Project: Stargate SG-1

[Sobek]

Update time:

I just realized that the pics of the case with the finished paintjob/clearcoat accidently got deleted so I will take some more of those later and post them. The case is completed though so that is a good thing and the paintjob looks great.

I removed the painted rivets. Here there are.

Since there was a space between the square leg and the vertical supoerts, I added a scrap pice of Alu to each of them. I had to drill a large hole halfway through so that the rivet would be flush with the Alu rod though. It workd perfectly.

I removed the 120mm fan centers and painted them metallic silver. I didn't bother with primer. I did put clearcoat on them and they turned out pretty well. I couldn't stand them being white so that's why I painted them.

Last night I went ahead and screwed the fans onto the shroud.

Last week I was in Michael's (craft store) and I decided to get some Black Krylon Fusion for the CCFL wires and some mesh wire for the bottom of the Ancient Box.

I sparyed the CCFL wires with the Krylon Fusion. After it dried, I noticed that when the wires were bent the paint flaked off so I guess it didn't "bond" with the plastic on the wires.
The pic was lost along with the case ones.

After I "unwrapped" all the tape from the case, I decided to put it back together. Unfortunately, the black thumb screws I ordered from Xoxide didn't fit. They were too big. I was forced to paint the Lian-Li ones. I'll keep the Xoxide ones for any future projects.

 

[Sobek]

The best part of my day today was when USPS delivered two packages to my door. I got my shipments from Dtek and elwirecheap.

12ft of 1/2 clearflex (it looks white cause I blew in it to get a packing peanut piece out), my Via 1300, and Whitewater waterblock (the poly topped one).

My 4" and 12" White CCFL kits. 12 rocker switches w/ molex(2 for the CCFL's). I can't believe these were only $.50 each. Order some up from elwirecheap.com. My shipping for all of this was only $6.50 through USPS. Ordered Monday night, delivered mid-day Thursday.

I put some 1/2" sleeving over a piece of tubing to give an idea of how the tubing will look when it runs from the Ancient box to the Case.

Here is a closeup of the Whitewater block. If Swiftech ever restocks vendors with the 6002-P waterblock, I'll order one. Of course it will probably be available within two weeks of this post now that I have the Whitewater.

Here are some pics of the White CCFL's powered on. The 4" ones are a little brighter and will probably be blinding on the Naquada Generator/Resevior.

Room Lights on:

Room Lights off:

Here is the box with all of the plexi panels cut and put in place for fitting. They still need a lot of trimming and work to make them fit well.

These last 2 pics I took tonigt with the pump in place. There is plenty of room for it.

I have to get everything in place for the box before I can cut the holes fo rthe tubing and wires.
I need to come up with a way to place all the rocker switches somewhere and a simple fan controller for the 1200mm fans. I thought about using the one that comes on the PC-61 but I want to use it for the front 80mm ones. I may use the fanbus on my acrylic case since I don't really like it anyway. I don't want to have a fanbus on the front of the case since I hate the LED's glowing like the sun while I try to sleep and I feel it will take away from the theme. If anyone knows where I can get a simple fanbus (only for 2 fans) like the one on the PC-61, please let me know. Don't tell me to make ones since I have almost no expertise in doing so and it would proably short out and ruin my project.

 

[flat4]

looks good so far. i mite have to steal a few ideas from your project. like painting the thumbscrews and sleeving the tubing.

 

[Sobek]

flat4 gave me a link to a fanbus just like the one that come with the PC-61. This site has other LL parts as well. Worth a look if you have a LL case.

http://www.silverpcs.com/product/CA_LIANLI_FAN_MODULE

 

[CrimandEvil]

Sobek/flat have you guys ever ordered something from them before (SilverPC)? I'm thinking of doing so but I have noticed some weird things in the pass with them so I'm hoping to hear from some one that has previous experience.
I'm thinking of getting a mobo tray from them and some other Lian Li parts.

Sobek- Things are really looking great. Are you going to replace those fittings on the heatcore with barbs? Have you tried out the pump yet? How is it? That whitewater looks pretty. I was thinking of getting one of those (or the DD RBX) until I saw this one.

 

[Sobek]

Sobek/flat have you guys ever ordered something from them before (SilverPC)? I'm thinking of doing so but I have noticed some weird things in the pass with them so I'm hoping to hear from some one that has previous experience.
I'm thinking of getting a mobo tray from them and some other Lian Li parts.

Sobek- Things are really looking great. Are you going to replace those fittings on the heatcore with barbs? Have you tried out the pump yet? How is it? That whitewater looks pretty. I was thinking of getting one of those (or the DD RBX) until I saw this one.

I have never ordered from SilverPC before obviously since if I had I would have known they had spare LL parts. I don't think Flat4 has either. I'll ask him if I talk to him before he has a chance to repond to this thread.

I'm going to saw off most of the copper piping like gclg2000 did and leave about 1-2". He said that you have to stick the tubing into boiling water for about a min and then slip it over the pipe. Once it cools, it shrinks back to normal and there is no way it will come off. So no, I will not be brazing barbs onto the heatercore. I think it is a waste of time and there really isn't a need to. I'll place clamps on it for extra assurance though.

I didn't know that my stuff had arrived until about 7pm tonight when I checked the shipping status online. I opened my front door and it was there. I didn't check the pump yet to see how well it works but I will tomorrow. That polar flo blcok looks great but it is so damn expensive. If I was spending that much on a block, I would just go ahead and spend a little more to get one of Cathar's Little River Cascade blocks. The RBX looks like it's a great block too and it and the Whitewater are real close in performance. The only blocks I think that beat the Whitewater are the Swiftech 6002 series and the LR Cascade.

 

[CrimandEvil]

Yeah but they have Polarflo blocks for around $60, that was just the all chrome colored one (which I still can't figure out how it cost so much more). I still have time to choice but I'm really liking it visually and the performance is pretty good too.

 

[Sobek]

As I promised, I retook pics of the finished case.
All of these are without the flash on. The flash pics didn't look as good.

With the heiroglyphic panel on. You can see where two of the CCFL's will go. Notice how the Krylon Fusion paint is peeling off the end of the CCFL on the left.

Front of the case. I accidently scratched the mid-upper right on one of the rivets that was sticking out of the Ancient Box. It only scrached the clearcoat layer and since it is on the front and will be covered by the front panel it isn't that big a deal.

Motherboard side plain and with the plexi heiroglyphic panel.

Rear of case.

Here is the box with the fans and shroud on top of the heatercore.

I also tested the pump and it works really well.

 

[emorphien]

dead pics

 

[CrimandEvil]

Very pretty. I really like that black on gold and I'm sure the heiroglyphics will just look awesome like that.

 

[tom61]

dead pics

Not completely... a few come up each time I refresh... odd.

 

[Sobek]

Update:

Sorry if any of the pics aren't showing up. iupload has been having bandwidth problems lately.

I decided to go back to working on the Resevior since I had the CCFL's for them. I tried to remove the cube ends off of them but they are glued tight. I decided to sand them with the Dremel.

I also glued the funnel parts to the base of the res with about 15 sticks of hot glue. I'll Bondo over them later on. I cut some of the PVC endcaps so that they would fit over the PVC pipe to give the look I wanted. This is approximately how long each of the ends will be. I still have to cut the balls to fit completely over them.

I'll be out of town for a few days. I'll post more updates and respond to comments when I can.

 

[CrimandEvil]

I sprayed the CCFL wires with the Krylon Fusion. After it dried, I noticed that when the wires were bent the paint flaked off so I guess it didn't "bond" with the plastic on the wires.
The pic was lost along with the case ones.

I was just rereading the thread and noticed this, get a can of Vinyle Dye for that (you can find it at Walmart too, lol) that's what I use.

 

[Bookmage]

How do you plan on keeping the hieroglyphic panels in place? Screw? glue? duct tape? the Force? I really like the idea of the panels inside the case. Too bad my Home Depot is l4me and doesn't have tinted plexi

That container looks great! Reminds me of the ep where they come across the mother of the Tok'ra. This mod has really got me thinking of building a SG case as an HTPC to store SG eps... :-D and maybe a dvd holder too to store the boxsets...

I really like that box with the aluminum edges...
You could also get a sound board like Crimson did and have cool SG sounds :-D
Simulated beeping and water wooshing... O'Neil screaming at Teal'q...

 

[sandman78]

Wow, amazing job. Can't wait to see it complete.

 

[The_Mage18]

O'Neil screaming at Teal'q...

That NEVER happens...


Nice mod man, it's really looking good. I'm glad to see something other than a Matrix/video game/movie mod in here. Now if only someone was daring enough to do an Atlantis mod.

 

[CrimandEvil]

Now if only someone was daring enough to do an Atlantis mod.

If I can get a little SFF PC then I'd be more then happy to do a "puddle jumper" mod.

 

[rogue_designer]

This mod looks great -

I had a few thoughts about possible ways to make the "puddle" if you are still trying for it.

1) Lenticular printing (think cracker-jacks toys that move when you view the picture from different angles...) It can be done larger and at pretty hi-res now...I can scrounge up details and estimated costs if you like...

2) if you will still have the ring turning...why not have a clear panel turn with it - the panel could have a printed (or painted or etched) moire pattern that would interact with a printed graphic beneath causing it to move...

3) screw the puddle and make an iris you can open and shut to view the inside of the computer... not authentic, but you could even make the ring turn forwards and back to open and close the iris. (note - this would require a smaller gate - to acmmodate the iris components without breaking the case...

Just a few thoughts anway...

 

[ColdZero]

I'm actually working up an Atlantis mod right now. I've got some ideas that include a big gate, a USB Controller and a whole lotta leds. I'll start my own work log when I've finally decided on a design.

Oh yea, this mod looks pretty slick too. GJ

 

[Sobek]

I've got some updates but I'll respond to the comments first.


CrimandEvil,
I'll check out Wally World for Vynal Dye. If they don't have it, I'll go to Auto Zone.
A SFF PC would be perfect for a PJ Mod. I've thought about carving one out of styrofoam just for the hell of it. I'm thinking of making a model of Prometheus also. I haven't forgot about the Replicator either. The PC comes first though.


Bookmage,
I'll probably just use velcro to hold the panels on.
I was orginally planning to build an HTPC with the Stargate theme but decided to do my main PC instead. I'll keep the soundboard idea in mind as well. I have a program I downloaded a while back that does a lot of the sonds and I have .wav files of the major sound effects I will use to replace some of the Windows sounds with.


rogue_designer,
I'm not sure if I want to have the Event Horizon aka, "the puddle" in the Stargate window. The idea is that the Res/Naguada generator is trying to activate the gate. The Gate is also supposed to be the main window on the side panel so that you can see the Heiroglyphs and other stuff.
Thanks for the ideas though. I probably will make some pieces out of plexi and/or sheet metal that can be placed in the middle of the gate so that it looks active or like the iris is closed.


ColdZero,
Glad to see you are working on an Atlantis Project. Some of the ideas for the motherboard side of mine that I want to be Atlantis themed that you can use as well are:

A "snowflake" shaped window that represents the outline of the city seen on different displays throughout the city. I have pics if you want them. PM me.

Have columns like those in the city with pieces of illuminated plexi poking out.

Illuminated plexi buttons like thouse used to dial the gate and on all the consoles.

There are some more I have written down but these were the only ones I can remember off the top of my head. I'm sure there are tons more you can think of. I have pics of some of the above if you want them. PM me.


The_Mage18 and sandman78,
Thanks for the comments.

 

[CrimandEvil]

I'll check out Wally World for Vynal Dye. If they don't have it, I'll go to Auto Zone.

I get mine from Walmart, try there.

 

[Sobek]

Update time:

I came home this weekend and when I powered up my PC, I immediately heared this awful noise coming from my SB fan. I realized that it and my Zalman were covered in dust so I spent about 30min cleaning it off. I clean out my PC every few months but this thing was disgusting. This is one of the main reasons I am going with WC. Look how nasty this thing was and how much better (still dirty) it looks now.

Anyway, back to the mod:
I worked some more on the res the past few days. I went to HD today to get 4 more PVC endcaps so that I could cut them up. I finally bought some reinforced cuttoff wheels for the Dremel as well. I also cut the other styrofoam ball so that the pipe would fit through it. I was going to try and hide the barbs and make it so you have to lift a small latch to get to them like on the show. This is impractical since the res will be connected to the PC all the time and it would just be a lot of unnecessary work esp since I am trying to get this thing done.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about the box for the heatercore and pump and I am not happy with it. It's freakin huge, wobbly (partially because it doesn't have rivets in tight), looks like a box rather that some "Ancient technology", and just doesn't seem to fit with the theme.

With this in mind, I looked for some alternatives. I thought of buying a premade wooden box at a craft store that I could cut up and recycle the current one into. I didn't have any luck with this so while I was at HD today, I looked around in the toolbox section and found something that seemed like a better choice. I found a Black and Decker storage box meant to hold 4 bins that store screw, nuts, etc. It was approx. the size was looking for and was only $9. I figgured if it didn't work, I could still use it to store all the small items I have that it is intended for (I'll still use the bins for this).

Here is the first idea of how to mount the heatercore. The box is about an inch smaller than the HC so some heavy modding will be done. I planned to use a ton of Bondo anyway for it. I baught some electrical housings (blue things on the right) I can use to make a housing for the pump if I need to. The HC would be placed vertically inside. I think it will be a total bitch to get the tubing on the barbs this way.

I think I like the next idea for mounting better. It could be placed the same way as in the other box and I could put the pump inside. This makes it easer to connect the tubing as well. It just requires more of the box to be cut so that it will fit. I am probably going to go with this method but would appreciate feedback and/or suggestions. I'm focusing my attention on the res for now so I may not resume work on the box till next week.

I'm still planning to have the corners covered with the Alu rod. I would still have the Orange plexi as well. The basic idea from the first one remains. I just don't like the way that one is turning out for this project. It would be fine for another case. I did a test fit of the rod and took a pic. I think it will still look sweet this way and the overall box should be much better.

 

[Sobek]

I get mine from Walmart, try there.

Wally World is Wallmart. I guess you've never hered it called that before. Maybe it's only people in the South that call it that?!

 

[CrimandEvil]

That res is look really cool and all that dust was..... .
And..yeah.. I've never heard it called that, lol. I just figured it was something like "Piggly Wiggly." lol

 

[Sobek]

That res is look really cool and all that dust was..... .
And..yeah.. I've never heard it called that, lol. I just figured it was something like "Piggly Wiggly." lol

I went through about 20 Q-tips with 90% isopropyl alcohol. I started it up after cleaning and it still made that noise so i just took the top of a spray bottle and used it to spray alcohol all over the fans. A few more Q-tips follwed by my lamp to evaporate the remaining alcohol and everything was good.

Whe it comes time to transfer everything to the Lian-Li, I'm going to take the entire PC to my neighbor's and use his air compressor to blow all the dust off. I'll respray more alcohol and blow it off one more time. I don't have fan filters on my case cause they would look horrible on an acrylic case. That is why it gets so disgusting.

You can see a better pic of the res with the new PVC pieces on in one of the pics of the box if anyone hadn't noticed before.

 

[Sobek]

New Update:

Today I glued the PVC top into the PVC T-section. Primered that bitch up with purple PVC primer follwed by PVC Glue 15min later. You can see this in the third pic.
I also hot-glued the blue funnel pieces together and to the PVC T-section.

I wanted to put something in between the blue funnels and the PVC for extra support but the holes were small and hot-glue would take forever. I ended up using parts of styrofoam that came out of the balls. I sliced up thin pieces and kept stuffing them in untill it was full. I then sealed it with hot-glue. (reread that paragraph and see if you can't smile at the inuendo. )

After all that was done I began to Bondo everything so that the finished product blends together smoothly and is stronger.

I've spoken with ColdZero about his Atlantis mod and he has some cool ideas. I'm going to post some screencaps from Atlantis of what I want to do to the motherboard side panel of my case. He will hopefully use some of these as well.

I hope everyone appreciates the amount of pics I post in my updates. I can't stand reading a person's log and there are only 2-3 pics. I don't think that is enough to satisfy modder's interest so I try to have a lot of pics. I'd still like some imput on the new Ancient box.

 

[flat4]

looking good so far. keep up the good work

 

[CrimandEvil]

Yeah I love too when people post alot of pics like this.

I can't wait to see more of it although I can't really think of what you could do for the Ancient box but Atlantis has some great looking things that you might be able to incorporate.

 

[Sobek]

Here are some of the pics from SG Atlantis that I want to try and include on the motherboard side panel for the Atlantis themed portion of the project.

These are screencaps of the snowflake shaped outline of the city that are found on various displays throughout Atlantis. I think these would be perfect for a window cutout with some LED's or a CCFL behind them.

This is one of the support columns found in Atlantis. It would be real cool to have part of the side panel have illuminated plexi sticking out of it like one of these columns.

I sent these pics to ColdZero along with others including pics of the Puddle Jumper. I can post them if anyone wants them.

 

[lethal_dosage]

If you are going to cut that into a window look into one like this:

http://www.thepcmodshop.com/3DLazerWindowKits.htm

It makes it more detailed i think and looks hot

Keep up the good work.

 

[Sobek]

Update:

I did some more work this afternoon. I first filed and sanded down the Bondo work I did yesterday on the Res. After about an hour I got bored working on the res and began work on the new Ancient Box.

I first had to mark out where on the box I needed to make the cuts. Always remember to measure more than once.

After the cutting.

I had to cut the copper tubes off the heatercore so it would fit. I cut them at a slight angle so that I would have plenty to put the clearflex on. I can always cut them again if I need to.

Heatercore in the box.

Heatercore in the box w/ fan shroud.

Heatercore in the box w/ fan shroud and pump.

Side pics of the box with everything in it.

I took the pieces I cut out and resized them so that I can still use them. I should have planned a little more so that they fit better but I can still make this thing look sweet.

As soon as I placed the heatercore, shroud, and pump in the box, I knew I had made the right choice with putting everything in this newer box. I love the way it looks so far and it will only get better. I wont work anymore on the project till Monday probably.

lethal_dosage,
I've seen that website and they do awesome work. If I decide to do any etching, I will probably do it myself to save money. I'm not sure if I will need any etching though or if it really fits into the theme.

 

[Sobek]

Small Update:

Yesterday I did some more mock up work with the box and Alu rods.

I used the Alu tape to join the fan shroud and heatercore together last night. I put a section of clearflex over one of the heatercore barbs to make sure I would have enough room to slip them on later.

Today I cut out a square section in the rear of the box. I will place a square piece of plexi that I cut today over the hole about 1/2" above it. This will be part of the intake and exhaust for the fans. I will make some more intake and exhaust holes in other sections.

I'm going to buy some 4" or 6" UV CCFL's to put in the box and some UV flourescent Orange paint for the plexi pieces that will be exposed. I have some really cool ideas for them and have spent some time going through certain Stargate episodes for pics of things I will use. You'll have to wait and see cause I don't want to spoil everything I have planned.

 

[Steel Chicken]

i just found this thread today, OMG what an awesome project.
props to you for your hard work and attention to detail...
when this thing is done, you need to setup a nice website with all the gory details and then email the SG1/Atlantis production team...you might get some kudos from them too!

excellent work!

(ill be watching now), more people need to know about this thread and all of the cool techniques to doing things, VERY informative

 

[CrimandEvil]

How does the tubing fit, snuggly? I think I'll just do that. The box is coming along nicely, have you got those disconnects yet?

 

[Sobek]

i just found this thread today, OMG what an awesome project.
props to you for your hard work and attention to detail...
when this thing is done, you need to setup a nice website with all the gory details and then email the SG1/Atlantis production team...you might get some kudos from them too!

excellent work!

(ill be watching now), more people need to know about this thread and all of the cool techniques to doing things, VERY informative

Thanks. I plan on emailing the crew at Stargate SG-1 when I finish. I may abandon doing anything Atlantis themed since ColdZero is starting an Atlantis themed project.

How does the tubing fit, snuggly? I think I'll just do that. The box is coming along nicely, have you got those disconnects yet?

The tubing is pretty snug on there. I'm going to use zip ties and clips to hold them on. I haven't ordered the quick disconnects yet cause I need at least 4 of them and that is going to cost $78 which I don't have to spend on something so small at the moment. I was looking through US Plastics' website last night and am also going to order some 1/2" acrylic round rods that I want to make look like power crystals. They will stick out of one side of the box and I would like to have them illumintaed by different colored LED's. I'm also going to put some in the case in front of where the PSU goes as if it is a part of the engine room control crystals.

I did a little work today and will post an update later on tonight.

 

[CrimandEvil]

You should have the power crystals sticking out the back of the PSU.
Or maybe build alittle power box (like on the Orac3 case) and have them there.

 

[Oneos]

hmm.. im confused.. didnt you say this was gonna be like the naquida reactor? cause if theres power crystals that'd be goo'a'ould

 

[CrimandEvil]

hmm.. im confused.. didnt you say this was gonna be like the naquida reactor? cause if theres power crystals that'd be goo'a'ould

That's the res, he was talking about the case which does have a golud (how the hell do you spell that anyways? lol) theme.

 

[Sobek]

Kree! (Attention)

I don't want the power crystals sticking out the back of the PSU since my case is supposed to represent a Goa'uld Hatac (mothership). The power crystals will be on the same peice of plexi that the heiroglyphs are on and that small section is going to look like it is part of the ship's engine room.

Let me clear this up for you. The Ancients built the Stargate system, ships, and other things. They left the galaxy. In come the Goa'uld and use the technology left behind by the Ancients.
That is why there are multi-colored power crytals in almost everything. The Ancients love the color Orange for some reason as well. I can name many different pieces of Ancient technology from both shows (SG-1 and Atlantis) that have both power crystals and lots of Orange in them.

Here is a perfect example. This is one of many screencaps I took from Season six's "Sight Unseen" Notice both the power crystals and the color Orange. This prop was reused on Atlantis's second episode as a container for holding the Alien shadow thing. I am modeling my external WC box partly on this prop.

Now on to the update:

Here is the piece of plexi I painted one side of with Krylon Fusion which works extremely well on plexi BTW. This goes between the heatercore and pump in the box. The first is the unpainted and highly reflective side, the other is the painted side. I'm probably going to have a few pieces on the box look like this with the reflective side showing.

Here is the piece of plexi I cut to go over the hole and how it will be mounted. I'll probably stop by HD tomorrow to get some sort of screws or standoffs to make it stick out 1/2" above the hole. I also need to get some PVC pipe that has a diameter of 4.5" for the fan exhausts that will go on the lid. I'll put some mesh on the inside to minimize dust as well.

I started working on a way to try and hide as much of the heatercore as well. I took a piece of Alu bar and cut it to fit along the bottom of the edge of the heatercore. Some plexi will be boxed around it.

 

[Sobek]

Update:

I went to HD and grabbed a couple of the 4" PVC brushings for fan ducts. I grabbed some more Alu, some nuts, screws, washers and plumbers goop which I grabbed instead of epoxy glue by accident but I can still use it.

Here is a mockup/test fir of the fan ducts.

Some Alu cut for the corners.

Here is some more experimenting I did with the Alu for some plexi pieces I have planned. As I said yesterday, you'll have to wait to see what will be on them.

I'll try to get a lot more work done tomorrow and may even go back to working on the res some.

I've been thinking of how to have an easily removable lid. I'm thinking about having it so I just have to slide the top piece of plexi out. Post suggestions if you have them.