Maximum PC

So I've been sorta hiding under a rock for awhile..... But many of you here know me and have followed a few of my older mods so I HAD to share this one!

The First step was to gather many, many, many screen caps of the different ClapTraps in Borderlands. From them I was able to create a model in CAD so that I could cut out all the pieces at the same scale.
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The outside of the case is made of 1/4" Plywood.
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A rough outline of the parts were cut from a large sheet, thus making them more manageable and it easier to cut accurately.
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1 by 2's reinforce the corners and side cutouts to distribute the weight and strengthen the case. All the joints are glued for strength, and then nailed together with brads just to hold till the glue sets.
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Once the outer shape has dried, the front cutouts are made using a Jig saw. It's a bit more difficult to cut on a compound angle but it helps make sure that the details are centered.
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This is where I'll leave it for now.... More later!

When I first started to design the case I was going to mount the Motherboard directly to the back wall of the case. As I went into the build phase of the case I realized this would limit many of my component choices due to size and the wheel in the middle of every thing. So I revisited the "Mounting Plate" that I used for my Pak N Play mod.
It's basically a 1/8"+ thick plate of Aluminum (6061) With tapped holes for Stand offs and a custom HDD and PSU mount.
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I wanted to increase the amount of storage I had, so the Drive rack was expanded to hold Two standard HDD One on top of another. The Second Drive is a 1Tb Seagate This gives me 1.5Tb internal on Cl4p-TP.
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With the Change to the Plate I had to add a plate mount to the case. This was accomplished with a piece of 1"x6" Pine running across the case about 1/4 of the way down (half way down the stripe) This also had the added bonus of giving me a solid place to mount the wheel strut to later!
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Just for Fun I stuck the wheel in there to get a feel for the size of the case (the wheel is 10" in Dia and 3.25" across)
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Some of the details are key points that help align other features so I wanted to get them in early... So I started with the main Eye and the bit of detail below it.
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Before I could start on the Lid I needed to level the ledge around the top out (this is one of those little mistakes. I didn't think about the sides being angles so I glued the top supports in @ 90 degrees that would make designing the top which has like 3 different faces on it even harder to make...) So I cut out a rectangle that fit inside the case then cut the center out a little glue and some brads and we have a flat surface to work from!
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Ok, at this point I was a bad Modder, I forgot the camera on 2 of the days we worked on this project.... The Day we made the wheel mount, and the day we cut the side rails for the top Those were important days so I've got some leftovers from the lid, and can piece together some of the Wheel mount stuff so I'm going to do my best to "recreate" the missing days, it will just take me some time because, it was all done at my buddy's shop, and I'll not be back there for a few days... but I will fill you in!

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Need bigger pix!

I've got these sized @150pix Normally I would have linked them to a full sized pic, but I can no longer use an image as a link on most Forums (this one included)... I'm not worried about bandwidth usage on my server so what size do you recommend my cam shoots 2816x2112 but that makes it hard to read the work log....

Do you have any images in particular you want to see larger? all are on the server @ about 800x600 so if you tell me I'll just mod the link for instant zoomage

***** Ok, I added a linky next to every Pix, This will take you to the full sized Image, So you may want to open them in a new tab...or you'll have to use the old back button to return to this Thread .... Will that work??

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I think that will work nicely.

I like to read things that have lots of pictures.

Hold just a little longer boys!! an update is coming.
Life has gotten in the way of my updates! Between helping out friends, looking for work, planning an update of my mod website, and getting ready to start dealing with the divorce lawyers... and having a new mod kitten that needs a bottle every 3to 5 hours (cute little guy!...Yes,Yes you want pics I know) I've not had much time to re-stage the shots I missed, or even get any further on my details for the cooling system. Hopefully I'll get something done soon, I really need the time to relax and get all Zen in my mod!

Till next time!
CBB

ARISE!!!!

So I've been working on this mod without posting Because I'm entering it in LANOC.org's Summer Case Mod Contest

Check it out Voting Starts on the 3rd of October.
But as A side Effect, You all get the Worklog to read Over the next few days I'll be uploading the worklog... But just cause you can read it here doesn't mean you should go vote on the contest!
On to the gooder stuff!


So One of the Next things I did was to Create Claptrap's Unicycle style wheel.
It's load bearing so it has to be strong, but easy to bend..... Black Steel Gas/Water Pipe that's the ticket!

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Balancing on one wheel would be tough to pull off. So I came up with a novel Stealthish Kick-Stand.

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I'm still missing pics of the Bending of both parts...but moving on.

I welded a plate across the top to give plenty of surface to spread out the load and bolt to the wooden cross brace. Then a couple of coats of 1200degree Ceramic Flat black paint (it's what I had on hand that day).


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Next step on to the Lid.

You would think that The Lid would be the Easy part right...A large flat Rectangle.

Your in correct. I made the lid like you make cabinet doors. The outer edges are solid wood and the center of the part is plywood. Why did I do it this way. Because the Edge of the lid has a crazy profile. It has an outer lip so the lid can sit down on the base, an inner lip for the plywood (this allows the whole top to be flat), and the out 1/3 of the rail is cut on an angle. Toss in the angle cuts for nice corners and you have lots of angles to work with.

Here's a look at the profile (cross section) of the lid rail.

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To cut down on the fasteners you can see (and angle holes to drill (screw up)) I used Biscuits to join the corners.

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A Biscuit is just a little football shaped piece of plywood, that is designed to fit into a slot you cut into adjoining pieces of wood. The plywood will swell a little when you cover it in glue between the glue and swelling you get a nice tight bond and it's hidden inside the wood.
Here's the Lid Rails and styles glued together.

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The piece of plywood was cut to fit snugly into the lid frame's lip.
I used Gorilla Glue to join the two parts... and lots of weights to hold everything while it dried.

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A little wood putty and sanding smooths everything out.

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What to post next??

With the Top done it's time to work on the bump that will house the water cooler radiator. The hump is a plywood top and solid sides. The vent details will be cut out to allow air flow. First step cut the vents.

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Part of the way complete.

Fully cut.
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The Vent edging is made out of solid strips of pine.
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The solid pieces are cut down for sides, tops and bottoms.

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Once glued up this is what the edges look like.
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With the Lid complete The Next step was to get the Arms in place.

The arms are PVC water pipe. The upper arm is 1 3/4" the lower arm is 3/4". The Elbow and Wrist joints are 1/2" and 3/8" socket universals.

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I welded some washers on the ends of 3/8" steel Rod. The other end of the rod was beveled with a grinder and cross drilled for a cotter pin. These Rods go through the 3/4" wood vertical, trough matching holes in the PVC Pipes, and back through the second vertical. This allows the arms to move up and down. A couple of washer and the cotter pin keep the rods from working their way out.

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While I was welding the Rods I also fabricated the hands. I wanted Cl4P-TP to be able to grip things. So I start with a steel spring clamp, an old 3/8" drive Socket (I think it was a 10 or 12mm one). The socket was welded to the back of the Clamp. this allows the hand to be disconnected and repositioned on the end of the arm in more ways than could be done with just the universal alone.

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Once the Socket was welded on The Shields were welded in place. The shields are to give Cl4p-TP's hands the correct look from the game.

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Both hands fully welded.

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CL4P-TP also has Some Sheet metal Shoulder pads and a Steel Eye bill.

I cut the Base parts of these out of 16 gauge Sheet steel and the details were made from 20 Gauge sheet steel.
My Trusty Cordless Jigsaw made short work of the 16 Gauge steel. Tinsnips were needed for the 20 Gauge steel.

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All these parts have a dimpled cover. To make the covers I laid out a staggered grid pattern on the back of the part. On every intersecting line I made a dent with a custom ground cold chisel and a ball-pion hammer.

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Once complete the part was flipped over and you can see how nice and smooth the dimples are.
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The Shoulder pads are made of two parts the larger base and the smaller dimpled detail. They run around the edge of the lid so there is an angled bend that needs to be made so they sit flush, both the base and detail have to match on another and the lid.
To do this we used a bending break.

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Here is a look at the Eye Bill all the pieces are setting together before they get welded fast.

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I had to come up with a way to attach the metal parts to the wooden lid. My solution was to weld bolts to the base pieces and use washers and nuts to hold them tight. To do this I cut the heads off some long machine screws. Then I drilled holes the same size as the bolts into the base plates. The bolts were welded from the top, and ground down flush.
Here's how the looked from the bottom.

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The Details were then welded to cover the holes in the base.

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So I've been welding allot on this Project. What am I using? It's a little 110V Lincoln Electric MIG.

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Next Time I'll cover some of the Front Details, and Radiator mount, which will leave base Painting to be covered in a later installment... That will get you caught up to present.


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To Mount the Radiator In the Lid hump I needed some Straps. So I settled on some simple T Straps made from Angle aluminum and some flat Aluminum. In typical Hillbilly Fashion... I left the camera in the car for the cutting and welding only pulled it out when things were cooling...oops
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Once the Rad was bolted to the angles The Flats were marked, cut to size and screwed down.

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The Front Eye Detail is made from a cereal bowl found at a dollar store. I cut part of it off on the band saw so it would fit correctly, Then Painted it with Black Fusion for plastics.
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The bowl needed an extension so a 2" PVC pipe Coupler joined perfectly to extend the Eye. A bit of Zap a gap to hold it all together.
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To bring everything together A little color. All the Gray and Black Parts are masked off and a base of white primer (2-3 coats), two coats of white paint, followed up with 3 coats of Clap Trap Yellow.
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Next time I'll cover the rest of the paint and The Final Pics!!!




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Paint!!!
The painting Process started with 4-5 coats of Gray Primer that were sanded back and 2-3 more coats were added. Then I attempted to spray the yellow over the gray.... Two coats in Cl4P-TP was a blotchy nasty greenish color. So I hit it with 3-4 coats of white primer. Sanded it back, and covered it with 2-3 coats of flat white paint. Then the Whole thing was painted with 3-4 Coats of Yellow.
After the yellow dried (2 days) I masked off everything but the gray areas on the top and back. This area was given 3 coats of Gray primer.
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Once the primer dried it was masked off too, and I started with the White stripe. I masked of random spots of random shapes and Sizes. This is to give you the illusion of places the stripe paint has worn through and the base coat is showing. This masking was done with torn blue painters tape.

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Here's a shot of the hinged metal plates that hang down and cover the arm to body joint.

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So do you want to see the "Final" Pics ???


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Or comment about the work-log here and maybe I'll Post them quicker....

Once all the Paint Dried and the Mask was torn off. THis is what appeared. (Ok so I did paint a few details like cdrom door with a brush before these pics but...)

The Motherboard and cooling system is in place in this photo.
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Here it is Hooked up and turned On.
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and some shots from the sides
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A quick shot of his bum
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Face Time!
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This is the point I called the mod "Final" for the LANOC.Org case mod contest. But it's not what I wanted... It needs some Lights, some dirt, some patches, and an easier way to hook up the wiring.
So What's a Modder to do? Well I Take my second place mod and keep mpdding it! Keep watching cause I have more updates coming!

Thanks to everyone that voted in the contest! I couldn't have gotten second without you!!

Till the next update!

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Also Look For Cl4p-TP At the Nexus Lan in Dayton, Ohio October 23, 2010