Project: OSIDIAS begins!

[craigbru]

You are an awesome metal worker that's for sure. I'm impressed with all the bends lining up right. I can't seem to do it right the first time.

This is a killer build. Love the CF. I'll keep watching!

Thank you. The bending is the easy part. It's the measuring that's likely to cause problems. As long as you mark it out right, it's not so bad. It sometimes takes a little time to get everything lined up in the brake.

That's a whole lotta bending!

Lol, thanks bro! It definitely is.

Awesome work, as always. I can't wait to see the interior piece done!

Thanks, I appreciate it! Right now it's looking like late this weekend or the first part of next week before I get to lay down the fiber.

heck, after this is done i would bet you could sell a full CF case for a LOT of $$

I'm not sure anyone would be willing to spend the cash to make that happen. It certainly wouldn't be cheap. I don't know of any shortcuts here. It's all pretty labor intensive. Lol. I truly can't wait to finally put the CNC to use on this case.

[diluzio91]

It's beautiful so far

[craigbru]

Update time! I actually livestreamed the fiber going down, although it was a huge pain. For some reason I thought it was a good idea to skip taping the edges of the fiber. Needless to say those stray fibers soon became a problem as the layers went down. I managed to keep them out of the way, and got 5 layers on before I ran out of resin. That means I'm a layer short of what I wanted to be. Although looking at the finished assembly, it's likely thick enough, but I'm going to give it one more anyway. I had a little trouble sliding the outer mold in place. The resin kept sticking to the mold and pulling it down with it. Doh, why didn't I wrap plastic around it before the mold?! That would have taken care of the problem, and I'd be done. As it is, now I've got to sand and add the last layer anyway. Mostly for cosmetic reasons mind you. The outer mold caused some wavy weaves because of the sticky resin... and I just can't have that. I'm out of resin though, and will have to order more before continuing.

Well, enough of that. On to the pics! Here I'm using a template to cut out the layers of CF.

Obviously I couldn't take pics while wrapping, but here is the mold all clamped up.

Now it was time to see if that mold wax release was going to do it's job. I had a total of 3 layers on, so I was pretty confident. Success! The outer mold released without an issue. Here you can see the interior assembly in it's freshly released state. There are a few spots that didn't get completely 'covered' with resin, but it's hardly an issue. There was complete saturation and it's damn solid!

Finally, I took the dremel and cut off most of the excess fiber. You can see the interior mold is still in place. There's a good reason for that. It is cut to the exact dimensions that the assembly needs to be. During the final cut down, I'll use the interior mold as a guide to make sure everything is cut correctly. Without it, I don't think measuring out where I needed to cut would have been so fun...

At this point I've got to get some more resin ordered. In the meantime I'll sand down and prep the interior for the last layer of CF. Then I can start making holes in it for all the components and wiring. Woohoo!

[Luthien]

I really checking in on this project every so often. It's cool to watch all the cf take shape.

[x88x]

Wow, yeah, those extra fibers were kinda scary before you cut them off.

It looks good; I can't wait to see it after the last layer and it's cut to shape.

[craigbru]

I really checking in on this project every so often. It's cool to watch all the cf take shape.

Yeah, I've got so much more fiber coming too! Everything inside will be molded from it with the exception of the motherboard tray.

Wow, yeah, those extra fibers were kinda scary before you cut them off.

It looks good; I can't wait to see it after the last layer and it's cut to shape.

They definitely were, Lol, I've got a mess in the shop now!

[SXRguyinMA]

Update!!!!! Now!!! :d

[x88x]

I was actually just wondering yesterday what happened to this project. Any updates, craigbru?