Sandcrawler project

*EDIT* - As of February 2010, this build is sponsored by Danger Den and Out of the Box Mods (see pages 14 and later for incorporation of the water cooling parts supplied by these sponsors). I've also posted newer pics below so if you're seeing this for the first time you can see what it looks like now as opposed to when I started this thread. I'll add another updated pic or two after more significant progress, and after it's done.

Hi all, I'm new to the forum here, and had posted some questions on LEDs in one of the other sections. I decided to post this thread so y'all can see what I'm working on. Short version - a 3 foot long, 1.5 foot tall sandcrawler that doubles as my computer case. The only actual case part in it is a metal motherboard tray, which is mounted on 4 wood blocks that raise it up about an inch and half. My slim slot-loading DVD drive is partially under the raised motherboard, and I was able to route most of the wires under the board. I'm posting a link to a photobucket slideshow, since there's well over 100 photos in there. the model itself is nearing completion, but I need to re-wire the lights (see this thread http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/f...093#post267093 for more details), and then I need to finish rebuilding the back section (first version of it wasn't very accurate), detailing the outside, build the inside areas, paint it, weather it...etc etc...

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Taken October 23, 2009:

taken March 8, 2010:

btw, it's wider than the film model. It had to be a certain width, about 17 inches, to fit the computer, and I didn't have space to make it proportionally long and tall. so the length and height are one scale, and the width is a different scale, but only the main panels are stretched. detail work of course will not be, cuz that'd just look weird.
This is also the 3rd version I've made. The first 2 were based on really bad reference material, and dimensionally were way off.

big project ! ! unusual material choice to house a pc heat could be a prob maybe ?. but that said it is exellent work and big credit for imagination and modeling skillz respect from skynet a+++. :banana::stupid: who drives this r2d2 or the cat lol.

Thanks! yeah, heat's an issue. it actually was pretty manageable til I stuck the arctic cooler in there, without thinking that gee...all that extra heat it's pulling from the vid card has to go somewhere LOL....oh well. I've cut extra holes in the bottom of the fan chamber so a good portion of the hot air blowing off the video card can go straight out the top, instead of getting blown back toward the PSU. the reason for MDF is it's the only thing I could find that A) was easy to work with (since I live in an apt. and don't have any kind of machine/wood shop available, nor do I have those kind of tools), and B) was relatively lightweight and strong. And yeah.... the cat's definitely the driver... :P

Ah, I knew I was forgetting something; the fans. You mentioned in the picture comments that all 4 fans are blowing out. If you switch two of those to pull air in instead, you'll probably get better temps. The idea is to get as close as possible a neutral balance, so that you have a continuous stream of air coming in, and a continuous stream blowing out.

I forgot to mention, I do have 1 fan that still blows air in, right at the video card. the problem I had before was the ones blowing air down onto the computer, were doing so in the direct path of hot air coming up off the video card, and I think the two were cancelling each other out. I've cut a new opening in the redesigned back so the PSU now vents straight out the back, which should help. it's an ongoing process, to say the least :) I'll start thinking about what I can do to have fans blowing in again.

here's a couple updated photos; there's also a few more here:
http://s597.photobucket.com/albums/t...view=slideshow

Awesome! I'll definitely be following this project! Welcome to TBCS!

Nice project

Ambitious project, and coming along fairly well. :up: +rep

NICE! when i saw the title i was like "plz say its THAT sandcrawler :D epic!.. cant wait for more:) (just watched the entire slideshow lol.. great work!)