Project: Digg (custom case) Finished

trxjw said:
This looks like it's going to be very cool. /subbed

I also do woodworking as it's my family business. For a long time I've wanted to try making a case out of some type of wood but never thought it would work.. guess I was wrong! :)

I think I'll be making mine out of Ipe and Bamboo we have left over from an old job. You think working with wood is difficult.. try working with grass. :rolleyes:

And for the record.. MDF isn't actually a type of wood, its sawdust and glue. Theres no such thing as an MDF tree. ;) If I had a nickle for everytime someone asked me what type of tree MDF comes from, I'd be buying the whole board new Conroes. :p
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hehehe, why do that, buy amd's instead (starts a huge flamewar)
Though MDF is nice, what most people make their speaker boxes out of, 3/4"
 
Here's a quick look at the lettering. The first layer (top) gets painted a light gray and the second layer will glow from the light box underneath it. Still waiting on the cathodes to arrive. The aluminum rod (6061) came from McMaster. They were pretty quick I might add. I'll get to bending it today. Also trying to get the VFD thing figured out. Got a helpful email from a guy at the lcdstudio forum.

digg15.jpg
 
Ahhh, the lettering looks so nice. Can't wait to see it lit up.

Keep up the good work. :)
 
EL wire just isn't bright enough for serious lighting applications. Here's the cathodes that arrived today:

digg16.jpg
 
That will do the trick for lighting lol, very nice work though, should end up really nice.
 
with all this hand-cutting, I'm suprised you haven't made a homebrew CNC machine yet. Once you go CNC, you'll never go back. :)
 
If mrmagoo's bandwidth doesn't hold up I have... more than him ;) and I'd be willing to host pics for you.

Mod looks sweet :)

the black knight always triumphs!
 
SpangeMonkee said:
with all this hand-cutting, I'm suprised you haven't made a homebrew CNC machine yet. Once you go CNC, you'll never go back. :)
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In due time my friend. First you get the money, then you get the power....tools...then I forget how it goes......you understand :D

and thx rogue
 
If the humidity isn't through the roof today I'm hopefully going to have the lightbox for the cathodes done. I can't seem to function when its over 100 degrees outside and the last few days have been hellish.

Aside from that, I'm getting tons of help from the people at the lcdstudio forum (concerning the VFD) so I feel a bit relieved about that. In fact, they're almost too incredibly helpful considering how much of a newbie I am to the realm of LCDs/VFDs....

After it's finished, the front of the case will need a neon outline to bring it all together. Still unsure if that's what I really need, I'm sure there's cheaper alternatives or possibly better looking ones.
 
Qtip42 said:
In due time my friend. First you get the money, then you get the power....tools...then I forget how it goes......you understand :D

and thx rogue
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I completely understand. I have access to a nice CNC machine. I'll have to post a project of mine. I'm not sure what business you are in, but you can make a good return with a CNC machine. I think we recouped the cost of our CNC machine ($25K) in less than 3 months.
 
SpangeMonkee said:
I completely understand. I have access to a nice CNC machine. I'll have to post a project of mine. I'm not sure what business you are in, but you can make a good return with a CNC machine. I think we recouped the cost of our CNC machine ($25K) in less than 3 months.
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I know you can make a good return but I'd rather wait till I get a bit more business doing full builds than do small jobs for people 24/7.
 
As far as the VFD is concerned, I've got this 12"x1" Noritake 512x32H-3900 on the way...Probably could have bought a 19" LCD for the same price but, hey, it just doesn't have the same cool factor.
vfd.jpg



Here's the mockup of the letters with only 4 cathodes. I'm using 9 total behind the letters (that's why the dot on the 'i' isn't there.) Just a test. It's a shame the tops of the letters get painted.

OFF
digg17.jpg


ON
digg18.jpg
 
Mysticcal2 said:
it looks awesome but I think the CCFLS could be placed better...
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Well ya, read what I said above it, "mock up." I just put a few under there quick and turned it on. There's another 5 CCFLs that go underneath
 
I really want to suggest to you that you build a unified power source for the CFL tubes. I am sure you can find schematics and diagrams for this... or something for you to mod.

I look at all those CFL power units and I see FIRE HAAZARD written all over it.

It is not uncommon for those things to melt or combust basically spontaniously. and you are using so many...

just a thought.
 
They're being cooled down by fans, it'll be fine. The good thing is the inverters aren't the cheapy blue ones. If that was the case, I'd be worried too.
 
cheapy blue ones, that is an understatement, I had a couple tubes with the blue inverters... they were terrible... haven't used CFL in a while though since.

it's been a while since I have had a PC with a window.
 
VFD is going to hook to this DC/DC converter since it requires both a 5v and 24v. Only 2"x2" which is great.
http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/st...&catalogId=10001&productId=155694&pa=155694PS

The lightbox was installed. I made it so the cathodes can be taken out on the side (by the I/O panel) if someone wants to change the color or needs to replace them. The top 6" cathodes have to be changed from inside the case though. Sorry for the bad picture, I didn't bother taking a second since there isn't much to see. I'm waiting on the VFD before I start to secure everything into place though.

digg19.jpg


I'm working on the hard lines for the power supply for now. I decided to make a block that they will run into, then go to the motherboard. The block gives me something to play with till the VFD arrives.
 
Is that motherboard tray removable? And also, will the PSU always be on the outside of the case?
 
TheOneGreatX said:
Is that motherboard tray removable? And also, will the PSU always be on the outside of the case?
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Mobo tray is removable. The power supply you see in that picture is just a prop for holding the pieces together :D

The real power supply (Hiper 580watt is what I'm planning) will be mounted to the far right wall on the inside (of course) :D
 
Ya I went there immediately after reading that. Still waiting for it to download. Hopefully they said something good. :D
 
Looking great. I wonder if this one would take as loong as Batman :p (probubly not)
 
Sounds like they enjoyed it.

bbq, this case will take at most a month and a half. I'd like to have it done before August 20th.
 
jayadelson said:
How can I convince you when it's done to let us put it on Kevin's desk?
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How big is Kevin's desk? :D

Wouldn't take a lot of convincing. I'll pm you my email address.
 
Not a whole lot has been done this week. I'm waiting for parts to be delivered. The pic just shows some perforated steel added to the back of the light box. Aluminum hard lines, block, etc. A few of the lines are missing because I need to weld them to other lines. I am liking the metal look but I still want to paint the insides (probably digg-silver) unless anyone else objects to the color scheme. Overall I'm thinking silver letters on front with a dark blue paint on the body and then silver inside the case with blue highlights. Also needs pinstriping inside and out.

digg20.jpg
 
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