Maximum PC

Right on man, thanks for the tip. I should have another update before long- I'm hoping to have the bezel ready for paint in about a week.

Since the last update it's been slow going on the bezel. About three applications of filler, and a metric crap ton of sanding, technically speaking. Also, I've discovered that my girlfriend owns a mouse sander, which has been an huge improvement over hand sanding.

Here we have the first application of spot filler putty. I went very thin, the putty is notorious for cracking if you go too thick.



Now time to sand it down with the mouse and some 220 grit.



I repeated this process about two more times, and finally here we have it, ready for paint. Dig the psychedelic color patterns- far out man!



It looks pretty crazy, but it is very smooth to the touch, it should paint nicely. And finally, I just wanted to make sure it all fits and lines up.



As you can see I needed to use a little putty on the outer bezel piece as well, it took some damage along the way. That wraps up the update, next up will be the side panel window. Thanks for looking, more to come soon.

Lookin good bro!

Man that is one awesome design!

What camera are you using for the pics btw?

He's using a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1.

Thanks amigos @Camrm- you're right, although mines a model from about 3 years ago. How the heck did you know that?

EXIF data.

@Camrm- that's good to know man, good call

Just a quick update this evening, I was looking for an excuse to play with my mnpctech toys that came in a few weeks ago.



So I messed around figuring out how to mount the modders mesh to the fiberglass piece. After laying the mesh over the grill area and marking the cut lines, I brandished my +5 tinsnips of awesome and went to work.



Then I used a few small strips of two sided adhesive to hold the mesh in place. I will probably use epoxy to permanently mount it once the painting is done.



I forgot to mention this in my last update, but you can see here I have removed most of the foam. This was necessary to properly sand the tighter spaces, and to avoid seeing the foam from the front. Here it is mocked up.



Okay now we're done looking at the bezel for a while, hopefully I haven't bored you to death with it. Next time we'll move on to the side window, here's one of my rough sketches of the window to give you an idea of where we're headed.



Until next time, thanks again for looking.

Nice dude! I like this!

Looks like a Scout thus far though. You know, the ones that jump on a bike and run? The later sketches seem fruitful though.

can't exactly close the eyes since it's cut already. Go with the scout and paint it white.

That was the plan for the front, to go w/ the scout, that's what came to mind right away when I first saw the case. Not that I'm trying to create high art here, but the theme I'm going for is elements from the different troopers from Star Wars.

It's been a long time, but I have an update. Let's get right to it- since we left off last time, I began work on the side window. I began by drawing a template, then using a hobby knife cut out the areas to be marked on the panel.



Then used a sharpie to mark my cuts and got the Dremel and friends ready to party.



For the tighter cuts where Jigsaw and Dremel cutting wheel would be difficult, I set up the router attachment, and used the same tungsten carbide bit as I used for cutting the foam for the bezel.



I stopped to take a break, and realized that I had placed the template sideways!



This is the reason for the delay in updating. I had to come up with a design around the cuts that were already made- luckily not many. I came up with this, sort of a positive/negative space design. I started the Dremel cuts, to set up the jigsaw and router cuts.



And here we have the cuts made, as well as the tools used.



Then there was plenty of filing, grinding, and sanding to do. I won't be using u-channel, so I want to keep the edges as smooth as possible. There were some tight spots that were tough to get at, I had to get creative with the mouse sander and bits of sandpaper to get everything smooth.



And a closer look.



Since I had the sanding stuff out, I figured I would sand the surface for priming. The thin strip that runs above the eyes is a bit uneven, but I think i can even that out with filler putty.

Next up I need to order a power button and figure out where I'm going to put it. I don't think I'm going to go with the traditional spot on the bezel- feel free to chime in with any ideas on this, and thanks for looking

Honestly man, part of building stuff in general is being about to design on the fly and improvise. Nice job on the redesign; it looks pretty much like you planned it all along, and that's the key to good improvisation.

Keep it up man.

Thanks Camrm

looks great!





Ted

I always feel like somebody's watching me...

lol!

Looks killer so far, keep it up!

Good save on the back plan!

Gracias guys, the feedback is appreciated. I've been doing a little work cleaning up the window cuts some more, and filling uneven spots w/ filler putty, its working pretty well. Was hoping to start priming, but humidity is off the meter in WI right now so I'm at the weather's mercy ATM.

Friggin sweet cutout!

Thanks man, and good evening all. I've found many modding adventures this last week and a half. Before I paint, I wanted to mock up everything and give it the old check it twice. After mounting the Scout Trooper grill to the the bezel (using the same two part epoxy found earlier in the log), I wanted to see how the optical drive lined up. ZOMG a new gap between the drive and bezel!



It looked about the right size for some of this split flex tubing I had laying around...



Good enough for me, I'm calling the bezel ready for primer. Next I decided to cut my window out of the smoked acrylic I'd ordered a while back.



I also made a new mounting bracket for the 140mm intake out of the acrylic. Upon further review the mesh one I'd made earlier seemed too flimsy. Behold the new bracket of scum and villainy.



Shown here mounted with socket caps, and drilling mounting holes.



I also dremeled out the bottom of the bracket for maximum airflows, no pics of that sorry. I just couldn't stop myself until I had the fan mounted- I'm silly like that.



In the spirit of missing pics in a log, I'd also dremelled out the middle of the power supply/optical/hdd bracket thingy to allow air to pass through it. No worries, it will show up in the paint section. Finally we get to the sort-of completed mock up.




The lighting makes the cut edges look much rougher than they are. To me they feel pretty smooth and even after some spot filler putty and sanding. Before paint I still need to drill out the floor, for the power button as well as the feet. That's all I have so far folks, thanks for looking.