Alright, since I finally sawed the aluminum sheets to roughly the right size, something I've been stalling for way too long, I guess it's about time I started a project log. This way I might actually work on it a bit more
All pics can also be found
here
A little explanation:
First off, I like to fiddle around with stuff. I'm not a skilled craftsman, but I'm prepared to learn anything by doing it.
Second, I also have a weak spot called "buying second hand stuff", which made this system possible. The worst thing I had to do in my opinion is get brand new aluminum sheet
This case will be dubbed AluminiX, simply because I couldn't come up with anything cooler that would express what it is (an Aluminum mini case).
Its purpose is to be a fiddle-server, a music box and maybe something else I come up with.
It's a work in progress and it will be updated right here on TPU.
The Goal
To make this heap of stuff:
Into something like this:
Lots of tiny fiddlings
The first thing I did is encase two Zalman 120mm fans:
This used to be a fullsize ATX mobo tray:
As you can see on the first pic, the USB ports aren't on that spot anymore. The holes were too hideous and the cables would be a huge mess. Instead, I did this to the USB ports:
They're nekkid now!
Don't worry, I'll fix that later on.
The PSU was de-grilled and the fan in it was mounted on rubbers (see first pic).
I modded the 20-pins plug into a 24-pins version using four cables and a plug off of a converter cable. The result is rather bulky and needs to be wrapped or hidden
To Do list:
- Refine the alum sheets (grinding, sanding)
- Fix the mobo tray on the base plate
- Make a bracket to mount the PSU where the USB ports once were
- Make a HDD bracket out of the same alum sheets (or modify the one I have to my aesthetic needs)
- Lots of angles to saw for the outside frame
- Make holes in everything to fit all the other stuff (also known as Peanut Butter Dremel Time
)
- Fix the nekkid USB ports
- If I get it working on VGA I'll add a small full-graphic LCD screen to the mix, as a primary display
Stuff I feel the need to make into something useful or cool (or, the Ghetto Mod Section):
- Asus Glaciator heatsink (stock from my 3870) without spacers, those I now use on my CF-IDE adapter card.
- Tubing from rounded IDE cables
- Leftover alum angles with wrongly placed drill holes
- 92mm and 80mm fangrills, model "Plain old frickin Circles"
Last thing for this first post: a
big thanks to
MKmods and
CyberDruid for a lesson in alum bending (see first pic for my experimental piece) and confirming the 24-pin mod would work
