Project13

[Sheldog23]

This design is directly spawned off the Sapphire cube. I really didn't get enough time with that case, and I really wanted to do a lot more to it than I did. So when it came time to upgrade my LAN PC the desire was too strong to deny...I had to make another cube.

I liked the Sapphire case. It looked good and it was well organized. Things were easy to get into and it was a great design to show off the hardware. This time I wanted to make the cube reflect more of my personality. I also wanted a more dynamic design.

Zapwizard, Mr. Red and I were all brainstorming one night and we came out with the great internal layout that I am going to use on this case. So credit must be given for thier part in this creation.

Zap is a master with TrueSpace but when it comes to designing things
I stick with what I know. That would be corel11. Here is my design.

This is the basic layout of the case. You see the front, sides and top in this pic: Drafting style of sorts. The grey is the aluminum and the pinkish stuff is supposed to be Red Plex. The Translucent feature of Corel lightens it too much.

The artwork on the sides is an Oliva piece called "Hot Sauce". It is Betty Page dressed as a devil. I think it is hot and saucy so it is well titled. I am not sure if am am going to use this image or not. But I have it on here just to see how it will look.

The Theme for this case came from its size. 13" square. We Tried for 12" but we couldn't get everything to fit inside. So 13 it became, and then Project13. Everytime I see thirteen I think of the Thrill Kill Kults "13 above the Night". I also knew I wanted to use Red Plex ever since I became a huge fan of ModSquads "Black Narcisuss"case. The blood red plex, the devil number 13 all pointed me to a Devilish theme.
So there you go, I let the shrinks take it from there.


The Cube itself is going to be made from aluminum. The front and top will be 1/8" and the sides and back will be .063. I then plan to mount the plex to the face of the Aluminum. I will get more detailed on the process as I go.

First thing first. I need to cut the aluminum and route out the windows and holes. For the thicker pieces I used the Table Saw, the thinner ones got cut on the stomp shear.

To do the holes I exported the above patterns from corel to my Engraving program. I then cut a template into 1/16" poly and used that as a pattern for the pin router.

While I was at the routing I went ahead and did the top acrylic piece.
The front and side acrylic pieces will have the more complicated designs lazered.

Basically the way a pin router works is you have a bit and a blade. The bit traces your pattern and the blade cuts the inderneath piece. The two pieces are separated with 1/16" foam tape so there is a slight gap to keep
you from cutting into your pattern.

Fast forward into the future and you have the front and sides.

I got ahead of myself in this pic and installed some alum fans I annodized with some duplicolor red annodizing paint. I also was messing around with some finishes. The left one is straight brushed and the middle one is circular. I think I am going to go with the circular. I think I prefer the look of it over the brushed.

The Fans I was refering too. These are just plain Jane Evercool Alum. Fans painted with Duplicolor Red Annodizing paint.
Don't they just look Sweet.

stay tuned...

 

[EzekialRage]

amazing what you can do with the right tools. looking good

 

[Sheldog23]

Today I spent part of the day filing and sanding down the rough cut edges of the aluminum, and also sanding the circular brushed pattern into all of the faces (both sides).

Here is the finished product.

What I started with was this jaggedy router chewed mess.

closer

until smoothness is achieved. And they all rejoiced.

Once all pieces were de-burred, smoothed and given the circular brushed finish they were laid out in the shop and given several coats of clear coat. this makes them look shiny and also protects them.

I will try to get a better pic of the finish later. It was getting dark ouside so I was loosing my best lightsource. The flash doesn't do that great for this.


The Acrylic Pieces.

At lunch I took the acrylic pieces over to a friend of mines Trophy shop. In exchange for his cutting things out for me I get him vinyl prints. It a great bartering system and a fair reason to start up your own local modding club. Pooled resources rock.

The Epilog laser with all its yummy cutting goodness.

The Front and side pieces lasered out with the top piece I cut with the pin router. I still need to clean them up with a bit of minor sanding, polishing and what not (especially the top one). I will do that next week though.

This weekend I wanted to play around with this Ultra Fan Commander I want to put in the case. I had painted the Brushed Silver faceplate annodized red to see how it looks.

Looks pretty good if you ask me, but the lighting around the buttons is blue. I need to be changing that to match the case, that would be RED.

Should be a simple process of removing these 3mm blue LEDs here.

I should get you an update on that later this weekend hopefully if I have the time.

 

[Killermac]

Coming along nicely great job.

KM

 

[1337m0dd3r]

look good so far shel, lookin forward to more updates

 

[xplicit]

Great job. Can't wait until assembly *drools*.

 

[Double Jesus]

man, that design is hot!

 

[Sheldog23]

Not a big update today, but I finally got around to changing the LED's in that Fan commander.

It was a simple process of removing the old blue and installing the new RED ones.

Ultra used some thin squared off 3mm LED's so my fat roundies didn't fit. I just cut a "V" in the acrylic surrounding the button with an exacto and flame polished the edges clear again. Not pretty but hey it works.

and both sides.

To finish off the look I took a piece of clear red celephane and put it over the blue LCD screen.

Yes that will go nicely with everything. I need to get another can of the red and give the faceplate a couple of more shots but that will be good to go when I get to installing the drives.

I have some of the insides of the cubes painted up a bit. I also made a removable motherboard tray that sits on rails made and painted. I just forgot to bring my Camera with me the other day. I should get some pics for you tommorow.

In case any of you are wondering what the hardware will be...well, you'll just have to guess. For now that sits in my Silverstone case waiting for its new home. Notice how it matches the "Theme" as well.

 

[TehRoflcopter]

So far... This project is definetely sex =).

 

[Sheldog23]

Ok Time for an update...

I spent all last week painting the insides to the cube. The bottom half below the MB tray is going to be white on the inside. Unfortunately winter came along and slowed me down. Luckily I live in Texas and winter last about a week so I am back in action. I finished the last of the clear coating today and all of the sides are finished being painted.

Here is the Motherboard tray. Its a special MB tray in that it sits on Drawer rails so I can pull it out the back and have easy access to the hardware in the bottom section. This is something I have always wanted to try.

The small hole on the left is for the SATA and smaller cables to go down to their devices. The large cutout is for the big red 120mm fans and possibly a radiator... Haven't decided if I want to WC this yet.

The rails..

These two will be mounted to the sides of the case.

I also cut and painted some Aluminum Honeycomb mesh the Red Annodized color. These will go in the open window areas and possibly over the two large front fans.

mmmmm.....RED.

Here are all the pieces painted.

Ignore the floppy, I have no idea why it is there.

and an overall pic of my assembly area. Mess in progress.

I Should have some more pics soon as I have also painted the bottom and the drive cage.

 

[Sheldog23]

well i got all the angle pieces annodized today. Which means I can start putting the pieces together...woo hoo!

I got to get a better camera or something because these look 10X better in person.

 

[TSS Modder]

wow... that is pretty freakin secksi! nice work!

 

[TehRoflcopter]

Man. That color of red totally goes well with a high gloss white coloured metal panel, I guarantee it. Seriously, this project is incredibly nice, keep up the good work.

 

[Sheldog23]

First off forgive me if I don't make this log a written master piece. I am kinda tired. So, now that the brackets are painted I take the bottom piece and attach them.

Then I add this drive cage that I turned upside down and painted white.

Take some of these bolts

add some 1/4" collar spacers

Put it all together...

Start attaching things....

Here you can see that it is only the bottom section below the MB tray that will be white.

 

[Sheldog23]

Here are some minor updates:
for the crikets and tumbleweeds aparently


I got three sides together now. I need to get some special bolts to hold on the rails so that they won't stick out and get in the way of the movement. I am just afraid of going shopping with everyone and thier grandma out right now. lol, too many people make me crazy.

a peek at the insides. Nothing fancy, but I wanted this one to be simple.

I started working on the back. Here is a rough cut piece of aluminum for the bottom half. It will hold the PSU in place. The top half will be connected to the MB tray and slid out with it.

tommorow I will sand it up and paint it clear one side white on the other.

 

[TehRoflcopter]

Snap. I really dig the looks of that red on that white.

Very good color choice, and I hope the best to you and this mod =).

 

[R3D3X]

i think to much red. some more chrome or black would be nice ^^

 

[rogue_jedi]

looking good. are the holes on the sides gonna be cut into the aluminum as well to be handles?

the black knight always triumphs!

 

[Sheldog23]

Thanks TehRoflcopter, your a good guy. much appreciated.

I agree R3D3X about the chrome. I plan to add some more chrome to the top inside area where you will be able to see it. Not too much just enough to accent it.

The side holes are not going to be cut through the aluminum. Right now there is just enough room to get my fingers in there and it should act as a something to hold onto. I also may add a handle to the top, not sure yet.

I don't play on carrying it around by these handles though, just to move it from case to table. I plan of getting a good case with foam inside and casters to move it around. My friend and fellow Austin Modder Mickey21 has a nice one to hold his Mountain Mod cube and it is a real nice way to transport a case.

 

[TehRoflcopter]

Where the plexi glass sits above the metal, do you plan on painting that high gloss white? Or is that going to stay bare metal?

 

[Sheldog23]

Where the plexi glass sits above the metal, do you plan on painting that high gloss white? Or is that going to stay bare metal?

I'm not quite sure what you mean.

The top section that is aluminum is coated in clear coat, Same with the rest of the case. It will stay with the aluminum look. The only part that is going to be white on the case is the inside bottom section, the Mobo of course. the mobo tray, and possibly some other minor things will be highlighted with white to accent.

I hope that answered your question.

 

[TehRoflcopter]

Yes, that answers my question. However, i'll explain to you what I meant...

In this picture

You know how the red plexiglass is on standoffs to the metal? I thought you were going to paint the metal high gloss white so it accented the red plexiglass, lol.

Do you have plans to polish the aluminum before clear coating it? Or is it going to stay with that brushed look? The more I think about it, the more I think it will look good either way, lol.

 

[CrimsonSky]

That's lookin' really hot Mr.Sheldog!

 

[Sheldog23]

That's lookin' really hot Mr.Sheldog!

I thank you for the compliment.

Do you have plans to polish the aluminum before clear coating it? Or is it going to stay with that brushed look? The more I think about it, the more I think it will look good either way, lol.

The aluminum will stay brushed and is actually quite shiny due to the clear coats. Its a nice and loose circular pattern that is hard to capture with a camera. It's much more dynamic in person and I really enjoy it. When the flash hits it it just give the halo effect to it and just doesn't do it justice.

Well, I hope to have an update soon but I have been so dang busy lately. I hope to come in this weekend and work on it.

 

[SAS91]

In case any of you are wondering what the hardware will be...well, you'll just have to guess. For now that sits in my Silverstone case waiting for its new home. Notice how it matches the "Theme" as well.

lookin sexy!... do i win for guessin what parts are in it?

AMD FX-55 @ 2.8
SAPPHIRE PURE Innovation PI-A9RX480
OCZ EL Gold PC-3500 GX @ 216Mhz
X-Fi Xtreme Music
Samsung SATAII drive
PC Power & Cooling 510W PSU

 

[Sheldog23]

lookin sexy!... do i win for guessin what parts are in it?

AMD FX-55 @ 2.8
SAPPHIRE PURE Innovation PI-A9RX480
OCZ EL Gold PC-3500 GX @ 216Mhz
X-Fi Xtreme Music
Samsung SATAII drive
PC Power & Cooling 510W PSU

OOOOOHHHH. SO CLOSE! but sorry you forgot to tell me what Video Card is in it? I had this shiney quarter all ready for you too. lol.

The Video Card is an X1800XT Performance Edition. I just finished FEAR with it and I couldn't be happier with the perfomance. So much fun.



Merry Christmas everyone!!

 

[snoopy]

OOOOOHHHH. SO CLOSE! but sorry you forgot to tell me what Video Card is in it? I had this shiney quarter all ready for you too. lol.

The Video Card is an X1800XT Performance Edition. I just finished FEAR with it and I couldn't be happier with the perfomance. So much fun.



Merry Christmas everyone!!

At least give him a nickle

Looks good

 

[][V][AGIC]

nice, liken the color. i see that caster bracket on the side there, you maken a mobo tray that can slide out? that would be sweet

 

[SAS91]

OOOOOHHHH. SO CLOSE! but sorry you forgot to tell me what Video Card is in it? I had this shiney quarter all ready for you too. lol.

The Video Card is an X1800XT Performance Edition. I just finished FEAR with it and I couldn't be happier with the perfomance. So much fun.



Merry Christmas everyone!!

hehe nice m8 and merry xmas to you as well.. i have the same mobo as of now but an x23800+ in ! x1800xt performance is in as well good stuff and im lookin forward to playin with it!

 

[Sheldog23]

nice, liken the color. i see that caster bracket on the side there, you maken a mobo tray that can slide out? that would be sweet

Yessir, you are correct. That would be this thing.\/\/\/

 

[Sheldog23]

OK, we had a half day at work so I spend the after noon working on the back I/O plate.

To start of I had this piece of Red plex left over from when I had all the pieces Lasered out. The Plan is to bend it and us it as a clear I/O plate. Here you see it on the bender marked.

This little trick turned out to be more difficult than I thought. Getting all those little pieces to all bend without getting wobbly was rather difficult. It gets pretty tricky and you have to move while its hot. So unfortunatly I didn't take any pics of me doing it.

basically I bent it over and then up again. This way I can attach it to the Alum. back piece. I also like the way it looks all curvy and translucent. I cut some 1/2" strips of the plex and boxed in the back area. I am glueing it together in the above pic.

To make sure I got it right I got out some old expendible parts. I used this fried shuttle mobo and an old Canopus 3dfx card to make sure I had the back height correct.

man this card brings back memories.

as you can see it turned out OK. The card fits fine along with the rest of it. I then needed to check the alum. back plates to make sure it all fits together.

the back plates were made on the pin router just like the other sides.

everything seems to fit. Now I have to clean up the edges and put the holes in it for mounting, sand it up and paint it. I will get to that this weekend most likely.

in the mean time here are some pics of the removable mobo tray in action. I temp taped the pieces together to make sure it all works smooth.

oh yeah, thats gonna come in handy.

and just for fun because I was curious and had the camera. If I were to add the top....

yep, she's coming along nicely...

stay tuned.

 

[Mysterae]

Sweet mod! I paid particular attention to the removable mobo tray with the plexi bits. I need something like that. How do you plan on fixing the cards down? Have you got threaded inserts in the plexi for the screws to go into, or can I see a metal plate behind the plexi for this purpose?

 

[Sheldog23]

Sweet mod! I paid particular attention to the removable mobo tray with the plexi bits. I need something like that. How do you plan on fixing the cards down? Have you got threaded inserts in the plexi for the screws to go into, or can I see a metal plate behind the plexi for this purpose?

I will probably just drill and thread a hole for the screws. As long as you don't over tighten it won't strip out the plexi. It just need to be tight and snug enough for the cards not to move.

 

[Sheldog23]

I got quite a bit done over the holiday weekend. Well exept for sunday which was spend recooperating from the new years party, But Monday I was back into the modding mood again.

First thing I needed to do was make a faceplate with a slot for my slot load DVD drive. For some reason I bought a slim-line DVD from DFWDepot.com and thought that maybe I would need the space. Turns out I had plenty. So I built this nifty holder for it.

It is basically a thin piece of .063 aluminum laminated to a piece of the red acrylic. I then cut the slot, sanded and then Painted it red with the Dupli-color anodizing paint. Next I bent an enclosure to hold the drive and attached it to the faceplate with Weld on.

I then taped the drive to another piece of plex and also glued it into the enclosure with weld-on. The Tape will keep it there forever basically but allows me to take it out if I ever have to. I don't plan on ever doing that so hence the VHB tape.

I guess I could have come up with some fancy way to keep it in there but I am simple and somewhat lazy at times.

and this is what it will look like installed.


I also got the back pieces finished. All sanded painted and clear coated. the bottom piece is painted white on the inside.

I think I have decided to not put a plex cover on the back. I will leave it like this for a while till I make up my mind. Maybe if I add WCing I will put a red window/res in the back bottom.

ok.....pant pant.. Then I mooved onto the top...whew.

first thing I did was sand and polish the edges to the top to a nice shiny finish.

Then I drilled the holes and began to mount it. Here you can see the red hex mesh that will be attached to the inside of the top.

You can also see the first attempt at a back I/O plate. Been tearing peices off for Jigs.

another angle:

tommorow I will have to finish attaching it and polish it up. The its onto the side mesh. I am making some special lighting with a bunch of Red LED's for that section. Stay tuned....

 

[TehRoflcopter]

Delicious!

I like it =D

 

[Sheldog23]

Horaaay Zapwizard to save the day.

So I post my question to Zapy boy about touch switches (since he isn't reading my thread ) and he is like oh yeah. I have some chips at my house that will work for that. I will give you one they are like fifty cents. WHo knew?

So I go over to "Casa De Zapies" and he looks through a mountain of chips that all look alike to me but some how he knows the difference and grabs one.

He looks at a PDF schematic on the website http://www.qprox.com/products/qtouch.php and we head to the garage. We slap a couple of parts into a bread board and swap out some capacitors and walla. A ghetto chip is born.

This is the chip Hot glued to a piece of plex. I am not that great with electrical work so Zap did most of it. I think I poked something with a stick at one point. They were his tools after all. but I think I could replicate it if I had too do it again.

So here is the dealie.

basically those copper squares taped to the plex will be:
- 1. My Power switch and
- 2. my DVD eject button.

These have Double sided tape attached and will stick "stealthy like" to the inside of the red plex.

So here is what I do. I route the wire through a hole and attach the coppper pad to the inside of the plex.

Some how I mis-measured and drilled the second hole 1/8" lower than the first. This is ok though because unless you are underneath the case you cannot see the holes anyways. The red plex is also very dark and "Maroon Like" when it doesn't have a flash on it. So you can't see the pads either.

After I have attached the pads I place the Chip, trim the wires and solder them on.

You can see I already have my MB Power cord attached. (The blue and white on the right).

The red and white cord going the other direction will attach to the PSU's constant 5v and ground. This will keep chip active even when the PC is off.

Next I need to attach the DVD switch to the chip.

I will do this shortly after I post this. I am to the point now where I need to put the HD (under the Fan controller) and everything else in the case. So I have to turn off this PC and move everything.

I will update will pics of everything working tommorow.

 

[Sheldog23]

I have a LAN to go to on the 14th so I am going to try and get the Cube running even though it won't be completly finished. I still have a bunch of detail work and lighting on the inside. Not to mention the whole PSU thing. I either need to completly re-do my PCP&C 510 or I was actually thinking of getting one of those red Hyper Modular PSU. Though I haven't had time to research if they are any good.

Speaking of detail work this is one of the things I have been working on.

I am thinking I am going to make a lit plate like this behind the two front fans as well to help light up the fan grills.

but I don't have a whole lot of time to play around so I started puttin the pieces in to see how she would run for the LAN.

Puttint in the Drive cage and running the cables is a bit of a pain due to space, but not half as bad as a shuttle or my UTMod by any means.

The pull out tray was a dream come true. Never has putting in parts been so easy.

everything fit snugly but it did fit.

the red lighting is gonna look pretty cool too.

unfortunatley shortly into windows I get the dreaded BSOD. It was late and i was tired by the time I got to this point. So tonight I am going to look into it more.

Booooo.

 

[CrimandEvil]

Very sexy.

 

[Sheldog23]

Hey hey good news.

Got the HD working again. I ran a disk check and defragged it just for good measure. So I should be up and gaming tonight or tommorow to see how she holds up.

The good thing about having a removable MB tray is if you need to work on it you can just take it out.

here you can see what I think was the culprit. Don't think the HD like being upside down. Don't know why.

I know it looks like a mess but It will be tidied up. :|

Not sure if I showed this to you or not. I have this slot for the SATA cables and the Power switch and HD activity LED cables.

If I had a SATA DVD I would be set. Unfortunatly I am not made of money.

here I have it up and running defragging

I also added these temporary feet to the case. I want to do something similar in plex but smaller. I want it up high enough to project a light around the case. I was thinking of directing some LEDs to create a Red pentagram around it.

These are just wood ones painted red.

Goes well with my room too.

Played COD2 online for about 2 hours. MY CPU stayed around 32C so she is purring like a kitten right now. I think she will do just fine this weekend.

 

[Egg]

I like the project, I totally adore that motherboard...and i hate your room colours
damn how can u concentrate with such walls