Maximum PC

Thanks kleinkinstein. Thanks to the cold weather I had about 3 months to do my research on how to fiberglass. I spent a ton of time preparing the form to have a near-perfect surface because I knew any flaws would be transferred over to the fiberglass panel. So I think the extra time and attention there paid off in the end. I still have a lot of finish work to do, but it won't take very long to fill in the remaining imperfections and get it all smooth.

I do have my worklogs posted on other modding forums, so I might have a few other readers here and there.

Spent a good portion of the weekend cleaning up the side panel. I had to remove quite a bit of fiberglass and resin around the edges where the panel mates up with the case. Small oversight on my part, as I should have taped those areas off so I wouldn't glass over them. Ah well, a few extra hours of work and it now fits back on the case. I also exposed all the bubbles just under the surface so I could fill them in with more resin paste. I should be able to do some filling at some point this week, as it is supposed to be warmer.

along with the cleanup, I managed to make a mold of side scoop I made a few months ago. If you recall, I carved the shape out of foam, then covered it with bondo.


I prepped the scoop in the same way as the side panel form, sanding to 1000 grit, polishing compound, 4 coats of wax, 2 coats of PVA. I glued it down to the back side of the same aluminum sheet I had the side panel form on. Using the epoxy dough, I covered the scoop and let it set up overnight.


The next morning, I popped it out of the mold. After a bit of cleanup and prep on the inner surface, it will be ready for fiberglass. I'll be able to make both scoops from this mold.


Work continues...

Got the first side scoop done yesterday, as well as quite a bit of bodywork done on the side panel.

I prepped the mold friday night, so I was ready to go first thing on Saturday. Here's a shot after laying down the fiberglass. First layer was the strand mat, followed by two layers of woven roving.


Popped it out of the mold. Had one area where it stuck a bit, so I'll have to repair that before laying up the second scoop.


Side by side comparison between the original foam scoop and the fiberglass piece.


After trimming the scoop, I set it onto the side panel for a test fit. You can also see the bondo work, where I've been filling in the problem areas. I broke through all the bubbles near the surface and filled them back in with resin paste. After grinding them smooth, I went over the areas with bondo. I also went around the whole thing where the fiberglass meets up with the plastic panel and covered up the seam.
That large patch of bondo is where I noticed a minor low spot in the fiberglass. I thought I had that part of the form pretty flat, but I guess not!


I still have to trim the end of the scoop, and I'm thinking it's a bit too long so I'll take about an inch off.


Once I get it trimmed down to where I want it, I'll cut the fan holes in the side panel and glue the scoop down using some resin paste. Then I'll finish it up with some more bondo.

Looking forward to getting some primer on the whole thing so it's one solid color. Hopefully by next week! Thanks for reading.

Last weekend was more family time than modding time, but I did get some additional work done on the side panel, filling, sanding, and trimming. Was having difficulties fitting it back on the case. The fiberglass must have distorted or shrunk the bezel, so I had to trim most of the stock mounting tabs off and add new ones.

But now it fits on the frame again, so I can start marking areas that need to be cut away, like the side scoop hole.


Then I also brought the motherboard in and did a test fit so I could mark all the cable holes.


Roughed out the IO plate and video card holes.


I also started on the motherboard mounting, marking those holes. I'll be using some T-nut inserts from the back that will accept the stand-offs, which I will epoxy in place. I should have another update tonight on that. 'Til then!

Motherboard mounting progress...

After marking the holes with a template, I drilled them out, then routed out a wider area for the T-nuts so they would sit flush.


The T-nuts had barbs sticking up that needed to be flattened since they wouldn't be able to penetrate the fiberglass. I also drilled some holes around the outer base to have something for the resin to grab onto when I permanently set the T-nuts in place.


A shot of the motherboard side with a standoff...


I also got a bit more work done on the access hole cutouts, trimming and filing the edges down, and got another layer of bondo on the low spots of the panel. Which means more sanding grunt work in the very near future. yay!

In other news, I picked up more of the pink stuff from Home Depot (had to drive 20 miles to the next town for it since the local HD doesn't carry it ).


No, I won't be insulating my house with it. Got more pieces to fabricate, namely the top, front, and back panels. I might even start shaping the top panel this week, as I'm in need of a change of pace after all the work I've been doing on the side panel.

So I'm taking a breather from all the sanding and filling on the side panel, to do a little foam shaping for the top panel. I think I love this part the most, creating a shape totally from scratch.

I cut four strips off the main sheet of foam and glued them together, making a solid block that fits in between the two side panels.


Then I started shaving material off to get down to the basic shape I'm looking for. I want it to follow the contours of the side panels and raise up a bit more in the center to make room for the 420mm EK radiator and fans underneath.


Starting to take shape now.


The front of the top panel will have a dashboard hood feel over the lcd screen, which will display EVGA's Precision overclocking utility.


A shot of the other side.


Next I'll be relocating the top bars over the radiator, mounted parallel to each other. The new top panel design will need to accommodate the bars on both ends, so I'll have to work that into the foam as well.

Got the top bars modded and relocated last night.

Since the bars would be mounted straight up, I had to get rid of the angled flat ends.


After filing the ends, I drilled and tapped them to accept an 8-32 socket screw.


I placed the bars onto the case and adjusted their height with wood blocks until I got them where I wanted them. Then I whipped up a couple mounting brackets from 1/4" flat bar stock. This case will be quite heavy and these bars will need to support the weight, so merely attaching them straight down into the case's top panel wouldn't be prudent, especially now with the 420 rad cutout. These mounting brackets will distribute the lifting forces across to both sides where the case frame is stronger.


Here are the top bars mounted to the brackets.


A close up shot of the front bracket. I still need to secure them to the case frame.


Once I got the positioning of the bars, I used cardboard templates to mark the ends, then transferred those markings over to the foam piece and cut the holes.


A look-see from the front.


The bars are not completely parallel to each other. I widened the spacing more at the front to go along with the overall look of the case.


Here's a quick wide shot of the whole case from the side.


Now that the bars are in place, I can continue shaping the foam, adding some contours down the center and working around the bar ends. If all goes well this weekend, I might actually get the foam fiberglass-ready.

Just a quick update... Got the surface smoothed out, and added a depression in the center which will be under the bars, and that will continue on down to the back panel.


Just for fun I set the bars back in place and tossed on the oval decorative pieces for a look-see. I happened across those at the local auto parts store in the dressup section. :thumb:


Ok back to it...

More progress on the top panel, getting some primer on it after much sanding and bondo...



I know it's only one picture, but it pretty much sums up the work done thus far.

oh, and Happy Easter!

Still working on the top panel, but it's been in a holding pattern until I can get a good dry weekend to do some fiberglassing. (which might actually be this weekend <crosses fingers> ). In the mean time, I've been skipping ahead to the front grill. So here is some of that progress:

Using 1 1/2" x 1/8" aluminum flat bar, I cut 18 pieces down to size. This is the first half.


Next I started rounding the bottoms to match the curve of the side panels.


The cutting is followed by the filing.


All 18 pieces rounded. A bit more work is needed to get them all the same.


Next step is to drill mounting holes through all pieces. I wanted the grill to come out more in the center, so I staggered each piece by 3/16" before drilling. I double and triple-checked the spacing, and made sure the pieces were square at the bottom before clamping them together.


the 3/16" offset was about the max I could go, leaving me with a 1/4" between the hole and the edges of each end piece.


Half of the grill done, with temporary acrylic spacers added just to see how it looks.




Looks pretty good, now to do the other side. You can also see my badass cardboard mockup of the front bezel where the lcd screen, fan controller, and key switch will go.


Repeated the same process for the other side, and assembled all together. I love the stepping!


And finally, a shot of the whole thing in place.


Can't wait to get the top edges done, and the whole thing polished up. It's gonna look shaweet!

Wow, that grill looks great.

It reminds me of an old 40's car grill, yet it looks very futuristic.

Great job job on the entire build. Can't wait to see it when it's finished.

Thanks Rooke!

More Grill progress...

Made my own metal spacers from 5/16" stainless steel tubing. I took this shot before I deburred the ends.


And I got the top ends of the bars rounded. This was kinda tricky since they are offset, and I needed to have the all curves end in a straight line so it will mate up with the top faceplate.


Here's a couple shots of the grill on the case..




And an over-all wide shot.


Hoping to have a productive weekend, as the weather should be very nice.

Cheers!

Well the weather did hold last weekend, but of course I got called into work on Saturday, robbing me of most of my modding time. But I did manage to get some work done on the front bezel. I started with a piece of 1/4" acrylic, mapping out the item placement.


Here is what I'll be mounting in the bezel: 7" lcd touch screen, Lamptron Touch fan controller, a hot-swap 2.5" drive bay, a pair of USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports, and finally an ignition keyswitch in the lower center (not shown).


Once I got things where I wanted, I began cutting out the holes, then filing down to a nice snug fit.


I found one of these all-in-one units lying around (big mistake on its part!) and thought I could utilize it in some fashion.


But I only wanted the 2.5" hdd bay.


So it got extracted from the rest. It will get mounted just underneath the Lamptron fan controller.


Here is a shot of the bezel after fitting the USB ports.


I haven't purchased it yet, but I'm thinking something along the lines of this for the Ignition switch. It has four detents: Off, Acc, On, and Start (momentary). I can use the Acc to turn on fans, or the pumps prior to firing up the computer.


Hoping to get mounting brackets made tonight, and possibly some finish work.