Must Kill Teddy Bears

Sheldog23

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 26, 2004
Messages
320
Must Kill Teddy Bears - Clear Logisys Mod

Brandon Steen, A friend and Fellow Co-worker of mine who also just happens to be an excellent artist, was having some computer problems. His problem? His case was uglier than sin and an abomination to mankind.

I had been wanting to try out some things with backpainting and Brandon desperately needed a new case. So we decided to work together on a Mod. Using his awsome artwork and my modding skills. We are trying to create a beautiful master piece.

To start off we had to decide on a theme. I mentioned to him that I really liked a piece I had seen of his with some Psycho Teddy bears. I thought it would be cool if we could just expand on that Artwork and make a whole case of it. Brandon thought it was a novel idea and began working on the artwork right away.

It all started with this piece. The original that I saw was much larger, but it was such a cool image I was glad we chose it for the case. The one you see here is printed on material that is meant to be backlit. Brandon had started the image you see with a doodle on a napkin in a late night coffee shop binge.
mustkillartwork.jpg


Here is the case pre modified. A Pre-assembled Logisys clear acrylic case. It comes with 5 blue LED fans and ready to go.
Logitechclear.jpg
Logitechclear2.jpg


The thing that I always hear about these acrylic cases is that they look like they would be really cool. Until you get everythng inside and you can't hide anything. No matter what you do it always looks messy inside. What I see is a blank canvas primed and ready to be painted. You just need to decide what you want to show and what you want to hide.

Ok Time to fill the Canvas. First thing I had to do was convert his artwork over to vector format. Then cut it reversed out in paint mask vinyl. I prefer to apply the image to the inside because I like the look of the smooth acrylic on the outside.

Time to put the vinyl on the acrylic. It will come between some slick paper and transfer tape. Peel the transfer tape off the slick paper. It will have the vinyl attached to it. One side will be very sticky and you need to be careful not to get is stuck to itself or anyting other than the case. Line it up the the piece and carefully lay it down. Then sqweegee the vinyl firmly onto the piece. Then peel up the transfer tape and leave the vinyl mask behind.

sqweege.jpg

Lay down the Vinyl with Plastic Sqweegie.

pullingtape.jpg

and then pull back the transfer tape, leaving the vinyl on the Acrylic.

Back Painting the Acrylic.

Now you are ready to paint the Acrylic. When painting acrylic you want to use a paint that is specifically designed to stick to acrylic. If you use a regular krylon or spray paint it will stick, but will scratch off very easily. There are many kinds to choose from but I prefer Vinyl Dye or Vinyl Paint. It can be bought at a local AutoZone or Auto Parts Store. It bonds with the Acrylic leaving a hard almost plastic finish.
spraypaint.jpg


This is the brand I used to paint the case.

Before you paint make sure your acrylic is clean and dry. Fingerprints and dirt specs will show up sandwiched between the paint and acrylic. Also make sure you are in a well ventillated area and wear a paintmask. You don't want to win a Darwin Award.
mbpaint.jpg

Paint several thin coats of paint until you cannot see through it from the front side. Don't pour it on too thick because it will eat the vinyl and make is raisin up off the acrylic. For more detailed instructions follow the instructions on the paint can. When you are done allow the paint to completly dry before peeling off the vinyl.
mbpaintdetail.jpg

Once it is painted you will have what you see here. A nice shiny acrylic panel with the Vinyl mask standing out quite nicely against it newly painted background. This is the reason I paint the back. It gives the side you see a nice shiny uniform appearance.
afterpaint.jpg

Now you can begin the ever so tedious task of peeling of the vinyl you laid. The Vinyl is after all your new windows.
peeling.jpg

(note: this pic is from another section as I forgot to document this part)

After the Vinyl was all peeled I cleaned of any residual goo left from the vinyl and applied the image of the teddy bears to the back. This is the Mother board side so the mounts went through the image and helped hold it down.

gluingback.jpg


Around the edges I dabbed some two part epoxy between the slight overlap and the paint.

Final Product.
finishedmbside.jpg

Here you can see that the big vinyl sqaure in the middle became a window for the artwork. All the letters are now little windows. To show you the difference I left the vinyl mask in the top "kill teddy bears" section to accent the difference. They will be removed after this pic is taken.

The letters will eventually have lighting come through to match the blue red fade of the artwork. The arwork itself will be backlit white. More on the lighting later.

The CPU side

This side is done in the same order, using the same techniques as above. First you have your design cut out of vinyl.
cpusidevinyl.jpg

Using a sqweege and pressing the vinyl onto the acrylic
cpusidetped.jpg

pull off the transfer tape leaving the Vinyl.
cpusidepulltp.jpg

Spray several light coats of paint in a well ventillated area.
cpusidepainted.jpg

peel off the Vinyl.
peeling.jpg

Once it is peeled clean off any vinyl residue. You should now have a shiny new custom acrylic case door with your custom designed artwork. Add a few decals and Waala. Fancy.
cpusidefinal.jpg


CPU side door commentary
Everything was going well on this side. Unfortunately I cannot control the weather and a cold front came. The Vinyl paint need to be 60F to dry right, and it was getting chilly in the shaded shop. To combat the chill I laid this piece on our south side to get the warmth of the Mid day sun. I had it laying on the ground in the drivebay doorway with some cones around it. Cones aparently mean run me over to the install guys, and they did. Also running over the Acrylic side door.
runover2.jpg

Amazingly the side was virtually undamaged. You can barely make out the dirt and the tire tread above. A testiment to the durability of the paint could not have been better had I planned it.
runover.jpg

The asphalt did leave some indents where there were some pebbles on the ground. It is barely visible and I hope they can be polished out.

More to come...
 
Nice work. I must agree that acrylic cases are uglier than sin once you get up close to them. I'll watch this one, although, I think the theme is a bit odd to say the least.
 
I like odd... :D

OK, another update. Heheh. If you can't tell I have been putting this off. Been so incredibly busy lately. Home, work, website, new Austin Modders stuff, Prep for the April LAN. it's all just a lot. So by the end of the day I wouldn't feel like adding a worklog. I finally got so far that I knew I had to do it. I have the day off so I figure now my chance.

...so without further ado..

The Top
We went through several designs for the top. A lot of them were your standard windows. We ended up using a design that was originally going to be on the front but we thought it was to busy.
Topfinal.jpg


Here it is with the fans in and with lights out.
topdarkflash.jpg


topdark.jpg


Tommorow I will add the front section here, and then the fun really begins. I have to get tons of lighting for effects and all the little details that finish a Mod off. I have only just begun. :twisted:
 
Holy shit you can cut good.
I can't even make a straight line with a knife.

 
lol, fucking nice man!!! love the artwork and keep up the good work!
 
Crazy theme, but WOW!
Looks great and those pics your putting on the case are amazing!
 
The front

third verse..same as the first.
frontvinyl1.jpg


vinylfront.jpg


frontlaid.jpg


I had to trim around the bays and lay the vinyl into the recess.
frontcut1.jpg

frontmiddleinsert.jpg

frontcut2.jpg

frontpainted.jpg


So now the case foundation is pretty much finished. Now it is time for all the detailing and what not.

The bays, The window on the side, wiring and hardware, More lighting.. All of which will be addressed very soon. So for now here are some overall shots of where I am now.

fancy1.jpg


fancy2.jpg


In the Dark

cpusidedark.jpg


cpusidedark2.jpg


frontdark.jpg


mbsidedark.jpg


You can see already how cool this is going to be once I get all the lighting in. I have ordered several Meteor light kits and a Red Thunder cathode. some white cathodes and I have at my disposal lots of Red LEDs. I also have to mess with the PSU and I have some blue sleaving for that.

stay tuned....
 
That is some incredibly nice artwork, this has got to be one of the best acrylic cases I have ever seen. Keep up the good job dude.
 
lol, To be fair I must mention I work at a sign shop and all vinyl is cut on a plotter. Not a brain surgeon, sorry. Although I did cut the top window in the vinyl by hand. The Decals are all printed on a 52" solvent dye inket printer onto premium vinyl. Hope I didn't ruin it for ya.
 
I am a bit confused, why did you use vinyl paint? As far as I understand, the paint stays on the acrilic and the vinyl leters come out.. :confused:

Oh, and by the way, your case looks awesome.
 
Because vinyl paint bonds with the acrylic. Regular spray paint scratches off acrylic really easily.
 
Sheldog23 said:
I have ordered several Meteor light kits and a Red Thunder cathode. some white cathodes and I have at my disposal lots of Red LEDs. I also have to mess with the PSU and I have some blue sleaving for that..

I should have a small update on the case midweek with the teddy in the small window. He is getting some broken glass around where he shoots through the window. I just need to tweak some LED's and detail work. Then hopefully I will get the lighting in thursday and get an update with It all lit up soon after.
 
Fantastic work so far, keep it up! I have to admit that I don't like the look of acrylic case, normally, but this one is changing my mind.
 
once again, great job bro!!!

why dont you just make switches so you can change the colors :) blue, red, orange or what not! :D
 
I am very impressed. I really like the theme, the colors in the art work. Just stunning. Does the creator of this art ever sell it? it is originally created on canvas or is it purely digital work? I really like this a lot very original and very cool.
 
Wow! awesome case art...nice to have a vinyl cutting machine for this type of work I bet!--makes excellent painting masks. I remember when i worked building props we had a Gerber cutter in house--I should take a look at the new ones out there!
 
Captain Colonoscopy said:
Fantastic work so far, keep it up! I have to admit that I don't like the look of acrylic case, normally, but this one is changing my mind.

i think it is because of the graphics... it doesn't have the fully clear look anymore.. at least thats how i am about the case
 
Awesome job. What type of system are you building?

Man I have to say it again, Awesome Job!!!!!!!!! ;)
 
Damn....great job! Hats off to both you and your friend! :D

One question tho- the vinyl masks- did you make them yourself (and if so- how?), or did you have someone else make them (and if so how much did it run, if I may ask)?

Thanks!
 
Yes It is nice to have a vinyl plotter to cut mask. I would hate to do this kind of work without it. Even though it is possible. It would be a pain.

lamarth said:
One question tho- the vinyl masks- did you make them yourself (and if so- how?), or did you have someone else make them (and if so how much did it run, if I may ask)?

Thanks!

As I said before I work at a sign shop and I cut the vinyl on a plotter.

For pricing it really depends on where you go. Most little vinyl shops will charge you a minimum of $25. I would say all mask I had cut here would have cost roughly $50 to have someone cut. That doesn't include art time if they have to clean up your artwork.
 
Sheldog23 said:
Yes It is nice to have a vinyl plotter to cut mask. I would hate to do this kind of work without it. Even though it is possible. It would be a pain.



As I said before I work at a sign shop and I cut the vinyl on a plotter.

For pricing it really depends on where you go. Most little vinyl shops will charge you a minimum of $25. I would say all mask I had cut here would have cost roughly $50 to have someone cut. That doesn't include art time if they have to clean up your artwork.

Sorry - I did look thru the posts but I must've missed that...must be old age setting in :(

Thanks for the price quotes tho- that's about what I had expected it to be. Do you usually use .dxf files on your plotter, or does the plotter need a specific/specialized file format?
 
Back
Top