Project Stealthlow

[Waynio]

You.
Are
Amazing.
Wow.

LOL Thanks AmEv .

About the delay.

Forgot to login to say it's on hold until I get the 15mm bolts for holding the pci pieces together, ordered them yeasterday & been told I could expect them to arrive on friday .

[Waynio]

Rolling on again .

Today I thought why not just make the pci/io jig for while I drill 2.5mm holes for fixing the plates together & used some 2.5mm nuts & bolts while I file them so they blend together better, inside work is done on the 4 plates while the slotted plate needs finishing & the exterior needs the same inside treatment to look good, but yeah I'm liking how they are turning out & the 2.5mm holes are ready to be tapped for m3 bolts .

Think it took about 2 to 3 hours this.

Also while I was getting busy doing this & came back over to see if the bolts had come they have so I have the 15mm m3 countersunk bolts & the m6 countersunk bolts for the case feet (wanted to replace the standard bolts for countersunk ones) but thinking about it I might go with the easy option of using the stock bolts, undecided .

[AmEv]

Snazzy.


I'm just curious what you would need 4 network ports for.
Just curious.

[msmrx57]

Looking good.

[Waynio]

Snazzy.


I'm just curious what you would need 4 network ports for.
Just curious.

Oh I only ever used the 1 out of the 4 on my last mobo lol , thanks AmEv .

Looking good.

Thanks msmrx57 .

Diggsy on overclockers.co.uk mentioned to me that it looked like the slotted piece & IO was on wrong & indeed it was lol , just a little hiccup when I put it back together as I had the 4 none slotted pieces bolted together while I filed the inside edges, thankfully all is ok, phew was worried for a moment there .

[Waynio]

I tried, I failed at making my own wish it were billet pci/io piece lol bleep happens, 1 of the bolts snapped in half & is stuck in the piece & the hole is countersunk so can't hide that & can't accept such a big imperfection so I drilled a spare pci/io piece off an old case & I'll go with that now, 2 things I'm gutted about: 1 the amount of time ultimately wasted on making this part. 2: it was starting to turn out awesome.

Also the 15mm bolts I ordered were 13mm this is why I had to countersink deeper so they'd stretch the full length.

I know I could fix it by filling all the holes & using adhesive to stick them together but that's not a standard I'd be truly happy with so I'm gonna try to forget about it & use the standard piece.

[Waynio]

I was premature about calling it a failure .

So here's what I done.

I did the rest of the bolts to hold the plates together & the failed 1 I ignored & did a new bolt very close to it, had to grind the bolt down so it was correct length, then started on the mounting holes for attaching the piece to the mobo tray & back panel, used wd-40 on all the drilling, tapping & then put helicoils in all the mounting holes, I left the expansion card holes alone as I'm thinking of making a clamp piece that holds all cards in place.

So I'm going to use body filler to cover all the countersunk bolt heads & to hide the failed hole & for getting the mounting holes aligned to the mobo panel & back panel I'll use my tried & tested cotton bud stick with a blob of paint on method lol it works perfectly so why not .

[AmEv]

0.0
\_/

Whoa.

[Waynio]

0.0
\_/

Whoa.

Ugh it's 1 of those days where I'm trying to do something but getting nowhere & just over thinking & was even considering going with a regular pci piece again so came back into the warmth to get my scatterbrain together lol .

My good old method of using cotton bud tips wasn't possible (cotton bud sticks were too thick for the holes), that method was only good for rivets or fan holes so instead I put bolts in the mounting holes, filled the sockets up with paint & then pressed it against the mobo tray so it was perfectly to the edge & it worked perfect, but I found I'll need to do that for the back panel first as there is a tiny gap so yeah that means I have 3 unwanted holes but luckily they are hidden behind an angle bar :p.

So time to rest, then go at it again tomorrow .

[Waynio]

All but 3 of the holes lined up, the off 3 were only off by a smidge so I used my 3mm mill bit to expand the hole to where it was needed & it's nicely done .

My countersink bit is past it's best though & started making a bad job of countersinking so it's time to throw it away but I just ordered a new one so hopefully it will be here soon .

Also with it being so well fixed to the back panel I believe I can get away with not attaching it to the mobo panel, it's all solid so no real need .