Project: D3R!V4T!V3, The Carbon Case

[JacobS]

Well, I don't need it for structure (the case will be made out of aluminum with an internal steel frame) so I may just use a vinal decal or overlay or something, but I don't know the cost difference and I'm on a pretty tight budget


Wow, when I get around to building my case it'll be awesome

[jefe_de_estado]

Welp, it's been a while, but I have been busy the past couple of weeks. I finally got my mould built and carbon laid-up. First of all, I'm wondering if I spent the time to write a book or something about how to do this, would people be willing to buy it? ... just a thought... Here's what's going on.

Here's the vinyl logos from my brother, he didn't think the machine could cut the one I wanted, but that's okay cuz I really like the more square one too.

The mould is just mdf and bondo to smooth it out a bit and to make the fillets in the corners.

Next to prep the surface, 3 coats of wax and one layer of PVA. This will allow the part to come out of the mould. Just make sure to leave room around the edges for tape for the vacuum bag...

Next cut all the material to the size needed. Mix up the epoxy and slap down a thick layer right on the mould, then lay down the carbon. More epoxy, more carbon, more epoxy, fiberglass, more epoxy. You get the point.

(dang.. I should be a hand model.... )

Next bag the whole thing up. You can see the black strip is for the tacky tape to seal up the bag. Sorry, I didn't get a good picture of the vacuum process, I was too excited :-)

Since the vacuum pump exhausted a bit of smoke, we couldn't leave it running for a long time, so we pumped it down and then cranked up the heat in the room. And after letting it sit over night, this is what I pulled out of the mould (the wax and pva made it very easy to pull out).

That is the bad side, some of the tows got a bit scewed up, but I can use that side for the window. The junk all over is the left over PVA, it kinda leaves a sunbruned skin to it. It comes off with water.

This is the inside of the case. There is a layer that will be peeled off, and the bubbles are because I decided to use a chopped mat at the last second instead of the fiberglass cloth. I wanted to add a bit of thickness to the part, and chopped mat is a bit tricky to fill in and not get bubble like this. But, in the end you won't be able to see that side of it, so no big deal.

So this week it will be clear coated and cut, and cleared again. And I'm slowing gathering computer parts together.

Now I have a question for everyone. When I connect LED's for power and HDD, do I need to add a resistor in circuit? The reason I ask is I have a couple LED's from another case and they don't have one. I'm guessing that it's already built into the mobo.

[tybrenis]

Looking good!

With most newer mobos, you won't need a resistor because they supply the correct voltage and current for an LED. However, it never hurt to check the voltage with a multimeter.

[jefe_de_estado]

I got a bit behind again... So I got the case back from clear coating and I then noticed all the bumps and divots and junk from not being able to run the vacuum pump long enough during the cure.

I had to sand the clear all off and sand a bit into the carbon to smooth it out. Now I have a good plan for next time...

This is what it looked like before sanding.

So after giving myself the black lung (time to buy a resirator), I sent off the case to be trimmed and cleared again (my co-worker that is helping me has some good automotive clear).

So here's the final result of the carbon:
(it's really hard to get a good pic, this looks REALLY sweet in real life)

mmmmmmmmm.... I love the smell of new hardware! That last pic was just a fit check, looks great so far. I just got in all the compy parts yesterday and now have Vista running. So far so good! Obviously I have many hours of cable management ahead of me, and I still have to do grills for the fans, front window, brushed aluminum front face and power buttons to work on. That might take me some time, but it will all come eventually.

[gaz_the_chav]

Urm none of the pictures are working lol!

[simon275]

Man carbon fiber is cool and on and by they way pic arent working try and upload them to http://imageshack.us/

[jefe_de_estado]

Thanks for the heads up on the imageshack thing. That seems quite handy. They should be working now.

[YoungBlood]

Can i just say... I love your case and all... But you are far too happy on your pics.... Your ment to be doin hard and gritty work!! but ur smiling ur ass off..... Thats the whole point, You be miserable then once its finished you can sit and look at it for an hour... trust me! it works xD

[jefe_de_estado]

hahaha!!!! Yeah you are right, I am a bit picture happy! But I do alot of photography to pay for all this junk so I'm used to taking hundreds of pictures of the same subject... I won't have many pics after this, just because everyone has already done everything else that I'm going to do. I just think that there is so many things that can be done with CF and no one is doing it. So now that you have all these pics you have no excuse! :-)

[YoungBlood]

hehe dude just ignore me Im still P***ed at the fact that i cant get my mod finished until after christmas :| (i censored that again xD)