Project: Dark Art

[Maz]

it will have cross wind blowing through it. through the long hole in the middle.

and the ide + power cables will be running behind the drives back there.

[Maz]

WOOT! 1500 views!

[tresk]

I was too green to make the large radius bends needed for my design. (6")
Now I may still be too green but I am forcing myself to try again until I succeed because I'm buying the parts whether I make the bends or not. And I will not buy a case!

You could always use acrylic tubing with an OD of 6" and cut it in half or quarters depending on where you would like the seam.

[Maz]

the problem with that comes from the design. i want it to be acrylic backed in black paint. so, any little seam where i would glue it would show up. but i think i have a solution for that. anybody have a good place to buy ni-chrome wire? im thinking large scale toaster oven!

no work on case today. went shooting clays and came out with an 80% mortality rate!!

[Aero]

cool, I've been planning on painting behind some plexi for sometime. Except I want to use white to recreate clouds. Anywho, I'll be watching this mod. Sounds interesting. Keep up the great work.

[Maz]

thanks much obliged to hear people are following this! i came up with a way i could bend the plexi. i could get a spool of nichrome wire and make a heating element that is the right size. kind of like a toaster.

or maybe just slap it into an oven.

[Maz]

srry for no update in a while. computer had the flu and killed all of its own drivers ToT

after a quick install of ubuntu! i am back in buisness, but i will still need to install windows drivers now.

can get pics off of camera though... not happy

well i built myself a metal break and screwed it into my bench. i bent a lip to mount stuff to on both ends then it was time for the big bend.

i was making the component tray.

i sawed a peice of 6" pvc in half and screwed the sheet metal to one edge with an aluminum angle clamping it down.

then bent the sheet metal around the raduis of the pipe until it was close. but i couldnt get it exactly the way i wanted it.

so i took another angle and screwed it down where i wanted the bend to stop

i only screwed the metal down with two screws on the outside.

i broke out my propane torch and started getting some results.

the metal turned that nice hot metal color and i was happy.

until of course the screws pulled out of the bottom of the pvc because the heat had made it melt.





about fifteen minutes after that i was done cleaning up and had to make a few phonecalls.

this is roughly how they went.

do you service individuals?

no


do you service individuals?

no


do you service individuals?

no


do you service individuals?

yes





turns out it will cost me about 40 bucks to have that thing slip rolled instead of doing it myself. how much could a machine like that put me back?
what if i make it?


either way i came out of it with a very nice DIY metal brake. is there steel pipe that has a 6" OD? god i hope there is.

[Maz]

Im learning some stuff with autocad. especially how to render more effectivly.

i took pictures of my setup for bending the metal and thought you guys would like to look.

this is my 15 minute metal brake. it works wonders for 90 degree bends.

This is my fugly heat bender, but hey it works.

I have my hands on a router of exceptional quality and build. HACHA!

this is how i was bending the metal. It was working like nobody's buisness but ...

All these screws heated up while i was bending it and pulled right out of the PVC.

there is 11 screws holding that peice of angle down.

the pvc melted itself to helland i was left with a ruined peice of sheet metal.
oh well, time to suck it up and ask a shop to do it. 35$ just for the thought.

i checked what thickness the black paint looks the best painted behind. and i couldnt tell the difference between 1/4 and an 1/8.

i called my local plastics supplier and a sheet of 1/8" runs for about 80 bucks. ouch. i know the owner so maybe i can get a deal.

[Maz]

i have been working a lot of hours lately so not much progress was done in the last few days. today i moved my sister out of the house and that took all day. rendering my comp right now will probably take a few hours to do properly. but then again i have a faster computer at my disposal than i used to. also begining design of the back plate and circuitry for controlling lights dvd eject and power buttons. i am using Qprox proximity touch switches for these three.

ots of design and drafting today. i am probably going to make the dvd rom mount tomorrow so i will need to draft that up tonight.

[MAC]

looks awesome dude, if the metal plating is being such a pain to bend you should see if you can get clear plastic (i dont think you can get clear pvc, but lexan or plexiglass might have it) tubes instead, it would give a really cool look that you could see through the side of your case... and it would be easier to work with.

just my idea, if it was up to me I would make the whole thing out of lexan and plexi