Project Stealthlow

[Waynio]

Found what I'll need for masking the helicoiled holes, they are like ear plugs but made from silicone specially designed for the job .

Been going at a good pace but I think I'll pass on making a physical update today & let my energy build back up , I got the replacement sheet of aluminium ready & waiting but I ordered some better jigsaw blades so hoping they come tomorrow, if not then I might just get started on the final side panels, I should be starting with the fretsaw really to get the pci/io piece made but I'll probably get around to that in less than a week .

I have however thought up a much better looking & way of mounting the fans around the mobo, was going to keep it secret though until I've managed to make at least 1 of them, it's a sweet idea in my head so hopefully it'll work as I imagine it would , ordered 3/16 inch round bar for these.

Also the aluminium case feet I ordered & planned on modding them, I've scrapped that idea because they take m8 bolts & I got some m8 countersunk bolts & they are way too big & blompy so decided to order some 2 inch round bar & I'm going to make them myself sorry Bill for using a rough design of yours hope your ok with that I do plan on adding some forms of detail on it too so it's not just plain, I have a plan of using the drill press like a lathe with long full threaded bolt & nuts lol should be interesting, I have my doubts about this one but it's worth giving a try .

[Waynio]

Ugh, my energy & concentration levels peak at the wrong time of day, think it stems back to when I excercised every single day for a few years late in the evening so naturally the best time for modding is evening onwards which is bad if I have any noisy stuff to do so I'm finding it very difficult to progress at the moment, don't want to be going at this with my head not being 100% else I'd probably muck up.

I tested the alcohol ink out though, had trouble applying it nicely with cotton wool, so tried a brush, then tried a sponge but I think some kind of feather would apply it pretty well, but I have an airbrush which I think I should try out with this stuff as I wasn't able to get consistent application, anyway the below pics show the ink applied with sponge & the final 2 pictures show it with a fresh spray of clear lacquer so I'll see what it looks like tomorrow, there are loads of bits on the surface though so it's far from optimal lol.

[Waynio]

About the black ink, someone said it looked copper, someone said brown lol it's supposed to be black , anyway the black turned out pretty naff, 1 of the blues turned out half decent though but I'll stick to the anodising with the case , even tried the ink out in my air brush, it gave a much better finish but I'd need quite a bit of the ink to do the whole case so figure a nice solid protective anodising job would be best.

Here they are once the clear had dried.

Not got my tripod handy.

[Waynio]

get creative and anodize it yourself!

http://www.rapidfirepaintball.ca/Anodizing.htm

To be honest I'd really love to but anodising is something I'd need to have someone who knows the whole process teach me lol, I couldn't read up info & try doing it myself, too dangerous & I'd have no idea where to get the chemicals .
Looks like a lot of good info on the link though .
Also where the heck would I get an 800mm long by 500mm deep tupperware box lol .

I really like doing everything myself so when the time comes for finishing maybe I should just practice my air brush skills from zero to ok .

[Waynio]

So I want to make the case feet now since I got the 2 inch round bar, I really should have got it cut to size as it took me from 8pm to 1:30am just to get them to size, flat & square wow that was sooo tough & thought I'd never get them simply to size & square lol, was all nice & quiet work though so didn't matter .

Here is the case feet choices I've set for myself & still think the ones modelled on mnpctech look the best lol but I might get a last minute idea like with the fan mounts, suppose I could keep them as they are & add simple grooves into them .

Here is the 2 inch bar next to a 3/4 inch square bar & the daunting task ahead of cutting it straight & to required size, it's by far the thickest stuff I've ever cut through.

Would have used the mitre saw but I find it difficult to clamp in place properly if it's a short length like this 125mm piece which is only just enough for 4 feet .

So I took it to the vice, with it being so thick I put a mark about every 15mm & just used the hacksaw to get the saw line twisting the bar around bit by bit & carrying on until I cut all the way through, if I'd have gone straight though from 1 angle it would have been way off & the end result of the first 1 was spot on, however one of the others came out at 23mm instead of 25mm so had to file them all down to the same length, oh how I wish I had a chop saw lol would have been done in a few minutes, anyway got them all to the required same size & square flatness.

Woooooo almost ready for the drill press lathe trick, just need to drill the bolt hole for mounting it in the drill press.

Sooo just hope I don't balls the next stages up .

[Waynio]

That ink looks Awesome! can you post a more detailed process of how you got it to look like that? I want to color my next project made from aluminum, and dont want to play with sulfuric acid in my apartment...

It is a lot better than I expected it to be & it is sooo cheap, plenty of colours, I like the way I can still see the brushed aluminium underneath it, I bought the silly applicator that goes with these inks but the applicator is garbage as the so called felt patches are actually cotton wool & leave bits of the cotton wool on the piece, could have bought 3 extra colours for the price of it too so I tried out a normal house paint brush which left it all too streaky, then I got the results shown by gently using a sponge to brush it on, just takes a few drops of the stuff & it dries extremely fast like less than a minute, then did an abuse test to see how well it stays & if it's on a part that will be handled regularly it will rub off so it needs a sealer so I'm going to get some matt sealer for it & give it maybe 2 coats, just need to find the right applicator to get it applied nicely then I think good things could come from it & it opens up creativity massively for anyone who is ok with art.

I'll do a mini interval post when I have another go at applying it with step by step picture guide .

[Waynio]

Been messing to try & design my own feet.

Also just used my new jigsaw blades & wow they cut miles faster, got the new side panel cut & filed to size in about half an hour, was easier than cutting cardboard with scissors lol .

[Waynio]

Sorry about all the feet talk lol but just designed another but with an inclusion of LED's.

[Waynio]

Ugh marked the feet very precisely to get the center & done the spot drills but when I was drilling with the 2.5mm bit it snapped & the bit that is in is unreachable & it's truly peeing in the wind to try drilling it out, so only got 3 feet now , soo I think I'll leave making my own case feet until I get a lathe which would be over a year away, I know the lines don't look right in my marking but they were just a rough guide of an inch, I used my digital calipers to mark the center, anyway the feet I'll forget about for now & get to work on the rest of it.

There is possibly some news on feet but I'll leave it for now .

So I turned my attention to cutting out the windows for the side panels, would have got all the jigsaw work done today but on the last 2 windows the blade kept falling out as soon as it touched the aluminium, it fell out about 40 times before it even got to cut 1mm, was driving me mad especially with it just being 2 small windows so called it a day lol .

[Waynio]

congrats!

Way to go on the sponsorship!

If you still want to salvage those feet to use for another project, try one of these. They work well and any place that sells tools should have them.

The case is looking good. Where did you get that ink from?

Thanks guys .
Will a screw extractor remove a snapped off drill bit nonetheless I should get some of those as I've had screws lose their socket before & it's hell to get them out .
The ink I wouldn't know where to get it in the US but try googling alcohol ink, afaik it's scrap book background colouring lol I was really clutching at straws to find a way to colour the aluminium but so it keeps the grain like how anodising would, it didn't survive a simple nail scratch though even with 1 coat of clear on so I think for it to work well it would need a clear primer coat, then the ink, then clear lacquer but I can only find clear primer in the US , in the UK I can find clear primer but only for plastic or wood, I'll try a few more things before I give up on the ink & if any degree of success I'll post how it went .