Project: Yuugou

I've already said this, but this case is amazing. I am truely in awe of your skills and imagination... Can't wait to see more.
 
Thanks very much guys, here is another update.


I couldn't upload all the pictures at once and all this work wiped me out. Today actually was another full workday and I'll have another big update coming soon. Things are happening fast and soon this log will go on pause until the case is released later in March.

First up is the wiring. I hate wiring and I fried it twice on Sangaku so I really wanted to do it right this time. The way to do this right is lots of planning, and since i'm a visual person, i laid everything out with string:
x29.jpg


I will use a system of blocks to hold the wiring in place. It should be nice and organized hopefully. Here are the blocks milled for their specific wires:
x22.jpg


And drilled:
x23.jpg


Here is where one is going:
x24.jpg


x32.jpg


The blocks layed out on the side panel:
x30.jpg


And some close-ups:
x37.jpg


x38.jpg


Here is the case's under belly. These big holes allow air into the radiator. There will also be a screen here to keep out dust:
x40.jpg


Remember the card retention device? Here it is attached. Just two screws:
x25.jpg


x26.jpg


Next, i didn't like being able to see the hdds so i made a cover for them:
x27.jpg


With some aluminum joinery:
x28.jpg


This will have a design cut into it that you can see through the mesh

I'll let these pictures speak for themselves:
x31.jpg


x33.jpg


x34.jpg


x35.jpg


x36.jpg


More to come soon. Stay tuned.
 
Limited to 1 drive bay, only 2 HDD mounts, NOT TOOLESS? Why did you even bother? :p

Of course I'm kidding. It's been said many times, but this case is the bee's knees. Seriously, I've been actively waiting updates on this case each day. Your new wiring setup looks like it should be very clean and hidden. I'm curious about the HDD plate though, are you not worried about vibrations or does it fit alot more tightly than I imagine?

Good luck with all the finishing touches!
 
Limited to 1 drive bay, only 2 HDD mounts, NOT TOOLESS? Why did you even bother? :p

Of course I'm kidding. It's been said many times, but this case is the bee's knees. Seriously, I've been actively waiting updates on this case each day. Your new wiring setup looks like it should be very clean and hidden. I'm curious about the HDD plate though, are you not worried about vibrations or does it fit alot more tightly than I imagine?

Good luck with all the finishing touches!

Ha, you scared me for a second there... Thanks though. The hdd cover doesn't fit tighter than you imagine, probably looser in fact. I have rubber washers in between the hdds and their holders so I'm hoping that takes care of the vibrations. If not, I'll figure out something.
 
Ha, you scared me for a second there... Thanks though. The hdd cover doesn't fit tighter than you imagine, probably looser in fact. I have rubber washers in between the hdds and their holders so I'm hoping that takes care of the vibrations. If not, I'll figure out something.

I might recommend something to make sure the aluminum plate doesn't rattle, There is always more vibrations that you can imagine in a case and if things aren't locked down, they will make noise...

Either screw it down some how (even a set screw some how?) or have it set it with rubber blocks/washers/chewing gum..... well maybe not the gum....
 
Wow. This thing is amazing. I can hardly wait to see the finished system. I know that if I was a business man with money and manufacturing capabilities, I would be drooling to buy that design off of you. A case that beautiful would surely sell. I can't say enough about how well designed this looks.
 
Thanks very much all for your comments. I'm on the home stretch now and i've been working like crazy to get this thing ready for powdercoat but first I want to show you where i was on friday. The Tour of California came through SLO and then they had a time trial in Solvang, so I went there with a friend. Here are some pictures:

Micheal Rogers:
x115.jpg


Jens Voight:
x116.jpg


Big George Hincapi:
x114.jpg


I had to cut out the front panel design. Here it is in picture form:

Test Piece:
x100.jpg


Viola:
x101.jpg


And now the real thing:
x102.jpg


x103.jpg


x104.jpg


Turned out very nice i'd say. Then I needed to do some bits and bobs. For one, i screwed up on the hole placement and the slot for the mobo wires cut off the screw holes so I made these little guys to compensate:
x105.jpg


And here is my dvd drive, a pioneer dvr-K05
x106.jpg


The pieces so far:
x107.jpg


I've been patching all the holes that won't be needed since i'm not taking them apart again. This should make everything very nice:
x109.jpg


x108.jpg


And another bit. These pieces will hold a dust filter in place that can easily slide out for cleaning:
x110.jpg


x111.jpg


And last but not least, I cut out the character for "light" on the hdd panel. This will make sense later:
x112.jpg


x113.jpg


That's all for now. Powder coaters on tuesday. Until then, Stay tuned and tell me what you think.
 
Thanks very much guys. The case is at powder coating right now so there isn't much to do. Actually I won't be showing the powder coated case until its release date in late March or April. Until then, I have some wood working to do and one last update on the aluminum.

Here is what i did (and almost totally forgot about) before I dropped the case off at the powder coaters.

I needed to find an elegant way to get the tubing through the mesh:
x200.jpg


So I started by doing this:
x201.jpg


That looked kind of weird so I decided to make a backer for it:
x202.jpg


I cut this on my scroll saw out of .09 inch aluminum:
x203.jpg


And J-B Welded to the mesh:
x204.jpg


This should be hot once its powder coated.

Until next time, stay tuned.

Oh I almost forgot, check the New York Times business section on March 18th, there should be something special. :D
 
nice biking pics. I cannot wait for the tour. Oh yeah and for more pics of the case :D
 
Wow, it is no doubt going to turn out to be a sexy case, like your other case
 
Seeing you work on this case just makes me want to start my own wooden case project more and more. The craftsmanship so far is beautiful, keep it up!

I too am in love with East Asian culture, got any suggestions for a project for me? :D
 
Thanks very much everyone.

Seeing you work on this case just makes me want to start my own wooden case project more and more. The craftsmanship so far is beautiful, keep it up!

I too am in love with East Asian culture, got any suggestions for a project for me? :D

Suggestions? hmm not at the moment. I'm working on a new design (thinking phase) at the moment though.

Despite all this, I did some work on other things (before all this happened)

First off, I've been working on the wood to fix that huge mistake i told you guys about. First thing was to cut off these tenons. This breaks my heart actually:
x304.jpg


I'll leave a little nubb though:
x305.jpg


Oh, for those interested, this is my chisel sharpening setup. I would need them for the next step:
x306.jpg


The rail can now be removed easily but what keeps it in place you may ask? Well here is the peg side of the hole:
x308.jpg


Magnets will keep it in place. One on the rail and one on the peg. The next step is to make the peg. Like this:
x307.jpg


It had to be this shape to fit in perfectly, this took a while. Cut off it looks like this:
x309.jpg


Poking through:
x311.jpg


Look, they match:
x310.jpg


One more to go of those but I have some goodies to show off.

First off, my motherboard came, ooo, ahhh:
x301.jpg


And then I got a nice present from the fine folks at Corsair Memory. I'd like to thank them very much for this:
x312.jpg


x300.jpg


And Whoa, these things are huge:
x302.jpg


x303.jpg


I'll be modding that fan thing of course, I'd expect some koa and ebony :D

Thats all for now, lots to do, and little time. I'm going to the powder coaters eventually to try to salvage the mess :mad: Stay tuned
 
that sucks big time that they screwed up the powder coat... :mad:

but every thing else is looking good!

How did Corsair hear about your project? If they have been reading this thread (or are now...) I want to thank them because they kick ass for supporting the community like this! I have seen them do that a lot, and i give them great respect for it.

(Yes, i know i bought G-skill this time around, but fear not last time i used Corsair, and next time i will continue to use Corsair)
 
woah, got any pictures,details abotu what happened at the powdercoaters? Sucks it had to happen to somehting that looks so beautiful. :(
 
Hey everyone, Corsair heard about my project through another forum and liked it. Also as you mentioned, they are very supportive of the modding community already and I'd also like to thank them for that.

As for the powder coaters, everything is back to normal and the powder coat turned out beautifully. Instead of the semi-gloss black, we changed to a light textured semi-gloss black which I think looks way better. I should have some teaser shots this weekend once i get more of the case put together.

For more details about what actually happaned with the powdercoat: Apparently I used too much cutting oil on the aluminum and it soaked it up. Upon heating the aluminum, it came out and when they sprayed it, there were lots of divits all over the case. The textured powder coat pretty much covered all of them up though and it is looking fantastic...albeit more expensive than I had hoped
 
Aluminum is a very porous material. Everyone seems to take the aluminum soda cans for granted, but in actuality aluminum needs to me impregnated with chemicals to make it hold fluids. I used to machine parts for automotive air conditioner compressors, and every part had to be treated so it wouldn't leak or rust.

Glad to see everything worked out in the end. Can't wait to see some more pics!
 
That is a pretty sweet little props from Corsair.. wicked cool.

I love this project, I check at least once a day for updates... Can't wait to see the powdercoat!!
 
Hey everyone, powder coat is here.

I was only going to do teasers of the powdercoat but it looks so hot that I can't help myself. But first, I almost finished the Corsair Memory fan mod.

I split the ebony piece and now I'll glue up a koa and ebony sandwich. You have to glue veneer on both sides or else it may bow or cup.
x400.jpg


x401.jpg


All glued up:
x406.jpg


And holes drilled:
x421.jpg


and more holes:
x422.jpg


With the first coat of finish:
x423.jpg


And now for your viewing pleasure. A slide show of a lot of the powder coated pieces. No words needed.

x402.jpg


x403.jpg


x404.jpg


x407.jpg


x408.jpg


I cut the i/o shield yesterday, still needs paint though:
x410.jpg


x409.jpg


x411.jpg


x412.jpg


x413.jpg


x414.jpg


x415.jpg


x417.jpg


x418.jpg


x419.jpg


And
x420.jpg


Have a nice day :)
 
Wow... I just spent the last hour or so going over this log again (already saw the early wood work once). I am utterly speechless in light of all the amazing work you're doing on this mod. Keep up the great work, and you can bet I'll be keeping a close eye on this project.
Oh, and greetings from Israel :).
 
Oh my God dude... um.. that is just sick.

I have shown your worklog to a few of my co-workers (none of whom are computer enthusiasts, at all) and they have all sat, glossy eyed, and read through the whole thing.

This project is simply stunning.. I love it.
 
Every update your case just looks slicker and slicker. It amazes me.

I admire your craftsmanship.
 
Amazing. Just the aluminium work by it self is awesome.

So is the wood !

Can't wait to see this finished!!
 
Back
Top