zomg, idea. You should give the PC a textured finish. What's the mood of the theme?Quote:
Originally Posted by Omega
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zomg, idea. You should give the PC a textured finish. What's the mood of the theme?Quote:
Originally Posted by Omega
Quote:
Originally Posted by progbuddy
going to try to keep it relatively smooth and simple but sophisticated. Hence the lack of a power or reset button on the front and the plan to stealth everything.
Update:
I just had an idea. On page two, I suggested well hidden power & reset buttons. well, i just remembered, with the current gear in SuperNova (which would go into ArgDawn, btw), i can boot via a keyboard shortcut.
I have, uh, 77$? Yeah! 77!
Tomorrow i'm going to head over to Lowes to grab a respirator (I kinda need one, i've been breathing bondo), and choose out the bolts or whatnot for the window.
The idea of bolts raises the question agian, to myself:
Where the hell am I going with thos mod?
I want to have a robust look, sure, but I also want it to be subtle and sophisticated. I smell alot more bondo work... of course, then agian, all I can smell is bondo.
I'd also like to thank all of you who read this thread. I obviously haven't done too much work to ArgDawn and it's a 9 pages -- that's alot of ideas and comments and probably spam too.
Thanks,
Omega
Picked up 8 5/16ths bolts with a nice head to 'em. they're pretty rough but a little sanding and paint will make 'em match the mod.
Also got meself a dual side bastard file, one side is double cross, the other is single cross. Gonna use that to smooth off the window edges.
Oh yeah, Also got 5 CF Reinforced cutoff wheels, so i can get away from those uninforced sand cutoff wheels that pretty much shatter when you touch anything but paper =/
EDIT:
Oh now I gotta think about what color to paint the bolts, either Black for a little contrast to the dark blue case or Silver for alot of contrast to the case, keep in mind the bolts wlll be noticeable either way
-Well, to my dismay, I've found out that i can't effectively bolt the window on. What's this mean? Either foam tape or Silicone sealant, probably the latter. Get the window closer to the panel and have a nice smooth side. Just can't take it off without re-adhering it =/
-Still gotta file the metal so the edges are straight and look nice, before i paint and install the window.
-Cannabalizing another case (it had no sides, top, or mobo tray, and it's kind of a flimsy case to start with) so i can acquire fan mounts and maybe drive racks. I have pictures of what i've done so far about this. I think, firday night when i did this, i might have pissed off me neighbors, too. High pitched metal drilling noise and also rather high-pitched dremel cutting noise isn't always "pleasant" >=D
-Gotta put ArgDawn back under the knife soon (which also means to stop using it as a carrying case for all the fans i plan on using for mock-up and the bondo can and stuff in it =/)
Pcitures:
My reinforced cutting wheels are so high-quality, they use actual dremels to reinforce them. Oh yeah.
Same Omega, same "Dremel", same glove (lost the other one!), same glasses, same hat, more moustache, more hair >=D (Yes, this is actually me, the man behind the madness. As for the hat, those little gold round things are the undersides of pushpins. Pretty metal if you ask me. I took another picture before this one but it much sucked: Suckage) And yes, I am intentionally throwing up the horns with my dremel hand. Well, something had to hold the camera!
Back to buisness: Marked out where i want to cut out that fan mount. It's nifty, it has 80mm, 92mm, and 120mm screw holes.
Marked out where i want to cut the dual 80mm fan mounts. Most likley going to use those on the back of ArgDawn, where the single 80mm is. Perhaps i'll make this piece protrude out the back a little bit, just to be different.
The bit I used to drill out the rivets. When I took this picture i was actually thinking of the caption "Never guess what size bit to use on rivets, it won't work". Well, it turned out that the bit wasn't at fault but rather the Drill Battery was (lol owned).
General picture of the case. This is before I did anything really signifigant (The most damage I did was i notched the support bar going across the back to test my dremel before actual use).
Some rivets drilled out (See the divot with the two empty holes? There were two rivets there, holding in a support which attached to the back and bottom panels. One of these supports is in the front, too).
More Pics:
One of like, 6 of my Makita Drill Batteries charging next to my "Dremel" which is just taking a breather (The damn thing gets hot).
Kinda blurry, but this is my Makita 30th Anneversary Cordless drill. :D Used to have the non-anneversay edition before (that's why we have so many batteries, they're the same kind) but this one has more gears and also the rubberized grip. Pretty torquey, too.
While the drill was charging, I had the idea to put the drill bit in the "Dremel". It worked, but not well. =/
Here's where I stopped; After I cut off the PSU mount. At this point in time, the case is in like, alot of pieces, but not completely dismantled.
I'm gonna go mangle that case some more, get those freakin' fan mounts off of it =D
Back later.
-Omega
Ah, man, I have no idea how much stainless steel and carbon fiber i've inhaled recently, but i can't smell anything right =/
pissin me off.
Anywho, finished cutting out all the fan mounts. I'll work them down to the size i want later. I'll also post pics later.
-Omega
Maybe you should see a doctor having that stuff in your lungs is badQuote:
Originally Posted by Omega
Cool can't wait to see some more pics.
Yeah, having it in there's bad but i'll get overQuote:
Originally Posted by simon275
'sides, most of it gets trapped inside my mucus, which doesn't really affect me.
Actually it will affect you. Granted it takes years to see the effect and everyone is effected to different degrees. I study lots of pathology and pneumoconiosis is serious, even done an autopsy on a guy who had a silicone variant, not a pretty death. It's so easy to use a respirator or even a tissue mask which greatly reduces expose, it's really worth doing.Quote:
Yeah, having it in there's bad but i'll get over
'sides, most of it gets trapped inside my mucus, which doesn't really affect me.
Well, another "hey, I have money" post. This time, 60$ or so, but that'll probably be used to buy a fuel pump for my car.
Anywho...
Haven't really worked on ArgDawn. I got some CCFL's that were in Supernova but the wires closer to the molex connector were pretty ****ed up so I cut them off and found a molex splitter that I'll modify a little bit. What's all this nonsense mean? ArgDawn's gonna have some on/off blue goodness. Oh yes.
Here's the problem, however. Is the brightness and crap. I want to put a frosted cover over the CCFLS, but I don't want to have the side effects of just the cover glowing and not really lighting everything else, but I want the light to be dim enough that the LED Backlighting is noticeable.
Also, does anybody know if a computer case is grounded? I mean, I know they are, but I'm kind of confused on this damn switch I have. Ah well, I'll figure this damn thing out and hopefully won't break it in the process.
I'm thinking about taking part of the top off (after you remove the panel, remember, this case isn't normal) and making my own little box thing for switches and buttons (Switches for lights, Mobo backlighting and the CCFLs, Buttons for Power/Reset/maybe some soundbox from an action figure or something random like that).
Thanks and stay tuned,
Omega
Geuss what, bitches?
I got me a Lazer LED for that rumored motherboard backlighting, and I want to do bondo work soon, too.
Also got me some metal primer, so that I can prepare the case for painting, after I dismantle it, of course.
So, I just did a little bit of work to the window edges on the side panel. Not much -- 'cause it's 10:30 (been working lightly for an hour or so) and files agianst cases are, well, loud. So I've mainly been using low grit sandpaper and the file -- but filing slowly. I think I've taken off a few mm from the bulge along the top line.
Enough chit-chat, picture time:
Money! More than I've had to my name before -- well, since last year anyways (I worked for, and saved up, 250$ last year to buy my sister a PS2 for Christmas). I'm holding 190$ in that picture. I spent around 50$ on new wheels/bearings for my skateboard (65mm Sector 9 wheels, ABEC 5 Bones Reds bearings, real smooth), but got paid back some money people owed me.
Another money shot -- you can see 150$ and my Visa Check Card -- Which has, like, 3 cents on it. =D
My "Workbench". It's actually a collapsible table, plastic with a metal frame. As you can see, I'm not working with the highest quality stuff or in the best enviroment. I was going to vacuum it off with that giant ass vacuum underneath the table (you can't see it), but the circuit it was on blew and I'm too lazy to fix it =/
Washable sandpaper sponge block thing. It's like, 60 grit. Pretty useful for bondo work, but not really for metal.
80mm exhaust fan ports make baby Paul Capello cry. I will, however, remedy the situation with some dremel and drill work. Later.
The hole where the 120mm intake fan will go. It's not perfect -- especially the fact that the two grilles that are there pop out meaning that getting a fan grille there will be a pain in the ass. The solution? Well, I'm thinking an acrylic fan box for the 120mm, and some metal work to replace that front part with a nice, flat, 28 gauge sheet metal canvas. But that'll have to wait for school to start up again and for me to finish my current shop project -- my Longboard (4ft long, 8in wide, 10 ply poplar wood, it's pretty nice).
I posted in another thread how I hacked apart another case for fan/psu mounts and so forth (it lacked a mobo tray anyways). Here's one of those fan mounts, with 120mm, 92mm, and 80mm fan holes. This is what I'm going to use for fan hole markings.
Before I even started with the worklog, I played around with the idea of a window in the top of the case. Those are the markings I made for it, or rather where to put it inside. I doubt that I'd have a giant rectangle on top of the case, probably something rounder and more suiting.
And that being said, I also thought about doing a window on the side behind the motherboard, a logo or something, to frost and illuminate. I figured I would entertain those ideas to an extent, so I masked the two parts off. And since the side panels can go on either side, I just mounted it so it would be easier to photograph.
Filing the little lump next to the curve down at the bottom there. I figure I probably gotta get a rounded file as well for the curves -- It'd be a bitch to do that with sandpaper, especially since my dremel job wasn't exactly strait...
That damn iPod nano agian. Just kidding, I love this thing. It's ****ing sweet. 8gb, all black, color screen, and it's light as hell. not to mention, the screen is nice. Guess what band I'm listening to?
Do not anger the omega, for he has access to weighted blunt objects with handles. (I'm holding the file, btw)
See that little nub thingy on the curve? That thing is annoying -- especially because I can't file it down right now D=
...And here's the case, as I am leaving it for tonight. As you can see, I've begun to take the paint off somewhat -- but I'm probably going to buy a power sander or borrow one from my school's shop. I'm sure my shop teacher would be willing to trust me with one =/
Oh, an afterthought: I'll probably go by Lowes tomorrow to acquire some cheap-o sander, sandpaper, and hopefully a cheap 76mm holesaw and it's close-to-but-under-120mm equivalent. But, knowing Lowes, it'll be like 50$ for the holesaws (each), but they'll be nice. Ah well.
I also think I might pick myself up a pop rivet gun and poprivets so I can re-assemble the case after I prime and paint it.
Okay, so here's the mod-plan so far.
Side Window (In Progress)
120mm Front Blowhole (In Progress)
120mm Rear Exhaust (Queued)
80mm/120mm top exhaust (Queued)
Custom motherboard Backlighting (Queued)
Hidden Start/Reset switches and Power/HDD LED's (Planning)
Logo window/lighting (Planning)
Paint Job (Planning)
Custom Air flow system (Planning)
Custom wire management system (Planning)
(Obviously, In Progress means I'm working on it now, Queued means I know how and where I am going to do it an probably will soon, and Planning means I have the idea but no practical application and/or I have not designed it yet).
Thanks for reading and stay tuned,
Omega
Nirvana! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Omega
That damn iPod nano agian. Just kidding, I love this thing. It's ****ing sweet. 8gb, all black, color screen, and it's light as hell. not to mention, the screen is nice. Guess what band I'm listening to?
Do not anger the omega, for he has access to weighted blunt objects with handles. (I'm holding the file, btw)
See that little nub thingy on the curve? That thing is annoying -- especially because I can't file it down right now D=
...And here's the case, as I am leaving it for tonight. As you can see, I've begun to take the paint off somewhat -- but I'm probably going to buy a power sander or borrow one from my school's shop. I'm sure my shop teacher would be willing to trust me with one =/
@ 2nd picture: Dude, youre scaring me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ESX
Heh. Yeah, I ususally take a picture of myself when I'm modding, just for the hell of it.
Alright! I'm tooled up and ready to rumble. I just spent 93$ on tools, here's the list
"Task Force" Power sander
some generic rounded file
Arrow Poprivet gun
Arrow 1/8th inch poprivets, aluminium
3m Sandpaper, 80, 120, and 160 grit
Kobalt multitool
Oh, and a warranty extension for 5$ on the sander, another year for 5$ seems worth it to me, I mean, this is going to be used quite a bit...
Anywho, I'm tired right now. So I figure I'll check the balance on my bank account then go ahead and make up a list on newegg of parts I need, mainly fans. Maybe I'll head up to TAP sometime soon for acrylic epoxy and 1/8th acrylic pieces for that 120mm fanbox...
Oh, and I just bought two 120mm blue LED fans (Intake and Exhaust on ArgDawn) and a ThermalTake Big Typhoon CPU cooler 'cause this Zalman isn't cutting it.
EDIT: And I expect the package to get here about mid to end-week. Spiffy.
Oh, and unless I go mod right now (which I won't, I need a shower), ArgDawn is on temporary haitus until, oh, tuesday or so. 'Tis the season, after all.
Alright, well, forget Tuesday. It's Christmas day, and I wanna mod, god damnit!
In a few minutes, I'll gather up my tools, grab the case and an extension cord, then do some work on the deck (mainly paint stripping of that one side panel... Still trying to deicde on a window/blowhole for the top or other side).
Anywho, Merry Christmas to all of you, especially those reading this. :santa:
Alright, so.
The paint is stripped off of that side panel (god, that took FOREVER, even with a power sander), and the edges are straight (for the most part), and the curves are curved! I couldn't be happier.
After Newegg credits my account, I'll probably get some stuff from MNPCtech. Just some cheap stuff.
cant wait to see it!...been watchin this for a while now :)
Yeah. It's starting to move along again.Quote:
Originally Posted by b4i7
After newegg credits my account, I hope to get plexiglass for a 120mm fanbox for the intake fan, and sheetmetal to redo the metal that's there.
EDIT: Oh, and I see a frame-off happening in the near future for paint. Assuming I keep up this pace, I'm thinking it'll happen during the week.
Images! (the ones I have, anyways):
Starting to look really nice!
This edge, too, is getting nicer.
The bottom and left edges are really nice now, with the exception of that little lump near the curve on the bottom edge. I don't have a picture, but that lump is gone now.
This curve was being a complete bitch. It didn't want to take on a nice curve shape. That is, of course, until I took the power sander to it.
And the final picture for now...
I had drilled out one of the old rivets to see if the new ones would fit... and you're looking at one of the new ones. Also, I was wrong, I didn't get 1/8th Aluminum rivets, I got 1/8th Steel. Good thing, too, because Aluminum rivets suck balls. I know from experience.
There we go.
That's the case panel, as it is (and where it is, on my bed).
Looking good bro. Keep it up.
Thanks man.Quote:
Originally Posted by docturtle
The weather here at my house has improved greatly, it's sunny and the wind isn't blowing anymore. What does this mean?
Well, it means I better find my 1/8ths drill bit and frame off/prime soon. Even if the case sits primed for awhile because I have no paint, It's still a step in the right direction.
Also, after I find that ****ing drill bit, I can do the metalwork on the front of the case.
Oh, and I ordered some stuff from thinkgeek and have about 30$ left, I hope to get 40$ this weekend (or more, possibly), and then go get acrylic.
I'm gonna go hunt down that 1/8th drill bit, go down the the garage, and set up a nice little place for me to prime that side panel and do metal work.
Although I'll probably only do the metal work tonight and do the priming on new year's day. huzzah!
(I'm gone for the weekend and not going to work on the case sunday night... so...)
It's New Year's Eve, and I have an update for you! Huzzah!
(All Pictures are Thumbnails, click for bigger version)
Remember how I said I was going to put mesh behind the blowhole? Well, I figured since my workbench was nice and ready for use, I'd get to work. Here you can see the white masking tape (<3!) that I used to mark out the circle.
aaaaand here's the back to that mesh panel thingy. You can see I've cut just about half of it.
Shazam! There's the mesh, cut and fitted inside the intake. Looks pretty good to me. I will sand, prime, and paint it soon. The first part to get all 3. Oh, and I'll probably hold it in with superglue or something. I don't expect it to deal with too much stress.
I was talking about how I was going to cut the front to make room for new metal, and here's some Masking tape before the cut!
A friend took a picture of me while I was taking a break. God, I'm such a loony.
Just playing with my little portable fluorescent light thingy
I normally mark "Cut Here" in case I leave and somehow forget (actually happened once, please stifle your laughter) where to. I was bored and figured I'd put the date, my name (The Greek letter Omega, which is that funny O looking thing), and a shout-out to TBCS.
My iPod Nano playing Metallica.
The cut's done! (Moot-side-note: I actually lowered the line at the top of the cut, I figured it would be useless to have a 1 or 2mm sliver of metal left, not enough room for rivets)
Where the rivets will go. I figure I'll probably use less, though. Either 1 or 3 per side.
Front of the case w/ the mesh inside the blowhole and the giant gaping hole in the front of the case cut. I think it looks nifty.
And a better picture of it.
(All Pictures are Thumbnails, click for bigger version)
Happy new year, TBCS.
-Omega
Well, after thinking about the definition of Argent (It's a shade of silver), I figure I may as well use "Silver Dawn" as opposed to "Argent Dawn". I might, I might not.
I probably will, though. "Silver Dawn" has a special sort of mysticism to me and so does this case.
Looking good Omega, +Rep.
Man, you go through a lot of sigs. :)
-Dave
Lovin it so far cant wait to see the rest :D
Man, this is looking great! Very nice bondo work, I wish I could do that.
Heh, yeah I do. I greatly prefer image sigs, however.Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveW
Thanks for the +rep, Dave.
Thanks man!Quote:
Originally Posted by sirkillalot617
Quote:
Originally Posted by .Maleficus.
Here's the thing... If you can mix stuff, put it on something in less than two minutes or so, then sand it to the shape you want, you can do bondo work. It's not quite hard, but it is a lot of sanding. I really suggest, that if you do work with it, wear a dust mask.
EDIT:
Haha, forgot to add this last night =/
Anywho, as you can kinda see at the top of the blowhole in the second picutre, there's a slight hole where I messed up dremeling (whoops). My mom had the Idea to put it on the top of the hole where most people won't see it.
If anybody here knows how I can remedy that situation sans JB Weld or Bondo, please, do tell.
And no, I don't have the scraps.
Alright. So, the plan is today to measure how much room I have to put the new piece of metal there, cut it, place it, then mark the fan hole for the 120mm, drill the screw holes, go to town with the dremel to make the fan hole itself, make that nice and smooth (uh-duh), and probably prime that piece of mesh I have for the blowhole.
Then, if I have time (and patience), do the same thing for the back of the case. Make it take a 120mm fan (as opposed to the 80mm fan mount it has at the moment). That would involve drilling, marking, and dremeling.
Last but not least, if I can, decide if I want to put a design on the opposite side of the case. I really need to figure that out. I also need to figure out if I am going to put a 120mm or 92mm blowhole on the top of the case as a top-exhaust fan.
I figure I should really, however, try to finish external work (Priming the side panel that I have stripped, deciding to or making the design, etc) before I do frame work (New fan holes, new metal, etc).
Ah well. I may just spend the day going to a friend's house and partying like it's 2007.
Woot!!!
Metallica!!
The Project seems to be coming along really well, Omega.
Keep it up--I know how it is when you only have 50 a week.....
Just got me a leather trenchcoat (FTW)!
That being said, I am a member of a US First Robotics team (Technology High School, Team 675) and it's build season (The 6 weeks where geeks build a robot to complete a challenge and compete agianst other teams, proceeding to lose sleep, food, and personal time in exchange for mental and physical stress), and Robotics is my top priority. I'm helping build the Chassis, and, well, I'm the only 2nd Year builder on the Chassis team (Somebody has to teach the freshman) and I am the Pneumatics team (One-man Army FTW) so I will be quite busy.
That being said, The progress we're making on the Robot (Which I will call Bess for now) is quite nice. I may make a thread about it.
i love the Turbine. thats some Great Bondo Work. and the Side panel is Really nice. i like how you dident stick with the standard Shaped window.
not trying to sound mean murader but your talking about that guy with bondo as his sig for as long as ive been on the forums up until now lolQuote:
Originally Posted by Murader
I eagerly awaiting an update oh and armadilloben i must have killed about 30 kittens iv read ur sig that much
Thanks. =]Quote:
Originally Posted by Murader
Just because I had Bondo as my sig doesn't mean I'm good with it. It just means I like it.Quote:
Originally Posted by armadilloben
I'm projecting the next update sometime in late march... =/Quote:
Originally Posted by sirkillalot617
