Re: Integration Project: Stage 1
Worklog Time!
It rained on my parade today-literally. So I cut out these. It took hours, and I don’t even know if it was worth it or not. Hopefully it was. They’ve not been tidied up yet: I was hoping for a sort of before and after shot here, but that didn’t work out for me, mostly because I couldn’t find my small file.
I finally found my tin snips, and cut the mesh for the front panel. I’d hammer it into shape but the closest thing to an anvil is the concrete slabs in my back stairs. No good to me in the rain. So, that’s me for the night. Overall, a poor day. As soon as the rain stops I’ll paint the case and start assembling this puppy.
I’ve not been doing too well health wise recently, so I’m taking the night off to play some World of Warcraft with my brother; if you’re interested, search for Daedalus and Salizar (I’m Salizar) tonight on the Moonglade Realm. More updates to come…watch this space.
-Dave
Re: Integration Project: Stage 1
Worklog Time!
Boy, did I have a messed up day today. First off…the sun came out for the first time in a week. So I thought I’d take the chance and paint the case. Which…turned out not to be such an easy thing to do after all. First off, I didn’t want to dismantle the case so I…
…put it through the dishwasher. Didn’t think it would work? To be honest, I wasn’t so sure myself. It came out looking like…this!
Yeah, I know. It looks exactly the same. But, it cleaned up those really hard to reach areas. So now, I take it out into the garden and prime the case. This photo was taken before I’d finished priming it, It seems I neglected to take all the necessary photos today.
So after the first coat of primer, I discover a variety of beasties attached to the primer. Which sucked. So I cleaned up that mess, and then got on with the next coat. I walked inside, and 10 minutes later, I look out the window…Magpies are attacking my damn case! 3 of the b*stards! I actually grabbed my camera to try and take a photo, but I scared them away. So I kept a close eye on it after the 3rd coat…and then it decided to rain.
So at this point I gave up, took some old curtains, set up in the back room, and started the orange.
Obviously it’s not finished, but this is as far as I’m getting tonight. Watch this space tomorrow, the coat should be finished by then. I’ll be on WOW tomorrow, I didn’t even get a chance to play last night, what with the 500mb patch that seems to be hosted on the world’s slowest servers…so if you fancy a bit or RP with Salizar, the grumpy old gnome, give me a search randomly between 9am and 5pm tomorrow.
-Dave
Re: Integration Project: Stage 1
Worklog Time!
Ok, I’ve almost finished the paintjob. I found the clear coat really difficult to apply-it came out so fast, compared to the tins of paint-so much so that I ended up with over spray all over the place. I’m sure it will tidy up ok, but I need to be careful with the final coat when i’m doing the external paintjob. I’ll probably think about re-formatting my computer soon and installing all the hardware into my new case soon. I’m going to order in some cold cathode tubes so that I can finish off all the features and things. Anyway, here’s the pics-enjoy.
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dude, do you not have a garage or something? :P
thats where im gonna paint mine. i got some "bin bag suits" me and my friend made a while back.
I haven't got a garage, i work out of the cellar normally. But i'm hoping to get a kick ass workshop much like Paul Capello has sometime before Christmas.
Thanks for keeping me going guys, keep the feedback coming! ;)
-Dave
Re: Integration Project: Stage 1
Worklog time!
Hey Silverdemon, liked your colour scheme! I had already planned to use those colours but seeing your mod just re-enforced that in my mind. Thanks for dropping by. ;)
Unfortunately, I have lot to write, and as my computer is in pieces at the moment, I want to get this done fast. So it’s going to be mostly pictures. Like you care, you lazy gets. ;)
First up! Prepped up the case. It looks a hell of a lot better now, that no-one can deny. Look earlier in the log to see what a mess these panels were.
So I cut out the mesh, and started to stick it in with that horrible chemical metal. It was a mess. I even broke one of my clamps trying to get it all together before the crap dries. You can see how little of the mesh is actually attached at this point.
So I’m trying to get the side panel seamlessly joined to the case too. That didn’t work out in my favour much either. Look at the state of the mess.
Then…woman to the rescue! My girlfriend Kimberley suggests that instead of trying to apply it with chopsticks, I apply it with her little device. Some sort of cooking squeegee. All I need to do is mix the crap, get it into the corner of a plastic bag, cut a hole, and squeeze. So simple, so elegant, so cheap…so mod-tastic (now an official word)!
Using that, I cleaned up the front panel a bit.
And finished off the side panel.
Here’s a close up of the quality of the finish that something so simple can give.
And finally, one side done without, and one side done with:
Some parts of the computer I’ve started to spray paint. I must admit that the clear coats keep making a mess of my paintjob! I’m not sure about them anymore. I’m probably going to have to sand it down and re-finish it if I want a good finishing coat of paint. It looks great in the photos, but there’s a lot of imperfections up close…you’ll see them when I can be bothered taking better pictures.
Anyway, that’s all for this ‘little’ update. Watch this space, I hope to get the hardware installed, up and running by Friday, and maybe get this mod finished (apart from the electronics) by sometime next Monday-ish.
I’ve ordered in a small 80GB Seagate Barracuda SATA300 drive to put my OS and programs on, and that way, I can keep my other drive for files. I’ve also ordered in another 1GB pair of Corsair RAM, giving me a total of 4*512sticks of DDR3200 memory. I can’t wait to over clock the processor and get some serious gaming done!
I’ve also heard that you can play WOW in dual screen, which I’ll give a try soon too.
Well, that’s all for now. Catch you later, and wish me luck.
-Dave
Re: Integration Project: Stage 1
Worklog Time!
Quote:
i have this brand around.. stay away..
There's nothing actually wrong with the brand, it's just that this product sucks when it comes to case modding. Wish i could get my hands on some proper bondo, but i can't find it in the UK anywhere.
Ok, this is a long one. You might want to take this chance to get a cup of tea and a biscuit or something, cos this is going to stretch the limits of what i'm allowed in a single post...and the limits of what you guys will actually look at!
I'll try and keep it straightforward: I always attempt to keep it to the smallest possible text & pictures with the maximum of information. This time, some stuff might get skipped. If there's anything you want to see, or anything you need to know about, just ask me and i'll include it in the next worklog update-which might be tonight.
Ok, first up! I took the clamps off my front door frame and finished off one (just one for now) of my fan grills. It doesn't look too bad at all, so my fears were somewhat unfounded it would seem.
I'm glad the front's going so well, the only major flaw is in the top right hand corner-you wouldn't notice it unless i pointed it out to you anyway, i don't think.
I have this little latch to hold the door closed.
And i found this unwanted IKEA door handle lying around as well. I should get IKEA to sponsor this to be honest, i seem to use a lot of their stuff...
So with the help of my Dad (who reads this, and comes over to help me out from time to time) we installed the handle onto the side of the door. Which went a lot easier than i expected and looked better than i could hope. First up, a close up of the perfect fit...
...and a photo of the door with the handle.
So now onto the hinges. I sanded and cleaned up the side panel, but i don't seem to have a photo of it. So you'll just have to accept that i did it. The door and panel were held in place by my brother while i used a hot glue gun to attach the hinges. Unfortunately, they fell off the door almost instantly, and i had to do them twice: the metal is too smooth i think. Anyway, that's the moot point because i'm putting the chemical metal arround the hinges.
Finally, i installed the chemical metal and left it to dry. Here's some pics of it. It looks a mess now, but i'm hoping for great results when i've sanded it down.
Then I got buzy with the soldering iron. I removed The buttom from one DVD drive, and installed in it's place 2 brightly coloured wires. (Red and orange). This is it desoldered...
...and after i attached the wires again....
...and re-assembled.
I did the same to the other more expensive DVD rewritter, but there was a problem: by this point, the iron had become dirty and the solder wouldn't flow. The traces may be damaged and i haven't got a clue about how to fix it. It's a problem i'll get around to fixing. Either way, here the drives are!
I've also finished modifying my Zalman Fanmate-although i've run into a problem. I was certain that i had 2 zalman fanmates, but i only have one, so i'll need to make my own circuit for the other dial, which is going to be a little messy most likely.
First off, i removed the pot that i burned out earlier.
The fanmate from above.
Then, i attached some wires. Red and Black seemed to suit the mood.
And i finally re-attached the housing. It looks allright, if i do say so myself.
Finally, at the end of the night, i started putting my cards backtogether, but only got as far as setting up the Zalman GPU cooler. It's not as tricky as it's made out to be, and if i can ever get a freaking minute, i'll do a review on the front page for it. Also, i was too busy messing around with the camera to take a proper photo so you're stuck with this 'interesting' piccy.
If you've made it this far, then well done! That's all for today. I'll see if i can get more done on this mod today and will update either tonight or tommorow morning. My package arrived from Scan computers today, and i can't wait to get it all opened up and installed. Watch this space...it's mod-tastic ;)
-Dave
Re: Integration Project: Stage 1
Worklog Time!
Quote:
LOL lovin the solder sucker. did you get that in a Real Robots kit? Cos i got one just like it.
Heh...yes. It's my brothers but i've stolen it.
Quote:
one thing a can ad is that it would be nice if you could stealth the hinge
I wanted to stealth it, but it would have been so difficult-i eventually decided, why not make a feature out of it? I'm hoping it will look sweet when it's all finished up.
So it's a disaster again. I mever checked that the Zalman Power Flower would sit nice with the rest of my hardware. It doesn't. Damn.
And I re-attached the backplates to my cards: as you can see here. It's not a great photo, they'll look better when installed.
That's all for now. I'm off to get some real modding done.
-Dave
Re: Integration Project: Stage 1
Worklog Time!
I don't want to let the photos build up and build up, so i'll post these and be done with it.
I installed the little bit of plexi into the top of the case, and then attached it to the frame. Some hot glue did the trick very nicely. I picked up 24 sticks of hot glue for £2 (about $3.50) the other day (Thanks Dad) and i'll probably be using that to install all of the windows and stuff.
Then, i installed the hardware just to be certain that everything will fit. Let me assure you that these photos don't do this case justice. I never in my wildest dreams thought that it would look this cool when i put it together. I can't wait to finish this off-if the rest comes out looking like this, it's going to be amazing.
That's all for now. I'll be working on a one-off project so watch the project worklogs for that appearing maybe tonight or tommorow.
-Dave
Re: Integration Project: Stage 1
Talk Time!
I'm behind Schedule. So sue me.
I've been working on another mod altogether-and i've completed it in 2 days time. It's the replacement for the pink computer that i posted earlier, and i'm making a beginner's worklog for it so you can see how i did it-it's already run into 4 and a half pages of text and 165 photographs (including a movie) so i'm going to need to chop bits off.
Still not sure what to do with it, I'll probably host a copy here, maybe send a copy to CustomPC magazine and see if they want to print it. The more exposure i get for my mods, the more likely I'll be able to get companies interested in what I do.
I know that may seem over-ambitious, but i've been communicating with a certain company and let's just say that my next mod might be a lot more interesting than even i had anticipated...watch this space! I've not let you down yet, have i?
Anyway, on to the mod!
Worklog Time!
So. Where did i leave you off? I've now painted all of the panels. The paint job isn't great: I'm having trouble with clearcoat. If anyone wants to give me pointers on how to improve my technique in this department, they will be more than welcome.
I also managed to finish (mostly) the fan grilles, which actually don't look so bad.
The new Zalman Fan arrived. If anyone's interested in the old one, i'm willing to let it go for about £25, a huge price drop on a brand new Zalman Fata1ty.
I started working on the left side panel. It's a sort of diorama of sorts-it's supposed to be sort of what people would expect to see in a computer, which is usually quite far away from what's actually inside. I'm trying to go back to my childhood, before i knew what a resistor and a capacitor was-when i tried to steal peeks inside the VCR through the air grill to see what sort of cool stuff was inside. I want the side panel of the computer to be a little glimpse of that crazy dream.
I don't even know if that makes sense, so on with the pictures. Here's me testing the lights. I can run 2 lights of the same transformer, so I've got a red and a white light to make it look more interesting.
My dad also spied this in a bargain bin, and decided to get it for me. I stared at it for a short while, before i realised exactly what i wanted to do with it.
Here's a pic of the things that I'm putting in the frame.
First up, the ports at the side? They had to go. They blocked the light and were too tall. I tried de-soldering them, but that didn't work. So i dremelled them off. Which was fun. I then re-tried the stuff out.
So here's the current layout. I'm removing the top from that HD, but I've left it on to keep the dust out. I removed the transformer from it's casing and sat it inside-it takes up less room and adds to the appeal.
Then i tested it out with my other cut parts-shock horror! I miss-measured the plastic. I thought i had more left. I'm going to go out and get a new sheet tomorrow, i just hope there's some left. Plexi is hard enough to find, but Orange plexi...
So for a feature, i decided to turn the processor upside down, and then install the flashing LED's in the middle. But this would mean...drilling a hole in Processor! Dum-dum-dum! Man, is this fun!
I wasn't done with creating features yet. I wanted it more interesting. So I've cannibalized an old PSU and used the wires to make an interesting sort of switchboard thing out of the PCI array.
And i installed the LEDs. I used Humbrol Poly Cement for this: It should do the trick nicely, although the stuff doesn't half stink. Much easier than epoxy or hot glue though. You can see i also found a bit of mesh and shoved it in the RAM slot: but I'm not happy with that at all. I'll be trying to find another interesting feature for in there, although i don't want another light feature. I was thinking something along the lines of a copper coil.
Any suggestions about what to put on this old mobo to make it look more interesting will be appreciated. I've got a heap of old optical drives here and I'm probably going to use the eyes for something interesting, but the RAM slots are begging to be made into some kind of feature. I only have 35mm of clearance in total, so it would have to be small.
Well, i kept my end of the bargain, a worklog by Thursday. I want to get this done soon though, so expect more worklogs from me soon.
Over and out for now.
-Dave
Re: Integration Project: Stage 1
Worklog Time!
I've not got much done recently-but i have finished the etching on the side panel. I wanted to come up with something computery-sounding but not computery to put on the side. Lack of imagination produced TIP-3000. So i guess that's this computers name, when it's done-the TIP. Great...
Anyway. After some experimentation with plexi, i discovered 3 interesting things.
1) Prior to my previous beliefs, Plexi can take the force of a rivet without cracking, warping, or otherwise deforming.
2) I'm not much good at etching.
3) writing backwards is really hard!
Here's my practice piece.
I printed out the GIMP-modified logo and stuck it on with some spray-tack. Then, i used a scalpel to outline the lines i wanted to etch. Then, i went into the cellar and used the dremel with a flexishaft to etch in the logo.
Finally, i peeled off the backing, and viola. Overall, i'm happy enough with the outcome. It's my first realy etch, after all, so it came out pretty well considering.
Anyway, i'm hoping now to simply assemble things and that's me. As you can see above, i've mostly finished the feature on the side panel: Everything's glued intp place. For the RAM slots i eventually stripped some copper wires and put them through some hollow perspex tubing, which I glued into place.
Vacuum tubes with lights would be sweet, but i doubt there's room for them in there, and anyway, that's going to come later with any luck ;).
On a side note, i'm worried about the weight of the case-everything is over to the right hand side, and there's nothing on the left hand side to counteract it. I realised it was right-heavy when the case fell over when I was trying to position it. (Here's a hint. When you wax your desk, wait a while before you put your computer up there. It's slippier than it looks.) I just hope that with everything installed it's not an issue, because if it is, there's not really all that much I can so about it apart from putting weights on the left hand side.
Any suggestions about countering the weight would be appreciated, and i'll get some better photos up when i can find the missing latch for my tripod. Can't take photos of plexi etchings without long exposures, and i'm not touching that without some support from a tripod.
Over and out.
-Dave
Re: Integration Project: Stage 1
Worklog Time!
It's always good to polish off your metal parts before you use them. I used Silvo, a product that's fairly common in Britain but I'm not certain about America. I rubbed it on and then buffed it away with a polishing cloth.
This photo shows the difference between a polished and an unpolished piece of diamond plate. As you can see, the difference it makes is well worth the effort.
I got the electrics working as well, and tested it with a tester PSU that i modified. I'll need to actually do a proper mod so i can test these things properly, without twisting bits of wire around each other. My dad came up with this idea to raise the lighting, so i suppose I'd better give him credit. This only proves that Lego is, in fact, the greatest achievement of mankind.
So i finished the diorama...
...and stuck on the glass with hot glue. It's pretty rigid and strong, so i hope it holds. It should.
Then i loaded up the side panel. The good news is that the weight doesn't appear to be an issue. The bad news is that there's a tiny gap between the top of the panel and my own panel that I don't particularly like. Well, it's something to remember for next time at least.
Then i got to work on the right hand panel. I made an etching, and glued that on with the 'put books on it' method of glueing, tried and tested by housewives the world over. The other part of the plastic was slightly too large-so it will need cut down in the morning. I've used a knife to score the area that needs to be removed.
And finally, I leave you with a preview of the front end.
Not long to go now. Only a couple of days, with any luck-When i get this running, i'll post some of the other worklogs that i've written too.
Thanks for the feedback, watch this space! ;)
-Dave
