Hi all., Been thinking about this build for a while now, and while I had all sorts of ideas I just couldn't settle on anything or much less get it down on paper. I did however have a very good idea of how the internals would be arranged and all the various parts and how they would fit together. So rather than waste more time trying to arrive at an overall look for the case, I decided to just start building and see what happens. So I'll be starting on the inside and working out. No doubt some trial and error will sort things out and hopefully I'll arrive at a decent looking, and functional result. All the components, that is everything, Motherboard, PSU, drives, front panel switches and ports will be fixed to a central assembly that will slide on bearings out of the case and onto the desk or other surface. The motherboard on one side and drives on the other. The PSU will be mounted below. It's probably best just to start, and although things may be a bit boring and confusing at the start, hopefully this worklog will become more entertaining as things progress. First up I laid out the two halves of the main component support. Two sheets of 1.6mm alloy. Then it was time to cut out the first side (motherboard tray) with the jigsaw. And this is it all cut out with openings for the various cables. I cut well wide of the line just to be safe. Then I filed down to the line. And the first side is cut and filed. Next the bend lines were aggressively scored. And I started bending on my home made brake. But then I realized that I should first mark and drill some holes for the motherboard standoffs, and screws that fit this part to some square tube. Also the brake needed some modification that could only be done at work, so the bending will have to wait. So I drilled some and countersunk some and did some test fitting with an old broken motherboard. While I was waiting to go to work, (and modify the brake) I decided to start on the other side. Much the same as the first side. The next day I completed the bends on the mobo tray with the now modified bending brake. And that's all I've done so far.
nice job so far can u post up sum more pics of your 'home made brake' and possibly tell me how you made it cheers
looks like some quality work so far, will be interested to see what happens with the rest of the project, nice work
Thanks 1337 g4m3r, )(arg0n., Here are some pics of the brake. I built this just for this project so it's only big enough to make the bends I need. This is 600mm wide and can make bends 330mm wide but there is no reason why you can't make one a bit wider. I saw a couple of pics of this on various places on the net and as you can see it is very basic and easy to make (but very effective). This cost me nothing as I had most of the stuff already but if you had to go and buy the stuff it would maybe cost $30 or so. This is made from 3 pieces of 50x50x6mm steel angle, two heavy hinges, and some nuts and bolts. Although I had a friend do some welding and milling on this one it's not absolutely necessary. You can make one with just a hacksaw a drill and some files.
Dudeee i can't wait to see this when it's done i loved your last case so much i put it in a doc for help with the design of mine
HaHa., Thanks DarkLanDeamon. After cutting and filing the second half (the drive side) I started bending but after two bends I realized "we have a problem". One of the bends was too narrow to do in the bender, it didn't matter how the piece was oriented, it just couldn't be done in the bender. So after much head scratching, a couple of scotches, dropping a clamp on my foot and a couple of more scotches I decided to pull the brake apart and improvise a very haphazard solution that made a dog of a bend. But after a severe beating with a mallet and block of wood, it submitted and turned out OK. The small fixing tabs on both pieces were bent using the bench vice. The next job is to join these two pieces together using some 12mm square tube. This is to join the pieces together, add some rigidity to the large flat areas of each piece, and create a cavity between the two sides to run cables through. Because of the bending drama wasting two hours+ I didn't have time to finish this but I still have one day off, so hopefully this can be done tomorrow.
I expected to have this done yesterday but all didn't go as planned. So just need to cut three pieces of 12mm square tube to join the two halves of the mobo/drive trays to each other. Some drilling and tapping. I used some 304 dome socket screws here. And that's it together but still needs a little more cutting, filing and shaping. The tabs will be made into a more pleasant shape and some of the bends need tweaking.
To cut a long story short this just wasn't working so I decided to start over. This time the PSU cover was made separately so it could be bent more accurately in the break. Old on the left, new on the right. So, fitting the back panel. 3mm plate. Next job is to make the top support bracket and the inside front panel to hold a couple of fans among other things. The top support cut and filed. After the tabs were bent in the break. The inside front panel laid out on 2.5mm sheet. Cut and filed. Now we can get a rough idea of what it's going to look like. I'm too tired now to drill and tap, so, later.
Thanks. Thanks. Hmmmm.......I'll get back to you. Had some time before work so attended to some tidying up. Needed to drill and countersink holes for the mobo standoffs (again) The standoffs are fixed with M3 philips head screws. Same for the back plate only here I'm using M4 socket heads. Please ignore the condition off the alloy, this will all be cleaned up at the appropriate time. Now I've got to measure up and do something about the I/O and expansion slot openings. What I actually want to do is open up as much as possible here, so as most of this area is covered with stainless mesh, but I'm concerned about the strength of this panel if I remove too much........ Hmmmm...I'll have to go and think about it.
Fitted the top support and fan carrier. Well it may not look like much but I've spent a lot of time drilling, tapping, countersinking, assembling, dis-assembling, adjusting bends, assembling, dis-assembling, filing, I think you get the picture. Now my head hurts so I put working on the back panel aside for now and turned my attention to the front. So here I need to make provision for power and reset switches, I/O ports and the slim DVD drive. I have two candidates for the I/O ports. I prefer the smaller one as I can't see the need for 4 front USB's. So the front has to be brought forward a bit to clear the fans, and while I'm at it this new part can go up a bit to hide the fan wiring. So here's this panel laid out on 1.6mm alloy. And all cut out and filed. Lets see what it looks like. Oops. Another boo-boo, I really want this panel to be lower than the fan carrier. So it just takes another cut and some filing. And that's better. That corner can come off later as well. A bit of serendipity, while looking through my parts box I found some spacers exactly the same size as the fans (25mm). Some more drilling and countersinking. And it looks like this. Now I just have to bend this in the brake. And we have this.....
So I was about to make a start on the back panel and then thought that I should do something about the closing mechanism. Very simple design it's just a question of making the bits. Just a rough drawing first. Then a proper layout on some 3mm plate for the arms. Then cutting out with a hacksaw. Then arriving at the final shape with some files. And here's the two arms of the catch. Then the body is laid out (this time on 2mm sheet), cut, filed and bent. And then we have all the components for a catch (one of two). And the finished product. Should look good after it's cleaned up. Just have to drill some holes to mount them to the back plate. It works well and flicks back with a solid click. Must go now and make the other body.
just tuned in... sorry to miss this one earlier on... as allways great work oldnewby ive gotta build a bending jig at some stage as well, so i might steal some ideas from u
Finished the second catch. The next step was to have been the back panel but I made a really bad error, and unfortunately it can't be saved. So I must wait a few days until there is time to go and get another piece of 3mm plate. In the mean time work started on the small panel to hold switches and I/O gear. These are the items that will be attached to this panel, large power button with blue light, small reset button with red light (this will be connected to HD activity connectors). And the I/O module. The panel is on 3mm plate. Now I don't have drills big enough for the switches so they will be filed to the right size. Don't need to go crazy here because both sides of these holes will be covered. That's all the holes done to a rough state. And it looks OK even before sanding and cleaning up. Now I have to go and cut through the two front panels to accommodate the switches and wiring.
This looks really good. I'd love to know where you get the aluminium from, as I need to get some myself. Also, can you post a more detailed explanation of how the bending brake works, and/or how to assemble one yourself? Thanks.
