Maximum PC

this a copy and paste of my worklog over at ocn where i frequent. thought i would share it with you guys and if i can figure out how to. submit it for mod of the month.

this is my first complete case build. im doing it mainly for a scholarship and it will be sold when i am done with the competition.i figured since i took so many pictures why not share the process.its still not done, i have to add the second section on the bottom to make into a frog terrarium. hope you enjoy and please leave feedback.

had the CAD files cut at a granite shop. had them cut outside the line to eliminate the radius.


rough cuts that i did at school using a table saw.


doing final cuts on another table saw with a reversed dado planer blade. got a VERY nice smooth edge from this.


making the round ends on the drive cages slots. (the drill press is homemade, even cast his own parts)


close up on the drill press.


had my girlfriends dad do some really precision cuts on the bandsaw. he is amazing at precision cuts for the drive and IO panel


drilling out the screw holes on the motherboard XD scary for me, he held it while i took a pic.


first fit of the finished drive cage. lost the pictures but i cut the slots using a dremel and a plastic cutter.


little mounting bracket i made instead of just throwing some long screws in there.


close up.


first wall fit, getting ready to drill and thread all the holes


drilling the holes.


threading the holes.


the finished walls.


getting ready to attach the walls to the bottom


pinning the drive cage to the walls and bottom. its 1/4 so i used some 4-40 screws. really small. hard to thread.


threading the drive cage


hinges at the back of the case after doing a camer on the table saw to allow movement.


finished and pieced together for the most part.

testing of hardware when i first got it.



UPDATES!!!!!! 3/8/09

made it to state competition in its first form and taking my school to state in this form i doubt it wasnt even close to done. you thought i was done tsk tsk

got me a big fat trophy and a medal as well as a alot of attention. hope to blow them out of the water at the state level after this evolution.

started working on the animal cage portion of it yesterday and while im waiting on the silicone to dry i thought i would give yall some updates.

this is where whatever creature i decide to buy will live its life i plan on adding some air holes around the top edge.


nasty silicone. this is first time ive ever worked with it and i hate it! it sticks to everything. some got on my gfs leg she freaked



after all the excess that squeezed out dries i will be trimming it off and it wont look like a big booger hanging off the edges.

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Back with some more updates. been getting along with it slowly but its complete for the most part. just need to get some guitar case style latches and the hamster/hedgehog/creature.

This is a unique idea i came up. earth magnets. half inch on bottom of top shown here that match some smaller 1/8th in earth magnets on the top of the bottom. these automatically center the computer over the animal enclosure and eliminate the need for aligning pesky corners.



I hated doing this....sooooo much. drilling out 69! i counted! 69 air 1/4 holes through 1/2 inch plexi so the little creature can breath. i spent about 1 1/2 hours doing this alone.



heres what the holes looked like after i was done.




FINISHED!!!!!

here we go guys. $900 down the road and tons of sweat and recently being bitten. im finally done with my htpc/hamster cage


this is herbie and uhh.....help me make up a name for the all black one in the wheel.


this is with the system turned on. remember this is going in a competition where people think "lights make your computer faster!" still looks cool though with the frosted acrylic edges and blue light.

the next pics will be of the finished product and state competition pictures. supposed to be some interesting competitors there.




specs:
motherboard: jetway knc62k integrated geforce 8200 for high def playback, even dual monitors onboard
ram: 2gb mushkin redline 800mhz
cpu:athalon x2 5800+
hdd:200gb samsung (snagged from work )
fan/temp guage: aerocool controller
fans: 3 antec tri-cools.:D

Cool, first time I've seen a hamster cage combined with a PC. I'd name the black one Tripplite since he's going to be the backup power supply .

wow, thats ummmm, unique. they must stay nice n warm in that cage. in all sereousness its a really nice case, i just dont know about the LED's in the hamsters eyes, that might not fly. may i ask where did you get the idea for this?

The lights don't seem to bother them at all because it is really subtle once it gets to the bottom. The idea was completely mine although it did evolve from being an aquarium in early planning. The heat really doesn't get to the hamsters and I may be add ing some 40mm intake and exhaust fans on the bottom to help. Cycle the air underneath

Damn man that's a great idea! The Aquarium/PC idea has been done before, but this is one of a kind.

Don't forget to put filters and grilles on the fans on the bottom of the PC. You don't want hamster fur on your parts, and you don't want them to accidentally get caught in there.

yea grills are a must. as of now there are only air holes. the top and bottom are completely seperable but held center by magnets and held down by some guitar case style latches

i like that case. does the hamster wheel power anything? could power some low rpm fans, maybe and give the hamster a workout.

Thanks for bumping this. I missed it on the first go around.

so it's a dual PSU HTPC?

Now that it's done, does it stink? Hamsters are smelly even when there's good airflow. Are those little airholes working out for the hamsters?

I think they piss all the time, just to make the room smell like them.

I would have to agree with Chumly regarding the hamster piss... other than that though it's pretty awesome.

Ooh boy.. just thought about what that would smell like when heated from the computer's parts.

ive seen a hamster cage mod before. but not nearly as nice as yours.
the one i seen was just a glass cage drilled on to the top of a tower and then a plastic tube was ran into 3 5.25 inch slots to create a bed.
but hey i like yours better and i hope you win good luck

you need an rpm sensor on a hamster wheel, and an case lcd to display it - or a screensaver to sync Nice work.

Good work man... name the other Hamster "Hancock".

Herbie & Hancock...

i know this is a bit late but I really must ask. What is the effect on the hamsters in terms of EMF [electromagnetic fields]? I never came across such a setup before so I was curious. I heard of people waring about EMF whenever someone builds a wooden PC but its effect of humans is probably very low. But on such small creatures?

Oh..my...gahd. You watched a chick flick didn't you? Was it Erin Brockovich?

This is 12v DC at the worst. Not some 69KV line over your house. If this fucked with some mouse's head, it wouldn't work as a computer. DC doesn't have EMF, because it's DC. There's signal level noise involved, but not anything you're not witnessing now by sitting within 8ft of your computer.

Really. Put your head in a computer case. If you come out dysfunctional, you'll be the first. And stop watching them girly movies and thinking it's real. Worry about the paint chips you ate...

I'd be dead by now.

Take it easy. I'm not an Electrical Engineer. I know some of the basics.

So there's no EMF with those wooden PCs? I just heard this EMF stuff when I was looking into wooden PC cases. Never got much proof but such ideas are circulating the internet.

Nope. You need a transmitter for EMF, or AC power. You get more EMF exposure from using a cell phone. The only EMF in a PC is from the PSU, and that only from the AC line feeding it. You're safe, brosef.

Think about it a little bit more. EMF would mess with your processor, disrupting cycles. It would also potentially mess with your HD's, inducing bad data writes. RAM too.