Project - Air Cube v2

[Waynio]

TY DonT-FeaR

Tried using my cheap tapping kit, there was no size right for the standoffs, then tried drilling a hole slightly smaller than the standoffs and put the standoff in driver and let it make the thread, it worked for some and did not work for most others, then tried a bolt that had similar thread same problem, then tried some rivet nuts, the rivet nuts would have been ok but the thread did not start soon enough for the short thread on the standoffs so was in a pickle for a while until my dad mentioned about some square nuts he had, they worked a treat .

WooHoo got them to mount with some square nuts on the other side.

Also got the front and back panels cut and filed to size and put a guide for where I can drill holes for mounting

[Waynio]

thanks for comments

I've got the time, just not really the spare money, if I could just go to the stockist in person I would happily get 2 fresh sheets as it would only be £16 the £10 postage is good when ordering a lot, but just 2 sheets, I over ordered with the bars just wish I did with the sheets, but this is my v2 and want it to look good and be my final cube case before doing something different so I think yes I will order them tomorrow, at least the sheets that will be coming out of this project will come in handy for other something else some time, its always good to have some scrap.

The tray I used for aligning the holes was from a cheap atx case, the back expansion I/O piece is from the last case I bought, a Lian-Li PC-A70A, I mounted an old motherboard on the tray I made last night and the standoffs I bought off ebay are taller than regular ones so the back panel is too low and does not line up correctly so I need to order some normal standoffs.

Wow and duh I just got an idea, the side panels have not been cut down to size yet so I can just cut the bottom bit down, again blue you stirred a good idea for me by making me think about it TY .

[Waynio]

This update is tiny but took a fair bit of effort to get right so here goes.

Luckily I had not cut the top ends of the side panels to size, so I went and took all the little angle bars off and filed them down so I could re do the side panels, I messed up twice so could only afford to make 1 more mistake, it took me hours to get it right because on my last chance I filed a little then fit the panel on over and over a whole load of times before it was just perfect, I'm just glad I progressed a tiny bit today so it was not a waste of time and effort .

Had 3 chances to get it right from here and was getting worried I'd have to order more alu by my last chance.

This is how it looks from the inside.

External, Just perfect imo.

[Waynio]

Got my new vandel switches blue ring and blue dot, ordered proper motherboard standoffs & screws, ordered countersunk rivets, ordered the other 6 akasa apaches, only other thing I will need to order is paint but I have some deciding to do and cutting on the panels before I get there, had a good day modding today .

Rather than take the frame apart over and over I built up a platform from a crate, a load of beer, some planks of wood and a chopping board lol so I could use the drill press directly on the case, it worked flawless, saved a lot of messing about .

With side panels

Top shot with all panels on, still yet to make the top panel

Shot from front

[Waynio]

Thanks will do .

Today I found out the hard way that my sheet metal folder can not bend 1.5mm sheet aluminium precisely, it bended on one end better than the other, I stupidly took it for granted that it would be fine.

So it kind of messes up the plan for the side panels also, I do have 4 x 750mm x 500mm x 1mm sheet aluminium and a couple of metres of angle bar and a couple of metres of flat bar.

So I cut the bent part off and filed it flat and will have to be screwed into the top of the frame or slotted on.

Or

I could make what I had planned (angle flap on each side and side panels with an angle to hold down the top) but with 1mm thick sheet as I know I can bend 1mm no problem.
The side panels I have an idea to attach an angle bar to the top and file it down so it has something to grip to pull the panels off and still keep the slight gap covered, thats for tomorrow.

The motherboard tray has turned out ok with the normal sized standoffs.

More tomorrow hopefully.

[Waynio]

Thanks Will.

I went to do some on the case and only got the inside angle bars drilled for going up against the side panels to hold them in place well at the bottom, but was feeling a bit tired to drill the case & mount them inside the case as it all needs stripping down to the bottom panel so I'm having the day off and possibly tomorrow from the project, only got 3 to 4 hours sleep last night because of having to be up early for deliveries, got all the fans now and the ocz freeze thermal paste.
Still waiting for the countersunk rivets and some nutserts for the top panel, will hopefully have them by tomorrow.
I'm thinking of getting some nice draw handles and cutting them down a little to place near the bottom of the side panels so they can be pulled into place easier, that is only if I have any trouble getting them to slot in thou.

[Waynio]

Couple more steps forward today and the countersunk rivets arrived, saving doing the rivets for the final build after it has been painted, I have everything now except the paint so no more waiting for deliveries yay .

Got the bottom angle bars installed for holding the side panels up against the frame.

Took all the mid panel bars off and filed them down a little because some of them were a smidge over the edge but took a little too much off but they work the same as before.

Marked and drilled the motherboard back piece mounting holes, and cut with the dremel and filed the hole for the back piece and attached the tray.

Thats all for today, more tomorrow .

[Waynio]

Thanks Mark

I thought about making my own mesh now I'm using a drill press, this is a rough example on some scrap I did with a few different size drill bits, if I do try this I will mark the piece for a good guide and can get pretty close to where the pci slots are.

This is how close I can get to the pci slot area.

I had to come up with an idea for using the reinforced cutting discs as the hole was too big for my mandrel so the discs were cutting ok but shortly after went flying off, here is my beta .

The dremel fix works great and was able to do the whole psu hole and there is still plenty left on the cutting disc , only bad thing about the dremel in the summer is it heats up fast, when I did my last case in winter it could go all day and not get a bit warm, so I will have to come up with something to cool it down faster.

My dad said he wanted to use the garage so I packed and cleaned up for the day, so More tomorrow.

[Waynio]

Well my dad did not use the garage so I thought why not get back at it .

Here is roughly how the psu is going to be mounted.

Well I went for it with trying my own mesh lol, the drill press was getting hot so had to have regular breaks from it so I would not damage it, these pics are spread out over quite a few hours, I used a 6.5mm dewalt drill bit, I think it turned out pretty good .

1st marked the hole which the drill press could reach to and then made marks every 6mm down and across.

On with the drilling .

I'll replace the final pic with a better one tomorrow when I have good day light, was getting dark when I finnished.

[Waynio]

Thanks for the feedback m8s it was a gamble doing the mesh I know, but I have to say it looks damn good, so relieved .

Tried using a hole saw I bought a while ago, I was had as it is for wood not metal, price for a good near 120mm metal cutting hole saw is close to £30 I paid £10 so my fault really.

So had to go back to my dremel for doing the fan hole, got about a 3rd of the way round and it was too hot to hold, so thought ok I will make a cooler for it right away with a couple of noisy high cfm fans and a bit of scrap aluminium, it works very nice , it takes a minute or less to get it nice and cool again, where if I just let it cool off by itself it takes up to an hour.

And here are a couple of shots with the plastic pulled back a bit .

Only the edges need sanding so it is nice and smooth then the back panel is done and ready for painting or pollishing, Woohoo .