Project Stealthlow

[Waynio]

Actually I just put them together & they don't look as bad as I thought they were lol, sure they could use a little more sanding especially the one with the scar from the disc sander but yeah, not as bad as I first thought .

[Waynio]

LOL , I don't know why but I felt like doing a little more so I cut all the rest of the bars for the lower part to rough size so they just need sanding down to precise size, then drilling & tapping, wanted to use the disc sander but was a tad too loud for 10pm .

[Waynio]

The mounting hole on the side of the HDD is tapped and will hold that bolt just fine. Who's gonna know?

, yeah they are fine, but the base plate is seperate from the side plates so need to mount an angle piece to join the 2, I've got a solution now though, it came straight after posting lol, typical .

I've never had any problems with tapping aluminum as long as I lubricate the tap with some engine oil.

It's always been a thing I've dreaded as it's always been a hit & miss task for me, I think I have it completely sorted now though .

Not an update, but a nice break through for me.

LOL, I just got an idea for drilling & tapping straight after saying I was going to have a little break.

I have used a cordless power drill before for doing some tapping but some how forgot about the success it was if done carefully, I also realised when using the drill press I didn't have the drill bit in far enough for it to drill exactly where I want.

So I thought I'd have a little practice/test with my usual 10/10 test to make sure something works , this time I made it 11/11 & they all came out absolutely perfect, so no need for a time out woo hoo , was really thinking I'm screwed when it comes to drilling even on a drill press, d'oh .

Only downside to this is now I can drill precisely where I want so none of this 0.5mm out annoyance I've been getting because of the drill bit not hitting the bullseye, so yeah I might remake the 4 hdd pieces, luckily the bases are spot on but the holes for the hdd mounts only just connect & is a struggle getting them to work right so I may re do these pieces, shame but I want perfection on all the function of this build .

[Waynio]

I tried doing these simple angle connections 3 times now & still not happy with the results & 1 more muck up & I'll run out of spare angle bar, I think it's the low grade of the aluminium sheet, when I tapped the bars which is a high grade quality the taps were perfect & strong, not so with the sheet So I'm going to skip trying to tap them again & use adhesive, I'll be sure to run some strength tests before I do though . I'll buy the adhesive tomorrow along with materials for making some jigs.

It kind of looks fairly acceptable but really it's gotta be better than how it is, a big part of the design is easy maintenance & if kept like this it could be a slight PITA maintenance .

Also came across a sweet way of painting aluminium in Darth Beavis's new lan rig which I'll be doing & keep the metal visible like anodising & it's simply candy paint straight onto the aluminium & clear coated so this is what I'll be doing for finishing & can do a good colour coordination this way too.

[Waynio]

What if you ran the screws the other way (ie, tapping the angle bar) or used rivets?

I've thought about doing that & probably will but not rivets, wouldn't work.

Looking good!

As a former journeyman machinist I may have a tip for drilling and tapping for you.

If you are not using a "center drill" before drilling the holes then make your mark and punch them so a regular drill bit will follow the mark.

Make sure you are using the correct drill size for the tap. Not just something close.

You can use a cordless drill to tap the holes but set the clutch at a low number to keep from breaking the tap off.

Also, try to use a 3 fluted tap instead of a 4 fluted one. The less flutes you have the stronger the tap. There are also "spiral" taps that are awesome but you may want to use them with a drill press to insure they go straight in.

Hope this helps.

Thanks BS I looked into getting a center drill but I'm really put off ordering bits with christmas delivery being very unreliable, I do use the correct drill size for the tap, for the m3 tap I'm using I drill a 2.5mm hole & is spot on, I really should get myself a good machine tap bit but again christmas delivery being unreliable unless I can pick express delivery which the ones on ebay are not making available .

I found for drilling & hitting the bullseye putting the drill bit as far in as I can & it doesn't bend to the side when contacting the aluminium so can drill spot on now so as long as I mark up completely accurate then it's good so I must pay more attention to my marking .

LOL I did a mock put together to remind myself it is progressing dispite the hold up on a couple of simple pieces , the corner square bars aren't to precise size just yet, was like making a tower of cards .

[Waynio]

OK I stayed up all night so I could make some progress & managed to make some woo hoo .

Filed a bevel on each of the fan holder pieces that come into contact with the fan blades because of having to slim the fan frames down by 0.5mm, these pieces still need a good bit of filing & sanding on them, then sticking together.

Then slimmed down all the bars to precise size & done another mock fit.

Then added the angle bars to the 2nd hdd cage so the hdd cages have turned out quite acceptable to be honest.

Marked up the bottom panel & 2nd panel for fixing the square bars to the 2nd panel, but first I tried doing the tapping with power drill thinking I've done it before & was ok, well the tap snapped first try lol, had to cut another piece & get it to precise size, switched to doing the tapping manual & very careful, did ok for 2 of them, then another one snapped, cheap taps, then another, then went to try a new tap & found it was the wrong pitch size so the screws didn't screw all the way in properly lol, so I'm left with a 2 legged panel until I can get a new tap which I just ordered a few, cheap taps again because they were the only ebay seller that offered express delivery, it's the only sure way to get deliveries on ebay at this time of year.

The ones I tapped successfully are very good, solid & perfectly in place wooooo .

So not much done but any progress is progress + I'll have my sleep pattern fixed after today even if it is temporary .

[Waynio]

this is quality fabrication this is the stuff that i love

Thanks mate, glad you like .

Got the fan holder pieces all stuck together & is a very very strong bond & since they are all together now I decided I'm going to make it so I can slip any standard 120mm fan in these holders as originally intended, none of this sanding down a fan frame nonsense, imagine the hassle of a simple fan change lol, also they all need a hefty sanding session to make them all blend together, unsure if I'll go for a polished finish or frosted finish.

Also I took over my desk fan to waft the nasty fumes well away from me this time, only problem with using a fan in below 0c temperatures is my hands were getting frozen lol, but thats way better than feeling awful from fumes .

I'm thinking enermax apolish fans would look amazing in these holders especially if I frost the edges & would also serve as the power light so if I use a vandal switch which is highly likely because I just really like them I could use the LED bit as hdd activity, not bothering with reset switches anymore & for power light I'll just use case lighting from now & onwards .

My bro would like some quiet case fans so I think I'll give him the 3 sanded fans for christmas hehe .

[Waynio]

Awesome, the new taps came today & I didn't waste no time turning the 2 legged plate into the foundation base, so that's the first & second level fully attached & 2 of the square bars for the hdd platform, this is really starting to feel like good progress.

Done a couple of dummy fixes to show the hdd cages how they will be once fixed & with the front/top flat bars & front low piece loosely fitted, just couldn't be bothered doing more in the freeze today I'd end up naturally getting a cold .

Think I'll finish these off tomorrow.

[Waynio]

Ahhh, got past a fiddly time consuming bit, the hdd cage mount clamps & still managing to avoid adhesives completely except for the acrylic adhesive, all the metal work so far has been countersunk bolts & tapping , finished this bit at 11pm & was a rather chilly -5c.

What you are seeing is 4mm sheet, then 19mm square bar, hdd cages inbetween slim 3mm pieces & another 3mm piece on top that overlaps the hdd cage base & meets up with the angle bar of the cage, it's such a good fit that I might leave the extra clamp I was going to make for the front & back of the cages as it takes a little force to make the cages slide out.

[Waynio]

I'm a bit down, the fan holders just aren't gonna happen, the thickness of the sheet was 4.9mm not 5mm & I never knew until after I made the holders that cast acrylic sheet varies in thickness, this made the slot for the fans shrink by 0.5mm I tried filing & finger sanding to make the gap bigger but failed making a dogs dinner out of it so no striped lit up parts now, I sure don't fancy spending another £50 to replace the acrylic & rebuild, I'd sooner put that towards a scroll saw so I'm gonna time out & think about an alternative, actually I'm really disappointed with acrylic now after finding this fact out the hard way, sure it's fine for single layered tasks but for layered stuff that requires absolute precision it really isn't good if you don't know about this lack of precision in the material, however if you know about the varying thickness & plan according to that fact then it's not all bad & workable so I'll know for the next encounter I have with acrylic, also I messed up by not making jigs for while I stuck the holders together so they became rather wonky & required heaps of sanding to blend them seamlessly, done the sanding on 1 of them but wasn't happy with the result, they were supposed to be perfect fit & like I said, dogs dinner lol, so it's time to forget about the first big hicup & focus on an alternative.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPWaQKuqENU

I wrote this a few hours ago, was tired & hungry, since had a meal, awesome far better alternative ideas already brewing so there will be a surprise in this log after all , I might let the silly season pass through until I get started back up though & enjoy a bit of that GTX 580 goodness while it's still a beast , so over & out until January .