Scratch Project: Acronym (mITX XBMC HTPC)

You are a truly talented machinist. I've spent years on CNC machines and couldn't come close to that.
 
climber07 said:
You are a truly talented machinist. I've spent years on CNC machines and couldn't come close to that.
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Yeah, I'm a mechanical engineer/programmer with a major CNC manufacturer, and our demo parts on the 5-axis and multiplex machines aren't usually that elaborate (except for maybe medical parts). Some really great work for sure. And from a design standpoint, SO UNIQUE!

But one little nugget of humble criticism: if I were to order up one of these I'd have the front be more like the back; rounded rather than flat. Like four billiard balls melded together ;) But I realize the functional point of the flat design and it looks fantastic!
 
just read this whole thread for almost an hour after seeing it in the "post pics of your rig thread." amazing. i loved the CNC porn. i was at University of Washington for 4 years, 3 years in the ME program, and used the shop there a ton. wish i still had access to it. i never did use the haas mill as it was always monopolized by our FSAE team, but even just using the 3-axis milling machines was great. i hope you find the time/reason to make another build soon so i can see some more awesome CNC porn! :D also one question, why did you make the top in 3 sections instead of one piece like the bottom?
 
I'm fairly certain you have just made your own engine block... but for a computer. Unbelievable work. No words can express it all.
 
Very impressive work.

But could you do it manually without CNC programs? :p (J/k)

Must have spent a lot of money on aluminum!
 
Any chance we can get a peek of the internals of the finished PC? With all the components installed I mean.
 
13763d1331074498-diablo-iii-cinematic-trailer-28-2-2012-mother-god-meme.jpg


Mind = blown
I just went through the whole thread.
More like Custom Case Mod of the Year to me!
 
Jaw dropped when I got to the pictures of the finished product. I can't even verbalize how cool that thing is.
 
Forget mod of the year. This thing was made out of solid aluminum... This is the [H]ardest case mod ever!

Amazing job, you sir are a mod god! Thank you for sharing this!
 
in on this legendary thread.

my goodness, this is spectactular.
another [H]ard exclusive!
 
:eek:

Very well done. You are extremely talented. I wish I had a 1/100th of that talent!! Thank you so much doing a build thread up!
 
I wondered what had happened to this build. Awesome to see it complete. Congrats!
 
My god!

Even the timeskip between posts #39 and #40 is awesome! It's like those crazy DragonBall stories where the hero disappears for a year and comes back all buff and powerful. :D
 
Outstanding work !

I almost would have left the machine paths on the top, and just cleaned that up a bit, it looks sooooo good.

I would have to 2nd the rounder front opinion but that is about it.

What was the assembled weight of the case ?

-Robert
 
Holy comments, batman! I can't begin to express how awesome you all are for everything that you've said. I means a bunch to me! I can't reply to everyone, so if I don't, please know that it really puts a smile on my face.


climber07 said:
You are a truly talented machinist. I've spent years on CNC machines and couldn't come close to that.
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Thanks! At the time, I've only been working with CNCs for a few years, maybe 3 tops. Throughout the process of building it I definitely learned a lot, and plan to utilize that knowledge in my next build. It's all about patience, setup, and quadruple checking your CAM program :D.


cmadki4 said:
Yeah, I'm a mechanical engineer/programmer with a major CNC manufacturer, and our demo parts on the 5-axis and multiplex machines aren't usually that elaborate (except for maybe medical parts). Some really great work for sure. And from a design standpoint, SO UNIQUE!

But one little nugget of humble criticism: if I were to order up one of these I'd have the front be more like the back; rounded rather than flat. Like four billiard balls melded together ;) But I realize the functional point of the flat design and it looks fantastic!
Click to expand...

Thanks for your comments mate. That's pretty much how the design started, as four spheres with a very, very large fillet in between them. I iterated based on any other requirements, but that was the initial idea seedling. I'm sure the button locations and slot for the DVD would get very interested on such a round surface. No worries about the criticism, I like to see how other people think!


ekuest said:
just read this whole thread for almost an hour after seeing it in the "post pics of your rig thread." amazing. i loved the CNC porn. i was at University of Washington for 4 years, 3 years in the ME program, and used the shop there a ton. wish i still had access to it. i never did use the haas mill as it was always monopolized by our FSAE team, but even just using the 3-axis milling machines was great. i hope you find the time/reason to make another build soon so i can see some more awesome CNC porn! :D also one question, why did you make the top in 3 sections instead of one piece like the bottom?
Click to expand...

Those damn FSAE people, I do believe that they took up the machine shop quite a bit in my undergrad school (Penn State). I'm in the design stages of a new build right now, and I do not think you will be disappointed!

The top was initially designed as three separate pieces to make the installation, debugging, and whatnot associated with the internals, easier. After testing this out, it didn't work as well as I had hoped, so I actually scrapped it and went with a single, solid top piece. If you check out the thread on bit-tech (http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=178915), it's actually up to date on what happened throughout the process. Sadly, I didn't keep the one up to date here, which is my bad!


hv43082 said:
Absolutely amazing. How many hours did you spend on this project?
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Hah! I have really, no idea. Waaaay too many. I started it in late 2009, so it's been about 2.5 years. The work has been rather sporadic in the year or so. Some of the parts took a solid 20 hours to machine!


Steve said:
[H] Custom Case Mod of the Day
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Thanks, Steve! It's an [H]onor!


Zarathustra[H];1038595809 said:
Very impressive work.

But could you do it manually without CNC programs? :p (J/k)

Must have spent a lot of money on aluminum!
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In raw materials, I would guess it was easily over $250. It helped that I scrounged a lot from scrap at the machine shop I worked at. I wouldn't dare try to do this by hand, even in a different material. Foam may be the only way :p:p.


Ph.D said:
Any chance we can get a peek of the internals of the finished PC? With all the components installed I mean.
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Will do! It's hard to do that with it together, and it's a pain to take apart since I don't want to scratch anything, but the lid is off right now so I'll take some pictures of the guts for the next round!


BostonHXC said:
Forget mod of the year. This thing was made out of solid aluminum... This is the [H]ardest case mod ever!

Amazing job, you sir are a mod god! Thank you for sharing this!
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Well to be fair, it's not really solid aluminum. 4 separate pieces, to be exact. But, close enough! Can I take the title of demi-mod god? :D:D


RobAGD said:
Outstanding work !

I almost would have left the machine paths on the top, and just cleaned that up a bit, it looks sooooo good.

I would have to 2nd the rounder front opinion but that is about it.

What was the assembled weight of the case ?

-Robert
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I've heard multiple people say that (about the machine path finish), so you aren't the only one! The edges are rather sharp, though. It would be like one of those terrain maps with lines of constant altitude on it! /nerd moment.

The final weight, according to my model, is around 9.1 lbs. In reality? Not sure, I haven't weight it yet. I will, though, and get back to you when I do.


Creepingdeath1977 said:
Awesome work man.

Also it's made kotaku front page:cool:
http://kotaku.com/5900787/this-curvy-beauty-sprang-from-a-solid-chunk-of-aluminium
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Holy crap! Thanks for the notice, I never would have knew!
 
Achron said:
I've heard multiple people say that (about the machine path finish), so you aren't the only one! The edges are rather sharp, though. It would be like one of those terrain maps with lines of constant altitude on it! /nerd moment.
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All you would have to do is throw the piece in the tumbler to clean up the edges... I think the smooth is kinda sleek and sexy, while the "terrain lines" would be more techie or geeky if you will. I agree with them as well.
 
Archon, One cnc programmer to another honestly what was your machine run time on that entire thing.... lol
By no means answer that for me, just probably a lot of people dont know how long it takes a machine to actually surface mill that big of an area.

Your talks of carbide love cracks me up, also if you are still machining check out the YG 3F alumi power endmills my new love for 6061 put them in a sandvik hydralic chuck and let them sing.


Ohh and top notch work on the case. two thumbs up
 
Icestation said:
Archon, One cnc programmer to another honestly what was your machine run time on that entire thing.... lol
By no means answer that for me, just probably a lot of people dont know how long it takes a machine to actually surface mill that big of an area.

Your talks of carbide love cracks me up, also if you are still machining check out the YG 3F alumi power endmills my new love for 6061 put them in a sandvik hydralic chuck and let them sing.


Ohh and top notch work on the case. two thumbs up
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yeah i went to a commercial CNC place where they machined the foam centers of blades for windmills, and the milling time on those was measured in weeks. and they made like 3 passes. trying to rough cut your shape before you start can definitely hepl save some time, but theres only so much you can do for a complex 3d contoured shape.
 
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