Project; Mark1

[Mark_Hardware]

Wow gave me my second bar! Sweet thanks man!

[Mark_Hardware]

Sooo.... Let's take a look at the material I'm using, as well as some of the methodology as it's evolved.

Here is the source of the material.

They are data recorder boxes. "The little black boxes." On the end you'll see where the heatsinks come from.

The boxes are made from some kind of aluminum (alloy?) cast, hard as hell
(hardened?) and a nightmare to work with sometimes. So far I've ruined my (really nice) jigsaw, dulled three files, and gone through more jigsaw and sawzall blades than I can count.
Speaking of sawzalls... When I started, I didn't have a sawzall. See this lip?

It's not possible to cut with a jigsaw. Solution? Drill a hundred holes then file down all the ridges.

Sweet baby Jesus that did suck. Also it resulted in piles and piles of metal shavings, which my wife was just thrilled about.

I don't have a workshop, I live in a crummy little apartment, so I work in my living
room. (in case you haven't figured that out by the backgrounds in my pictures lol)
Something else my wife is thrilled about.
Here is the result of the drill/file method

I am happy to report that I finally made the trip to my friendly neighborhood Harbour Freight and got a sawzall and a new jigsaw.

Much better. Still, each cut is a pain, and I have to file and file and file..... Gawd I am
sick of filing. I don't even want to use my filing cabinet anymore. filing.....

[Mark_Hardware]

Here we go, nother update.
Got the front piece glued together. This weekend I will be working on filling all the
gaps. I cut down the pcb,

Well crap. I cut it down to the point where I didn't need to cut the groove in the second
fin. Oh well.
Anyway, I figure I won't be using the plastic piece I cut out. I will just make my own
cover. Here is a test piece. This is not the final piece, but something to give me an idea
of what to do. First, I apologize, I had a hard time getting good pictures.

Here you can kinda see what I am going to be doing to match and blend that bodyline
of the case.

Here is something that will boggle everybodies minds.

That's right, door. Permanently glued shut.

Made some cuts...

and we have access again.

Sanded down the edges, to clean it up a bit.

The cover still fits nice.

[Mark_Hardware]

OK, so the next couple of days will be spent switching all my pictures to photobucket, cause I am tired of imageshack. first that crap with the big black boxes filled with some psuedo political crap, now I got the red X of shame and my pictures don't show up on imageshack's own site. Soooo, excuse the lack of progress this weekend

[Mark_Hardware]

OK, so it has come to my attention (more than once) that people may feel a lack of direction in this build, hence a lack of enthusiasm.
I admit I did not undertake this project with a concrete plan. I had a general idea, a few things I wanted to do, then I let the inspiration come to me. I took an artistic approach to this whole project. Da Vinci reworked his ideas many times before realizing a final result. And just like Da Vinci, I have a few things I know for sure and hold to, and let the rest come to me as the pieces speak to me.
K enough art teacher speak.
I have a few ideas that I've had from the beginning, and that I know for sure that I am going to implement. Namely, Largely, the doors.
Ahh the doors. Something that can make or break a case. Or just plain break and screw the whole deal up. This case has a neat looking door. Sharp body line that I love, cool lighting....
Now how can I make it better. How can I make it, different.
You saw that I glued part of the door on, then cut part off
Here's the idea, presented in no-talent sketchup.

This is the front piece to the door.

The whole front of the case has these matching pieces with this beautiful finish.

I am going to cut that in half. I will mount a servo that will open the door as such,

then another servo, mounted on the inside of the door, will "slide" the door back, as so;

this of course will be mimicked on the other side. (and remember, that door will be cut in half)
There are three places this will occur.
On the mini-case, where the Imon holds it's place of honor,
Of course the main drive bay area,
and...

On this bottom section,

Those are some progress shots showing the bondo work coming along.

Think armoire doors,

[DonT-FeaR]

if i mod inside i have to clean it up b4 mum gets home

nice work

[The boy 4rm oz]

You have made some really nice progress mate, keep at it, I can see your vision, not to my personal tasted but it is very interesting and unique in its own right and I still enjoy watching this build thoroughly.

[Will]

I'm really interested in the servo part. That's a cool idea.

[Waynio]

OK, so it has come to my attention (more than once) that people may feel a lack of direction in this build, hence a lack of enthusiasm.

I'm watching
You have my interest in what is building up, I like mods where I have no real idea what is happening or what to expect and then all of a sudden I go ahhh wow cool, keep it up m8 look forward to seeing what comes next .

[Mark_Hardware]

Thanks for the kind words guys. I am trying to make sure I keep the progress flowing, and keep makin ya nod your head and say wow lol