Lean and Green - modular dual PC scratch build

Ready for carrying on again :D but now with all my tools ready for action in the cellar & plenty of storage, workshop still needs a lot more attention but it's totally usable again for the time being & with a lot more function.

Scraps area & a load more has been added from the garage since this photo of acrylic, bars, sheet alu & copper bars & sheet, will be a perfect selection, so much good stuff to pick through & will be great for some freestyle modding. :D

Work top area & all the tools on there can be placed inside the cupboard leaving a big blank work surface & it has mounting holes for a vice, grinder/polisher & bending brake which hasn't seen a lot of use from me to be honest because it's only any good for 1mm sheet really but it's there for whenever I need it.

Draws filled with many various types of drill bits, loads of types of nuts & bolts (I should buy a couple of small compartment storage boxes for them), adhesives, fillers, small hand tools, files & cutting bits.

Cupboard shelves with some hand manual/power tools, more files, clamps & sand paper from 60 to 2000 grit in closer gaps for each grit now with room for much more stuff.

My scraps need a good sorting through for what could be useful & unuseful & to sort them into same types & thicknesses nicely arranged for easy selection & all my modding bits need a hefty sort through also, have 1 huge box & about 7 smaller boxes of lighting, fans & all kinds of modding bits including retail case parts but with me now knowing how to make my own main important case pieces I have no need for them anymore so already know I can have a good clear out instead of becoming a massive hoarder. :D

Really starting to feel like a workshop & think modding will be much more fun as it should be from now. :)

Off/on topic :confused::D.
Because of me mucking up by showing the doubled up panel in it's best lighting & some approving of it lol I couldn't hold myself back from having a quick mess about in sketchup as well as checking out different orientations of the actual panels. :D

A big part of what makes it look good doubled up in reality is the inside cuts catch reflections & cast shadows under the right light with them being 3mm thick, if I doubled these up they would mess the planned design which would be a problem so natural choice to me is stay with the design & either use 1.5mm sheets or 3 1mm sheets, but with the lack of depth might not look as good, also I got the feeling wood wouldn't fit in with it all so if I did go that route I'd make it all out of aluminium, colours used in this example are titanium, grey & black, kinda looks good to me but I would love to throw some nice colour into the project, this is like a black & white movie so if I did go this way I'd have to put a good colour scheme together & think the perfect colour scheme would come in the form of paints, not anodising. :D

But having said that I could smooth off the ends so instead of having a frame around them they simply smooth & blend off to the edges as a rounded bevel edge, certainly a crazy amount of work though doing 2 more of these panels & would add more weight to the top half.

As for colouring I think paint would be the best way because I can pick from an infinite range of colours & do some blending to form a real nice colour scheme, the range of colours on offer at the anodisers is very limited & know I could really broaden the range of colours if I DIY the anodising, would be a really sweet skill to gain also, would make me completely self sufficient at all my creating.

1 Thing I like about not using the wood is I'll be dealing with materials I know won't be prone to splitting/chipping/warping, never made panels from slithers of wood before but I am up for giving it a shot, this alternative look is not a sure thing yet, I just explored the option a little. ;)

I particularly like the look of it from a looking up at it angle, looks chunky & pretty badass. :D

Intended look comparison.

And back to the project, on the last episode.

I aim to get this panel done today & know it's very doable with taking out all the tiny cut outs first, they might not take the longest to do but they require more concentration to do. :)

HTPC back panel. :)

I'll do the back gamer panel next.

Looking good! Can't wait to see all sides together!

I wish I had this much free time...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aldersan

Looking good! Can't wait to see all sides together!

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Thanks Aldersan neither can I mate. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fuganater

I wish I had this much free time...

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Lifes tricky, either too little time but got money, waaaaaay too much free time & virtually no money. :?:facepalm:

Thinking update. :D

Slacked off yesterday :D spent a bunch of time working out what direction this is going in, I'm not mad keen on doing 3mm doubled panels but might if I can dig deep enough to do those again :D & thin panels wouldn't create the reflection or shadow thing as much but I found doing panel surfaces whatever colour I will & keep all the edges nicely sanded & raw, creates a nice effect overall.

And had a go at the feet design, 30mm high, as deep as the gaming rig & a little bit wider, combination of 10mm plate alu, 6mm rod, 3mm rod all interlocked together. :)

I do believe I'll make these overkill feet. :D

Not overkill. Functional.

So, when are you going to ship it to me???????

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fuganater

Not overkill. Functional.

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:) I have just toned it down a little. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AmEv

So, when are you going to ship it to me???????

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:D

Slight revision of the feet, when cheapskate says he thinks it's too crazy it really must be :D so I removed the rods, added a full length middle support & made it less wide & it all still interlocks nicely, so much so that it might not even need any bolts other than to fix to the base of the rig, this was 1 of the other neat things I was thinking of when deciding to buy the scroll saw, nicer ways of putting things together, not just nice detail panels. ;)

Now to carry on with the cutting, I think that back gamer panel might take a while. :D

Started with a fresh 12 pack of blades to see if I could manage doing the back gamer panel with just those.

Problemo, but spotted before I mucked up beyond recovery, the bottom right cut outs in this shot don't line up with the next row, the row beyond that do though, I already done the starting drill points a while ago now but I think I can salvage it by tweaking the design just enough to let me get away with the mistake, I started trying to manually do it but it's a bit too technical to do anywhere near as good as I could if I tweak the design to fix it & then print & stick it over (still got no drawing aids), they are definitely a bit too much out of flow for my liking, wouldn't even be noticed on normal shots but on macro shots it sure would & I'd like to do a ton of photos of this once it's done so instead of completing this panel now I have to fix the design, print, stick, then continue. :D

Here is what I got cut today though so far. :)

Error in the back gamer panel pattern that I couldn't go ahead with, some of them were out of place by as much as 3.5mm, you have to look close at it to really see it. :eek:

Fixed & added an extra cut out because there was room for 1. :D

Off to print this fixed one & very carefully stick it over the faulty one, retained all the drill start holes in original place too, a spanner in the works nicely pulled out just in time. :D