Dark Carbon

[rendermandan]

This project is called Dark Carbon. Mainly because the custom built case is built almost entirely out of Carbon Fiber sheets. I am using a 2X2 Twill pattern so it will have that cool look similar to the carbon fiber that is used in Ferrari's and other expensive sports cars.

Here is a synopsis of the design before I get to the rendered images.

1. Carbon Fiber is very Rigid and Durable. It is lightweight, and overall just looks cool. It is very expensive and sometimes difficult to work with. I laid out the parts in Autocad so this should go together without much trouble.
There will also be Carbon fiber tubes for case feet.

2. For the shape of the case, at first I though about building a typical tower case, but then I thought that it would be too similar to other cases. I wanted to think outside the box. So I chose to go flat. And instead of a rectangulare case, I chose an Octagon. this way I will have 8 sides plus a top to show off the goodies (more on that later). It will have a clear or smoked plexiglass window in the top as well.

3. Lighting. Anyone that knows me, knows I love the color blue. But this time, as I was thinking outside the box, I figured why not try Red? So this case will have red backlighting behind Black plexi that will hopefully glow like in the pictures.

4. Equipment. -This case is going to have (2) raptor windows with the hard drive disks exposed. a DVD drive, Red LCD panel. A "Hidden" power supply. Water cooled of course, a removable hot swappable hard drive, and some temperature monitors. -Oh and possible some motorization. I don't think I can bring my self to not put some type of moving part in it.

5. Cooling: The CPU and possible the Video card, and NB will be water cooled from one 120mm radiator. There are (2) 120 mm fans in 2 oposing sides. and an exhaust fan on the top of the case. The power supply fan will draw cool air from underneith the case. Lastly a single 80mm fan will exhaust hot air out the back. The bottom chamber of the case will be vented as well through modders mesh.

This case should prove to be a challenge for me. I've never worked with carbon fiber before. Nor have I ever built a scratch built case. It will take some time to complete. I want to build this case to exacting standards and amazing attention to detail. All wires will be sleeved, shortened if needed, and hidden! All edges sanded and polished. Etc.

Here are some rendered screen shots for you. The final case may evolve slightly from these images. But for the most part, you can see what it will look like.

Enjoy!

So what does everyone think? I would really appreciate anyones input or quesitons.

this should be a fun build, I hope you like it as much as I do!

Dan

[rendermandan]

Thats a pretty cool technique for painting carbon fiber. That gives you the effect of a "plain weave" pattern. I am going to be using 2x2 twill. this pattern gives you the effect of a herringbone pattern. -Plus painting does not give you the depth I'm looking for. Real carbon fiber will "shift" under the light as you move around it, and you can actually see the fibers weaved together. Besides, I've already ordered the panels. They should be here in a few weeks. The anticipation is killing me.

-Oh and yes, it will be 8 individual sides rather than one continuous piece to form the octagon.

[rendermandan]

This is going to be slow going at first as my parts come in. Today I got my first pieces of carbon fiber. I bought 8 20mm high carbon fiber spacers that are used for bicycle handle bar spacers. I am going to use these as the feet of the case. (might as well start at the bottom).

-these are in a plain weave pattern. -and they look amazing. Pictures really don't do them justice.

[rendermandan]

Well, I'm at it again, SPENDING MORE MONEY!
I just ordered an OCZ EliteXStream 1000W PSU.
That should give me enough power to for a long time with this computer.
I plan on putting (2) GTX 280's in this rig in the future. So I figured why not spend a few extra bucks now and be ready for it later on.
I also ordered a LG 22x DVD burner with Lightscribe. Not sure if will ever use the lightscribe as I've only used the one I have now once. But you never know.

Well, back to work. I have to pay for all this stuff somehow...

[rendermandan]

Small update, or rather need your input on something. I ordered some fluorescent plexiglass samples. Hoping that the Red would actually be red instead of pinkish that is shown on the website. Well, no luck It is pink, VERY PINK! And that just won't do. So I decided to render out some of the other options I had. I rendered a Fluorescent green Which actually does look pretty sweet, and would look pretty good against the carbon fiber. I also did an orange. however I could not get the render to look as bright orange as the actual sample so it came out kinda orange/brownish. My only other option is to use Clear plexi with Red led's behind it and sand instead of polish the edges so they glow red.

Here are the three options again.

Green

Orange:

Red: -again this would be clear plexi with red led's.

So what do you guys think? which one do you like the best.

I'd like to order my plexi so it will get here by the time I get back from vacation in three weeks so I can get started on this build. The Carbon Fiber should be done by then as well.

[rendermandan]

What about doing them all? Isn't there a type of LED or something that can change color to whatever you'd like? Thought I saw that somewhere.

Anyways, if it had to choose... green? I like them all to be honest. lol

Um, do you mean the led controller I built, XPS Ground effects?

-Yeah i thought about doing that, If I choose the clear plexi I can do that option, I never really intended this to change colors. some things like the fans and switches would not change color. and its going to take alot of led's to light up all the little pieces. those rgb led's are not cheap!

Thanks though.

[rendermandan]

Small update. I've decided to go with the Red color. but its going to be a little different. I used some red leds and white led's to light up the samples that I got and I found that the Red fluorescent with a red led actually give a pretty good red glow. And when the light is off, it looks orangish. so I've decided to go with that.

I placed an order for the plexi yesterday. I got some 1/4" black plexi for the bottom of the case. and some 1/8" black plexi for the trim as well as the red fluorscent. I also got a sheet of 3/16" smoked plexi for the top window

I also picked up some 1/2"x1/2" aluminum angle and red anodizing paint. this will be used for the support braces to hold it all together.

Lastly I ordered some red led's for the lighting.

Now I just have to wait for all this stuff to come in and I'll be ready to start when I get back from my trip.

[rendermandan]

Well guys, tomorrow my Plexi should arrive. Today I placed an fairly large order for some parts. Fans, switches, sleeving, LCD, etc.

Unfortunately, I'm heading out of town tomorrow for some work training and then a long overdue vacation so I won't be back for another 2 weeks. Hopefully when I get back, all my parts and materials will have arrived and be ready to go.

So expect the work log to really startup in a few weeks.

Until then,

Peace out!

[rendermandan]

Ladies and Gentleman, THE CARBON FIBER WAS DELIVERED. -Most of it.

Yes its true, today I finally received most of my carbon fiber order. I say most of it because I got almost all of the pieces and scraps that I requested except for 3 of the sides and some detail pieces for the interior. For some reason they are missing. And to be honest, I doubt I will be getting them. However they did send an extra piece of carbon fiber that I hopefully will be able to cut them out of. Most of the pieces I ordered were made from 3mm to 4mm sheets. However the extra sheet they sent me is 5mm thick! Its strong as hell but might be a little too thick and cause some alignment issues. -We'll see.

Here are some shots showing the pieces. They came nicely individually packaged in plastic to protect them. -keep in mind this is real 2x2 Twill carbon fiber that I had them make Double sided. Most carbon fiber sheets are shiny on one side and dull/textured on the other. This stuff is a mirror finish on both sides. These pieces were also cut out with a water jet.

Here are Most of the smaller pieces. I'm keeping them in the plastic untill needed to protect them.

Here are 2 of the sides and the extra 5mm sheet they sent.

and the mother board tray. I included a standard size tape measure so you can get a feel for the size.

Here is the top panel.

You can really see the refection in this shot.

Now for the bad things I noticed about the panels. Some of them had "air pockets" that formed in the middle of the panels. Some were small and not really that big of a deal. but other sheets had some huge ones.
Here is a shot showing the edge of one of the pieces that had a huge air pocket. I'm spreading the sheet apart with my finger. Hopefully I can inject some epoxy into the holes and clamp them down to seal them up.

I also noticed that the panels were not a consistant thickness. Here is a shot showing the typical 4mm thickness at one corner of the panel.

But at others it dropped down quite a bit.

There were some minor imperfections in the surface of some of the panels too. but due to their design, I can just flip them over and use the better of the two sides on the outside of the case. The inside won't be seen as much.

Overall I'm Impressed with the panels I got. The air pockets is discouraging and missing several pieces is really a bummer, but I may have a way to work around it since they sent the extra piece. The look of carbon fiber is just amazing and I doubt any camera can capture the effect it gives. So keep that in mind when you view the shots.




And now my first official progress update....


I started by pulling a motherboard tray out of an old case of mine.

I proceeded to drill the rivets out so I can use the back panel.

Here you can see the back panel on top of the CF panel.

I taped the panel off to protect it.

Then I measured and taped off an area and sanded it to give it some Tooth for the epoxy glue to bite into.

I cut a piece of 1/2" aluminum angle to form a support. This will become the mounting method for the motherboard tray.

Using some Red anodizing paint. (Which is kick ass stuff by they way) I painted it red.

I mixed up some epoxy in little measured cups. My first batch was about 20 times too much! Lesson learned.

Then I placed the angle on the CF panel and clamped her down to dry.

That all I was able to get done tonight.
I'm so happy to finally be working on this, I want to go down and do some more right now. But I need to sleep too. I hope you guys like how this mod is going. As always I'm open to any comments, or suggestions you may have.

-Sorry for the long post. But I had a lot to cover.

[rendermandan]

Small update tonight.

I had to do some repair work on some of the panels before I could go any farther. So I mixed up some epoxy resin and filled the air pockets in the sides of the panels I was working on.

You can see the entire back edge of the motherboard tray needed to be filled. I used 10 clamps to hold the pieces together while the resin cured.

Here is the back panel that had some gaps around one egde.

I also spent some time gathering and organizing tools, and setting up my workstation.

Work Table.

Tool Table.

Misc. tools and parts to come....

Here is the router table I made a few months ago in anticipation of this build.

Thats about all I got done today. Waiting on the resin to cure before I continue.