Weighted Companion Cube case

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l0cke said:
Yeah, I didn't make it. Maybe I could make a corrected version though?

EDIT
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Awesome, you win. Now it's the OP's turn, show us pics!
 
@NicePants -- I like the ideas, especially the knives. I think I'll also garnish the power button with a few razor blades (for the kids).

I scrapped the idea of getting fancy with the DVD drive, and I have a hard time finding an affordable slot loader, so I just picked up a cheapo liteon. I dragged the woman out to Woodcraft to help me find a concealed hinge, and I even picked up the 35mm forstner only to change my mind once I started working on Saturday. To get this thing done, I have to keep things simple for now.

So I started by cutting out the back side of the box. I also decided to add a support in the middle to hold one of my HDDs and the DVD drive.
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Next I hit the miter saw with some 1/2x1/2x1/16" anodized aluminum channel from the home center. My plan is to line the back of the case with this stuff to give it the illusion of a job well done.
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Here's a dry fit of the aluminum channel.
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And a test fit of the motherboard tray (PC-6X replacement tray from performance-pcs [thanks to MatDef for helping me locate that]).
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Next I cut some grooves in the drive support and whipped up a quick and dirty bracket for the optical drive. It has access holes on the bottom to remove the 4 screws that hold the drive in case I step on the tray or something.
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*Quick and Dirty warning* I used more aluminum channel (2x2x1/16) for HDD brackets. I'm only mounting two drives, but I like to space them out to help with the heat dissipation. The same channel was used to make a bracket for my PSU. I also made a bunch of quick and dirty blocks out of scrap MDF to hold the acrylic panel in place.
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Here's the acrylic panel. It's only going to be able to fit one 120mm exhaust fan (so much for 4), but I'll try not to lose sleep over it. I'll also be putting the power switch back here to stick with the clean theme. Oh yeah, I also countersank and screwed in the thinner channel that frames the back of the box.
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Not sure what's going on here... the sleek and classy Lian Li motherboard tray is apparently rejecting its MDF host.
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More to come next weekend... apologies for the spaced out updates, apartment life is not without its inconveniences (like no table saws at 8pm, psssh :rolleyes: ).
 
Excellent, subscribed! :D

Sobek: You are awesome for providing those links, I've been meaning to find an image of the Aperture Science logo. (Not computer related, but now that I've played Portal, I'm bidding adieu to my Black Mesa Security Car and changing it into an official Aperture Science vehicle. Maybe I'll even apply the vinyl sticker straight. :cool: )
 
Here's how this weekend turned out...

Started out by crosscutting the squares that will make up the corner pieces.
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I rough cut the circular shapes at the bandsaw.
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And whipped up a sled/template with quick release clamps to use at the drill press.
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The sanding drum is a robo-sander which allows you to sand with a template (similar to a flush-trim bit on a router).
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The result is a carbon copy that just needs a little sanding to remove the rough surface.
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Afterwards, I cut more miters for the corner pieces (lots of miters on this mfer :( )
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I taped up the corners of the existing cube shape so I can use the cube itself to aid in the glue-up. The new pieces are screwed in from the inside to hold everything together while the glue sets.
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The painters tape allowed me to glue the miters on the corner pieces together without gluing them to the cube.
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x8 for all the corners, and hours later, the cube is starting to look a tiny-bit like the final product. Once the glue is set, I'll knock down the corners of the corner pieces at the table saw to make the final bevels on all faces.
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Its hard to overstate my satisfaction, you're living up to the hype i tried to give you :D It looks amazing dude, keep it up :D
 
You know what you could do is take some of those door latches that they use on home theater cabinets, the kind that you have to push in to open the door, and it pops out a little ways, and attach them to one of the heart panels, and stealth a DVD drive under, that way, you can just press on the panel and have the drive rise up.
Use software to open the drive(unless it's a slot loader) and you're set.
 
What an incredible job you are doing :p ! Keep up the project and please update with more pictures when progressed.
 
weighted companion cube indeed, i know what MDFweights, and its not light.. lol fully loaded, i doubt you could jump 6 inches with it as well.. :p
 
Looking good so far, and interesting wood works. /subscribed
 
I think when the machine starts up it should sing a part of the song. and when it shuts down it's sings the part where it says you killed it, but it's still alive. :)
 
Itay said:
I thought someone might reply upon that issue... Oh well ;). When is the next update?
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Truthfully I hadnt really thought about it in that sense, I was refering to my name...but what works works I guess...

Seriously tho, nice work.
 
Thanks for the kind words/ideas, everyone! Startup and shutdown songs/voice clips will be a must have. I wonder if there's some freeware that will shuffle the songs/clips to keep things fresh.

@filthysanchez: I wussed out and went with the rear mount already. It's for the best, since this case is taking forever already :). Thanks for the ideas, regardless.

Small update for today...

I knocked down all the sharp edges on the cube... to roughly a 1/16" radius, which really adds a ton of dimension to the shape. I also routed through slots so I can mount lighting from the inside of the case. The holes are more apparent in the last photo of this update, though.
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Then I headed over to the bandsaw to rough out some of the circles for the hearts.
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I routed a perfect circle using a trammel, then took the bandsawn roughs from the previous photo and used a flush trim bit to make 4 identical circles. Pictured below is the last step of the process, a 1/4" roundover bit to finish off the disc.
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Pictured below are several stacks of prepped pieces that I'll be using for the smaller corner pieces that sit between the larger corner pieces (that doesn't make any sense, does it?).
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Had to call it quits, so I cleaned up and organized all the pieces of the puzzle. I was hoping to be finished by now, but it looks like I'll have another update this coming weekend. Hopefully paint and final assembly, gr!
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put a speaker in it and have it threaten to stab us!




this is amazing. I was planning on doing a smaller scale version out of acrylic, but I'm still trying to figure out how to do the corners.



also, that thing looks like it's gunna be damn heavy.
 
@dr4gon: maybe once it's done and we have some alone time...

@skudmunky: Nice idea on the speaker, I might have to toy with that once all the hard stuff is done :)

And FWIW, I wouldn't wish recreating the corner pieces on anyone... especially in acrylic (there's going to be so much sanding and polishing, and acrylic is not nearly as forgiving as MDF as you are likely aware). A total PITA those corner pieces are, either way. Good luck!
 
Would have never thought of this on my own... such a simple idea in thought.. not so simple in reality... Excellent work. Subscribed.
 
:D

Little saturday update!

Whipped up another sled/template to get the huge stack of mid-corner pieces routed.
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About a half hour later they were all processed.
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The small size of these parts make them a bit tricky to clamp up, so I'm using a set of Jet corner clamps (usually used to aid in joining up much larger pieces at right angles). They definitely did the trick on these little guys.
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Here I am in the middle of glue-sizing the routed edges. MDF edges are very porous and they'll suck up paint like crazy if we don't finish the edges. You can use joint compound, glue size (water+pva glue mixture), or sand to a very fine grit (from what I've heard). Glue-size fits the bill on these pieces, as I just need to seal the edges, but I'll be using joint compound on the larger corner pieces, as I require a bit of gap filling on those.
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Couldn't resist laying some of the pieces on the cube for a little preview.
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Every update just makes me want to see the finished product even more :D. Awesome work!
 
I'm ashamed to say i don't know what a "weighted companion cube" is but this looks awesome.
 
Looks great, you are obviously no stranger to a router! Do you do that kind of work for a living?

Contentric - It is from the game Portal that came with Half Life 2 - Episode 2 Orange Box. You come across it going through the levels, it is just a normal cube from other parts of the game, but it is designated as your "friend" on a particular level :D
 
Wow... I have never played Portal, heard of it and seen some screens... But shit man, that is some really nice work there!

Looking forward to more, keep up the good work...
 
I love seeing the work of talented people. I have huge respect for people who can build things, especially something like this that is so intricate.
 
I've been watching this for awhile and I have to say I cant wait for more updates please please please
 
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