Motorized Madness

[rendermandan]

I have some good news and some bad news.

First the good news. here is an update on the progress.

Here is what I got in the mail yesterday. 2 turbine fans to replace the thermaltake fans in the turbine mod. and the Water temperature monitor.

I replaced the fans in the Turbine Mod. I think the fins really make it look more like a turbine.

Next are the electronics that I'm going to mount in the side motorized panel.
It consits of a SD Media card reader, USB ports and reset switch and the Temperature Monitor.

So I started to layout the placement on the panel.

then I cut the holes.

I then glued the media card reader and added some gussets for support to the back side.

Then I cut the switch board that came with the case kit to seperate the usb ports.

and I mounted them in the panel.

here is the back side.

next I de-soldered one of the reset switches.

and mounted it in the panel.

Here it is will everything so far.

and I reinstalled it back in the case.

I stil lhave to install a HDD light and some more status monitors like maybe the dvd activity light and others. -Not sure about the design of those yet.

The last small thing I did was mount one of the nose caps that came with the turbine fans onto a thermaltake fan that will become the intake fan.

Now for the bad news. The IRIS is not going to happen. Yesterday my Friend and I worked on getting the parts laser cut. Basically the machine is only a Laser etcher, not a cutter. Although it will cut through material, the time it would take and the number of passes would basically talk way too long.

there were 4 sheets total that needed to be cut. 2 sheets were .030 thick and 2 were .100 thick. We started with the .030 sheet. and after 20 minutes, it was only 1/4 of the way through the entire sheet. but that was just about 1/4 through the thickness as well. So if you run the numbers thats 80 minutes per pass X 4 passes = over 5 hours for 1 sheet. Now the .100 sheet is over 3 times as thick and would take all day to cut. so I'd be looking at around 3 days total of cutting. -keep in mind you can't tell it to run multiple passes, you have to tell it to send each pass after its done. I can't tell it to keep running all night long, and this is located at a High school on the other side of town for me. -So basically due to time restraints. I can't get the pieces cut.

Also, the piece it did etch. I noticed that the edges wern't smooth either. they were somewhat "Melted" from the laser. so I would have to sand everything down and I'd be back to where I started.

So my here are my 2 options. I can try and rebuild it from scratch and hope it works again using some other method of aligning the holes, or I can come up with a different idea to have a motorized cover over a window in my case that will still be cool, but not an Iris.

What do you guys think I should do?

[rendermandan]

small update. I got some more parts in the mail today. -power switch, sleeving kit, some elbow fittings, some servo extensions and some more hardware (nuts and washers).

I also picked up some clear printer sheets for making the button and switch iluminated labels.

FUN-FUN!

[rendermandan]

Ok, here is another update.

I worked on some of the labeling for the parts. I started with the fan controller. So I made a built a channel to enclose the leds.

Then I made the lables. Basically these are laser printed onto clear printer sheets with sticky backing. then I stuck them to a translucent piece of plastic.

here it is mounted in the panel.

and here it is lit up. I only connected 1 fan but you should get the idea.

and here it is back in the case.

Next I turned my attention to the Hard drive activity light.

This time I just cut an opening in the panel and installed the label behind it.

To illuminate it, I made a box with a hole in the back for an led.

Then I just glued it behind the panel.

While I was at it, I sleeved the led for the HDD.

Lastly, I worked on the front switch panel.

Using the same methods as before. here it is.

The center switch is the dvd eject button. I still have to install the other switches as soon as I take them out of my current case.

Later,

[rendermandan]

Hope everyone had a good Productive weekend. I did.

I added a "Logo" to the monitor panel.

and I installed the switches in the front panel. I still have to wire everyting up.

Then I turned my attention to the side panel where the IRIS was going to go. I decided to go with a different idea. One that starts to show you guys what the overall theme of this case is about. Its called motorized madness, and when I think of Motors, I think of gears. So to continue that theme, I figured I might as well have some moving gears in the case. So I drew up some gears and made a "quarter" gear that will rotate out of the way to reveal the window behind. Here is the drawing.

I cut it out using the scroll saw.

Then I drilled a hole and mounted the servo to the side panel. This will be the only thing attached to the side panel that will have to be "unplugged" when I take of the panel.

I added a thin sheet to the back side of the gear so it will hide the window.
here it attached to the servo.

From the back side you can see where the window will be. -There are 2 fan holes that will have to be closed. So I cut a small piece to fill in the Gap where the fan openenign was. and Cut out the window opening.

Then I cut a template and a piece of plexi to use for the window.

Here you can see the plexi window glued into position, and then on the front, I glued the trim plate. so you don't see the joint. This view is from the back.

Then to make it look more like a half gear, I cut out another one on the scroll saw for the bottome "Channel".

I added some sides to the bottom piece and glued it to the side panel. -Basically from the side, it looks like 1/2 of a gear, but the top rotates down into the "channnel" that is created .

Here is the side panel with everything closed.

and now with everything open.

I know alot of you are dissapointed that I coudn't get the iris to work. Believe me, I'm the most dissapointed. I tried building it 3 times and wasted about $40 in materials. but It just wouldn't close right. Every time It would be perfect in the opened position, and then get all screwed up when closed, or it wouldn't close at all. I gave a valiant effort, but at some time I had to say enough was enough and move on to a different idea. I hope everyone likes it. Its obviously a much simpler design and not as cool as the iris, but I think it ties to the theme of the case nicely.

So stay tuned. The moving panels and parts are completed, now comes the fun part of covering all of it, so you don't see it!

-Dan

[rendermandan]

Actually the labels were quite easy. I went to my local hobby lobby and picked up some clear printer label sheets with adhesive backing. -6 sheets for $10. then using photoshop I typed out the text and made a reverse image of it so the background would print black and not print the actuall lettering. Then I just printed them out and stuck them to a sheet of semi-translucent plastic. I think it was supposed to used to cut your own stencils. I got that at hobby lobby too. Then I just cut the shape to size and glued it on.

The black from the laser print looks pretty good. although i wish it were a little darker. you can kind of see through it a tada. but I can live with that. I also tried printing it twice to darken it up. but I had a hard time getting it to print in the exact spot each time. -Not sure how well it would do on an inject, or in color.

[rendermandan]

LOL, way ahead of you, here is one of my designs. The shaded areas would be windows or frosted windows as well!!! -Maybe now you understand why I started with an acrylic case?

[rendermandan]

Thanks to all of you!

I've been working on the gears.
Here is the first one.

I mounted it above the window opening and added a frosted sheet behind to give it that "translucent" feel. I also started to cover the panel where I dont' want light comming through. -Particularly around the radiator.

I orderd some mesh from MNPCTECH.com for the Radiator cover. -That should get here tomorrow.
Then I worked on cutting out some more of the gears. All that detail takes some time to cut out.

Thats it for now.

[rendermandan]

Thanks you guys!

-Wannabe, I'm using a scroll saw to cut all the gears. The holes are cut with drill bits and A stepped drill bit set.

Here is my progress over the weekend.

I covered the entire side in Thin sheets of styrene. I used tape to hold the piece there temporarily.

Then I laid out where the gears would go.

This process is the same for all the translucent gear parts.
-1st. I cut a circle slighly smaller than the gear.

Then I frost the plexi in that area.

Then I glue the gear over the top.

Here you can see that there are 4 gears, (holes) that will be frosted and the rest will be just decoration.

Here it is with all the gears applied.

and opened.

Next I worked on the cover for the Radiator.
I made some 1/2" tall sides to make a frame around the radiator.

Then I cut a top trim piece.

and I glued some Modders Mesh to the underside.

then I glued the entire thing to the side panel.

Remember, this panel is removable!
I still have to cut 2 more gears to go over the modders mesh as show in the sketch in a previous post.

Thats it for now. -Cheers!

[rendermandan]

Yeah, some of the gears are thicker than others. There are actually 3 different thickness there. Just hard do see due to the flash of the camera and that everything is the same white color. -I plan on painting everyting and the gears will stand out alot more once its painted. -It will follow my Turbine mod with the weathered and rusted look of an old machine. But thanks for your suggestion!

[rendermandan]

Sorry guys, Its been a few days and I haven't gotten much done. Been swamped at work and other stuff going on. so I just have a few pics today.

I cut out 2 more gears to go over the radiator.

then I just glued them on.

-Thats all I've gotten done. LOL. Sorry I know its not much, but hey, a little progress is at least some progress right?