--- r e f l e X i o n ---

[Xion X2]

Framework - Part II

Next item on the agenda was to tackle those corner supports.

To provide some history, the drive cages were removed from the Cosmos so as to make room for the Zero Gravity Chamber. However, when doing so, the corner supports for the frame were lost in the process.

So then I was faced with the task of either making some from scratch or modifying the drive cage. And.. you guessed it. I've never passed up the chance to rip up some metal.

Here in this pic you'll see the right side of the drive cage that was removed. You can see how there's no room for it in the frame, and I wouldn't want it in there, anyway. I removed it because I hated how it looked in there to begin with. But it served an important job which was to provide support for the corners of the frame.

So.. don't panic when you see this below, but one night when I was bored and sitting in my small apartment and stewing about not having any workspace, I took a pair of aluminum sheers to one side of the drive cage--more out of frustration than anything else.

So.. yeah.. now it's obviously time to clean this piece up...

And we're back to Date with a Dremel, the sequel.

And my poor metal wheel grinder has just about had it.

She's going...

Going...

And then gone (see, you don't even see it. I think it went up in a cloud of dust around me.)

Good thing I'm restocked.

Now we've finished cutting that corner off the drive cage that'll be used for the corner support on one side.

And here I am fitting it on the frame, to illustrate.

Another thing these pieces do is hold part of the front case facing in place. You can see all the notches/clips that fit together.

So, it was important to save this piece. It would've been a pain to build it from scratch again.

Now the other side. This side had yet to be demolished by the aluminum shears.

And, we'll go ahead and prepare for the inevitable...

And, off she goes.

Here's a nice shot of the piece that we're keeping for the corner support.

And here are both corner supports fitted back onto the frame.

More to come in the next few days. :wave:

[Jake2k]

Sweet! I remember those damn cutting discs back when I modded xboxs, I hated them haha.

[x88x]

Looking good; I never thought of using an orbital sander for smoothing cut edges...hmm. For metalwork in a small apartment, I find that the bathtub works nicely...though if I had a girlfriend/wife/etc, that might be a different story.

Something you've probably noticed; you'll run through those 'heavy duty' cutting discs a lot faster than the fibreglass reinforced ones. They're more expensive, but for me, not having to change them as frequently and being able to get them for the quick-change attachment makes it worth it to use the fibreglass ones.

[Xion X2]

Sweet! I remember those damn cutting discs back when I modded xboxs, I hated them haha.

Thanks, Jake. They do a great job; it's just a pain to swap them out every time when they wear out.

Looking good; I never thought of using an orbital sander for smoothing cut edges...hmm. For metalwork in a small apartment, I find that the bathtub works nicely...though if I had a girlfriend/wife/etc, that might be a different story.

Something you've probably noticed; you'll run through those 'heavy duty' cutting discs a lot faster than the fibreglass reinforced ones. They're more expensive, but for me, not having to change them as frequently and being able to get them for the quick-change attachment makes it worth it to use the fibreglass ones.

Thanks for the tip on the fiberglass discs. The quick-change and longevity is worth the extra cost.

[x88x]

The quick-change and longevity is worth the extra cost.

Yup; just make sure you get the right ones, since they make different thicknesses/compositions for cutting plastic, metal, and a couple other different varieties. Weirdly, they only do that for the quick-change discs, not the normal fibreglass discs.. I think the metal ones are a courser weave and thicker than the plastic ones. Another benefit of the quick-change discs is that you can actually get slightly more life out of them than the normal fibreglass discs. They're OD is slightly larger, though obviously their ID is also larger, but you can actually use it closer to the end of the disc. Plus, if you're cutting in awkward positions, the centre of the quick-change discs is a lot stronger (larger surface, metal sleeving), so it's a lot harder to snap the disc off the shaft.

[Xion X2]

So last we left off we had worked on that motherboard tray and the corner supports for the frame.

Here she sits under her new work light, a daylight flourescent with two bright bulbs. Waiting to be attended to.

But wait. Those corner supports aren't done quite yet.

Let me preface this next part with saying this. I imagine there are two camps out there. Those who think I'm a ridiculous perfectionist and those who probably appreciate my attention to detail. Well, the reason I'm so picky is because, when I began this build, I said to myself that no matter what lengths I had to go to, the finished product would look professional as if built by a case manufacturer. That was and still is a key objective of mine with refleXion, so this next piece you're about to see is a direct result of that drive.

Here's a close up of the corner support. Notice running along the bottom that there is a rough lip that's left over from the dremel cut:

This lip will not be seen easily as it will be behind the front of the frame. But for one who would look closely after the case is complete, they would see this:

See how the lip, being a rough cut, doesn't allow the corner support to sit flush with the frame of the Zero G Chamber? These two pieces will be bolted together, so I'd like as clean a join as possible.

So, time to break out the dremel again to grind these supports down. I'll be grinding off that lip that's keeping the pieces from sitting flush against one another.

Let's get the dremel ready.

And away we go.

Ok, stopping point. Look where my finger is resting. To the left we haven't touched yet. To the right, we've hit with the grinding wheel. See the difference?

But.. wow.. these things go about as fast as the cutting discs. After just grinding half the corner support, look at what's happened to our wheel.

Not good. Definitely need something stronger.

It was at that moment that I was reminded of my first job out of high school. To put it plainly, it sucked. I worked in a warehouse doing some pretty hard labor. The company I worked for built huge carpet carousels, and one of my tasks was to grind hundreds of galvanized piping day after day with a small handheld grinder to prep it for welding. And then I thought, you know, I didn't do that stuff with one of these hollowed out, cheaply made grinding/sanding wheels. What I used was a diamond-cut steel bit. So there has to be something better out there for this job. And hopefully Dremel makes it.

Time for a trip to Home Depot. And when I got there, I found just what I was looking for. A large multi-purpose grinding/sanding kit.

That's what I need. Grinding stones.

Let's give them a whirl. I'll try this one out first.

Ahhh yeah, now we're getting somewhere. This is looking good, but it's left some rough edges that need to be treated with the file.

You love me in my ninja work gloves.

Take a look at the two corner pieces now. Notice the difference.

And now, look how well this new corner piece joins to the frame as compared to before we hit it with the grinder.

Looking a lot better. :yepp:

More to come tomorrow.

[Xion X2]

A sneak peek into the next update.

:cool:

[SXRguyinMA]

[Couch3ater]

LOL, PLEXI RUN AND HIDE! Hahahaha, and as for the attention to detail; I would fall into the latter category. Absolutely LOVE your attention to detail. Keep up the good work.

Of topic: I'll have to go pick me up one of those grinding kits. >_>

[x88x]

Love it.

Also, yeah, grinding stones are your friend. TBH, I probably would have ended up doing a lot of that with a hand file though...I'm kinda a control freak with that stuff sometimes.