Motorized Madness

[rendermandan]

As many of you know, I just finished my Water Cooled Turbine Project. I have been designing a case to mount it to. Well the time has come to start this project. I am calling it "Motorized Madness". Simply put, there will be several panels on the case that will be motorized to reveal objects, fans, controls etc. Some panels will be hidden, and some will be obvious.

The most electronically challenging part of this mod will be to integrate all the motorization with a servo controller and have them automatically open on windows start and close on windows shutdown. I have already placed orders for some of the equipment I will be using such as a clear acrylic case,

I have begun the 3d model sketch to help layout objects and how everything is going to work. here are some screen shots.

Overall case with turbine mounted on top. Note, all doors and panels are in closed position.

Here is the case with the doors in the open position. you will notice there is a large round hole on the side of the case. That is actually a window that opens up to the case.

Here we see the round case window, a small temperature monitor that gets revealed by a panel that slides up, the front intake fan that is covered by 3 panes that rotate. A flip down accesory panel for the fan controller and switches, and the stealthed dvd tray.

Here are some other shots:

On the top of the front panel there is a door that hinges upward (Inside) that opens the channel for the air to the dual 120mm radiator.

The entire case is going to be covered in panels similar to the Turbine, however I won't have to run el wire as I did on the turbine because of the clear case. there will be cold cathode lights on the inside that will shine thru the slots and gaps in the panel that I build. This way I can have the openengs go around corners and have much more interesting patterns. In fact, most of the clear case will be covered. I will airbrush and paint the case similar to the turbine as well. Obviously more kit bashing and the industrial look is in order.

The round opening window will prove to be the most mechanically challenging portion of this project as I cannot find this item anywhere, I've only seen it in movies, so I wll need to build it from scratch.

Hope everyone likes my design, If you have any suggestions or ideas to make it better, please let me know.

[rendermandan]

I forgot to mention, I also ordered a dual 120 mm Danger Den Black Ice Extreme II radiator.

http://www.dangerden.com/store/produ...2&cat=5&page=1

I figured I'd need this to cool my video card.

here is the servor contoller I am looking at getting.
http://www.lynxmotion.com/Product.as...&CategoryID=52
I'll have to wait untill payday to order it. but it has the ability to control up to 32 servos, with full postition and speed control. Programming it could be PITA though.

[rendermandan]

That circular opening on the side is killer.. like the iris in a lens. Might be a p.i.t.a. to make, but will be super cool to see.

Thanks for the term IRIS. I was trying to come up with what to call it, and you hit it on the head! +Rep to you.

here is a screenshot of the cad file I desinged to make it work

I'm going to make the framwork out of plastic sheet and the iris parts themselves will be laser cut out of thin aluminum. I think I'm going to add more blades than the 14 I designed. By addign more, I can make them thinner and therefore get a larger diameter opening without making the frame larger.

[Spawn-Inc]

Hey Rendermandan. I just found your turbine project this morning. Now I'll be able to say I got in on the first post now.

On a different note. For the Iris. I was thinking about something that would work. But I forgot it by the time I got here. But an old style vegitable steamer that sits in the pan and has sides that fold still comes to mind. You could mod that piece and use some of the original design since it comes in a round shape to begin with. I hope that little bit helps.

i believe you mean this...

my parents use one. i think he wants it flat so this would open up and stick out. also it would be harder to open and close that. i think the only way to use this would be with some cables pushing in and out. though it would be neat to hide a big red button under it, like a power switch.

[rendermandan]

Wow, I can tell you guys are really excited! The case and dvd burner should arrive today. I talked to my buddy who has the laser etcher about cutting out the parts for the iris with that. he said we could do it, but not untill next week. -I guess that gives me a little more time to refine the design.

Luke, you are exactly right on how this is designed, the pins toward the inside are the static pivot points and the ring around the outside is what rotates all the blades simultaneously.

Spawn, -I can see where you thought there were shutters for the radiator. that was actually the radiator fins that you saw in the pic. -I just didnt' model the all the fins. -I was planning to cover the outside with the large
round hole mesh I used on the turbine. But great idea though, I might have to look into that.

I should have some pics of the case up tonight, and hopefully get started on construction this weekend. Have to go buy some more sytrene first. -ALOT MORE!

[rendermandan]

Well, my wallet is now $200 lighter. -I just ordered the servo contoller, 6 servos, power supply and a bunch of hardware from http://www.lynxmotion.com/ViewPage.a...ntentCode=Home


here is the servo controller I ordered. It controls can control up to 32 servos.
-6 will be enough (right now).
http://www.lynxmotion.com/Product.as...&CategoryID=52

Man-I'm really broke now, and I still have to buy styrene.

[rendermandan]

ok, here is a revised drawing of the iris. I upped the panes to 20 and added the servo mount

The overall diamater of the entire structure is 12". this will give me a 8" dia opening when completly opened.

Not sure how much torque it will need. -Hopefully not alot.

[rendermandan]

Ok, here we go.

the case and dvd drive arrived yesterday. Last night I put the case together and started doing some work.

Here is the case, all tightly packed in this box. -This is how they actually shipped it to.

after an hour or so, here it is assembled.

Man, what a NICE case! this thing is gorgeous. every edge is polished and smooth. If anyone want to get a clear case and leave it clear, this is the case to get! -Its a shame to see it get cut up and mostly covered.

and just for a before shot, here is the case with the water cooling turbine on top:

When starting a project like this, its hard to figure out where to get started, so I decided to do some easy stuff first.

I cut off the mounting tabs for the front movable 120 mm fan bracket.

Then I used a cutoff wheel on my dremel and trimmed out the bottom of the front panel where the usb and power switches are usually.

The idea is to have the fan as low as possible.

I made a box to frame and set its depth. This box will help me to mount and form the 3 doors on the front.

Here it is with the fan:

Thats about it for now. I'm still waiting on about 4 packages that won't be here untill next week. Then I can really get started on this. Mostly right now I have to buy more styrene plastic and wait on the hardware.

Later!

[rendermandan]

Sorry to keep you guys in suspense, I've been working on the Iris this weekend and have been getting frustrated. Its not turning out to work very well. I'll have some pictures and possible, If I can get it to work, some video of the Iris in action tomorrow. It takes too long to upload a 10mb file from my home computer, So I'll updated tomorrow from work.

Just so you don't get your hopes up, Its not finished yet, and It may never be, you'll see why tomorrow.
I may have to redesign it, or come up with a different window mod.

[rendermandan]

ok, here's whats been happening. This part is good!

I finished making the doors for the front intake fan.

Here they are opened.

and the back side to show the hinges:

Then I made the mechanism at the top to open them:

I'll have to hold here till my servos come in today.

NOW, here is the start of the IRIS.

(20) Identical vanes.

I laid them out on a patter to get the feel for things.

Then I cut out and made the mounting plate:

Here are the vanes on the mounting plate:

Then I made the movment ring:

Here you can see it all assembled:

here is a closeup of the pins

here it is opened:

Here it is closed: THIS IS WHAT I'M PISSED ABOUT!!!!

It doesn't close correctly. there are huge gaps! What I've found, even after about 3 hours of adjusting the hole locations, is that everything must be identical and perfectly aligned, with no slop or play whatsoever. everythign was hand cut to the best of my ability to get them exaclty the same, but even the slightest offset or hole drilled sligtly incorrectly, will cause this. Everything has to be too perfect to make this work.

here is a video so you guys can see it in action.

I'm not sure where to go on from this point on this part of the mod. I may have to redesign the whole thing from how many vanes to the actuall shape of the vanes and its size. Also, I may have to seriously look into having this laser cut out.

Today, I should get my servos and controller, so that will give me something to play around with for a few days. There is not point in building all this stuff if I can't get the servos to work, so I will concentrate on getting that setup for now.

Later, Dan