Project: Synthesis

[SentryOptic]

I've decided to build a case to house my server system. I use it all the time anyways, so I figured I might as well take it out of the lame HP case it's in right now.

The term synthesis (from the ancient Greek σύνθεσις σύν "with" and θέσις "placing") is used in many fields, usually to mean a process which combines together two or more pre-existing elements resulting in the formation of something new.

Design:
Synthesis will be created from organic materials to symbolize the very nature of the case. The symbol, carved into the front, will be simple and elegant. The case will be designed as a cube, but will incorporate minimal screws/nails due to the nature of the case as well. Most of the cuts will use some form of glued joint.
The main wood will be Ebony. The wood to be used for the slats will be maple or some form of extremely thin pine wood.


As usual, this will be a scratch build. I will be building the case with inspiration from the case called "Chiaroscuro" over at bit-tech.

Here are some concept designs I rendered in Sketchup

The power supply, as well as the hard drives, will be housed in the bottom portion of the case. I've cut away the bottom for viewing here.

My initial idea has the CD Drive mounted in the top middle of the case; I might move it later or even just get a slot loading drive instead.

I'm still wide open to suggestions at this point, but I'd definitely like to keep it very simple and elegant looking.

 

[SentryOptic]

Roughed out the design of the exterior

These slats will be cut out with a spiral cut-scroll saw.

 

[Syntax Error]

Looking forward to the actual product, that'll look pretty mean once completed!

 

[Pzych0]

Ooooh, shiny! This would be cool to see IRL when is done.

 

[Elledan]

Now go get started on it! We want to see pictures

 

[Concentric]

Wow, awesome. Can't wait to see more.

 

[Power5]

That chirassosososoc case is amazing looking. It appears to be much much smaller than your design. Are you putting watercooling parts inside, or just want a larger case.

My only suggestion would be to try and make it look like its floating instead of having the large base that the main box sits on. I think it will look amazing when its done, good luck.

 

[SentryOptic]

Sorry for the lack of updates, guys I've been pretty busy with school lately. And I should probably be working on other things right now, but I wanted to do the project log

Allow us to begin.

The first thing for this morning was to remove the glued frames from the clamps, where they had been pretty much all night. I had to be careful with this; the glue has dried at this point, but the joints cannot be stressed for at least 24 hours or the joint can pop off and ruin all the clamping work. (And these 1985 bar clamps aren't exactly easily to apply )

I started staining the frames as well.

Next, I cut out the templates with an Xacto knife and started laying them out on the stained maple (or as my dad now calls it, "Febony" [fake-ebony... get it?]).

These then were cut out into manageable segments, where they promptly went over to the scroll saw for roughing out.

I managed to get a few pieces cut on the scroll saw before it COMPLETELY DIED... the bottom arm just completely snapped off. I've had some seriously bad luck with scroll saws, and as you'll see it's about to get worse.
Here are the first few shapes cut out, without any extra treatment (no surface planing, no sanding, no nothing... so they look pretty crappy in these pictures)

Number 10 was a pain in the ass.

So I had planned on getting a new scroll saw pretty soon anyways. After the 17th century one broke, it was a perfect excuse. One Home Depot run and 120 bucks later, here's the result:

Well, herein lies the problem. The new one is defective. The lower arm is almost 3 degrees off center to the upper arm, so it cuts sideways and at a slight angle. Furthermore, it puts it off center from the centering hole (the yellow part in the middle) and therefore cuts into the yellow plastic covering. I was initially pissed off about that, but I figured I'd get some use out of it and then just take it back to Home Depot in the morning. POS.

So in the meantime, I also started working on cutting out notches for the fins to slide into on the main frame:

Not looking forward to doing that a second time. That was tedious work to get them all lined up.

I then moved on to cutting out the fins themselves. Here they are all cut and sanded:

I only sanded the corners because I like the grain on the wood as it is, so I chose not to alter it.

Testing the fins:

And finally, I sanded all the pieces with 120,200,400, and 600 grit and then applied the Ebony stain: holy crap, it makes a difference.

And I had a fit of OCD near the end of the night, so I cleaned up like crazy and went to bed. Enjoy the last few pics

 

[Elledan]

Looking good so far

And yes, terrible luck with scroll saws

 

[Pzych0]

want more!

 

[fluke420]

Looking good. Maybe it's time to get a band saw. Also, got any pictures of that beautiful red Porsche?

 

[Reality]

in terms of overall originality and design, this is pretty much by far the coolest custom design I've seen on these forums

subscribing

 

[SentryOptic]

Quick little mini update for all you guys

Just wanted to throw this picture up. I finally got all the pieces cut out on the scroll saw:

 

[Reality]

bump beacuse im sad thatt his project might be dead, it was my favorite one

and i am slightly toasted right now but i still hope this gets finished

 

[Elledan]

Same here, I really liked where this project was going. Hopefully the OP will find the time and such to finish it

(or else I might )

 

[Reality]

Bumping a very old thread, just in hopes that somebody may have heard from this guy..