ON3 Up....

scottatwittenberg said:
i am just posting so i can see this when it is done. . i wasn't about to go reading all of that. therefore more mod pr0n, less words.. haha

looks really good so far
I know what youi mean. I'm full of ideas and designs, but lacking in that all-important item called CASH! Drill press, router table, band saw, mitre saw..... Decisions, decisions.
Router table is first along with some raw aluminum plate I guess. The wood form should be ready to fly to make the covers in two weeks, too.
 
i got bored....decided to screw around with cinema4d. If you want a hi-res wallpaper size version of this....pm me :D I'd be glad to e-mail it to you.

on3up.jpg
 
sarbz said:
i got bored....decided to screw around with cinema4d. If you want a hi-res wallpaper size version of this....pm me :D I'd be glad to e-mail it to you.

on3up.jpg
Wow, wicked nice! That means "man, that's sweet" in Boston. You like the logo? It looks great in 3D, too bad the implementation is gonna be 2d in the glass, cause that looks killer!
 
I have a friend that sand blasts glass and acrylic. It CAN be done to look 3d. You use a 2 stage process. You mask part of your graphic, and sandblast lightly. Then mask off the second area and blast again. You end up getting a two tone look. You can use this effect to shade the sides of a 3d illustration.

It would work nicely in this situation :D

EDIT: added pics

Pretend you're looking through your window at your 6800gt...here's what the first blast does:

etch1.jpg


Then, you lay down your second mask, and blast the remaining layer:

etch2.jpg


Instant 3d logo ;)

Let me know if you want this done. I'm sure my friend would be willing to do it for cheap. He hasn't done computer mods before, but I'm sure he'd love to expand his business and get some exposure. He's blasted plenty of glass and acrylic..windows, beer mugs...stuff like that.

P.S. the masking would all be cut out on a digital plotter. That way, it'll look extremely professional and clean.
 
After finding out the 5vdc fan on the 6800 is actually 12vdc, and the LEDs I installed were now dead, there needed to be a little more work to the card. I was a dumbass and totally spaced it, assuming the fan would be 5VDC...
So I decided to add three more LEDs to the mix (in the already cramped, microscopic space) between the heatsink and card. The original two LEDs and wiring were trashed, and a new wiring arrangement and more holes in the heatsink were made. I could have just replaced the two LEDs and wired them to 5vdc, but why do that when the fan connection is already there to be tapped into? Besides, now the heatsink cover I made has over twice the light output, and looks great as you can see in the pics below.....
6800light1.jpg

6800light2.jpg

6800light3.jpg

6800light4.jpg
 
DaRkF0g said:
Wow that 6800 heatsink mod came out great. Props to you for such a great job!
Thanks! It was fun for about 2 hours, the first time around :) This time it took about two more hours on top of that!
 
0mega said:
does it still cool everything properly?
I played a little HL2 and the temp reported by the new thermistor for the Matrix Orbital buried in the GPU heatsink went up by only 1 degree... That could be just because the house is warmer today than yesterday!
BTW, thought I'd toss in some new pics also... You'll get a kick out of this! The Mobo cover is made... still needs to be finish-cut and painted, but it's pretty much done. The cover ihas two bends in it, so that it will mount inside the upright supports (when they are done) the same width as the mobo mounting tray. I cut out some spots for the AGP card, northbridge heatsink, CPU heatsink, and memory. It all fits perfect, although after cutting the AGP cutout the piece that fits on the heatsink side is a little bent out of shape, due to the bends I made in the panel. But once the whole frame is done, I'll be able to re-heat it and make it fit perfect. The deflection is only about 2mm at the backplane....
mobocover1.jpg

mobocover2.jpg

mobocover3.jpg
 
zeusenergy said:
I cut out some spots for the AGP card, northbridge heatsink, CPU heatsink, and memory.
BTW, the original idea of cutting a hole in the acrylic mobo cover for the ATX harness has been changed. I'm going to route those wires UNDER the acrylic cover! It will be difficult to get everything to mount right and make it easy to work on, but I'm sure I can engineer a solution. Now every wire in the machine will be hidden, and I won't need to make a pipe to run those wires thru. It will look much cleaner this way. :cool:
 
zoidberg3001 said:
Exelent job on the heatsink. Looking very sweeet indeed. :cool:
Hey, thanx. Definately different than the average blue LED fans you see all the time on video cards. It will match nicely with the green/white on black background theme. I'm glad the first time around failed!
:p
 
Its going to be interesting to see a green themed case. Most cases that are green come out looking like crap, but I think yours will be very unique :). Looking great so far, ill stay posted to see the finished product :)
 
DaRkF0g said:
Its going to be interesting to see a green themed case. Most cases that are green come out looking like crap, but I think yours will be very unique :). Looking great so far, ill stay posted to see the finished product :)
The actual theme won't be straight green, this is going to be airbrushed into the acrylic covers. Either a flame made from green/white, or something like green marble texture or maybe even like the With Teeth Nine Inch Nails album art...See screenshot below:
(can you tell I like nin????? With Teeth kicks some serious ass!)


nin.jpg
 
sarbz said:
I have a friend that sand blasts glass and acrylic. It CAN be done to look 3d. You use a 2 stage process.
Hey Sarbz, thanx for the blown up version you sent. Actually, I got the sandblasting setup on purpose to do this sort of thing. Obviously it's on a much smaller scale than your friend's rig, but it works for me. I've thought about it, and maybe if I do the two-stage by: 1) sandblast the whole area to be backlit, 2) mask again over the main logo, leaving the 3d edge exposed, 3) airbrush some opaque paint lightly over the newly formed "background" edge. Just doing sandblasting in layers won't make much of an impact, since it will be backlit- and the front of the logo will be hidden when the machine is off by use of window tint over the windowed area in the acrylic. The logo will be part of the DVD-drive cover, viewable thru the acrylic side covers which will join to form a window at the front of the case... I'll have to do some testing to see the best effect before doing the actual work, and I'll be posting my results! Next week, most likely. I got a bunch of stuff I need done first!
 
OK guys, last update today :)
The top panel design of the case is finished and drawn up. The top illustration in the 1st pic is of the frame (aluminum) portion of the case, called the upper plate. It shows both the power supply mount holes and the top aux fan mounting bracket inset. You can see how the handle overshadows the top ports in the case (usb, firewire, audio, etc) protecting them and also sort-of hiding them more from view. The 5 1/4" bay is cut out further into the aluminum upper plate to allow ventilation from the drive side of the case. The lower aux fan will provide airflow to the whole drive side, and you can see in the bottom illustration how the acrylic panels that cover the top of the upper plate are drilled out to allow an exhaust for heated air. Note the seam between the two top cover panels, it will be cut in an irregular pattern to make it look more unique, and they extend around the top parts of the upright supports where the handle mounts. All of the cover mount screws will be countersunk, small flush allen bolts and they will thread directly into the holes in the upper plate, much like everything else in the case will thread into the aluminum frame parts. An aluminum or stainless mesh will be used to cover the area around the upper fan and power supply exhaust.
on3up_d12.jpg


The next pic is of the DVD drive once it's done. The inset illustration shows the side view of the DVD drive and the illuminated logo components I will need to make it glow. There will be two layers of acrylic, apinted and etched along with some window tint to make the logo disappear once the machine is off. There is a small casing I will need to make with a reflective interior to illuminate the back of the logo, along with the LEDs at the bottom of that part fully inside the casing. You can also see the arrows in the pic showing where the 5 LEDs will be mounted, and the direction they will all face once installed. Both the DVD itself and the logo will be lit up in green again. The "arrow" portion of my logo will point to the DVD itself, should look killer :cool: This part of my modding will be done quite soon, within a couple weeks and maybe even this week... We'll see.
on3up_d13.jpg
 
ShaolinDragon said:
Yup, great looking heatsink by the way!
Thanks, Shaolin. And thanks to you too Domo..... The next two weekends are going to be family time for me, but I should be updating next week with the mobo tray painted and etched, and maybe I can start on redoing the DVD drive. There's never enough time in the day!
 
subscribed...


looks great, actually is starting to inspire me to build my own case! :cool:
 
TSS Modder said:
wow! youre doing one amazing job! keep up the excellent work. :D
snoopy said:
looks great, actually is starting to inspire me to build my own case!
cell_491 said:
this looks cool ima gonna subscribe
Thanks, guys. There's alot of content on this thread, and there will be much more to come. I really can't wait to get the tools to start with the aluminum fabrication, as the transmission section is something I want to see built! The paper mockup of the frame sections of the case are nearly complete now, too, so I should be updating with pics of the assembled frame mockup within a day or two. Also, the mobo cover will be finished soon with paint and etching for all its edges, even around the holes for cpu/ram/northie/agp. It fits like a glove :)
New to this build is a couple more items I needed to complete the mobo compartment at the back of the case. Since I want zero visible wires, I will be fabbing up another cover for the bottom of the mobo compartment to hide the lower fan- but more importantly to direct airflow into the FHS and into the mobo cover, it will help the mobo cover to become a wind tunnel for efficient cooling. This is quite important as the case has minimal fans. The top part of the mobo compartment will be covered by the power supply, and an additional small cover over the IDE cable area, fully enclosing everything in the mobo compartment with nothing to see but what I want to show off. A new drawing depicts some of this detail below. The power supply itself wil have its own acrylic covers, and will be custom designed to have connectors underneath to disconnect the case harnesses for easy removal. The connector for 115 VAC mains power will be at the bottom of the mobo compartment, hidden by the new cover design. I was thinking of doing a freestanding aluminum pipe above the mobo cover itself, between the power supply and the lower cover, but instead I might route it under the mobo cover beside the RAM slots (inside a metal tube to insulate the AC power)
Alos, you can see in the drawing a new piece yet again for the AGP card. You won't be able to recognize the card when I'm done! It will be an acrylic fan intake duct (3-piece) and it will have an expansion slot with holes as a grill at the bottom of the case where a PCI card would normally go. It will be painted and windowed over the fan area... will look hot, and keep the card way cooler! :cool:



on3up_d14.jpg
 
Okay... Finished the mockup of the frame portion of the case! It's only paper, but it represents the actual size of the finished product and also serves as templates for the actual aluminum pieces once I start cutting. Check it out:
You can see in the first pic the drive side compartment and the cutout at the bottom for the lower cover module support, where the LCD and indicators will pass thru when the case opens.
mockup_1.jpg


In the second pic, you can see the handle, upper mobo ports, and the cutout for the DVD drive. It's wider than the DVD so that each side of the drive will have vent holes to exhaust hot air from the drive compartment. The lines on the right side of the top plate are where the power supply is going to mount, still have to work out the exact way to make the cutout.
mockup_2.jpg


The third pic shows the mobo compartment and again you can see where the power supply mounts. At the bottom is the cutouts for expansion cards and all the existing ports on the original case.

mockup_3.jpg


The last pic shows the leg mount tabs which are a part of the upright supports. These tabs will be threaded for the allen screws to attch the leg assembly I drew up earlier in this thread. BTW, the upright supports need to be notched along the sides vertically for the arms of the side covers to pass thru, still need a bit more calculations before I can cut them. Stay tuned for more soon! :D
mockup_4.jpg
 
sarbz said:
mmmm....this is starting to taste really good!
I dunno, Sarbz, I think it's gonna be a big meal. This thing is bigger than I anticipated looking at the mockup. :eek: But it's still within the 10" square as designed. :cool:
 
its gonna turn out great...

so how about upppdattessss


this thread is like crack to me, sorry.
 
Very very good, seems like patiance and good skills are the key on this project; I really hope the final product is as the mock up or better even.

Keep it up, you got our attention now. :)
 
mashie said:
I'm impressed by your concept art. It will be very interesting to see how this turn out in the end.
Mashie, I have a few dillemas. I was hoping maybe to get some input from you.....
The lower cover assembly drops down during the opening cycle, exposing the hard drive. I've thought hard about it, and I will be covering even the drives and wires in this compartment like the mobo compartment. I was thinking of re-using the window from the last HDD I tried to mod (a new 80GB Seagate) that died about two weeks after the mod. The new HDD is also a Seagate, and the cover will be easy to transplant. Should I bother? It really looks sweet, but what are my chances of succeeding this time around? I'd hate to lose another new drive... Any suggestions or methods you may have would be great.
Also, the wood form for the outer cover panels will be done soon, but all I currently have for bending is clamps/wood/heat gun. What do you suggest to use in doing the corner bends? Are strip heaters worth it? I can try out the heat gun once the wood forms are done to see, but imperfections are something I'd rather do without in the final product.
Thanks in advance ;)
railgunhdd.jpg
 
zeusenergy said:
What do you suggest to use in doing the corner bends? Are strip heaters worth it? I can try out the heat gun once the wood forms are done to see, but imperfections are something I'd rather do without in the final product.
Thanks in advance ;)

a heat gun works well especially if you sandwich the plastic between two board and clamp it.
 
SpangeMonkee said:
a heat gun works well especially if you sandwich the plastic between two board and clamp it.
I tried that, Spange. Maybe I put too much heat in one place, but the corners aren't too nice, there are little "blisters" embedded in the glass. This was for the mobo cover. You'll never see the flaws once that piece is painted and installed, but the outer covers will need to be transparent over some curves.
 
Here's the most important electronic schematic for this project. This should be the last of my drawings for a while, as I plan to do a bunch of work tomorrow so I should have plenty of updates (actual modding LOL) for you Sunday night. The drawing you see shows the servo motor in the center. It will be activated back and forth swapping polarity thru two relays. These will be driven by an additional relay which will be switched by a transistor off the GPO from the Matrix Orbital *OR* by means of a front mounted button. The load of the motor and the spin-up power spike will be attenuated by a capacitor. Limit switches in the transmission section of the case are normally closed and disengage the appropriate relay from power at maximum extensions. The whole deal will fit on a single project board that fits underneath the DVD drive, directly mounted to the central mount plate that divides the front and rear compartments of the case. The relays are small little things (surface mount) I picked up from allelectronics.com in 2000! It always surprises me how prepared my projects are when I buy this stuff way before I ever need it.....

covercircuit.jpg
 
I've got the mobo cover painted today. I thought I could do the new DVD drive and possibly mod the PS and make the GPU fan duct as well. But you know how that goes! This particular piece took me an hour to sand down and finish the edges after the initial cutting I did last week. The GPU side of this cover was removed and will become a separate piece of the puzzle to ease disassembly. After finishing and cutting, the edges of the cpu/ram/northie holes were etched. Then the whole thing was masked a second time for the primary black coating. The logo in the middle was unmasked and airbrushed from behind with the two main colors that will be included in the outer covers once they are done. Now you can get an idea of the color scheme I am shooting for. I think the northie heatsink should be sandblasted back to aluminum to match the rest of the stuff inside.....
You can also see the cut I made for the power supply wiring and fan that will face the cover. Everything above that line will be covered by the PS on the left side, and the IDE area will also be covered by an addtional piece eventually. Enjoy :D

mobocvr4.jpg

mobocvr3.jpg

mobocvr2.jpg

mobocvr1.jpg

mobocvr5.jpg
 
cell_491 said:
wow thats really cool
Thanks, Cell. Got the circuit for the servo control partway done, too. Painted the project board and soldered the three relays and some wire terminals for power, GPO, and limit switches. :D

servocircuit.jpg
 
Thread subscribed :D

I was curious if you put a resistor on those LEDs on the vid card because I didn't see one?
 
jdub765 said:
Thread subscribed :D

I was curious if you put a resistor on those LEDs on the vid card because I didn't see one?
Jdub- The LEDs on the card are wired in series and each one is rated at 2.1 volts. 5 times 2.1 is 10.5, so I am overdriving them slightly.... This is okay by me, cause the LEDs in Framed have survived for over a year and a half and they are wired identically. At least with this setup the whole FHS on the card can be pulled without desoldering wires or disconnecting yet another connector, two is plenty! :cool:
 
rogue_jedi said:
now THAT is a cool mobo cover... looks awesome:)
Thanks, Rogue! The window beside the ram will be for the power cable pipe, you'll see it under there with the machine assembled. Bought a brand-new DVD drive to mod too- this way the railgun DVD drive can be kept for my son's rig and I'll build him something cool soon, too. He's only 7 but hes been playing Q3 since he was 2! LMFAO..... :eek:
 
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