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Mod Project: APHEX

Ok, well I have done some more work with the fiberglass. After my 2.5 layers had completely dried, I had to pry the fiberglass cast from the mold. My idea to use styrofoam covered in foil was a horrible HORRIBLE idea. Many thanks to the guy who said it was a good idea! Next time I will cover the mold with some kind of oil or wax prior to laying down the fiberglass. Anyway, getting the foil off was a bitch. I couldn't get it all off because some resin had gone through the cracks and embedded the foil in itself. Doesn't really matter though.

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After I pulled out the mold and sanded off as much foil as I could, I cut off the nasty edges with my dremel. I had a huge vacuum on while I was cutting so most of the dust would get sucked up. I still managed to get some dust on my shirt, but the vacuum made short work of that! After everything was cut to a more clean shape, I washed off the fiberglass and wiped it down to get rid of that horrible dust.

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Next I fixed up another batch of resin and precut some cloth squares and did a nice good layer on the inside of the shell. This way, if the shell is a little too big (in the end it has to be flush with the power supply), I will have plenty of room to sand down. The shell is pretty much hardened right now, so tomorrow I can continue my work on it. Tomorrow I will cut it down to the right height, check the dimensions and sand it down. Once it is the right basic shape, I will need to use a bit more fiberglass so I can get some inner flaps made so it can be attached to the PSU. After that I will better define the shape with bondo.

Of course, I will only be doing all this if it turns out well when I check it out tomorrow. If it is horribly wrong, I will get to do it over, starting off with more knowledge than before.
 
I had a funny feeling not all of that foil would be coming off :)

you said you'd be defining the shape with bondo...are you adding a lot of curves and such? Personally, I prefer to use as little bondo as possible when doing things like this. One thing I like to do is make a basic shape out of foam like you did, but then use modeling clay to finish off the shape with whatever curves I want. fwiw, when coated with cooking oil, fiberglass comes off of the clay fairly easily (as long as you don't let your part cure in a warm place - the clay will melt into the reisn.) to top it off you can use it over and over and over and over and over (etc) again and you can really work it into shape with a hairdryer. really cuts down on the finish work required. of course bondo is always needed but hey...

anyway, looks good, especially for a first try. In regards to those bubbles/wrinkles, I usually end up cutting those off with a dremel and then glass back over them. if you get a pool of resin, well...start sanding :) Keep up the good work, can't wait to see the next update.

its nice to see you have a better solution for the dust than I did. last time I did any major cutting I was in my bathroom with the door shut and fan on, long pants, long sleeves, no gloves, a pair of sunglasses and a t-shirt wrapped around my face. LOTs of sweeping and cleaning after that one. after that I decided that any heavy sanding/cutting gets done outside at my parents house :)

(if you can't tell, I've had nothing to do today so I've been watching my posts like a hawk...need a new front door for my case to start my mods..)
 
No, I meant "Defining the shape" as in, making it flat and have sharp corners. This may be a first time with fiberglass, but I know bondo, and I have common sense :-P The fiberglass as it is isn't perfectly flat and has done dents, some folds, etc.

LOL! The master of fiberglass doing it in his bathroom! I didn't see that one coming!

I might have to check out the clay thing. But I do have tools for shaping foam. Years back, in my early teens, I was into model trains and shaped a 4x8 foot board w/ stacked foam into hills cliffs and mountains.
 
ErrOnReq said:
No, I meant "Defining the shape" as in, making it flat and have sharp corners. This may be a first time with fiberglass, but I know bondo, and I have common sense :-P The fiberglass as it is isn't perfectly flat and has done dents, some folds, etc.

LOL! The master of fiberglass doing it in his bathroom! I didn't see that one coming!

I might have to check out the clay thing. But I do have tools for shaping foam. Years back, in my early teens, I was into model trains and shaped a 4x8 foot board w/ stacked foam into hills cliffs and mountains.
Click to expand...

I know you have common sense, just had to make sure :)

I'd hardly consider myself a master..I've only done a few projects myself, but I've picked a lot up in a short amount of time. but thanks for the compliment :)
 
well, you seem to know what your talking about and looks to me like you have some decent experience. Maybe it's not "master", but it's definitely "better than me"

That is, until the whole bathroom incident *cough* :-P

j/k, just giving you a hard time.
 
btw, the whole bathroom incident was because I was in an apartment and was probably the best place to do it. I had a balcony but you could hear more noise from your balcony than you could from either side and above and below you. (place was solid brick). so really it was my best choice :)
 
Earlier today, I took the fiberglass shell, and placed it on the PSU it will eventually be attached to. I checked the size and measurements and the shell is a tad too big. In some areas, it would have to be cut down so much that it would leave barely one layer of fiberglass cloth as a wall! Since I would have to sand the walls down to fit the dimensions of the PSU, I first had to thicken the inner walls. I mixed up some resin and did about a 2-3 layer thick application of fiberglass on the inside of the shell. Once this is dried, I will trim off the excess cloth and compare it to the PSU again, making sure that after the walls are sanded down, that there will still be enough wall left for good structural support.

This is my first attempt, and I didn't get off to the best start. Now that I know so much more, I will be able to spend more time planning and preparing the mold next time.

So right now I am waiting for the inner layers to finish drying, then I will hopefully be able to sand down the outside until it fits the proper dimensions. If I can get that done today, I will update with some pics. I would like to start doing bondo on the outside today as well, but I will have to see how the time goes.
 
JEEVES/whohasmyname? said:
I used to work in a door manufacturing shop. One day i was hard at work at my machine cutting and preping wood doors when my lungs started to hurt and my skin was all itchy. I tured around and looked through the white haze to see some of my co-workers cutting into fiberglass door frames! I was so pissed that no one told me before they started working on it. My nose bled for like a week after that, and my lungs still hurt (some). I would suggest as much protection as possible, I hate fiberglass :mad: .

JEEVES
Click to expand...
You didn't take legal action? That shit sucks. I have a bunch of silicon in my lungs from sand blasting but that isn't nearly as bad as having a bunch of little cuts in your lungs.
 
The last update I had was that I had added a few more layers of fiberglass onto the inside of the shell. Well, since then, that has dried and I was able to flatten the bottom of the shell. I also took a power sander with 40 grit sandpaper and sanded down each face of the shell. Now was fun part #2. Fiberglass work is pretty much done for this shell right now, and now it is on to Bondo! HURRAH! Not worse than fiberglass, but still a little messy. Here is the shell after sanding:

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Anyway, I applied a layer of Bondo, enough to fill most voids and cover most peaks. After that dried, I spend a good amount of time sanding down each face until it was reasonably smooth. Of course there were some pits left over, and another application of Bondo was needed.

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After the second coat, I sanded it down again with 40 grit sandpaper and there were still some minor imperfections. Another coat of Bondo and some more sanding. Now the sides are almost perfectly flat, and the corners are nice and clean. The shell now fits the almost exact dimensions of the power supply.

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Tomorrow I will be cleaning up that angled hole you see in the pics and cutting an 80mm fan hole as well as some holes for the wiring that will go to the hard drives. If I am really in the cutting mood, I will also cut a hole in the side panel of the top cooling compartment so the wires can exit and enter the power supply and the case.

While I have been waiting for the fiberglass and Bondo to dry the past two days, I decided to jump around a bit and get started on another part of the mod. This part involves the keyboard. I used a spiffy looking Cooler Master Keyboard Q which sort of fits my theme, but not enough. I took of the top aluminum plate and sanded it down with 240 grit sandpaper. That was a huge pain in the butt! I have to go all the way up to 2000 grit and then apply a metal polishing compound, clear coat and rubbing compound or glaze. That will get the keyboard looking nice and shiny, but that isn't all that is in store for this baby! Anyway, here are some pics of the keyboard so far:

Before:
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Notice the dull brushed aluminum (if you can see it in the pics):
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Here is the face plate after 240 grit:
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You can sort of see a reflection… a ways away from the finished product though.
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nice looking keyboard. does it type like a laptop keyboard? (looks like it does) cause that would suck. the psu cover looks pretty good too.
 
Yeah, it does type like a laptop keyboard, but it is mostly for show. I am modding the CM KB because it will fit the theme quite nicely and I am capable of using it semi-comfortably if I really have to. The only keyboard I really like is my Microsoft Natural keyboard. I considered modding that one, but it wouldn't look as great and I really do not want to go through the process of having to re-label each key after it is painted.
 
Does it feel like a laptop keyboard? I love the feel of laptop keyboards. The progress is great so far.
 
To answer your question, yes it does feel like a laptop keyboard. But feel free to see what Kurtis thinks of it in that shameless plug :-P

*hopes it isn't against the rules*
 
lol i wouldn't call it a shameless plug, it is relavant to his question, and he seems interested in purchasing it, so i figured he'd want to see the review... :)

But yea it does feel like a laptop... hurry up and finish modding it brian i want to see it all reflecty :D
 
Ahh thanks you guys. I already have a wireless keyboard but I may want a wired one soon.
 
Now that most of the fiberglass mold is done, it was time to cut and drill to make room for the I/O and 80 mm fan. The big hole in the middle is obviously for the 80mm fan, the three larger holes on the side will have IDE and SATA cables that go to the HDDs and the smaller holes accompanying them will be the HDD power wires. The large angled hole on the opposite side is where the PSU wires will exit and the IDE/SATA/fan wires will enter.

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Right now I am in the process of applying fiberglass to the open end of the mold for mounting to the PSU.

Ok, well the paint on the drive cage and mounts have fully dried now after two days. They are painted black and have a nice and thick clear coat on them to hopefully resist small scratches. The flaps and the mounts were painted with Dupli Color's truck bed lining stuff which is really heavy duty. I can go at that stuff with a screwdriver and it doesn't chip!

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Now that it is dry, I got some rivets for my pop rivet gun and assembled the cage. Voila! Nice and purdy.

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Here is a pic with the mounts screwed on via thumbscrews. These mounts will later be riveted to the inner walls of the top cooling compartment.

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I am about to go continue working and might have an update later tonight.
 
Thats an excellent idea for the internal paint, using the bed cover stuff. It should reduce the overall noise quite nicely. I may have to do that on my mod.
 
nice job with the hdd rack and the psu cover. does the truck bed stuff go on clear? i may have to try some of that on my next mod (not sure what it'll be, but still...)
 
Thanks for the compliments.

The truck bed stuff is black.

Well, it got too dark too soon :-/ I used fiberglass to add some internal mounting flaps on the shell and cleaned it up a bit once it was dry. I also got some Bondo Glaze and Spot Filler to, well, fill spots. Right now it is 11:45 and I am letting the final little application of the spot filler dry so I can smooth it down. I didn't have time to cut with the actual PSU or the side panel of the top cooling compartment. I will most likely do that tomorrow as well as prime and paint the shell. That is, unless I think of something else I need to do on the shell. Like drill some holes in the flaps so it can mount onto the PSU (figures, I always forget something).
 
I have a quick question. For this mod, I am going to need to make my own Serial ATA cables. I have to fit the cable through an enclosure which is too small to fit the connector through. Does anyone know where I can get the connectors themselves? Solder or Crimp... although I don't think there is crimp. I have checked the local computer hardware stores, even a place that is all connectors and ICs and resistors but nada :(

Thanks!
 
ErrOnReq said:
I have a quick question. For this mod, I am going to need to make my own Serial ATA cables. I have to fit the cable through an enclosure which is too small to fit the connector through. Does anyone know where I can get the connectors themselves? Solder or Crimp... although I don't think there is crimp. I have checked the local computer hardware stores, even a place that is all connectors and ICs and resistors but nada :(

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Perhaps you could use a rubber molding to fit around it? I've not seen any tools for that either.
 
isn't a SATA cable just like 4 decent-sized wires? only time I've handled one IRL was breifly (I'm behind on the tech...I just upgraded to a 1.4ghz athlon from a duron 900 I've had for 3.5 years) so I don't remember exactly. if they're a decent size to handle, why not just cut the wires and resolder them? somewhere in the middle that would be hidden....just a suggestion
 
It is 8 wires. I broke apart an SATA cable to see if I was able to reuse it, but the housing cannot be removed without breaking it and rendering it completely useless. I can unsolder and re-solder the very tip of the connector, but that leaves a very fragile connection between the wire and the drive.

EDIT: Oh and the wires and pins are very tiny. I could probably do it with a lot of patience.
 
See if maybe there's a male to male connector you could get and pass that through if possible. Actually, not sure if that solves the problem anyway.

nevermind
 
Thanks for the help all, but one of my staff managed to find a local store near them that could order them.
 
ErrOnReq said:
Thanks for the help all, but one of my staff managed to find a local store near them that could order them.
Click to expand...

sweet, glad you found a solution. as for taking the cable apart and putting the connector back together, I was thinking more along the lines of cutting the cable in the middle and putting it back together :)

8 wires hmmm...wonder if you could use cat5 for the wire and not lose any performance...voila, rounded SATA cables :)
 
siege said:
sweet, glad you found a solution. as for taking the cable apart and putting the connector back together, I was thinking more along the lines of cutting the cable in the middle and putting it back together :)

8 wires hmmm...wonder if you could use cat5 for the wire and not lose any performance...voila, rounded SATA cables :)
Click to expand...

Be an interesting thing to try. Cuz you know, those SATA cables are big and annoying so rounded ones would be nice. :)
 
I don't think you can use cat5 for SATA. If you look at the inside of the cable or a diagram of it, there are 8 wires. 4 wires are in 2 pairs. Each pair has a thin wire on either side of it. Due to the high speeds required by SATA and the seemingly weird makeup of the cable, I really don't think you can just use any 8 wires as a cable.

If I couldn't get any connectors I would probably have to resort to cutting the wire in half and soldering it back together. Thankfully I don't have to take the messy way. But now I have to solder 8 tiny wires onto 7 tiny pins for 4-10 connectors :(
 
ErrOnReq said:
I don't think you can use cat5 for SATA. If you look at the inside of the cable or a diagram of it, there are 8 wires. 4 wires are in 2 pairs. Each pair has a thin wire on either side of it. Due to the high speeds required by SATA and the seemingly weird makeup of the cable, I really don't think you can just use any 8 wires as a cable.

If I couldn't get any connectors I would probably have to resort to cutting the wire in half and soldering it back together. Thankfully I don't have to take the messy way. But now I have to solder 8 tiny wires onto 7 tiny pins for 4-10 connectors :(
Click to expand...

I suspect the cat5 wouldn't work either, but it'd be interesting to see someone try.
 
You and Kurtis are doing some great work, I can't wait to see more of it. :)
 
Thanks :)

I should have a fairly good update tomorrow. I've smoothed and painted the fiberglass shell (needs another coat though), cut the hole in the cooling compartment, primed the cooling compartment (will paint tomorrow), and constructed another piece out of fiberglass (which will be cut and sanded and have Bondo applied if needed and painted tomorrow as well). I also cut a hole in the PSU and removed all the stickers. I should sand and paint that tomorrow too. I'm not able to put the cooling compartment together until all the paint is dry which means Sunday probably. However, I will try to post some shots of how it will look. I have some of the wiring stuff here, but I need to order some tubing from MCMaster as well. I hope I have plenty of time to work tomorrow :-P

Man, how many times can I say tomorrow in one post?!

I'm too tired, I'll count em tomorrow.
 
ErrOnReq said:
Man, how many times can I say tomorrow in one post?!

I'm too tired, I'll count em tomorrow.
Click to expand...
I'm tired too, but I think I counted 6. You can do better than that, tomorrow.
 
just read through the thread, nice work. wish i read earlier to warn you about the fibreglass. I did the EXACT same thing my firsy time. i did a styrafoam mould wrapped in aluminum foil and it was a pain to get off because the resin went under the tiny creases at the corners. anyways the stuff is great once you learn to use it. I feel like i could make anything outa fibreglass now.
 
You might want to try spraying some wd40 on your glooves to keep the wet mat/cloth from sticking to your gloves too much. It can help and make things a bit easier.
 
Sorry all, my schedule was "delayed" a bit last night. It's 4:00 and I just woke up. I'll try to work on the mod today, but things aren't going well for me right now.
 
Take your time then :)
You should always mod with a clear head unless you want to see your Dremel eat into half of your case, lol.
 
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