The Sled - Acrylic Tech Bench

The Sled - Acrylic Tech Bench

Another Jolly-Swagman Mod

Modding Team! Viva La Revolution!

Prologue
This will be a Scratch Build of an Acrylic Tech Bench, that can also be Wall mounted,
and will be able to be used in an Upright position or Laying Down, and thus Called The Sled.

Which wss also entered in the CASE MODDING SHOWDOWN 2009


I now have an Official Sponsor for this Project

Ozito Australia

They will be supplying me one of these wonderful Ozito Rotary Tool Kits.

The Ozito Rotary Tool

Also Beaumont's Glass, Wonthaggi
Have given 60% Discount on all Acrylic Plexi for this Project.


Material List
Main Materials Acrylic Plexi.
12mm Aluminium Angle
20mm x 2mm Flat Aluminium Strip
12mm Round Aluminium Tube
5mm Ultra Bright Blue LED,s (NewModCity.com)
5mm Ultra Bright UV (Purple) LED,s (NewModCity.com)
2mm Black Shrink Tube
5mm Black Shrink Tube
5mm x 15mm Machine Screws
5mm x 40mm Machine Screws

Hardware to be Used
Corsair520Watt PSU
ECS-P45-ST Motherboard
E670000 Dual Core CPU
Arctic Cooling Freezer Extreme
2-4 Gig DDR2 Ram 667 (4Gig)
Palit -GF9800GT-1GB-Sonic
Inno-GF8800GT 512MB
80gig HDD IDE
Liteon Optical Sata Drive DVD-RW
Lazer Multi Card Reader

Note- ?? = Undecided On

Teaser Pics

The Sled

The Motherboard Tray ( to be mounted on The Sled)

Thank You masbuskado for the 3D Program Suggestion, eMachineShop works great

When I was in the Planning thought stages of what I would like to do as a Case Mod/Build from Scratch,
it also dawned on me that since we had just moved to a New House, that the Garage dint have any Benches or shelves ect. to work on projects, and general PC maintenance ect.

So I Built my Work Bench Area, so now can do all the maintenance and Modding I wish, below pics show my work bench.

Work Bench with 3 coats of Wattle Clear Estapol

Also made the Shadow board tool holderfor all my Hand tools.

Now I went and got my Acrylic Plexi today, and here it is.

Also got down to Testing some Fans got sent from USA,

Today I Got down to some serious Bending of the Acrylic Plexi for the Main Shell of The Sled - Acrylic Tech Bench,

I must say too, that I have never Bent Acrylic before, so here goes and hoping all turns out great!!





Preparing for First Bend

Ready to Bend

First bend Done

Second Bend

First couple of bends Done and all nice and Square too!!

Third Bend

Third Top Bend Done

Forth Bottom Bend Done

All Bends Done Front View

Side View

The Sled View and showing M/B Tray positioning

Today I also managed to get a Few components that will be used in The Sled Tech Bench,
Some Momentary Switches for Power & Reset and LED Illuminated switch for Powering LED,s that may be used ( still undecided), and some Motherboard Mounts, and srcews.



Components

Also while I was out Today picked up a Couple of Bargains too,
( btw, I already have both of these, just cannot find them since moving house}
, probably in the same place as my Nikon charger, that I haven't found as yet, :banghead:)

So I am using the Wife's Fuji 6500fd Digital Camera

A parcel arrived today, from Ozito Australia. my Sponsor for this Project.

The Parcel

Ozito Rotary Tool kit

Ozito Tool Case

Ozito Desk Stand & Flexi Extension Tool

Now on to putting this wonderful tool to work, and get some modding done,,,, :attn:


I cut out two 120mm Fan holes for the Top Exhaust ports

The Ozito Rotary Tool cuts the Acrylic Plexi like butter, also used to make Ozito Name Badge.

Also made an Ozito - Badge Name Plate to go on the case front

Just need to trim and finish off the Name Badge Plate

Destruction and Construction

Today's Update is about Destruction and Construction,
Taking and old Case, was my Garage PC, and Dissecting it to use parts for the Current project,

Destruction Victim Case

After de-riveting and some cutting I pulled the Motherboard tray area out, and constructed a Motherboard Tray to use in The Sled Acrylic Tech Bench,

Motherboard Tray

Also once removed I Trimmed the excess pieces didn't need and reinforced with some 12mm aluminium angle, and Tray brace

After all that was done, I moved on to Cutting some Side Panels for the Sled Case,

Side Panels

Side Panels side View
image to go here


Other things to do Today,

Cut Square hole in Motherboard Tray for easy access to After-market HSF Cooler retention brackets ect. DONE

Paint Motherboard Tray Black and Clear coat,DONE

Cut Slots of Side panel, for I/O M/B position, DONE

Cut out Square Hole on Motherboard Tray, for the easy access to rear M/B for Changing/Installing after-market Heatsink Retention Back Plates ect.

Then I painted Motherboard Tray Bllack, still have to do second coat and the Clear Coat.
Painted Motherboard Tray

My Ghetto Spray Painting Booth

Next up was to make the Cages to hold Optical Drive and Card Reader and HDD,s from Acrylic Plexi, again some more bending Acrylic,,

Clamping down ready to bend

Optical -Card reader-HDD Cages

Today made the Aluminium Framing to hold Plexi Side Panels and also incorporated a PSU Mount into the Frame,

Cut out the I/O plate area, and installed the Motherboard Tray Stand-offs, still need to cut out the PSU slot in the Plexi,
but as was getting late, don't want to annoy the neighbours, will do later on, when I cut out the Optical Drive & card reader bay opening's

Motherboard Tray Stand-offs

I/O Plate Openings and PSU Mounting

Aluminium Rails

So then I got Down to Making some Acrylic Feet for the Sled, Cut-out the DVD / Card Reader Bay slots and PSU Mount opening, and also something Special,

Ahh, what you say Special, well we will get to that down below!!!



NOTE - Drives in Pictures only for fitting and sizing they wont be used in this Project


DVD Drive / Card Reader Bays

PSU Mount Opening

Made some Acrylic Feet

Now for Something Special,
What would a Sled be without Sled Rails to glide on , so I have made some for it, just see below


The Sled Rails

Today I put together some LED,s to light up The Sled

So here is a sneak peek at some done.

Hoping they will look allot better when the Protective Acrylic paper is removed from The Sled

The first few LED,s I did with resistor attached to LED, the I remembered I had some Circiut board left from another project, so using that to put all the Resistors on, to Power up the LED,s

LED Resistor Power board

LED,s

Lighting up Acrylic Case feet with LED,s

The LED,s will be bent 90 degrees so as wiring will be flat on case, and just need to find a position to mount the power board too!

Also did second coat of Black Paint on Motherboard Tray and Clear Coat too,
Cut some more Cable Management slots also.

Motherboard Tray

Need to do some more LED,s,to light up beneath the Motherboard Tray,
so off to go do them now,



Wired some more LED,s and some more Teaser Pics Testing the LED Lighting,

Will look allot Better when the Protective paper comes off,,

The Top Nine LED,s are UV (Purple) the Case Feet and PSU Area are Ultra Bright Blue


Soldering LED

Testing LED Lighting (Lights On)

Testing LED Lighting (Lights Off)

Testing LED Lighting-Side View (Lights Off)

Testing LED Lighting-Side View PSU Area (Lights Off)

Today got Down to some More Cutting,

Cut 120mm Fan hole in the Right Side for Intake Fan, also cut Rear Access Slot for Access to Rear of Motherboard Tray and easier Installation of After-market CPU-HSF Back-plates ect
Also Cut Vent Intake Slots for PSU Fan Air Intake on Bottom of The Sled


120mm Side Intake Fan Hole

Rear Access Slot
Note - This will have a removable plate cover on it too!

Motherboard Tray Showing Rear Access Slot

PSU Fan Air Intake Slots

PSU Fan Intake Slots Bottom View

Thats all for this Update,

Next Up will be Mounting and cutting Switch holes and PWR / HDD LED.s

Well didn't quite get to mounting the switches yet, gut I did Make a Front Door Cover Panel and Rear Access Door to Motherboard Tray Opening,
Hinged with Piano Hinge.
Also Mounted Magnetic Catches to keep Front Door Panel Closed securely,

Also forgot About these that I got when I bought the Wife's CM Scout Black Case,
Arctic Cooling Freezer X-Tremme Pro HSF for the CPU, and a 92mm Red LED Fan

Front Door Cover Panel

Front Door Panel with Magnetic Catches

Magnetic Door Catches

Rear Motherboard Tray Access Door

Rear Access Door has been Painted Black just waiting for it to Dry, and also need to charge Camera batteries too, so will have pics of that soon!

Video Log #2 - Bending Acrylic Plexi -Part 2




In this Update I have wired the Power Reset Switches, LED,s for PWR - HDD activity and Mounted them,
also Mounted the PCB LED power Resistor board on its own little Sled Plexi Rails,
and wired LED Power Switch to control the Case LED Lighting,

Also did some more work on the HDD Cage , Cut out my insignia JS into the Plexi,
and Mounted in The Sled

Now there is also a Special Part of this Update and I think everyone has been anxiously waiting for, the Unveiling of the Plexi,
Well Stay Tuned as it is coming right up , see below!!!

PCB Board for Resistors Powering LEDs, and LED Power Switch

HDD Cage with Insignia Cut-out

Now lets get The Sled Naked and Unveil the Plexi


The Sled Unveiled Pics

Today did some cable routing and management for the LED Lighting

Cable management

The Led Lighting Unveiled

Side View LED Lighting Unveiled

The Sled Tech Bench View LED Lighting Unveiled

This Update will incorporate Making Top Fan Grill for the 2 Top Exhaust Fans, Mounting the Fans, and Testing them ,

Making the Top Fan Grill,
Decided to make a Acrylic Plexi Fan Grill for the Top fans

Cutting Out the Plexi for the Fan Grill

Clean Up & Filing the Cutouts for Fan Grill

As well as Filing I also used this Dremel tool In the Ozito Rotary Tool

The Top Fan Grill

Had to run down to the Hardware Shop to get some Screws to Mount the Fans, using 5/32" x 25mm Metal Threads

Antec Fans, Screws and Fan Grill

120mm Fans Installed in the Top

Fan Grill Installed

Installed 120mm Side Fan and Fan Grill,
Although I think I will make another for the Side Intake, similar to the Top one!

Tested all OK and Now Lighting Up with Fans Too!

Angled View Lighting with Fans Installed

Just a small Update today, made another Acrylic Fan Grill to match the Top Fan Grill, this one will go on the 120mm Side Intake Fan.

Cutting-out new 120mm Acrylic Fan Grill

Mounted Acrylic 120mm Side Fan Grill

Close-up Of Side Acrylic Fan Grill

Also put some Strong Black Fibreglass Fly wire behind Grill as this is an Intake Fan will help keep the Dust Bunnies Out,,,

Well thats all folks for todays Update!!

Not allot going on Today was hot here, and had bit of Headache, also Wife not well at the moment either, and the Heat hasnt been helping,

So just a Small Update,

Have been working on the Ozito Emblem, Put some Clear Film (like what you cover books with) to Test out how it looks Painted at back,

Also Made a The Sled Name badge too, from 3mm Acrylic

Working on Ozito and Sled Badges

The Sled Name Badge

The Ozito name Badge ( Testing Black Painted back)

New Video - The Sled Acrylic Tech Bench Vol 2



Today I Received a nice Parcel from a good Friend (ihrsetrdr) over @ OCForums, I recently Purchased an ECS-P45T-A - Black Series Motherboard from him and its now here.

The Parcel

The contents of the Parcel - The ECS-P45T-A Motherboard

Contents of M/B Box

The P45T-A Black Series Motherboard

This Motherboard is Dual PCi-E-16x v2.0 and X-fire Capable
Although I wont be doing X-Fire on it, Dont own or use ATI GPU,s but there will be 2x Nvida GPU,s going in for Folding@home GPUv2 (Most likely 2 x 8800GT,s)

This Motherboard is so Nice it May even end up in My Main Rig with EVDA-GTX-295 +Palit 9800GT 1GB SC
OR one of My other M/B,s may go into The Sled,
Still undecided on at the Moment, and also still waiting on My 750Watt PSU coming from Canada too!


Just another Small Update Today will Include a few things,

*Mounting and Testing ECS-P45T-A motherboard,on Motherboard Tray.
*Make a Backplate for the Acrtic Cooler Freezer Extreme Heatsink
*Install Windows 7 for testing Purposes,

So first up I wasn't quite happy with the way the Arctic Cooling Freezer Extreme Mounted,
It has a Mounting plate and No Back plate just these tiny Pins that Lock the Mount Bracket in place on M/B

We all know how we hate those Push Pins on the Intel HSF and how in-effective they can be at times,

As with another of my HSF the Vendetta I did a Bolt Thru Mod on that, as well as the AC Freezer 7 pro

So here is My Solution to The AC Freezer Extreme Mounting,

First the intel Tiny Mount Pins

So I have made a Plexi Backplate for the Mounting Bracket

Making Plexi Backplate

Mounting Plate Installed on Backplate Bolt Thru

installing AC Freezer Extreme

Side Angle View

This HSF is a nice Beast too, and Now very secure, with my Backplate Bolt Thru Mod.

A little More of my Garage Workshop and Test Desk, Under the Desk is my Garage PC,
Testing the ECS Mobo in this Pic ( click for larger image)

Installing Windows 7 for Test Purposes

CPU-z showing E2200 used for Testing (click for larger image)

and Memory for Testing Purpose (click for larger image)

Core Temp

Overall even though is only Idle Temps at the moment was quite impressed as Todays Ambient was 35.5C and in the Garage was 30C when I was doing the Work Today,

Still wont be able to put all the Harware into The Sled Acrylic Tech bech as My New PSU hasnt arrive and had to mod the one used for testing as the 4 x PSU ATX power lead is too short and so is the 24 Pin ATX to reach the Mobo when Installed

So hopefully wont be to much longer getting here from Canada

Quote:

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TROJAN an NMC citizen wanted to know how did you made the LED circuit

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Today I have Put together a Tutorial on How I did the LED Circuit and PCB Board as a Request from TROJAN,

First off you need a PCB Vero Board which you can get from Most Electronic Parts outlets
EG- Radio Shack or an equivalent outlet!

The one I have Chosen (pictured above centered) has alternating straight line RAIL,S and separate 2block segment Rows Between Rails

Some 560 Ohm Resistors, LEDS, and some Wire ( I have used some Speaker Cable)
Soldering Iron and Solder ( I use 1.0mm 60%tin/40%lead Hobby Solder)

Also Helps a Great Deal too If you have a PCB Holder too acts as an extra pair of hands.

Below is a Basic LED Layout Diagram of the Circuit I have Used for 17 LED.S

(Click Pics for larger image)

The only Difference to the Diagram Above is I have the + Positive Rail going to my Resistors,
and Negitive Rail going to LEDS -negtive Leg

As you can see here I have started to put some of the Resistors on the PCB

And the reverse side showing the PCB Rails

As you can see the Resistors go between the +12 volt Rail and one of the 2block Segment Rails,
the the LED leads +positive go to the other end of Resistor and the -negative lead to the Negative Rail

Now if you have this all done correctly we have Power to LED.S

Hope this will be Helpful to TROJAN (NMC Citizen) and any other Member here that needs to know how to power LED.S using a PCB Power Grid Array..



Had to Run down the Street to Local PC Shop to get another DWA-110 USB Wifi Adapter for more testing of the Sled Hardware, and also needs to get myself another KVM too, I have one but its in use in the Office, so need to get one for the garage Bench too!

DWA-110 USB Wifi Adapter

Unpacking the Contents

DWA-110 and its USB Cradle + software install disk and install manual (Install disk not needed for Wn7)

The great thing about these Wifi adaptor is that comes with a USB extension Cradle so you can easily put up on shelf for maximum better Reception

Also with Windows 7 you dont need install CD just plug in and Drivers already get installed then just connect to Wifi App, easy as pie! :good:

That,s all for now have some cleanup work to do on the Sled and install Boinc Client for Rosetta@home Folding , and some more testing on the Test Bench,


Had hopefully planed a larger update with all Hardware installed, but PSU from Canada is

still not here, but according to the Tracking Details it has arrived in Australia, Sydney

Customs has cleared parcel to be Transported on to Melbourne and then to me, so wont be too far away, hopefully by end of week! :)

So today I have been cleaning up wiring and doing some modifications for Top and side fan Power and Led power.

Power connection Block for Top Fans

Power connection Block for Side Fan and LED Power Switch

Now until the New PSU gets here I cant install the Motherboard into the Sled,

The Other PSU I was going to used I had to extend the 12v 4pin ATX mother board cable, which I did, but the 24 pin is also too short, :doh:

I did order a 24pin extension as don't have any correct size wire left to modify it, only to find out today that they have back-ordered the Part and wont be Available till Mid December maybe, so that has now been Cancelled.

So will for now just put an old PSU I use for testing purposes to power fans and LED lighting in The Sled - Acrylic Tech Bench for some Final pics, and hopefully the Rest will get installed by the Weekend!!


see next post for some Final Teaser Pics

Teaser Final Pics

Ahh there is something Missing in these pics,, and I have misplaced them so will be in next lot of Pics when I find then,

Can you guess what they are, what is missing!!!

Went down to Post Office and picked up the Parcel.

The went to Install hardware into The sled, and came across a Problem
:eek: The PSU is To big,,, 30mm longer and does leave enough room to easily plug modular cables in.

So back to the Original Plan, Strip down My Main Rig and pull the Corsair HX-520 from that and install into the Sled, Problem Solved

Today after a rather long Night, Stripping Down My Main Rig, and Removing the Corsair HX-520 PSU, so as to put into The Sled.

Then it was onto the PSU Install to The Sled along with all the Hardware.

Hardware Installed

Now Remember back to the Teaser Final Pics where I said there was something missing, well here is what was Missing The Name Emblem, for The Sled, and Ozito sponsors Name Badge,

The Name Emlems

So that Now I can Prouldly Say ,,,,,, Its Finished,,, Completed ,,,Done,,, Finally!!

Thank You for taking interest , and Following my project,

Now wonders What I can do next ?????

Just a Small Final Video of Completed Project

The Sled



This is just a little Hardware update , Added my Inno 8800GT 512 with HR03 Cooler to The Sled, to accompany the Palit 9800Gt 1GB sonic for some more Folding PPD,

Thats all for this New Update!

Thank You for Viewing this Project!

Nice! The whole thing turned out great. One question though: why is it a sled?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mDust

Nice! The whole thing turned out great. One question though: why is it a sled?

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Thanks, and for why a Sled,

Has the look of a Sled as in say a Bob Sled that also has rails on the bottom
Sleds