts for the hinges that hold the visor. No water goes through them. I found a plexi-bar and an aluminium piece that already had holes with the perfect diameter for my use. I cut the aluminium and bent it. The funy shape is the result of the former holes that were in it...
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte25.jpg

Then I cut two slices from the bar and glued them to the rotation center of the visor:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte26.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte27.jpg

I needed some spacers fot the hinges that were made of wood. You can barely see them here: I will glue some felt on the aluminium so the plexi slides easier.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte29.jpg

I needed some time to figure out the best angle to fix the hinges to the baseplate. The lines next to the hinges show the dimensions of my MicroATX MoBo.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte28.jpg

And here is the result:
Visor opened: The dark brown wood you can see is the new rim made of hard wood. It will hold the lower hemisphere.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte30.jpg
And closed with the outer sphere on it:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte31.jpg

Next time I will smooth the baseplate and the rim with bondo and think about a nice cover for the hinges that will also cover the cables from the MoBo.
I think I will need a strong motor to move the visor. It's heavy even without water in it...

Well, after month of work on the visor and other single parts the project now starts to take shape :banana: Comments are verry welcome!

Cheers,
Squelsh

[FrooP]

oh yeah 8)

[chaksq]

oh yeah 8)Put very nicely. This is an awesome mod.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Thanx!

Today I got the a tapper so I could do the thread cutting for the hinges.
These are the tools I used:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_53.jpg
I needed a pre-cut and final cut:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_54.jpg

Last pieces for the res:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/scnd_visier_55.jpg

I glued the disks with the threads to the visor. Cover-rings will follow tomorrow. The hinges you see can be rotated. But I don't think I will need this, because the hoses are outside the sphere and can bend when the visor opens.

That's it for today. See you soon.

[Boddaker]

This is a cool mod. Very original design!! I like it a lot. 8)

[|NQ|Squelsh]

2 days free of work ==> time for a bigger update!

Part 1: Mounting of the hemispheres
I found some nice spacers so I did a test on how I could fix the upper hemisphere.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_27.jpg
First some piece of wood in the right 15 degree angle:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_24.jpg
Please ignore the professional way in which I used the nuts as spacers :)
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_28.jpg
And the spacers fixed with tape to find an appropriate interval.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_26.jpg

Okay. Thats not really exciting, only touch-up work. So watch out for the next update.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Part 2: Baseplate improvement

Fortunately I had to go to a computer store on Wednesday to get my boss laptop fixed. They gave me an old Micro-ATX Board for free, so I have something to work with.
AND: I could test ride an SEGWAY! These vehicles rock!!

Home again I did some Bondo work with the baseplate to get rid of the ugly pressboard surface. I don't think I need to show you pics, as there are enough in the forum.

The next step was to create some kind of basin for the motherboard. I don't wanted to only screw it on top of the baseplate.
No big deal with the hand mill:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte32.jpg
I started with the outline...
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte33.jpg
...and carved out inch by inch.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte34.jpg
Result: The smell of burning wood (:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte36.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte37.jpg
And it fits :)
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte35.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte38.jpg

I like it, how about you?

[FrooP]

*waits for further updates*
i know things :P

...what...lol...:D

[|NQ|Squelsh]

BTW: Pics are made with my new toy:
HTC Kaiser :D
http://techcomet.net/img/htc_kaiser_leaked_press_photo.jpg
3 MPixels Autofocus. But no chance for good macro-shots or low-light-shots :(
Besides this, the 400 MHz, GPS, HSDPA and all the other features are quite cool!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Part 3: Motorization of the visor:

Finally I found the right motor for my needs: It has a built in gearbox so it runs slow and with a lot of force at 6 Volts:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/motor_01.jpg
By lathing a piece of a plexi-bar I produeced a small spindle to wind up some thread. I drillled a hole into it to support a screw which keeps the spindle from rotating on the axe and to knot the thread on.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/motor_02.jpg
The support for the motor is made of aluminium:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/motor_10.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/motor_11.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/motor_12.jpg

The motor should find his place left or right of the motherboard in the upper hemisphere, because I know space in the lower hemisphere will be rare:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/motor_03.jpg
A housing was needed. Not an easy task, becuase it needed to fit inside the sphere...
I started with some wood that I shaped millimetre by millimetre. Held it inside the sphere, marked the spots and then filed the wood.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/motor_15.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/motor_07.jpg
The housing at it's place:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/motor_08.jpg
Time to get the motor inside:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/motor_13.jpg
I had no space to mount the motor in an other way. So the thread has to make a 90deg turn. To minimize the friction I used the red hose and a shape of wood that produces a soft bending.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/motor_14.jpg

First test:
Opening:
Mo22htFuntA
and Closing (it's not smooth, but thats only because the electric flow is interrupted):
_uhYapquAfs

Seems to do what it's supposed to do! :banana:

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Part 4: Covering the hinges:

As the hinges should not be visible I experimented with a plexi tube that I wanted to frost later. Really annoying to find the right shape. Same game as with the motor housing. Holding it in place, marking some spots, filing a little and start over...
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte39.jpg
Well, it fitted, but I did not like it... The round shape inside would not have fitted to the motor housing.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte40.jpg

So I went on with wood and glue and came up with this:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte41.jpg
The gaps will be filled with Bondo.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte42.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte43.jpg

Better than the plexi, isn't it?

[scar~face]

ive got seven words for you

H O T S H I T

[xRyokenx]

YOu could also put a small wheel or something where that rope (or whatever) threads through, just rig it so that it doesn't pop off. That'll reduce the friction for you.

[Scotty]

ive got seven words for you

H O T S H I T

You mean seven letters...

But i agree, friggin awesome man.

[Spawn-Inc]

oooohhh yeah, i forgot about this mod. looks like its coming along realll nice! +rep for more work

[psychowit]

This mod is of da chizang!!!!!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

@Ryoken: Thanks for the suggestion. But I don't have the space for a wheel. And the solution with the hose works great. Nearly no friction.

Well, last day of my 4 days-long weekend. One more update for all of you. Thank you verry much for your comments!

What I forgot to post last time: Improvement of the hinges with some felt to reduce friction when turning:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte44.jpg

Today I spent my time with arranging the hardware inside the lower hemisphere and with a cable guide for the MoBo cables. First I drew the outlines on the baseplate and experimented with some cardboard.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte46.jpg
Then I copied the form from the cardboard onto some wood and cut it out.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte45.jpg
(Yes, needed some coffee :) )
Glueing the first parts together
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte47.jpg
It gets more and more complicated to fix that thing in the vice. You can see the holes for the cables. I made them big enough to fit the power connector, because I dont like the idea of soldering all those cables if i remove the connector...
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte48.jpg
Here you see some shots of the cable guide in beta stadium:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte51.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte53.jpg
It will cover the big holes.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte54.jpg

After some filing it looks quite good. I will smooth it out with some Bondo of course.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte74.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte75.jpg
And in place:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte69.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte70.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte72.jpg
And from the inside:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte73.jpg

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Now to the hardware part:

First of all, I expanded the space for the DVD because the cables from the MoBo have to fit inbetween the baseplate and the DVD.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte55.jpg

Things fit better, than I expected. In the original plans, the harddrive was fixed parallel to the DVD. But I figured it fits better in a 90deg angle.
Here are some shots of the hardware layers:

Baeplate and spacers (missing in picture):
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte68.jpg
DVD and spacers:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte65.jpg
Above the DVD I glued in a piece of wood to carry the Harddrive.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte62.jpg
Harddrive and spacers:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte61.jpg
And the power supply. Its ventilation will suck air over the Harddrive.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte60.jpg
And finaly the lower hemisphere:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte59.jpg

IT FITS! :banana:

All hardware I play with is old stuff and not the parts that will be built in. In my plans I had to cut a piece of the lower hemisphere away for the power supply. With the new arrangement I perhaps only have to add some holes for the airflow :) Perhaps I should add: The baseplate lies upside down in the pics. The hardware will hang under the MoBo...

Well, this weekend I could work a lot and I think 50% of the work are done. I'm really looking forward to buy the rest of my watercooling stuff. But I think I will first paint some parts and make some good pictures to send to some firms. Perhaps I can get a sponsor or two for the expensive parts. That would be verry nice, because my budgets gets lower and lower...

I hope you write some more comments, questions or suggestions.
See you soon!
Squelsh

[|NQ|Squelsh]

PS: That happens, if you do too much filing :hurt::
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/IMAG0108.jpg

[p0Pe]

looks nice, gonna looks awsome with some paint and filling:D

[xRyokenx]

looks nice, gonna looks awsome with some paint and filling:D

His hand or the case? :p

[p0Pe]

His hand or the case? :p

both:p... red paint for the hand:D

[xRyokenx]

both:p... red paint for the hand:D

You sure that strawberry Nestle syrup isn't better? It looks more realistic than red paint. :p

[p0Pe]

You sure that strawberry Nestle syrup isn't better? It looks more realistic than red paint. :p

well... he could make a window of acrylic and mesh and backlite it with tons of leds?... would look sweet xD

[xRyokenx]

well... he could make a window of acrylic and mesh and backlite it with tons of leds?... would look sweet xD

I don't even know what in hell we're talking about anymore, lol.

[p0Pe]

I don't even know what in hell we're talking about anymore, lol.

who cares:D

[|NQ|Squelsh]

LOOL :D
My friends always lough at me: "You add LEDs to everything you can lay your hands on!"
But: I would be the first one with acrylic, mesh and backlite in my hand! :alien:
BTW: I prefer Nestle Sirup...

[Fallen]

I will first paint some parts and make some good pictures to send to some firms. Perhaps I can get a sponsor or two for the expensive parts. That would be verry nice, because my budgets gets lower and lower...



how do you apply for a computer part sponsorship?

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hi Fallen,

I can't tell you right now. But I know that many guys get sponsoring from big firms like ATI and by small resellers. So there must by a way. But I am quite sure that there is no formal way. Just get in contact with the firms you think you can offer them some promotion. They wont help you if you cant offer them a reward.
Perhaps you better ask the people here that already got sponsored.

[Fallen]

the problem here is that we dont have alot of lans here in alaska. our states total population is less than 675,000. i know of only one lan that actually has any advertisement.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

I found some more pics on my mobile. They show my progress on the hardware-mounting. The parts are quite the opposite to my CUBE 2 project. While stuff had to look smoth in my CUBE 2, the interiour of the lower hemisphere is absolutely pragmatic as there wont be any window.

This is the counter-part of the harddrive fix. But I think I will change this for a better vibration absorbability.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte76.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte77.jpg
I am quite sure, that the wood would transport the HDD vibration if I keep it the way, that the disk will be plugged onto the black sticks:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte78.jpg

Here are two pics of the DVD-Mounting. You can see the gap between wood and DVD. This is for the cables coming from the MoBo.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte79.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte80.jpg

Here you can see one of four metal bars that will connect the baseplate with the stand.
I really had problems to find the position in the lower hemisphere where I had to drill the holes for the bars. Because the spheres position is only exact when it lays completely on the baseplate. But then you can't mark the position from the inside of course... I solved this problem by adding a light source inside the sphere and projecting the shadow of a shorter bar on the sphere. I could see the shadow from outside and mark the position for the hole.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte81.jpg

These are previews of the parts put together. Looks lousy without painting and hardware inside... But I am quite happy with it and I do believe now that I can finish that thing :)
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte82.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte83.jpg

Today I hope to finish the bondo works on the baseplate, so I can start painting tomorrow.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

YEAH!! First piece is painted and looks amazing :)
For direct comparison:
Bondo Unpainted:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte85.jpg
Sanded and painted:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte86.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte87.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte88.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte89.jpg

What do you say? Does this look like pressboard any more? The suface got so f***ing smooth after 3 hours of sanding :) I think this was worth the work...

Here is a pic of my DVD (LG) and the Powersupply (BeQuiet 500W) :
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw04.jpg

And the metal-bars that will connect the baseplate with the stand.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte84.jpg

I bought some new pressboard to build the stand from. I plan to make two different stands: One for LAN-Parties and CaseCon-Competitions (a big one like in the renderings on the first page) and a smaller one for my desk.

Thats it for now. See you,
Squelsh

[rendermandan]

Dude, That looks friggin kick ass! I love it. Good job on the bondo, sanding and painting. It almost looks like a molded plastic piece. -Very nice indeed!

[FrooP]

siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick :D i think ill come over and take a personal look at this when u are done 8)

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Thanx for your comments :)

Today I only have a small update for you:
I cut out the first of the two status lights:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte90.jpg
They are placed in the slots left and right from the DVD drive:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte91.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte92.jpg
Two two-color-LEDs will light them up and show HDD-Activity.

The cover for the DVD will be about one millimeter smaller than the hole and be backlit with changing colors to show DVD activity.

I also started with a new interior to replace the wooden stuff by some plastic. This will be made of less single pieces and therefor look smother and will be easier to mount without visible screws. Pics will follow soon.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hey guys,

time for a bigger update! I've done some work on the Orbs feet :)

But first some pix of the fix of the lower hemisphere on the baseplate:
I used chrome spacers and black screws.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte93.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte94.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte95.jpg
I think this looks quite ok.

Now to the feet:
For a first idea I cut out some paper to fit the form:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte96.jpg
i neede some tries.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte97.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte98.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte99.jpg

Then I copied the outline onto some pressboard...
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte100.jpg

...then filed the roundings to fit the sphere.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte101.jpg

The feet are made of two sheets of pressboard. But even with 3,6mm of wood it would not be stable enough to carry the whole comuter. So I had to add a core of hard wood in the critical section in the center of the feet:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte104.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte105.jpg

After calculating the right angle I drilled the holes in the hard wood that will take the metals bars coming out of the sphere.

Again a lot of filing and the result:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte106.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte107.jpg
The third layer you see here is only temporary used as long as the parts are not glued together.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte108.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte109.jpg

I hope you like the design. :smoker:
Finally the gap between the feet and the sphere got to big. So I think I will throw away this prototype and cut out a new "perfect" one. The pressboard is quite cheap and the cutting with the scrollsaw is fast.

Finally some pics of the hardware:
This shows my biggest problem:
All the cables from my BeQuiet powersupply will be really hard to fit into the sphere... :? Perhaps I have to shorten them...

Pics of a test fit to find the best position in the sphere:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte110.jpg

The inside of the power supply. I had to remove the cage to drill some new holes for mounting:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte111.jpg

And mounted (I will add another support on the back later, when the HDD is in place.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte112.jpg


So, I would be happy for some comments :D

See you,
Squelsh

[rendermandan]

That really looks great. You should try and use some HDF, High density Fiber Board. It has superior structural integrity compared to the fiber board your using. My local Lowes or Home Depot sells it. Its more money but worth it if you are making small items where they break easy. plus you can route the edges and still maintain its shape. -Just a thought.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Thanx for your tip, Dan. I will look for this HDF here in Germany. The only material I know, is MDF. It's heavy, a lot harder than wood and people use it to build speakers...

Well, I have a found a little add-on for my Orb:
Its a fingerprint sensor.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/hw05.jpg
Fortunately its made of two parts, so I can rotate the bigger circuit board and fit the sensor into one of the legs.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/hw06.jpg

I have more plans for the legs. They will get illuminated feet (as in the renderings on first page) and I will build in some USB- and one headphone-port. Perhaps also the button to open the Visor / DVD-drive.

Well, I have made some nice progress on the case. But my head aches as hell right now. So I will give you a bigger update tomorrow.

Bye,
Squelsh

[|NQ|Squelsh]

All right. here comes the update:

Lets start with my new HDD-mounting. I made it from thick rubber. First I cut out some rectangles and punched in some holes for screws.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/hw07.jpg
Then I rolled the rubber and fixed the lower end to an aluminium angle. The disk is then fixed on the upper end. I can access the screw through the bigger hole.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/hw08.jpg
The geometry is not verry nice but this construction is really stable and surely reduces the vibration of the disk.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/hw09.jpg
The space between the disk gives enough room for ventilation.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/hw10.jpg
Here you see it behind the DVD. I think I will add a air duct later so that the power supply fan sucks the air over the HDD and not the DVD.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/hw11.jpg

Now to a really annoying part: The air duct for the power supply:
That piece guides the hot air to the outside. The problem is of course the round form of the lower hemisphere. I needed to find the right radius and place in the sphere. So I drilled a first hole into the sphere and placed a piece of metal on top of the power supply. With the help of an flashlight and the shadows the metal piece dropped I could mark the outline of the power supply.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/grundplatte124.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/grundplatte117.jpg
From that I cut out several cardboard dummys and matched the perfect form that I could copy on some plasic board.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/grundplatte115.jpg
The pieces cut out and testfitted:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/grundplatte113.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/grundplatte114.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/grundplatte116.jpg

Horror: A bit of filing, then putting it on the powersupply closing the sphere, marking the pieces then filing again. I think I needed 10 cycles :dead:

But the result is quite cool: Nearly no gap between airduct and sphere.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/grundplatte118.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/grundplatte119.jpg

Next I needed some angles to bolt the whole thing together:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/grundplatte120.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/grundplatte121.jpg

Tadaa! Final product of one afternoon:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/grundplatte122.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/grundplatte123.jpg

I have to think about the hole in the sphere and how I could design it... I plan to make an removable outer grill, so I can put the power cable inside the duct for transport.

Ideas for design of that grill are verry welcome!

See you soon,
Squelsh

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Wow! Heavy action going on in the forum... Time for an update to get me back to the first page :)

I spent a lot of time with the final version of the left foot. Using the prototype as a template I improved the fitting to the sphere.

First cuts:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot01.jpg

And after about 10 iterations of matching and filing the gap is now about 1mm:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot02.jpg

Same on the outside:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot03.jpg

Next step was to drill the hole for the fingerprint sensor I mentioned above:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot04.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot05.jpg

Then I moved out into the garage (-5 degrees celsius) for sanding, scrollsaw cutting and milling:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot06.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot07.jpg

This is the lead for the cables:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot08.jpg
I first did one piece, then copied it to the other layer with some foil. You can see the space for the fingerprint electronics.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot09.jpg

And this is the result. The two layers together form one foot. I have to do all this one more time for the right foot.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot11.jpg

This is the electronics board in place. Perhaps I will drill a hole for the LED in the upper left corner.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot13.jpg

Thats it for today. Next update comes tomorrow featuring the illuminated feet and a sensor switch for detecting the visor position.

[FrooP]

whoa this thing is sooooooooo cool :banana:
+rep ;)

[AMD_TaT3rs]

wow dude, when you first started this i thought it was going to be one of those projects that never get finished but man your pulling this thing together and it looks awesome. keep up the good job.

+rep

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Thanx guys you for the rep and your comments!
@TaT3rs: Hehe, sometimes I had the same thoughts :) But now, I am definitely beyond the point of no return...

This morning my girlfriend bought the perfect bottles for the tanks on the backside of the Orb:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/IMAG0283.jpg
Those tanks won't be used as reservoires but only for effects. I will illuminate them and pump air through them with a really small aquarium pump for nice bubbles. All the writing on the bottles is printed on foil that can easily be removed.

Come back in about 8 hours. I hope I have some more pics till then.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Some more pics, but nothing spectacular:

Here I am using the drilling machine as a mill to get an 45deg angle at the foot's edges:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/foot15.jpg

The edges are only sanded roughly for a milky texture and the top and bottom are covered with sticky aluminium foil as a mirror.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/foot14.jpg

Then one LED with a flattened head is placed in a hole in the center:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/foot16.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/foot17.jpg

The result is better than I expected :)

The other thing I could build today is a switch that checks if the visor is closed. This switch is going to be used to control the motor.
The brown thing is the micro switch (only some mm in lenght). I placed it next to the hinge:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/hw14.jpg

Then I bended a verry thin copper stripe (and ramed it into my finger) that is used as a spring to press the switch.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/hw15.jpg

Here it is mounted over the switch:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/hw17.jpg

Only one thing to add:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/hw18.jpg
This little piece is glued onto the visor-hinge and presses the spring, when the visor is completely closed.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/hw19.jpg

I tried to make a picture of the whole mechanism but it's not visible from the outside, so you have to believe me, that it works ;)

Thats all for today.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Today I continued work on the foot. With the mill I carved my logo into the side, about 3mm deep. This space will be painted red (rest of the foot will be black) and an illuminated piece of plexi will be fitted into.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/foot18.jpg

Besides that, I cut another hole into the lower hemisphere. It will host a small control panel with some buttons:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/kugel_29.jpg

I first tried with a dremel but the material melted too fast. So I only did the first cm and then continued with a handsaw. This is the piece I cut out. On the lower corners I drilled holes and sicked 2 axles into them:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/kugel_30.jpg

This axles can rotate in two slits and are held in place by two copper pieces:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/kugel_31.jpg
The bended piece:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/kugel_32.jpg
Here is the flap opened:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/kugel_33.jpg

And this is how it's gonna look:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/kugel_34.jpg

I have to find the right buttons and make two more plasic pieces for the sides and of course some kind of motorization to open and close the control panel.
If I can, I want to use an optical sensor inside the flap to sense when a hand is getting nearby (like in the hand dryers that switch on, when you put your hand beneath).
Anyone ever played with those kind of sensors? I'd love to get some hints on how to use them...

[chaksq]

Dude this is going awesome. Good job man, I knew this would come out great. This is seriously one of the coolest case designs i have seen in a long while. Keep it up, I'm looking forward to more progress.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Here comes a quick update on the front panel and the foot.

This is the panel, quickly taped together:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_36.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_35.jpg

Yesterday I found a good way to move the flap with a verry old servo-motor:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw21.jpg

Two vids of the opening and closing. The stops in the motion are my fault because I switched the motor only in small intervalls.
From outside:
NlLN-oF5X4g
From the inside:
47WEo36OCmg

My USB-Cabeling arrived yesterday and I bought some 3mm red LEDs for the feet.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw20.jpg

Here is the stuff built in:
Outline of the USB-Connector on one of the foot parts:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot19.jpg
I carved out this outline so that half of the connector fits in, then repeated the process on the other wooden part.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot23.jpg
Now I can put the parts together again and the USB-Connector is inbetween.

I also continued with my illuminated logo on the outside of the foot:
Here is the cabeling of two LEDs inside
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot20.jpg
And the effect with plexiglas on the outside:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot21.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot22.jpg

And, to give you an impression of the whole thing:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview05.jpg
This is the lower body. One final foot and the prototype foot together with the lower hemisphere :banana:

Today I try to add some sensor-switches to the front panel and perhaps continue with the inside of the upper sphere. See you soon!

[psychowit]

Gr8!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Thank you Psychowit!

Sorry for the long time without updates. I had lots of businesswork to do and I spent far too much time searching illuminated switches for the front panel... I still can't believe that such lousy switches cost 8 Euros (and I dont speak of those stainless steel wonders) :eek: So finally I bought four normal push-button-like switches and LED reflectors (which were still much to expensive :down: ) at a local store:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw22.jpg
On the right you can see a micro-switch that will be used for the motorization of the panel.

But now to the work I managed to:
- Foot:
I could not watch the ugly pressboard anymore so I painted the foot with primer.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot24.jpg

- Logo:
Also the logo wasnt satifying. It's made of plexiglas and is illuminated by red LED. But when the light is off, the milky white plexi doesn't fit into Orbs red and black colour scheme. So I spray-painted one side of the logo in red.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot26.jpg
Unfortunatly I mixed up the sides and painted the front of one of the pieces... But that doesn't matter because I can use the piece on the mirrored left foot ;)
Now the logo is red, with and without light:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot25.jpg

- Switchpanel:
So, here is my panel. Nothing special. Four switches with four LEDs.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw23.jpg
I still need the approximation switch that will trigger the opening and closing... Any ideas what to buy?

- Backpanel + inner casing:
I don't have photos yet but I started work on the backside and the inner parts of the upper hemisphere.

- Preview:
And finally two more pics of the whole thing. I added one hose to the visor and I think I will have to add some enforcement to make it more eye-catching. Perhaps I also add some kind of mounting so the hinge doesn't has to carry all the weight.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview06.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview07.jpg

Well, thats all. I hope I can work some more on the weekend.

[xRyokenx]

That looks awesome dude. This mod is coming along very nicely. Keep up the good work.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hey TBCS,
it's time for an update :)
I made a lot of progress on many parts in the past two days. So here are some pics (unfortunately only mobilephone-pics).

- Switchpanel:
First a pic of the switches and LEDs in place
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw24.jpg

And the panel mounted in the sphere:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw25.jpg

Then with a top layer to add some stiffness:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw26.jpg

Filed bondo:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw27.jpg

Final result with four more LEDs in the shortened top-layer to illuminate the buttons:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw28.jpg
I think the result is quite ok :) I will shoot better pics with a cam the next days.


- Feet:
I needed some pieces of a sphere so I cut Orbs "desktop" foot in form. Thats what came out:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot27.jpg
While dremeling the shape I got this funny stuff:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/IMAG0335.jpg

I also started with filler on the regular foot:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot28.jpg

The pics of the upper shpere will come in some minutes in another post...

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Now to the upper hemisphere:
I had the problem that the visor lost its circular form while glueing the layers. Because of the oval visor the upper hemisphere did not fit to the perfect round lower hemisphere.
In this pic you see the ugly gap between the two hemispheres:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_37.jpg

I thought about that problem a long time and the only solution that came to my mind was this:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_38.jpg

With the hemisphere cut in half I could now fit it to a better form by adding a new gap on the top :rolleyes: :
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_39.jpg

But this new gap can be closed in a more elegant way with a piece of th plexiglas sphere that will be illuminated later:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_40.jpg

Here are some detail pics of the pices that close the gap. I will explain my plans for that later.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_41.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_42.jpg

And my verry special way to glue the pieces toghether:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_43.jpg Believe me, it's not easy to glue round pieces :dead:
I hope this connection is stable enough. :? I will find that out tomorrow when the glue is hard.

See you soon!

[p0Pe]

haha :D.. got myself a got laugh beacuse of that glue thing:D +rep for it and hope it holds! xD

nice work on everything else^^ cant wait to se the thing with fluid in it !

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hey p0Pe, I totally agree. I really have to get me some green color to flood the visor.
Here is a little X-Mas Update:

I made new clamps for the switchpanel.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw29.jpg

This is the cabeling of the switchpanel. Little fiddly to solder...
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw31.jpg

This is a mounting bracket for a 6pin connector. You can see it in place in the next pic.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw30.jpg

Thats the cabeling with connector:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw33.jpg

And the micro-switches that sense if the switchpanel reached its endpositions:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw32.jpg

And finally the finished panel, ready to connect to the electronics:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw34.jpg
z5L4ZbnBJPc
I soldered a circuit that stops the panel in the endposition until you invert the motor voltage.

Thats it for today. I hope I can work more on the Orb during the next days.
Thanks for reading. Comments are allways welcome :)
I wish all the modders here at TBCS a Merry Christmas! :santa:

Squelsh

[FrooP]

sweet 8) hope youll make it to your deadline and ill see that thing at the contest 8)

[sabooya]

HAHAH, I want to see more :(

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hey sabooya, you get your update :) This is my work from yesterday.

I could not find any good mesh for a good price, so I killed an old beatbox (:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/IMG_3001.jpg
The mesh is big enough for my needs. But that has to wait some days.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/IMG_3002.jpg

I still try to assemble the parts that are needed for a good picture to send to some sponsors. So I started a new version of the feet:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/grundplatte129.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/foot31.jpg
Produced lots of saw mill waste:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/foot32.jpg
And a nice rounded edge that only needs little polishing:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/foot29.jpg

I can't do one kind of work for a longer time, so I hopped back to the switchpanel and finished the microswitches and the cabeling:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/hw35.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/hw36.jpg

From that I went on to the HDD activity light. That's a piece of plexiglas with a red and blue LED that alternate when HDD is active. Same thing will be done for DVD activity on the other side of the baseplate.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/grundplatte128.jpg

Next toppic, the DVD-bay-cover:
Taped it against sawdust, then drilled mounting holes:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/hw37.jpg

The cover is made of 3 layers of wood that are shaped so they fit the baseplate. With a saw I caved the wood to make space for two LEDs:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/grundplatte130.jpg
Those LEDs will illuminate an 1mm gap around the DVD-bay-cover when the bay is closed.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/grundplatte132.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/grundplatte133.jpg

Last thing was the upper sphere. The glued pieces:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/kugel_45.jpg
I don't have much spherical plastic left, so I had to work with lots of small parts:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/kugel_47.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/kugel_46.jpg
Testfit:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/kugel_48.jpg
And why did I all this stuff :think: Because I wanted to illuminate it :up:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/kugel_49.jpg
That light-string will be replaced by a red one and be covered by plexiglas.
I think I can go on with that work tomorrow.

Hope you all had a nice X-Mas. See you soon,
Squelsh

[isunktheship]

Oh man that's cool looking! I wish I knew how to motorize computer doors and install monitors etc. in cases!

[Helix666]

why, oh why, have I not subscribed to this sooner?!

I think you deserve a +rep for this. Definitely.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Yippie! Thanx Helix, thats the first +REP since weeks :)

Yesterday I borrowed a GeForce 8800 GTS 512 from a friend to see, if the card fits into the Orb. Because when I drew the plans I calculated with the size of an ATI Radeon card which is MUCH smaller. I really feared that this monster would not fit inside the sphere.
Result: NO chance to put that card inside with the original heatsink :mad:
But relief: With the watercooling block I only have to put the motherboard about 3 mm to the backside so that the visor closes correctly! :D

With the card in my hands I played CRYSIS much to long and did not much modding yesterday. Great game :up: I only finished the feet illumination (sorry, no pics yet)
and the cover for the backside. You must imagine it painted. With this dirty white it looks poor.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_50.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_51.jpg

[rendermandan]

Nice use for the EL wire. Have a rep on me for sticking with this!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

I need your comments on this update:
I went on with some parts for the inside of the Orb. For that I bended some plastic parts with the oven:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte135.jpg
On my first try the clamps made ugly marks: http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte134.jpg
But the next two tries went all right and are ready for a cutting. The logo is from the NetQuarter.org club. We organize LAN Parties in Germany.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte136.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte137.jpg

Thats the unfolded mesh from the beatbox I disassembled:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte138.jpg

And here I need your comments: Those are tests of three different meshes I can use. What do you think, which one looks better? (I would paint the metal one in black if I use it).

1. Beatbox mesh:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte139.jpg
2. Finest mesh:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte140.jpg
3. Coarse mesh:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte141.jpg

Which one should I use? The one from the beatbox looks cool but it may be too coarse for that small cutouts... :?

[DZ469]

Personally i actually like the beatbox mesh. The other
ones look too small and squarish for the cutout, but idk its up to you.

[Eclecticos]

I like the fine mesh. The Beatbox looks a little to big. IMO

[scar~face]

i like the beatbox mesh

[xRyokenx]

I like the top sample.

[AMD_TaT3rs]

i like the coarse mesh, if not that then the beat box mesh.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Thanx a lot four your comments so far!
I think it's gonna be the Beatbox mesh. Hopefully I can work on it this night.

[p0Pe]

im also in for the beatbox mesh!... always gives a nice look! love the lightwire btw! was drewling when i saw that!

[Matt9882]

New subscriber. +rep for a well thought out, spherical mod.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Thanx p0Pe ;) This shows me once again that the stuff that is not planed from the beginning is often the best! The glowwire was not in the original plan...

Thanx Matt. I think, you subscribed at the right time. These days the Orb already looks like a sphere and is not only bits and pieces :lick:

So, here is a short update:
Today I gave the final shape to the inner casing so it fits into the upper sphere. For that I had to change my point of view every minute to watch fitting from the front and then mark the material to cut from the back of the Orb. That really annoyed me! Then I remembered some rotating plates from my moms kitchen. Normaly we use them to serve cheese. But now I found their true purpose :D
mpa5GCdAJuQ

After some filing I could glue the parts together. But before I made a test with three different types of glue:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/IMG_3061.jpg
I went for my plexiglas glue.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte144.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte143.jpg

In this comparison pic you can see that the new plastic parts are a little bigger than the wooden parts. Thats because of the new upper sphere design with the glowwire enlargement.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte145.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte142.jpg

I only had time for one more thing today: I added another layer of bondo onto the one Orb-Foot. So tomorrow it's time for sanding and painting the foot and the inner casing parts :up:

See ya,
Squelsh

[FrooP]

still awesome :smoker:

[|NQ|Squelsh]

"Good news, everyone!" (Hubert J. Farnsworth)
No, in deed, good news!

I did a little photo session last night :rolleyes:
And I don't want to hide the results from you! So here are the Top10 I got:

http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview08.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview09.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview10.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview11.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview12.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview13.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview14.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview16.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview17.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview18.jpg

You have to imagine this with a lot more RED water and a RED and BLACK Fatal1ty MoBo inside! And of course the sphere needs a paint job :p

Hope you like it!

[p0Pe]

that looks so more awsome that i thought it would:eek: omg m8 thats some nice feets and the form itself:D

+rep & +digg:P

keep it up:D:smoker:

[Matt9882]

Agreed, great job. You're making me want to scrap my build and start something rounded!

[FrooP]

ey yo i need updates.. NOW! :D

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Thanx a lot for your comments Matt & p0Pe!


ey yo i need updates.. NOW! :D
As you wish. NOW!

I only had some small childish dremel-like tool, so it was time to buy a real one. With that new toy I started building the fake reservoires that will be on the back of the Orb (see the renderings on the first page).

I cut and sanded a can of shaving foam that perfectly fits the spray I mentioned some pages ago (both generously sponsored by my girlfriend :D )
Did you know there are bags inside these cans :?
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/reservoir_01.jpg
Here you see how the spray fits inside the can:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/reservoir_02.jpg
Thats the can sanded and marked for cutting. The pattern is the same as it will be on the Orbs sphere. I cut a stripe of paper as a stencil to get all the bars in the same width.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/reservoir_04.jpg
First pieces cut out:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/reservoir_05.jpg
Left over:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/reservoir_06.jpg
Glued onto the spray so I don't mix up the pieces. The space between the pieces will be corrected of course.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/reservoir_07.jpg
And painting the pieces insides red. The outside will be black. It was quite windy, so I needed the bottles as weight for the paper.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The Orb/TBCS/reservoir_08.jpg

The next time I will paint the outside and glue the pieces onto the spray. I hope it will look good with one or two UV-Leds and the bubbling red glowing water. I the effect is satifying I will build a second one.

[p0Pe]

i bet thats gonna look real SWEET when your done with it:P xDDD looking foreward to seing the result:D

i actually never thought that this case would be buildable, and look how wrong i was:D its turning out amazing!

[FrooP]

and I WILL SEE THIS THING LIVE

:banana: :banana: :banana:

[jdbnsn]

One or your colleges (Froop) has nominated your mod to be featured and I concur, excellent work!

[FrooP]

looki what ive done :banana: :banana:

[p0Pe]

gratz on the featured! you sure deserve it:)


froop where will you see it?

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Wow, what a great honour to be listed here next to ferry, tribal, renderman and all the other "pro-modders" :bowdown:
I think FrooP deserves the same. He does fantastic work on his Unit4. His ideas come to life without any CNC- or other high-tech machines. BTW: Thats why I like TBCS that much. Most of the mods feature unique ideas AND are handmade. I admire mods like "Dark Blade" but thats not the spirit of "modding". :rolleyes:

Well, thanks a lot, Froop and jbdnsn! I hope to write the next update soon.

:banana: Yipiie, I am featured! :banana:

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Not much, but at least a little update:

Today I ordered my watercooling stuff. 8) I hope it will arrive soon.
I continued with the inner housing a little but the progress is not worth any pics :lick:

Back to the reservoir:
I cut out some spacers and bent them with hot air. They are needed because the inner reservoir has slightly smaller diameter than the can.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/reservoir_14.jpg
The drawing you see are the outlines of the parts with IDs. I made a map of the layout, so I dont have to puzzle later. I need this, because I now painted both sides of the parts and so the numbers on the pieces are wiped out.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/reservoir_17.jpg

This thing here is the modified pump from the shampoo bottle. I removed any mechanics and perforated the outlet so it will hopefully produce many small bubbles.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/reservoir_10.jpg

I needed caps for the can. So this old MS Mouse was my dremel-victim:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/reservoir_12.jpg

For better grip I cut the can and the cap:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/reservoir_13.jpg

Can+Cap+Bondo:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/reservoir_18.jpg

Those are the spacers glued onto the can pieces with some silicone:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/reservoir_15.jpg
I will also use the silicone to glue the pieces onto the bottle.

I still have to make the bottom with the air-inlet and the UV-LEDs. And I still haven't found some UV-active red water-additive... Links are verry welcome!

Well, thats all for today. Hope to have some news on the weekend.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

:yellow_green: My watercooling stuff from AquaComputer arrived!

http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw38.jpg

I had a lot of fun disassembling my 8800 GTS. I read the manual too late :lick:
It says that one should keep the heat-conductivity-pads on the voltage regulators. I read this when the new cooler was already on the card :( When I removed it again, I could see why: The space between cooler and transistors is too big to be filled by thermal paste.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw39.jpg
I removed the cooler again, put back the pads and now I have to monitor the cooling performance.

But off course the first thing I tested, was if the cooler fits into the sphere!
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw40.jpg
I does :up:

Finally two pics of my test setup:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw41.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw42.jpg

I wasn't sure which pump to buy. But I think I chose the right one: It's the most basic Laing pump (DDC-1T) with an Watercool DDC-Case on top. This pump is amazing! In my previous machines I used Eheim pumps. They were bigger, louder and had less throughput than this little thing. You can berely hear it and the throughput impresses me.

I also made progress with the inner housing but I could not take pics, since the glue wans't hard enough to move the parts...

See you soon!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

What a nice weekend. I was only modding and eating (and set up a new Linux NAS) :D
So, here are 12 new pictures for you:

After some hours of intensive Crysis gaming I disasembled my rig and started to transfer the WC hardware into the Orb.

First of all, here is the second inner housing. I already sanded the bondo and it's ready for painting.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw43.jpg
As you can see, I used a more simple pattern on the right side.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw44.jpg

But: One little detail is missing: A hole in the side for the tube.
That is added right here:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw53.jpg

So far so good. I turned the base upside down and continued with the pump. I have no idea, why the DCC-Case is so much bigger than the pump itself. It needed some filing on two corners so it fitted nicely next to the harddrive.
Before:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw45.jpg
After (Topmost and lowest corner vanished):
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw48.jpg
Also the mountings had to go:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw46.jpg
I tapped the two holes and use them to fix the pump.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw47.jpg

This is the mounting for the pump. It's made of an aluminium profile and two vibration absorbers. The corners are rounded to save space.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw49.jpg
On top of the absorbers comes a bent sheet of aluminium that holds the pump. I had to mount the pump in an angle of about 15deg so it fits inside the sphere.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw51.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw50.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw52.jpg

The tube coming from above is connected directly to the outlet of the pump. The tubes are not final yet, of course the will be straighted.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw54.jpg

Well, thats the first part. Next step will be the mounting of the radiator.

Again I have no pics of the fake reservoires I am working on :( I had to redo the paintjob because I used the wrong tape to mask the outside while painting the inside. The tape was so agressive that it destroyed the paint :dead:

(I am not good in writing worklogs, so if I forgot things that are obvious to me but that can't be known by a reader, please leave a comment. Of course I will be happy on any commets :redface:


So long,

Squelsh

[FrooP]

looks like the awesomeness, but why did you installed the harddrive upside down?

[p0Pe]

better print airflow?

and OMG its nice:D this thing is gonna be purely amazing when done!!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Thanx a lot!

@Pope: The air will have to search its own way :rolleyes: No, seriously, I hope the airflow will not be a problem because the hardware in the lower hemisphere does not produce much heat. The harddisk is rather warm then hot, the DVD-drive and the pump don't get warm. I hope its the same with the controllers for the light and motor effects...
I visualized the airflow in my first post on the hand-drawing. But the components are now built in in a different configuration. I think I will add two sheets of plastic on the left and right of the harddrive, so the PSU sucks the air through the gap between baseplate and harddrive.
In the upper hemisphere will be a 8cm fan in the back to cool the motherboard. I am thinking about making a special fan duct for it so it especially cooles the northbridge which gets pretty hot. The air can exit the sphere through the gap between the visor and the rest of the sphere.
But I will have to figure all that out when the system runs, so I can find the critical spots.
Oh, and the radiator will be cooled by 2 red glowing 12cm fans.

@Froop: Hehe, the HDD is not upside down. On those pics the whole baseplate is upside down ;) The HDD and all the other parts hang down from the baseplate when the Orb stands on its feet.

BTW: I am still searching for red coolant additive and a red glowing 8cm fan :? Any hints?

[Matt9882]

Red 80mm fans:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010110573+1372726528+1372526580+1373426546&Configurator=&Subcategory=573&description=&Ntk=&srchInDesc=

Red coolant:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835127055

I suppose the red coolant is really more of a pink color... I'll see if I can find anything else.

[p0Pe]

i was answering froops question of why is was hanging that way:P... that maybe it were beacuse of better airflow over the hdd print:D

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Thanx a lot Matt! I found a German reseller who has the Revoltec fans!
Hehe, Pope, nice one :)

I dont have much time, so there are onky three pics of my progress today.

I started to build the second foot:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot33.jpg

And painted the inner housing red and black and added a clear coat. Nice and shiny:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte146.jpg

And last but not least the air-duct for the PSU in red:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte147.jpg

More to come soon: It's semester break :bunny:

[FrooP]

ooooooooooooooooooh shinyyyyyyyyyyyyy can i touch it? :D

[Wecrookie]

Some beautiful work done here 8) It's a good design and execution.:bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:

re. coolant; http://coolercases.co.uk/acatalog/FluidXP_blood_red.jpg

http://coolercases.co.uk/acatalog/Non-Conductive_Formulas.html

Blood Red :twisted: just might do what you want :twisted:

you might also want to read this
http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2008/02/16/watercooling_fluid_shootout/1

this is a link originally posted by The boy 4rm oz which helped me out:up:

yours wecrookie:eek:

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hey Wecrookie! Thanx for those links. Perhaps I expect too much from those chemicals (: But te stuff I am looking for is red under normal light and glows red under UV light.
I read the article on BT and it says that the Blood Red does not do a good job as a coolant... Is it UV-active? I guess no :(
The additive by Feeser glows in red under UV-light but is clear in normal ligt :dead:
And all those manufacturers tell you not to mix the stuff with other chemicals (eg red ink) :think: Suxx. But I still think I will try Feeser red with some red ink.


Well, yesterday my fans arrived and I made two nice discoverys:
1. Pink fans can really turn red, when they are illuminated.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw55.jpg
2. They can produce really nice wave effects:
ol7B5PFQlz4
You may guess how I did that :rolleyes:

Today I worked on an enforcement to the feet which will also be the support for the radiator. It was quite annoying till I had that piece of wood fitting because the feet are tilted in two ways.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot34.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot35.jpg
It's simply srewed to the inner layer of the feet so the screws are not visible from outside.

I also made this funny skeleton shot from the Orb without it's hull.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot36.jpg


Oh, and I did a final test of my Laing pump with all components connected. The throughput still impresses me. Here is a vid and a still from the kitchen:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw56.jpg
YHp2rfKxFw4

See you,
Squelsh

[p0Pe]

yeah... those laing pumps sure puts a god flow to the system:D
and another +rep beacuse i like this case so damn much :D

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Thanx a lot p0Pe!

Here are two shots of the radiator mount I did yesterday:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw58.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw57.jpg
Of course I gonna paint it black.

And here is a metal sleeve I found. I think it will be a nice addon to the tubes that come out of the visor.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw59.jpg

[|NQ|Squelsh]

The German CaseMod Competition comes closer... So here is the next update:

I started to Dremel the radiator a little, so I can add glowire later. This was a thrilling because the ducts inside are easy to damage:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw60.jpg

The GF8800 bracket was resized:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw61.jpg

It's needed in the backplate, because the plate itself is too thick for the DVI-connectors. I would have needed to make holes as big as the connectors and not only the size of the pins.
With a milling bit in the drill press I carved out the space:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw62.jpg

Perfect fit:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw63.jpg

With holes:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw64.jpg

After that, I had to fit the backplate inside the sphere. That was hell of a work. I could only do it by trial and error. Putting the plate in place, marking the material and dremeling it away. Then test-fit it again and again. That left lots of electrostatic loaded sawdust which was EVERYWHERE :unhappy: :
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw65.jpg

One more critical operation: Cut of one corner of my GeForce :suspicious:
I didn't want to remove the MoBo and GFX card, so I simply covered the Orb under a plastic bag and made a whole for the corner to cut of:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw66.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw67.jpg
I still hope I did not cut away any circuits inside the board. From outside there were no circuits to be seen :rolleyes:

The last thing I did was the planing for the ventilation in the upper hemisphere. For that I cut out a piece of acrylic sphere and an acrylic pipe.
Those will be mounted over the motherboard kinda like that:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw69.jpg
There will be a fan behind that pipe and the pieces will lead the airflow over the northbridge.

I also made the first mounting piece for the pipe in a way I saw somewhere on TBCS. Simply by wrapping sanding paper around the tube and using that to carv the mounting:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw68.jpg

Last picture: Some tubing in the back section:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw70.jpg

Well, I did all this two days ago. And when I now look at the backplate, I really think I will redo it. Perhaps from aluminium. Because the plastic will not be stable enough when I add the holes for the fan. It's already instable at the place where the GFX bracket sits....

(Wow, lots of text this time :D )

[Tavarin]

Great update, it's moving along nicely, can't wait to see this thing when it's done. +rep

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Yesterday was the day of redoing things:

After I messed up the air-duct for the northbridge while trying to bend it (got welled up)...
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw76.jpg

..., I came up with a new idea: Use the same sort of pipe I wanted to use earlier as a spacer, but this time use it also for the air duct. The result after a lot of filing and sanding looked like a cockpit window:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw75.jpg

As the fans mounting looked quite ugly with this new duct, I transfered the fan from its original case into the plexiglas spacer. It almost fitted on the first try. I had to shorten the blades about 1mm only. I glued it in while it was running, so I could center it easily.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw71.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw72.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw73.jpg

I will show you the final product of fan+duct in my next post (when the glue hardened).

Well, I said "day of redoing". I also made a new version of the backplate. I proudly present: Backplate Version II :)
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw74.jpg

It was less work than I had assumed. I could use the first version as a template and the green plastic I used is only 1,5mm thick so cutting it was a charm.

But most important:
This is the upper corner of my GF8800 512 after the operation from the last update:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw78.jpg

And, what gave me a big relief:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw77.jpg
It is still running fine :up:

Till next time,
Squelsh

[FrooP]

noice :banana:

+rep

[p0Pe]

yeah and nice to see that you gf8800 still works:D.. i had my doubts xD

[brinkz0r]

That must've been me, sanding the plexi over a tube :) I haven't been here for a while, but it is really becoming a nice case. I really like the plexi fan mount :)

[FrooP]

yes it was you, i used the same idea but i attached the plexitube to my drillpress :rolleyes:

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Me found it too: http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showpost.php?p=166032&postcount=15
Simple but effective idea :) One more +Rep for you Brinkz0r.

And hey p0pe: Thanks for your "faith" in my GF-cutting skills -Rep :lick: Just kidding!

I have to write an exam tomorrow and one more on March, 13th. Perhaps I manage to post a little update during a learning break...

Whish me luck,
Squelsh

[p0Pe]

blow them away:D gl hf;P

[Computer-Geek]

Updates?

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Updates?

There you go!

I have to admit: I did it again... :think: Another version of the backplate. Had to make a new one after I noticed I drilled two holes much too big :dead: But this time it's perfect. I also cut the holes for the fan:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw79.jpg

My modding-time was short, so I only had time for a quick change on my DVD. Removed the LED and soldered on an external connector for LED and Eject button. This will be triggered by the controller board only when the visor is open.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw83.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw84.jpg

BTW: I found the next modding target :D It's the packaging of an old Motorola mobile phone. The cage is made of aluminium and it already has a nice window. That would be perfect for an external DVD where you could watch the disk spinning...
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw80.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw81.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw82.jpg

My only problem: I don't need an external DVD Rom. What I have lying around are three 250GB harddrives. So I think I will make an external USB drive case for two drives from this, with a switch, so one can toggle the active drive.
I hope I can do this by simply switching the power of the IDE drives and connect both (master-)drives to a simple IDE2USB converter...

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Damn! I almost forgot the video I took of my work on the backplate...
So, here it is: What you see is an ordinary drillbit for big holes and the drill press on top speed. Cuts through smooth like butter.
4T_CK4jeHLI

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Not a single comment on that nice Motorola box?! :(
Perhaps on this update: I started building a Power / Reset switch wich will be placed inside the right foot on the same height as the fingerprint reader in the left foot.

First piece is an axis with one flatend side:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw85.jpg

The axis and two tiny spacers are glued on the actual switchplate which has the form of an 8. One big circle for Power and the smaller one for Reset. The spacers will push on the switches.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw86.jpg

These are two microswitches on a plastic sheet. The bump between the switches will be the support for the axis. I will add the another sheet on top later.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw87.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw88.jpg

If everything works the way I suppose it to, the springs in the microswitches will hold the plate leveled.

This piece will be the enclosure of the switch-plate.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw89.jpg

This stuff is still in beta-stadium but I hope it will look nice when polished and illuminated (:

[p0Pe]

like the motorola box:P... just couldnt see why you wanted it inthere:D (didnt read the whole thing sry:P) but DAMN that switch could look cool:D keep it going dood!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Thank you p0Pe! The switch still needs a lot more sanding but it's now out of beta stadium and got a "proof of concept" :ovoh:

NRZX6nQ5nUw

http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw91.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw97.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw98.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw96.jpg
The black foil will of course be replaced by an exact cutout of the symbols! ;)

The weather today was quite nice here in Germany, so I added the last coat of paint to the backplate:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw90.jpg
Don't ask, how I did that special fx... I simply sprayed on the black paint and it crystalized imidiately. The effect looked nice to me, so I added a clear coat and finished the third try of the backplate finally...

I also modded the Orbs base. As the MoBo moved backwards about 6mm because of the GeForce, I had to fill the gap in the MoBo pit. For that I cut out a stripe of plastic and used it as a form for some filler (so the green stuff will be removed):
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw92.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw93.jpg

And from the "bits and pieces" section: The mounting pieces for my self made fan:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw94.jpg

Watch out for the next update. Hopefully with some more impressive pics of the whole project and not only of some small parts :redface:

See you soon,
Squelsh

[Computer-Geek]

Looking good :) Sorry for the last reply.

[SWds03]

Looks Great!!! Just wanted to let you know for future reference (when you want it smooth), the reason for your paint "fx" is a chemical reaction with the paint. You should wipe it down really well and prime it first. Then sand it and paint it.


I can't wait to see this finished!!!!!

[IndyRacer27]

Don't ask, how I did that special fx... I simply sprayed on the black paint and it crystalized imidiately.

It looks to me like you had a paint reaction. If you spray an enamel paint over a lacquer base, it will look just like that.

This project is looking great!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hehe, thanx for your comments! I knew there would be some paint-experts who can tell me, what I did (:

The next update is close, but in the mean time you have to look at my Haro iRadio Mod (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?p=179211) in the worklog section! :yellow:

[FrooP]

Update!

[FrooP]

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/jdbnsn/misc/redbutton.jpg (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/modcast/)




:banana:

[|NQ|Squelsh]

YIIIEHAAA! Is this my case?? In a Modcast? Really?
What a stunning job, Froop, :up: Thank you so much! *showingthevidtoeverybody*
This video definitely will be my screensafer on the DCMM competition.

I think now I have to put the Haro Mod aside and focus on the Orb again :)

[jdbnsn]

Great job both of you, hell of a nice video for a hell of a nice mod! We're proud to feature that on the modcast page.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Wow, one more time on the Frontpage! :blivnk: Thanx a lot TBCS! This deserves an update:

After almost finishing my Haro iRadio I went back to work on the second foot. The housing for the main switch is done so I could drill the holes to fit it in.
For that the two wooden pieces were fixed by by some screw clamps and placed under the drill press. Two wholes with a 2,5cm drill and it was done (okay, will need some bondo)
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot37.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot38.jpg

After that I decided to rearange the microswitches. They are now placed with more space between them. This gave me the possibility to place two LEDs between them and reduced the depth the buttons have to be pushed.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot39.jpg
Result with LEDs on:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot40.jpg

The whole unit is now conserved in hot-melt adhesive for more easier handling:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot41.jpg

With the router I cut out the cabeling ducts and the space for the switch unit:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot42.jpg

Nice shots with the stuff put together:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot43.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot44.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot45.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot46.jpg
The last shot shows the LEDs dimmed, because the cam overexposed the shots.
I still need the power and reset logo in a better quality. My free-hand cuts suck :)

I also worked on the logo in this foot and cut it out of the wood and made two plexiglas pieces but I keep that for the next update (hopefully tomorrow).

[blueonblack]

Man, I thought MY scratchbuild was a pain! +rep just for the gall to try this thing, much less get it going! Excellent work!
________
Aj6 engine (http://www.ford-wiki.com/wiki/Jaguar_AJ6_engine)

[Helix666]

dude, this is a fantastic mod in a way that few (if any) would have thought of, or tried even if they thought of it. have a +rep for not conforming to the norm. (or something... >.> )

[|NQ|Squelsh]

@blueonblack :D Thanks.
@Helix: Thanks! - Thats exactly what I am trying to do: Thinking outside the (PC-)box.

I collected enough pics for the next big update. So here are the news:

A little work on the right foot, basicly the same as on the left one:
Mounted the USB-connector:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot47.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot48.jpg
Carved in my logo and cut out the corresponding plexi parts. Also added two LEDs:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot49.jpg

Somehow I lost about 5 pictures from my work on the baseplate :think: Well, you can see it here (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showpost.php?p=178789&postcount=199).
I had to fill a gap in front of the mainboard and also the paint got some scratches. So I sanded it completely and painted it again. The result with a clear coat:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte148.jpg

Finally completed the fan for the motherboard (the beginning can be seen here (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showpost.php?p=176261&postcount=187)).
These are the mounting brackets (I arranged them for the pic like Tribaloverkill does ;) ) These are glued to the plexi pipe and bolted to the backplate.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw99.jpg
Result looks like this:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw107.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw108.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw109.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw110.jpg
Quite happy with that glow :)

When I saw that, I simply had to improve the watercooling block of the GeForce. One little hole and a red LED and it looked so much better:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw106.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw105.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw104.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw103.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw102.jpg

Another redo of a part is the mounting for the motor moving the visor. I enlarged it so now the deflection pulley is no longer part of the hinge cover but a part of the mounting. That way is much more stable:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw100.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw101.jpg

Last thing: The hinge cover itself with some new holes for the USB cables. Fortunately the USB connectors are only some milimeters away from the hinge cover, so you barely see the cables :up:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw111.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw112.jpg

Wow, I think this update sets the new maximum regarding the pictures. Hope you like it!

[FrooP]

we do ;)


whats up with you video card... it looks so.. squarey.. me wants rounded edge plz!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hey Froop! Believe it or not, but I also rounded the front corner of the GF!!!
Pics in teh next update :)

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Damn, I knew I forgot something... No pics of the rounded GF.

But I got something else.
This is the blowhole and the duct for the PSU:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_52.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_53.jpg

The painted DVD cover:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte149.jpg

And the right foot ready for primer:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/foot50.jpg

More to come tomorrow.

[FrooP]

i can haz updates plz?

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hey Froop, here is my tip of the day, only for you:
Modding hurts!
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/IMG_3650.jpg

Seriously: I have loads of new pics. More to come verry soon!

[FrooP]

Type Faster!!!!

Way Faster!!!!!


I Wanna Take A Shower So Hurry!!!111

[|NQ|Squelsh]

All right: Here are the shots I mentioned!

Those are the HDD and DVD activity indicators. One of them on each side of the baseplate. They change the color on activity.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte150.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/grundplatte151.jpg

This is a design try for the upper hemisphere. I don't have any airbrush skills, so I have to make it more interesting with some pieces I will glue on.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_54.jpg

The following shots were made for the registration at the DCMM competition.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview19.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview20.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview21.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview22.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview23.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview24.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview25.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview26.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview27.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview28.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview29.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview30.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview31.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview32.jpg

I want some "Yeah" and "Wow" or "Great" posts now :santa:

So, I still have to paint the lower hemisphere, make the WC circuit leakproof and work on the electronics. One week left till DCMM. That will be a tight schedule! What pisses me most right now is that I still wait on some electronic components from a sponsor. But the package doesn't show up since two weeks now...

[FrooP]

http://b00mb0x.org/covers/assorted7front.jpg

iLIKE

[Helix666]

:eek:
Wow.

[Tavarin]

Absolutely amazing.
I want this case so badly right now.

[jdbnsn]

Dude, that came out amazingly! I look back at your initial sketches and remember thinking "possible, but not holding my breath". I'll never doubt you again my friend. Do let me know when you have posted all of your pics and I'll trim this up and add it to our gallery.

[OvRiDe]

I have to say.. I was on the same wavelength as Jon.. Neat concept, but not sure if you were going to really pull it off.. OMG!! I would say you have pulled it off, and some!!

So here you go.. YEAH!! WOW!! and GREAT!!!

Good luck at DCMM!! Major contender you have there!!

[p0Pe]

http://www.omfg.info/wp-content/uploads/notsocute.jpg
same feeling as froop Ó_ò
DAMN... just damn!

[silverdemon]

"Yeah" and "Wow" or "Great"

seriously though! nice job! +rep earned!

[IndyRacer27]

YEAH, WOW and GREAT, for starters.

I agree with the others, I didn't think you'd actually be able to pull it off. Unbelievable, it looks amazing. +rep for sure.

Good luck!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

That was a cool echo! Thank you all verry much for your "Yeahs" (:

I was so busy with modding that I almost missed the start of my lectures after the semester break. The next days I will have to work at night to finish the paintjob on the spheres. But today I got the message that both my projects (Orb and Haro) were admitted for the DCMM so I'm really looking forward to that next weekend.

@jbdnsn: All right. After the competition I will add the final pics so you can put both threads to the gallery. Thank you in advance!

[chaksq]

Sweet! Total hotness. I remember looking at the concept art hoping you wouldn't drop the project or anything. The finished result is amazing. Good luck at contests and whatever.

[scar~face]

"Yeah" "Wow" "Great"!!!!!!!!!!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Tanks you again. But those pics are still not final. I am working on the details and also the red water is still missing.

Here is what I made the last two days (besides the work on the hardware inside):
These are gonna be the details on the upper hemisphere. In a more simple way I will also add some red stripes to the lower hemisphere.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_55.jpg
Cut out two holes and cut about 20 rounded stripes from my last piece of plexi-sphere.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_56.jpg
Those pieces will cover the hinges:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_57.jpg
Everything peeled off aganin:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_58.jpg
And painted in red:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_59.jpg
Will glue them back on tomorrow.

Those pics show the final cabeling in the upper sphere:
Looks tidy from upside but it's the pure horror from the downside. So many cables and so little room :eek:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw113.jpg
This pic is for Froop (you can see the second rounded corner of the GF)
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw114.jpg

More to come soon.

[FrooP]

dude hurry up, my unit for is done tomorrow and ill kick your a** when youre not done till saturday!! :p

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Did I ever mention that I HATE DEADLINES?!
One more week and I could make it look perfect...

Nevertheless I have a little preview for you.
That is why I needed the stripes on the sphere:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_60.jpg
Those cracks are covered by the stripes.

Dont know, perhaps a little too much red:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_61.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/kugel_62.jpg

[Wecrookie]

Looking cool8)

Shame about the cracks. Hope the rest of the build goes well.Kick ass dude:D


yours wecrookie:eek:

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Hey everybody! Sorry for that looooong delay but I had to get so much stuff done after the DCMM....
Well, today I managed to copy the last pics from my cam so here is what I got. It's lots of stuff, so there will be more than one post.

First of all, the final building steps:

My USB-I/O-Board did not arrive so I had to solder a manual control box:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw116.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw115.jpg

I changed the connection between the feet and the radiator part. It consists now of two bolts on each side and an angle bracket. So it can be disassembled without opening the feet:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw117.jpg

Last feature I added wan an USB-Hub for all the components in the feet (Webcam, Fingerprint, two USB-connectors).
I stripped it and mounted it in front of the radiator:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw118.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw119.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw120.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw121.jpg

Then I finished the detail work on the upper level (cabeling, lights, motor, covers):
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw126.jpg

Then the horror of assembling the bigger parts began. It took me hours and the hands of all family members to defeat the cables :)
To do the cabeling on the downside I simply taped the PSU onto a second one so the baseplate was a bit higher.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw122.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw123.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw124.jpg
Here you see the bunch of cables that connect the lower hemisphere to the baseplate:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/hw125.jpg

After fixing some cables I forgot the hot glue gun. The result is quite nice:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/IMG_3731.jpg

Last thing to do was to fill the WC-loop and to pray that everything was waterproof. Of course it wasn't on the first try :dead: But then: The pump doesn't work with full throughput in that moment and the result is this nice serpentine.
4R88srjzeNg

All that happened in the night right before the DCMM and little after midnight Orb and Haro were ready to be packed into the car.
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/preview33.jpg

4 hours of sleep later I picked up my mate and we drove the 400km to Dortmund...

[p0Pe]

this thing is purely AWSOME! cant belive how much work has gone into this and how nice it is xD
orb ftw!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Thank you a lot p0Pe! You are so damn right about the work.
I made a big mistake and filled the visor-reservoir only 1/3 and so the upper part got fogged :down:
Well: I became 7th at the DCMM and I don't think I am a sore looser... But those guys in the DCMM jury could not even imagine how hard it is to build something that has any 90deg angles... :think:
That shouldn't imply by no means that the winners don't deserve their ratings. Their work is of outstanding quality. But the comments of the jury made me think a little about their qualification.
However: Thanks DCMM-Team for your work. I had a nice weekend and it was a lot of fun to talk to the other modders. And of course to see Froops UNIT4 in real :)

Here is a pic of Orb and Haro at the DCMM stand:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/dcmm.jpg
I will perhaps add some pics of the other mods to Froops thread in the chatterbox.

Next to come are some shots of the Orb on my desk @home. See you tomorrow.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Okay. Here are the latest pics I made yesterday. This is the Orb doing it's work as a gaming and working machine.

Filling up the visor:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig5.jpg

Some pics of my desk wich NEVER looks that tidy IRL :rolleyes:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig6.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig7.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig8.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig9.jpg
From top:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig11.jpg
Open cover:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig12.jpg
Visor-motor:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig13.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig14.jpg
Masked :)
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig15.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig16.jpg
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig17.jpg
CD-Tray open:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig18.jpg
CD-Tray closed:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig19.jpg
GFX-Cooler:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig20.jpg

The USB-Connector in the foot:
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig22.jpg

Working-place (yeah, I know: the desk is too small):
http://www.squelsh.de/spgm/gal/Casemodding/The%20Orb/TBCS/fertig21.jpg


Well, thats the end of this log.
Thanx again for all your comments and +reps (more are welcome :lick: ).
When my electronics and display stuff arrives I will open up a new thread on modding the casecon 8)

Cya,
Squelsh

[Wecrookie]

Squelsh,

Thank you for sharing this project with us all.That is one of the most original builds I have ever seen.8).The last set of pictures show how good a job you have made.It is a beautiful object and looks good on your (small;)) workdesk.

Your workmanship and dedication in this build has been awesome.I'll miss the updates on this project.Please let us know how The Orb performs.

Much respect to you Dude.I will be posting links on other forums.This is to good to miss:bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:.


yours wecrookie:eek:

[IndyRacer27]

|NQ|Squelsh, unbelievable job you've done here! +rep Amazing work.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Thank you Wecrookie and IndyRacer27.

Hmmm, the performance... I think the Orb performs quite well :)
Hardware list:
C2D E6600 2,4 GHz that runs with 3,1 GHz at 43°C
4GB Corsair CM2X RAM with a little increased Voltage (getting ugly hot, have to change something here)
GeForce 8800 GTS 512 MB that runs with 803 MHz Core and 1081 MHz RAM at 45°C

I just made an 3DMark06 benchmark and without tweaking it to the max I got 11097 3DMarks which is quite okay, compared to the 3DMark tables.

Finished Crysis in 1280x1024 with all settings high and only had to switch to medium in the ice-level. All other levels ran smoothly.

All that with a quite noise level. Loudest thing in the Orb is the 8cm fan for the upper hemisphere that runs with 1100 RPM. I have to check if I can change something with the RAM, becuase if the RAM wouldn't be that hot I could reduce the fan noise even more.

But all in all I am really satisfied with the Orb's performace in real life :)

Yours,
Squelsh

[iandh]

I really like the way this turned out. Nice job. :)

[phen0m]

Awesome mod :O

[SXRguyinMA]

that is hands-down one of the coolest things I have ever laid eyes on :bowdown: :bowdown:

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Pics are back after quite a lot of time... Sorry for that.