Cygnar Storm Strider Casemod

Sponsors:

Hazard Factory:

http://www.hazardfactory.org/

Privateer Press:

http://privateerpress.com/

Green Fairy Studios

http://greenfairystudios.wordpress.com/


Greetings!

I am currently embroiled in an epic casemod project, the Cygnar Storm Strider! The Storm Strider is a model available in the Privateer Press game Warmachine. I've decided to make a case in the same vein as the minitature sculptors by casting the individual parts through the lost-foam process.

My planning is ad hoc at best. I’ve got my sizes and plans all jotted out on paper and you’ll probably see my drunken scrawl on the large master documents I have hanging in my basement. But for now here are a few of the details:

- Going to try to keep the case in scale with the dimensions provided in Privateer’s concept art.

- I have to utilize some of the computer parts I already have in my current computer (screw you economy). With no sponsor, this all comes out of pocket and the bulk of my money is going to pay for the scrap aluminum. This means at a minimum I am using:
o my current videocard (a Radeon)
o a spare 500gb HDD
o my current power supply (1000w)
I will probably end up buying:
o mobo - ASAS Maximus Gene-Z - Purchased
o a I-7 2600k (LGA1155) - Purchased
o memory - 16GB DDR3 1600

- This case will stand about 33inches or 84cm tall
- The legs, dome, and lightning coils will be made using the lost-foam casting process.
- I will work this project as though I have a 80 (now 50) day deadline but will continue if I miss it.
For the sake of your bandwidth, I will break up a couple of these posts so I'm not flooding this forum with large pictures.
Now, onto the Creation and Progress!!!
I decided to start with the biggest time sinks for this project... the foam prep for lost-foam casting. There are going to be 4 main part-areas that will be cast in aluminum using lost-foam casting: Legs, Shin plates, Lightning Coils, and the Dome. There might be other pieces and detail parts that I might cast but I'll be creating those as the need arises.

First thing I did was take an image of the actual miniature for perspective shots and the concept art and crop and blow up the images for basic patterns to use. I'm using these as pattern for the shape and general idea of the parts. I did take some artistic liberties and changed some of the depths and design to work with casting and function. Next I started tracing the pattern shapes onto 2" (sorry I'm a backwards American and recorded everything in inches) blue closed cell foam. Then I sketched out and created the base plate onto .25" foam core.

http://teafromanemptycup.com/casemods/foam01.JPG

In the above image you can see my first attempt at creating the coils. I messed around with how I was going to create the coils. I knew I was going to have to create the coils in two parts so that I could properly core the coils for lighting. So I was going to have to have two equal and matching parts that have two unique sides. I originally cut the coil shapes directly out of the blue foam. Then I realized that it was going to be nearly impossible to make the two halves from a single pie. Then I realized it was going be equally difficult making each half match while carving each separately. Finally (and successfully) I was able to create a process for making both halves match by rounding two parts into cylinders at the maximum diameter of each coil. See the stages for both the coils and the legs below:

I’ve been designing the enclosure under the idea that I’d be using a micro-ATX board with my current video card tilted horizontally with a flexible PCI express extender cable. I’ve arranged it so the motherboard location can be moved on the base plate if I go with a different model/brand. I’ve also designed the enclosure to work with any single graphics card that is no bigger than 11”x5”x3.5” and left the possibility to add a second videocard. If I can’t find a suitable/economic replacement, I’ll be using my own graphics card which easily fits within those dimensions. The globe will be cast and either welded or bonded to an aluminum plate cover. The base plate will be made from a single aluminum plate. There will be 4” walls separating the base plate from the cover. These walls are still being designed for their stylization. Here are the progress shots for the mobo plate and top plate:

As mentioned before the lightning globe will be a cast piece. Basically, I simplified my workload by going to a local craft shop and picking up a 10” white foam flower arrangement globe (the elderly ladies always love it when visit the craft shop, they flirt mercilessly). I bisected the globe and then quartered one half. I cored out the quarters with a dremel trying to maintain a consistent .5” thickness through the wall. As you can see, I also measured and eye-balled the placement of the rings. After I felt comfortable with the look and feel of the ring placement I made basic port-holes in the globe. Next I took some smaller white foam balls and sliced them in half, cored them, then reduced the halves until they made nice little rings. I used regular wood glue (that burned off well in the materials test) to attach the rings to the globe.

That’s it for now, I’ll post more tomorrow!

Fantastic idea and a great start. Welcome to TBCS! +rep to get you started :D

Hey man, that's a really great start. Can already see that this is going to have a lot of great small details. Can't wait to see more!

Welcome to TBCS! This looks like it's going ot be awesome!

This update is with the lightning coils. The lightning coils are the 3 coiled rods that sit on top of the Storm Strider. I spent time slowly carving and filing away at foam to get a decent shape. There are a couple of things that I’m taking into consideration when I’m sculpting these coils out:

- They don’t need to be too detailed. Most of the details can be added once the coil is cast in aluminum. The aluminum is easier to work while doing minuscule details while the foam is more workable while removing large portions.

- The coil will be hollowed out to be lit up by LED. Because it’s a casemod and what’s the fun of having a case without the lightshow?

- A small bridge might have to be added after the sculpting to allow the molten aluminum to reach all of the points in the mold.

The tools I used to create these foam coils:
- Compass
- Sharpees
- Exacto Blade
- Drywall sanding blocks (2 different grains, fine and very fine)
- Various files
- Dremel
- Foam Magic Wand (a variation of the hot wire, pictured in a previous update)
- Plenty of Painter’s Tape


As stated in the previous update, each Lightning Coil will casted in 2 halves to allow access to the center for lighting. To simplify this process, I took 2 pieces with a center line drawn on both halves and pressed them together over some toothpicks. The toothpicks will give the model a little support when I’m working with them. I draw the maximum radius on both the top and both. Then I trace the outline of the lightning coil on both sides and set latitudes for each peak on the pattern. Next I begin carving down from the highest point trying to keep the circles symmetrical. After the general shapes begin to look right, I start planning out the coils. As you can see below, I’ve had to try several times to make sure the coils lined up and stay in proportion. Eventually I have to brave the point of no return and begin carving out the coil portion.

The next step is to prepare some of the foam pieces for casting. To do this I need to attach sprues and vents to the pieces to facilitate the casting process.

That’s it for now. Next Update I’ll show the casting process!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by monkeyfun

- A small bridge might have to be added after the sculpting to allow the molten aluminum to reach all of the points in the mold.

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*spits out drink*
Wait, what? Metal casting? No way. Let me read that again...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by monkeyfun

- A small bridge might have to be added after the sculpting to allow the molten aluminum to reach all of the points in the mold.

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Holy sh*t! That's awesome! This build is awesome! I have no idea what it actually is, but I know awesome when I see it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by monkeyfun

That’s it for now. Next Update I’ll show the casting process!

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Please do! If you're doing this at home then you're winning, plain and simple!
Oh, and welcome to TBCS!

This just gave me the perfect idea for a mod!

Can't wait to see whats next.

Subbed to this, looks like it will be awesome! Welcome to TBCS.

Casting!

I’d like to start this by thanking Rusty Oliver for both teaching me how to cast aluminum and allowing me access to his shop and tools to cast the aluminum. Rusty teaches metal working classes for South Seattle Community College and one of those classes is a casting class. You can also check out Rusty’s work at HazardFactory’s or see him on the TV show Weaponizer.

I’ve broken this process down to three sections; preparing the sand, setting the mould and pouring the metal (aluminum). The pictures and descriptions are from two different casting sessions. We did an initial casting session as a materials test and to test the process. The second session was to make some of the useable parts.

First we had to prepare the sand. When I get into the shop, chances are the sand has been used by a previous class and so I have to break it down the old fashion way with sifter and an old spaghetti strainer.

Next I toss all of the sand into an old cement mixer and slowly add water. This makes it so that the sand binds together after it has been placed into a mould and allows it to keep its shape. Unfortunately (or fortunately for your attention span) I don’t have many pictures of me preparing the sand because it’s fairly simplistic manual labor.


The second part of this process is preparing the moulds. Rusty and I spend some time putting together several boxes to hold the sand and the mould for the casting process.

After the boxes are ready I place the foam parts in the boxes and begin setting sand in and around the pieces to fully enclose the parts. You have to make sure that the sand is packed in fairly tight but not tight enough to distort or damage the foam.

After it’s all packed in, you need to uncover the sprues, the vents and make a little trough for the molten aluminum to be poured into.

Here’s that same process with the large half dome piece:

While we’re preparing the moulds, we are also preheating the furnace and melting aluminum.

Eventually we get ready to pour…

But I’ve run out of time, I’ll post the pouring and results tomorrow! Sorry!

LOL!!!!

Its like watching a TV show and it has a dramatic ending and now you have to wait until next weeks episode!!!

Its amazing that you have access to that shop.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by monkeyfun

But I’ve run out of time, I’ll post the pouring and results tomorrow! Sorry!

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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! lol
That is frikkin awesome, as you know, since you were there.
Don't forget to upload the rest tomorrow. A lot of us are depending on it...it might just be me though. I'm not sure.

Is the furnace just a concrete cylinder with a gas inlet? You know, in case I'm ever forced to build one of my own...:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mDust

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! lol
That is frikkin awesome, as you know, since you were there.
Don't forget to upload the rest tomorrow. A lot of us are depending on it...it might just be me though. I'm not sure.

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Nope, not just you. :D

:eek:

This mod is already so full of awesome and win that I can't make a coherent or intelligent contribution...<slowclap>

Well done, sir, well done. +rep & +subbed.

Arrrggggghhh! This is why I don't watch TV shows during the season! I hate cliff-hangers!
Can't wait to see the rest, the process so far looks super awesome!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fuganater

LOL!!!!

Its like watching a TV show and it has a dramatic ending and now you have to wait until next weeks episode!!!

Its amazing that you have access to that shop.

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Yeah, Rusty is a great guy that like supporting creative endeavors and his shop is like a playground for metal workers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mDust

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! lol
That is frikkin awesome, as you know, since you were there.
Don't forget to upload the rest tomorrow. A lot of us are depending on it...it might just be me though. I'm not sure.

Is the furnace just a concrete cylinder with a gas inlet? You know, in case I'm ever forced to build one of my own...:)

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The furnace is a home-made concrete refractory with an air-forced propane feed. There's a little more to it than a concrete cylinder. But you can build your own. There are several DIY instructions on the web.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DynamoNED

:eek:

This mod is already so full of awesome and win that I can't make a coherent or intelligent contribution...<slowclap>

Well done, sir, well done. +rep & +subbed.

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Thank you!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheMainMan

Arrrggggghhh! This is why I don't watch TV shows during the season! I hate cliff-hangers!
Can't wait to see the rest, the process so far looks super awesome!

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Thank you! Working on the post now!

nice work! hope it turns out well!

Pouring!!!!!!!!

The first pour:

Any extra aluminum is poured into ingots to be used later.

Before we put the crucible back in the furnace to melt more aluminum we toss in a piece of cardboard to put a little layer of carbon between the furnace and the crucible. This is to prevent the crucible from sticking to the furnace.

The second pour:

This shows the foam burning off. You can also see a little bit of over-run from one of the molds.

This is me scrambling to keep the molten aluminum moving off of the concrete floor and cooling it with some sand. Rusty continues pouring more aluminum into the other molds.

And for your viewing pleasure, here’s 3 videos covering our pouring experience: us waiting for the aluminum to be ready, pouring, and post pour jitters and conversation.

Waiting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0St6RAslNY

Pouring:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PjzTrDupBU

Convo & jitters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUfD9t-Xjmo

Very impressive!
I know almost nothing about the casting process. The foam burns away to be replaced by aluminum? Unless I'm way off or it's a special clean burning foam, don't bits of burned material get stuck in the casting?
I hope it turned out completely perfect so this mod can get underway.
Also, thanks for the videos. We can't get enough of those around here.:up:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mDust

Very impressive!
I know almost nothing about the casting process. The foam burns away to be replaced by aluminum? Unless I'm way off or it's a special clean burning foam, don't bits of burned material get stuck in the casting?
I hope it turned out completely perfect so this mod can get underway.
Also, thanks for the videos. We can't get enough of those around here.:up:

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That's exactly what I was going to ask!

I can already tell this is going to be very very cool.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mDust

Very impressive!
I know almost nothing about the casting process. The foam burns away to be replaced by aluminum? Unless I'm way off or it's a special clean burning foam, don't bits of burned material get stuck in the casting?
I hope it turned out completely perfect so this mod can get underway.
Also, thanks for the videos. We can't get enough of those around here.:up:

---

When I state that the foam is being burned off technically that is true but it doesn't burn like paper or wood would burn. The foam shrinks from the molten aluminum long before any flame starts. If you want to see what I'm talking about try taking a lit match and move it near some blue/pink home insulating foam. Most of the flames that you see in the pictures above are from the molten aluminum hitting the wooden frame. In one of the moulds, I invested the foam with some plaster and that cause a little be of smoke.

The two biggest concern for bits getting stuck in the casting are impurities in the molten metal from the melting process and sand debris falling from inside the mould. To prevent impurities in the molten aluminum you make a trough for the aluminum to flow into and the cascade over a small barrier into the mould. The impurities go to the low point in the trough while the rest of the molten aluminum flows into the mould. To prevent sand from falling into the mould you just need to balance your moisture content and the packing of the sand.

I'll show you what it looks like when it goes wrong... in the next post. We cast nine piece that day, only 8 were usable. But no more spoilers for now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by monkeyfun

But no more spoilers for now.

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What if we say 'please'?:)

Thanks for the info as well.

After each pour was done (we did three pours that day), we’d have to let the aluminum cool for at least 10-15 minutes before breaking them out of the moulds.

Cooling pictures:

I’ll start with the dome. I was worried about this casting. Making the dome took the most effort and will probably need the most work after a casting. It was important to me that these parts came out as good as possible. Here are the results:

These parts were still extremely hot but very solid. Fortunately, I had the foresight to invest these parts. When the aluminum went outside of the mould, it settled ON TOP of the investment layer. This means that I can remove the extra aluminum and still retain the shape of the intended part (see the last picture).

The dome halves still retained that white foam texture but I think I can smooth things out with Bondo.

Next we cracked into the small coils:

Sorry, all of the medium coil pictures ended up being blurry. I was just so excited at the results.

Here are the small and medium coils together:

The large coil picture was nice and clear.

And now for the disappointment… Every project has its failures. The first attempt at the leg was one of these ‘learning lessons’. When we went to pour for the third time, apparently we ran the furnace too hot for too long. Melt, just like your food, can be over cooked. Over cooking your metal causes funny reactions with other substances, faster oxidation and can cause weird pressure issues inside of the mould. Without being able to see into the mould while we’re pouring I can only assume all of those things happened. You could see the disappointment in my sullen poking of the aluminum corpse. This was the failed results for the leg:

Overall, I learned a little more that Sunday and was very happy with the successful results:

I hope you didn’t get spoiled with all the pictures, movies and speedy posts. It will be a little bit before I have another significant update as I am waiting for some parts to arrive. But I hope to show the dome on the top cover and the frame work for both the lightning coils and the main enclosure.

awesome! +rep

Very impressive indeed, +rep

wow

:stupid:

What they said.

That's so cool!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SXRguyinMA

awesome! +rep

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Thank you!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yeticorn

Very impressive indeed, +rep

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Thanks!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xr4man

wow

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:D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fuganater

:stupid:
What they said.

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Thank you again!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheMainMan

That's so cool!

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Thanks!!!


These are only a couple of the parts. Within the next week, I should have some of the pictures of the main enclosure. Then it'll start looking like a computer case rather than a nifty casting project I did.

Finally... the motherboard has arrived:

I do think it is funny that the big advertising leaflet that came with my LGA1155 motherboard was for AMD processors. Yeah... Including an AMD processor advertising with an Intel motherboard is like trying to sell reading glasses to a blind man.

Here are both of my new toys: the Gene-Z with the i7-2600k.

Later today, I am doing some more casting and later this week I'll be fabricating the walls for the main enclosure.

And here's the last bit on my shopping list. I still have to wait until the next paycheck before purchasing but I still have over 1.5 months to get this completed.

------------------------------------------------------------
35 5mm Blue LED
8 100 Ohm resistors
5 220 Ohm resistors

1 White Illuminated Bulgin Style "Latching" Vandal Switch - 16mm - Black Housing - Ring Illumination
2 White Illuminated Bulgin Style "Latching" Vandal Switch - 16mm - Black Housing - Dot Illumination
with Optional Cable Harness used to control any 4-pin molex powered devices.

4 Logisys 4" Cold Cathode Kit (Dual Ready) - Blue
1 4-Channel Inverter-Black4-Channel Inverter-Black

16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
-----------------------------------------

Count Down: Only 39 more days until PAX 2011.

The days are counting down faster than I’d like. I’ve had on snag with my casting. I won’t be able to finish casting the legs for another week or two due to scheduling at the shop. This period of stagnation is eating through my modding zen. It’s time to crank up the caffeine and kick this case into gear.

Let’s start things off with some mod stylin’. Remember, if you’re walking down a dark alley behind a computer shop and a bunch of geeks jump you for that sweet videocard you just purchased, just flash your geek sign. Nothing says you’re a hard core geek like TCP/IP.

I like that my bandana is blocking the ‘a’ in ‘mad scientist’. You can almost mistake it for ‘mod scientist’.

This morning I’ve put in my order for some necessary items:

4x - Logisys 4" Cold Cathode Kit (Dual Ready) – Blue
1x - Lamptron 4 Channel High Output Aluminum Cathode Inverter
2x - Blue Illuminated Bulgin Style "Latching" Vandal Switch - 16mm - Silver Housing - Dot Illumination with Latching Switch Cable Harnesses
1x - Blue Illuminated Bulgin Style "Latching" Vandal Switch - 16mm - Silver Housing - Ring Illumination

Hopefully they should be arriving by the end of the week. Once I receive the Cold Cathode tubes I should be able to finish the spine to the point of painting.

But let’s look at some of my other progression.

As you can see here, I’ve drawn a bunch of meaningless stuff on my base plate. Just kidding, I’ve taken my pattern and drawn the respective parts like the motherboard placement, the case walls and posts on the painter’s tape.

Then I cut a bunch of .5” thick aluminum into the same height but varying widths according to what they need to support.

I also started working on the walls. I am going to try annealing the aluminum walls to bend and create the desired curve in the front of the case. I spent most of yesterday carving out a block of wood to the correct curve for both sides.

Finally, here’s a picture of the design for the lightning coil spine. It will house all of the wiring and the cathode inverter.

I’m on a roll so there should be a couple more pictures on the posts, walls and spine in another day or two.

Thanks!

Are you getting a degree or certification in metal fabrication or something? How did you decide to do this? This is just way too far above and beyond the average mod...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mDust

Are you getting a degree or certification in metal fabrication or something? How did you decide to do this? This is just way too far above and beyond the average mod...

---

I wish I had that excuse. I have a weird mix of curiosity and stubbornness. When ever someone tells me I can't do something I figure out how to do it. My wife tells me it is because I'm sassy. I did make a friend who is a metal worker. But like anyone who works in their field they tend to not like holding beginners hands. So, I pick his brain on a couple of things. He talks over my head but I'll grab a word or two. Look those words up and research their processes and then approach him with a couple of quick questions. For the most part, I try to make things as easy as possible for people who do the things I'm looking to learn. I can demonstrate a willingness to learn, to earn the end product, do my homework and research and ply them with the alcohol/coffee/food they want while they're explaining it.

Personally, I'm curious why more people don't do scratch builds or elaborate mods. These things can be ANYTHING you want them to be. Why not go all out?

You might have seen my next: http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/f...ad.php?t=26880

I'm currently studying on how to make functioning clock movements so that the case will be fully animated on 12V when I'm done.

I also want to do a XBOX360 mod that is an octopus. I know, weird, but I'm pretty sure I can do it by pouring silicon around extended ports and water cooling insides.

I think my biggest hangup is not having more money to do casemodding with. :redface:

haha. Love that last post. And very good filing work... your attention to detail is good :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by monkeyfun

I think my biggest hangup is not having more money to do casemodding with. :redface:

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That's what sponsors are for. And considering what you've done so far, I'm pretty sure that companies would throw themselves at you if they knew you existed. Introduce yourself to them.

A willingness to learn new things is one of the best characteristics anyone could have. I wish more people in the world had your curiosity and stubbornness 'problem'.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by billygoat333

haha. Love that last post. And very good filing work... your attention to detail is good :)

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Thanks!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mDust

That's what sponsors are for. And considering what you've done so far, I'm pretty sure that companies would throw themselves at you if they knew you existed. Introduce yourself to them.

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Oh, I've been sending out emails. But I think I need to get to a 'more finished' state before I'll see any response as I don't have a body of work to show my commitment or quality of work.


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Update #15: Work on the Spine
Count Down: Only 37 more days until PAX 2011.

These last few days I have been a slave to the file. I have been filing on the dome to even out some of its pocks and patches. I have been filing on the lightning coils to provide some additional detailing. But this update is about the filing on the spine. I’ve been working on giving my case some tangible shape. Last update I posted the pattern I was working on, now I’ll show it in action. First I cut out 2 pieces of aluminum (1/8” or 4mm thick) using the pattern

I keyed the two pieces with 2 separate holes and screwed the two pieces together.

Then, I began filing.

And filing.

And filing until the two pieces matched up exactly. Because that’s how we do it when you don’t have a CNC machine to perfectly replicate pieces. :(

Next, I took a ½” thick 3” wide bar of aluminum and sliced off pieces for the frame of the spine. The front piece will be filed to fit exactly in the front.

Since the 4” Cold Cathode Ray tubes are being shipped to my location, I did some more clean-up work on the lightning coils themselves. The tubes will be inserted inside of the coils. For the clean-up work, I utilized my trusty Dremel.

But sometimes, the little Dremel just won’t cut it and I have to break out with the Roto-Zip.

Assuming the 4” Cold Cathode Ray tubes and not 4.5” or 4.8” I verify that I’ll be able to fit the tubes and their wiring inside of the spine.

Once I make sure, the tubes fit in both the coils and the spine, I’ll seal the coils and make sure they have enough space to shine and there’s no pressure on the tubes from the aluminum. The last thing I want is a cathode tube bursting in transport or setup.

We’ll that’s it for today. I should be able to completely finish the construction of the spine and coils after the tubes arrive. I have to wait until Friday before I can continue on the main enclosures as I have to pick up a plumber’s torch, more dremel wheels, and some cold chemical weld. Until then I guess I’ll start working on the lower enclosure.

Thanks for reading!

Man this is crazy stuff. I've seen people cut stuff before, but never seen anyone pour stuff out of molds like this. AND showing the process is pretty rad! Very cool man! I can't wait to see it all assembled and put together. This is going to be awesome!

Arrived last night!:

1 White Illuminated Bulgin Style "Latching" Vandal Switch - 16mm - Black Housing - Ring Illumination
2 White Illuminated Bulgin Style "Latching" Vandal Switch - 16mm - Black Housing - Dot Illumination
with Optional Cable Harness used to control any 4-pin molex powered devices.

4 Logisys 4" Cold Cathode Kit (Dual Ready) - Blue
1 4-Channel Inverter-Black4-Channel Inverter-Black

Picking up today:

16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Dremel EZ-lock Wheels
Plumber's Torch
Cold Weld stuff

Arriving later this week:
PCI-Express 2.0 x16 Flex Riser 5"



Only thing left on my shopping list:

35 5mm Blue LED
8 100 Ohm resistors
5 220 Ohm resistors

& Paints!

Pics moarrrrr pics! :)

Update: Still alive and working!
Count Down: Only 31 more days until PAX 2011.

In the back of my mind, there is a certain amount of panic setting in… I only have 31 more days and I’m still making parts. I think many of my fears will be alleviated when I’m actually assembling the case rather than devilling the details.

But I got toys!!!!

I am now able to proceed with the lightning coil creation!

And the PCI Express x16 Flexible riser has arrived!!! I can now proceed with the video card placement.

I borrowed an idea from something I saw on Nhenhophach’s ROG Rampage scratch build. I’ll be utilizing the motherboard’s mounting screw holes to create a platform to hold my video card. I’ll post more on this process and implementation later for now all you get is the plate I cut for it.

Next, I began working on the main two walls of the main enclosure. I started by making a minor cut in the aluminum to help fold wall. This helps you bend the aluminum to the desired angel.

Next, I decided I didn’t want to wait to get access to the machine shop to anneal the aluminum. So, I went down to the local hardware store and picked up a plumber’s torch. The packaging says the temperature can reach up to 2100 degrees Fahrenheit which is more than adequate for annealing the aluminum. (Annealing the aluminum makes the aluminum soft so it can be bent over a curved shape and retain that shape.)

Unfortunately, the torch is too small. Every time I’d start to heat up one part of the aluminum the torch would run out of butane. I was defeated.
I will have to wait until I can get into the shop. So I traded the plumber’s torch for a different toy!

I have also worked on the framing for the case. I started off with an shape… and then relented to simpler C shape.

I’ve made some progress with the coils. Since I received the cathode tubes I was able to test-fit the tubes to the coils. With that completed, I started cleaning up and assembling the coils. First I broke them down to their parts by removing any excess aluminum sprues. As you can see each coil broke down into 4 parts… except for the smallest coil because I didn’t notice one coil not completely attached to either coil cap or the base.

Fortunately, I’m just working with a giant miniature and I can use the same techniques used for modeling those figures. I can ‘pin’ the pieces together to give it stability. Matter of fact, I even use Privateer Press’s P3 model glue to do the trick. For pins, I’ve simply snipped up an old wire hanger.

That’s all for now. Soon I’ll be working completing the coils, removing the part separation lines, annealing the case walls, and casting the legs. So much to do… so little time.