Project: Batman Begins (completed!!!)

So here's a pic of a few of the parts that got painted. I cut and buffed them today along with 2 doors and a fender (unrelated). Now that these are finished, they'll be put into the case and the entire thing will be flipped over so I can attach most of them permanently. The backside of the case will then get painted along with the entire shell of the case (the shell only gets a clear w/ pearl......or maybe just a clear).

It's all downhill from here. The lid is the last thing I want to do since there's a lot of LED's to wire up. I'm also working on a stand for the thing (since wall-mounting is kinda hard to do at a lan party. It should be sorta cool, I'll post pics if I get it mocked up anytime soon.

Oh and.....ya ya it's november now :p I swear it'll be done someday :D

batman42.jpg
 
bicycle reflectors? Paint looks good, orange peel is something we can all live without. Damn right it's November, I turned 21 today, w00t!
 
Whitewolf said:
Isn't that a crime in 48 out of 50 states! :D
As the representative of the world... I am going to have to tell you that it IS a crime. But in the event that Qtip42 is a badass modder, we're going to let him go.
 
Stormlifter said:
As the representative of the world... I am going to have to tell you that it IS a crime. But in the event that Qtip42 is a badass modder, we're going to let him go.

*whew*
 
Volucris said:
So? I say that you should buy the Batman Begins DVD and play it on the monitors as a final picture. As well, I would send the pictures of the project to something like Wired Magazine, PCWorld. Or anyother respectable computing magazine.
I agree, this one just screams "Mad Reader Mod" in CPU magazine, with featured front cover photo!!!
 
Sheldron said:
I agree, this one just screams "Mad Reader Mod" in CPU magazine, with featured front cover photo!!!

heh, dont get my hopes up.
 
You can't see much from this pic but if you turn the brightness up on it, a few details emerge. My camera needs an upgrade or I need better lighting. Anyway this is a just a little mock up, some pieces are missing. It's so cold right now, it's hard to do any work in the shop. Our heat hasn't been installed yet.

batman43.jpg
 
There's a sony 42" I wanted to check out followed by a samsung that matched the case perfectly (also had a bazillion different ways to connect to it).
 
so far this is the best.....case mod.....i've ever.....seen :eek:

very very very good work qtip!!

As for the displays I would go with a big plasma. Since you rarely if at all game, and you like nice photographs, plasmas would make them look all the more better...not to mention big, and besides, for a g0dlike project like this, it deserves to be with a g0dlike display :D
 
Had to comment on this, so I signed up :)
I think your case looks great, and all the work... man, you have some dedication!

But just keep up the good work and I'm telling you from a girls point of view, this would look good anywere! ;)
 
Well this has been a fun week. Hard drive crashed on my main computer so I lost pretty much everything imaginable (except my pictures whew!). Anyway, got to working on the stand this week and finished painting on some other small items.

As much as I'd like to send the square tubing to a 3rd party to form it, it just isn't worth spending $300 to have a bend put in. So I did it myself the old fashioned, time consuming way... When it's completed, the case will sit just above an LCDtv.

As far as the stand goes, all of the welding is finished up so next comes grinding, bondo (if necessary), and paint (or powdercoat if I dont bondo anything).
 
300 bucks for a bend? Doesnt seem like it would be that expensive.
 
I would have to say probably the most expensive and most [H]ard worked on mod ever. Which is why us regular ol' ppl will stick w/ regular plain cases :p But awesome job man!
 
Tengis said:
300 bucks for a bend? Doesnt seem like it would be that expensive.

They had a minimum amount. I called another place they recommended and left a message but nobody responded......and by responded, I mean.....I waited an hour then decided, oh well I've got the tools here, might as well. :D
 
Qtip42 said:
They had a minimum amount. I called another place they recommended and left a message but nobody responded......and by responded, I mean.....I waited an hour then decided, oh well I've got the tools here, might as well. :D

Nice. Im assuming you dont have any tools to bend that yourself? How thick are the walls of that?
 
Don't have anything that'd bend that stuff. I had my choice of 1/8" or 1/16" steel. I went with 1/16" because of the weight issue (the base weighs a ton) however 1/8" would have been a much better choice for welding.

edit: since I have steel at my disposal, I really should make a smaller version of the stand in case I use a smaller LCD at any lan parties.
 
Qtip42 said:
edit: since I have steel at my disposal, I really should make a smaller version of the stand in case I use a smaller LCD at any lan parties.

OR:

Put the time that wouldve been put into a new smaller stand, into something to fill the gap between the LCD and computer. Maybe a sign that says "Batman Begins".

I like this idea better:

Make something that grips the area around the stand (padded of course to protect the paint). From the part that grips, you could attach something to mount that smaller monitor you wanted. If you still think that not enough space is taken up, the part that mounts to the monitor could also put a "border" around it. Basicly, the part that the monitor mounts to gives the monitor a "picture frame". The frame has endless potential to give it a cool factor.
 
Some of the things you make are just impossible for me, but something like the stand would be within my reach to make and it looks just awsome. Great work man.
 
Qtip42 said:
They had a minimum amount. I called another place they recommended and left a message but nobody responded......and by responded, I mean.....I waited an hour then decided, oh well I've got the tools here, might as well. :D


dude you need to get out and make friends with metal bendy guys. :p
 
I could of bent that for you. Should of hit me up. The cuts work they are just hard to clean up. Lot of time with the 4" grinder. :eek:
 
I reaaaallly doubt the steel could take such a bend w/ 1/16" walls :D

Grinding it didn't take too long. Came out decent. Needs bondo though ..bleh.... Didn't have much time today to do anything today, had to work on a 67 vette that needs paint.
 
Um....somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that when you do the cuts on a piece of tubing to make a curve, you're supposed to bend the tubing towards the cuts, not away. The cuts allow you to bend it either way, but if you bend it away from the cuts (like you did), you have to do a whole lot more welding. The other advantage to bending it towards the cuts is that you get a more precise curve (based on spacing and width of the cuts).

At least, that's what I saw on Monster Garage (Peterbilt Chopper episode). Either way, that's a very nice idea for the stand.

 
Mohonri said:
Um....somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that when you do the cuts on a piece of tubing to make a curve, you're supposed to bend the tubing towards the cuts, not away. The cuts allow you to bend it either way, but if you bend it away from the cuts (like you did), you have to do a whole lot more welding. The other advantage to bending it towards the cuts is that you get a more precise curve (based on spacing and width of the cuts).

At least, that's what I saw on Monster Garage (Peterbilt Chopper episode). Either way, that's a very nice idea for the stand.


Sort of... In order to bend "towards" the cuts, you have to cut wedges out so you have a gap to close. That's 2x the cutting. Bending away from the cuts, you just need to make a single cut each place you want a joint.
 
uzor said:
Sort of... In order to bend "towards" the cuts, you have to cut wedges out so you have a gap to close. That's 2x the cutting. Bending away from the cuts, you just need to make a single cut each place you want a joint.


You expect me to think before I cut? I dont think so! :D

I'm not a master of anything you guys so chime in whenever you want, every case is a new lesson.
 
I'm in agreement about bending towards the cut. That has an extra benefit of providing a stronger joint. When I look at the picture of the final bend, where the beam points straight up, I have to wonder about the strength.

It seems to me that if you cut out on the inside of the bends the entire way through then you gain three advantages:

1: The overall weight is reduced with each piece that is removed.
2: The strength of each joint is increased (the entire piece is only as strong as the weakest weld)
3: There will be far less cleanup to do as you aren't introducing any new material to the beam.

The only disadvantage that I can see would be the extra math required to precisely mark out the cuts.

Now, I'm just a handyman, that has never welded before, but I have a good eye for things like this. Just my two cents.
 
Ya I guess next time will be a new method. In hindsight, I probably should have used 1/8" though. Oh well.
 
Businesses that don't put customers first don't survive. Profit before customers, and in this case, fans, means no more business...
A factoid that is largely incorrect, especially in this context. Most businesses view customer satisfaction *only* in the context of sustaining profits. And they survive quite well by doing so. In any case, if Warner Brothers sues a "fan" for trademark infringement, it might motivate a few thousand people to send an angry email, but its not going to stop anyone from watching movies.

However, none of this speaks to my original point, which was simply objecting to the anti-capitalistic tone of the original poster.


In this case, Qtip isn't profiting from his design (maybe a mod competition or two at the most), it's not like he is selling his design and earning an income from the Batman symbol.

If true, and assuming he's not using the trademark in an obviously derogatory manner (which he isn't), then he has nothing to fear from a civil action.

However, if he sells the case-- something quite a few people on this thread have suggested-- then the suit would be viable in theory. In practice, it would likely take advertising the item for sale, or repeated sales, to compel action. But despite what you may think, such action would not be 'a slap in the face of fans', but a very wise and necessary step. A pattern of failing to protect a trademark or copyright is legal grounds for losing its ownership.
 
Ya guys it's simply a showpiece for any upcoming lan parties to promote my work, I not worrying any papers will arrive on my doorstep.
 
Back
Top