The Orb

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Sorry if you have been waiting for the announced pics. They somehow got lost
But they looked pretty much the same as the last two pics from http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/f...8&postcount=13
Only the material changed from pressboard to hard wood.

Well, I have some new pics instead:
These are the parts for the hinges that hold the visor. No water goes through them. I found a plexi-bar and an aluminium piece that already had holes with the perfect diameter for my use. I cut the aluminium and bent it. The funy shape is the result of the former holes that were in it...

Then I cut two slices from the bar and glued them to the rotation center of the visor:

I needed some spacers fot the hinges that were made of wood. You can barely see them here: I will glue some felt on the aluminium so the plexi slides easier.

I needed some time to figure out the best angle to fix the hinges to the baseplate. The lines next to the hinges show the dimensions of my MicroATX MoBo.

And here is the result:
Visor opened: The dark brown wood you can see is the new rim made of hard wood. It will hold the lower hemisphere.

And closed with the outer sphere on it:

Next time I will smooth the baseplate and the rim with bondo and think about a nice cover for the hinges that will also cover the cables from the MoBo.
I think I will need a strong motor to move the visor. It's heavy even without water in it...

Well, after month of work on the visor and other single parts the project now starts to take shape Comments are verry welcome!

Cheers,
Squelsh

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Thanx!

Today I got the a tapper so I could do the thread cutting for the hinges.
These are the tools I used:

I needed a pre-cut and final cut:

Last pieces for the res:

I glued the disks with the threads to the visor. Cover-rings will follow tomorrow. The hinges you see can be rotated. But I don't think I will need this, because the hoses are outside the sphere and can bend when the visor opens.

That's it for today. See you soon.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

2 days free of work ==> time for a bigger update!

Part 1: Mounting of the hemispheres
I found some nice spacers so I did a test on how I could fix the upper hemisphere.

First some piece of wood in the right 15 degree angle:

Please ignore the professional way in which I used the nuts as spacers

And the spacers fixed with tape to find an appropriate interval.

Okay. Thats not really exciting, only touch-up work. So watch out for the next update.

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Part 2: Baseplate improvement

Fortunately I had to go to a computer store on Wednesday to get my boss laptop fixed. They gave me an old Micro-ATX Board for free, so I have something to work with.
AND: I could test ride an SEGWAY! These vehicles rock!!

Home again I did some Bondo work with the baseplate to get rid of the ugly pressboard surface. I don't think I need to show you pics, as there are enough in the forum.

The next step was to create some kind of basin for the motherboard. I don't wanted to only screw it on top of the baseplate.
No big deal with the hand mill:

I started with the outline...

...and carved out inch by inch.

Result: The smell of burning wood (:

And it fits

I like it, how about you?

[|NQ|Squelsh]

BTW: Pics are made with my new toy:
HTC Kaiser

3 MPixels Autofocus. But no chance for good macro-shots or low-light-shots
Besides this, the 400 MHz, GPS, HSDPA and all the other features are quite cool!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Part 3: Motorization of the visor:

Finally I found the right motor for my needs: It has a built in gearbox so it runs slow and with a lot of force at 6 Volts:

By lathing a piece of a plexi-bar I produeced a small spindle to wind up some thread. I drillled a hole into it to support a screw which keeps the spindle from rotating on the axe and to knot the thread on.

The support for the motor is made of aluminium:

The motor should find his place left or right of the motherboard in the upper hemisphere, because I know space in the lower hemisphere will be rare:

A housing was needed. Not an easy task, becuase it needed to fit inside the sphere...
I started with some wood that I shaped millimetre by millimetre. Held it inside the sphere, marked the spots and then filed the wood.

The housing at it's place:

Time to get the motor inside:

I had no space to mount the motor in an other way. So the thread has to make a 90deg turn. To minimize the friction I used the red hose and a shape of wood that produces a soft bending.

First test:
Opening:

and Closing (it's not smooth, but thats only because the electric flow is interrupted):


Seems to do what it's supposed to do!

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Part 4: Covering the hinges:

As the hinges should not be visible I experimented with a plexi tube that I wanted to frost later. Really annoying to find the right shape. Same game as with the motor housing. Holding it in place, marking some spots, filing a little and start over...

Well, it fitted, but I did not like it... The round shape inside would not have fitted to the motor housing.

So I went on with wood and glue and came up with this:

The gaps will be filled with Bondo.

Better than the plexi, isn't it?

[|NQ|Squelsh]

@Ryoken: Thanks for the suggestion. But I don't have the space for a wheel. And the solution with the hose works great. Nearly no friction.

Well, last day of my 4 days-long weekend. One more update for all of you. Thank you verry much for your comments!

What I forgot to post last time: Improvement of the hinges with some felt to reduce friction when turning:

Today I spent my time with arranging the hardware inside the lower hemisphere and with a cable guide for the MoBo cables. First I drew the outlines on the baseplate and experimented with some cardboard.

Then I copied the form from the cardboard onto some wood and cut it out.

(Yes, needed some coffee )
Glueing the first parts together

It gets more and more complicated to fix that thing in the vice. You can see the holes for the cables. I made them big enough to fit the power connector, because I dont like the idea of soldering all those cables if i remove the connector...

Here you see some shots of the cable guide in beta stadium:

It will cover the big holes.

After some filing it looks quite good. I will smooth it out with some Bondo of course.

And in place:

And from the inside:

[|NQ|Squelsh]

Now to the hardware part:

First of all, I expanded the space for the DVD because the cables from the MoBo have to fit inbetween the baseplate and the DVD.

Things fit better, than I expected. In the original plans, the harddrive was fixed parallel to the DVD. But I figured it fits better in a 90deg angle.
Here are some shots of the hardware layers:

Baeplate and spacers (missing in picture):

DVD and spacers:

Above the DVD I glued in a piece of wood to carry the Harddrive.

Harddrive and spacers:

And the power supply. Its ventilation will suck air over the Harddrive.

And finaly the lower hemisphere:

IT FITS!

All hardware I play with is old stuff and not the parts that will be built in. In my plans I had to cut a piece of the lower hemisphere away for the power supply. With the new arrangement I perhaps only have to add some holes for the airflow Perhaps I should add: The baseplate lies upside down in the pics. The hardware will hang under the MoBo...

Well, this weekend I could work a lot and I think 50% of the work are done. I'm really looking forward to buy the rest of my watercooling stuff. But I think I will first paint some parts and make some good pictures to send to some firms. Perhaps I can get a sponsor or two for the expensive parts. That would be verry nice, because my budgets gets lower and lower...

I hope you write some more comments, questions or suggestions.
See you soon!
Squelsh

[|NQ|Squelsh]

PS: That happens, if you do too much filing :