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Project; Mark1

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Mark_Hardware

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OK, so it has come to my attention (more than once) that people may feel a lack of
direction in this build, hence a lack of enthusiasm.
I admit I did not undertake this project with a concrete plan. I had a general idea, a
few things I wanted to do, then I let the inspiration come to me. I took an artistic
approach to this whole project. Da Vinci reworked his ideas many times before
realizing a final result. And just like Da Vinci, I have a few things I know for sure and
hold to, and let the rest come to me as the pieces speak to me.
K enough art teacher speak.
I have a few ideas that I've had from the beginning, and that I know for sure that I am
going to implement. Namely, Largely, the doors.
Ahh the doors. Something that can make or break a case. Or just plain break and screw
the whole deal up. This case has a neat looking door. Sharp body line that I love, cool
lighting....Now how can I make it better. How can I make it, different.
You saw that I glued part of the door on, then cut part off
Here's the idea, presented in no-talent sketchup.

This is the front piece to the door.

The whole front of the case has these matching pieces with this beautiful finish.

I am going to cut that in half. I will mount a servo that will open the door as such,


then another servo, mounted on the inside of the door, will "slide" the door back, as so;


this of course will be mimicked on the other side. (and remember, that door will be cut in half)
There are three places this will occur.
On the mini-case, where the Imon holds it's place of honor,
Of course the main drive bay area,
and...

On this bottom section,


Those are some progress shots showing the bondo work coming along.

Think armoire doors,
 
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Mark_Hardware

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That depends on who you ask I think lol
 
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Mark_Hardware

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OK ladies and germs, here we go....

Not much of an update today, but I promised I'd get something out this week.
This piece has been kicking my butt all week.




Hopefully you can kinda see where I'm going with this. I have to sand down all the
bondo in between all the fins, for one. The problem is, it's very difficult to do by hand.

I used a dremel with this attachment,


But that left a rough finish. Btw I know that's not the designed use for that attachment,
but it actually worked really great for that. I still use it, but only to take the bondo
down a little, not all the way.



I have come up with a potential solution to this problem, a simple block of wood,
sanded to the size to get in between the fins.


Here's the other problem area.



I am trying to get a smooth transition between the plastic cover for the front header,
and the rest of the cover. This really is the area I am having the most trouble with. I
can't quite figure out how to attain the look I'm going for.
I'm thinkin I will just take a break from this part and work on a different area for a
while....

Here is the front of the minicase. The plastic there is cut off the front bezel from the
second case.



Here is the piece I am thinking I will attach here.




I know it seems a bit odd, or backwards to attach the bottom piece here. My reasoning
for that is twofold; one, I it will make the plastic level with the front of the Koolance
unit. Two, it is longer, so it comes down to about where I want it. One other thing (ok
so it's threefold) is this gap will be a great spot to mount this remote control reciever
that came with my Hauppauge tv tuner.



One other thing, got a surprise in the mail today, the data cable I ordered. It's a usb to
serial cable. I have to give a quick shout out to bestlinknetware.com. I searched and
searched for this cable, and I would find a 12" one for $13, but the wouldn't work.
Then I would find a 6' cable for $30 plus. That wouldn't work either lol. Plus, they were
all blue. Yeah, so, anyway..... But this site had this cable, in black, 40" long, and for 8
bucks. Oh hell yeah. And it got here really quick, I was surprised! [/schelling].



This cable is for my servo controller, when it comes on Monday.

So that's all for today. I was hoping to show some more definitive progress, sorry guys.
 
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Holy frankenputer batman!
 

Mark_Hardware

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Hello all again just a quick text update today....
So starts the beginning of my weekend today. Gonna run a few errands, including a trip to ye olde Harbour Freight as well the my freindly local neighborhood Home Depot for supplies.
Quick stop by the doctors office (always fun) then it's on to modding! Oh yes I plan on getting some serious work done this weekend. It's on like Donkey Kong.
Gonna do some (more) work to the front piece, as well as an idea I recently came up with, a place to stash my ipod.
I got my servo controller in the mail, and I only got one servo (lame) cause I'm perpetually broke these days.
But I plan on figuring out how to mount one of the servos for the doors, and hopefully get those going in the right direction.
We'll see!
 

Mark_Hardware

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So just got back from running around... Got cleared for surgery (yay) and a trip to Harbour Freight resulted in a little more than just sawzall blades.




Oh yeah. It's not huge or anything, but hey it's a friggin drill press heck yeah! I'm super excited I've wanted one for a long time. This will definitely come in handy!
 
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Subscribed!

Some very nice ideas and I 'm glad you have all the right tools ;)
You 'll probably start drilling everything now! lol

looking good so far.
 
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i love waiting a little then reading these logs as you get to see it all in one go an this is mind bogoling it just well errrrrrrrrr crazy man (in a good way) im deffinitally subscribed, an does it look like you doing it in a room in yourhouse? not outdoors in a garage? your misses must love you haha
 

Mark_Hardware

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hehe thanks for the comments!


an does it look like you doing it in a room in yourhouse? not outdoors in a garage?
I don't have a workshop, I live in a crummy little apartment, so I work in my living
room. (in case you haven't figured that out by the backgrounds in my pictures lol)
:toast:
 
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haha i missed them man too busy gawping in aww at the pics:D
 
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as always nice man. i haven't posted ina while cause like ste2425 said, i like to come back to a page or 2 to read and look over stuff all at once instead of waiting to see what you'll do next once at a time i only have to wait and watch once every few days to a week :laugh:. keep it up dude, tear apart that living room and turn it into a workshop :D
 
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Mark_Hardware

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This is for you guys;

:toast:
 

Mark_Hardware

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Update for today, and as usual, I didn't get as much done as I had hoped. But in my defense I had an excuse today. Car drama, and some kid drama too.
Anyway, Been working on a special place for my ipod. A door, behind the vent, that will open and presto, docking station.
Here is the rough cut hole.


And ipod for perspective.



Filed smoooooth;



This is the backside of the door. I am using 5/8" U channel for the ipod to slide in. Eventually I'll mount the connector in the bottom, too.


(I realize I should have set it on the table, not on top of another panel, to avoid confusion. Oops)

Now, the putting a hinge on here is way trickier than I thought it would be. Hopefully you can get an idea why. Here it is closed;


Here it is open;


It lifts just a little in the back, so a straight hinge won't work. This kicked my butt all day trying to get something worked out. I tried making a hinge with a bar and lines cut in sheet metal, but it wasn't stable. So, I decided to try making an assemblage that would allow the door to slide straight out.

The concept;


mocked up in place;


and trashed;


Sigh. Came up with a different solution. It won't be hidden, like I wanted, but if it works, then it's what I have to do. It's a simple as just flippng the hinge around, and making a notch for the barrel. Here it's done on a scrap piece for testing;



Here it is mocked up, to give you an idea of what it will end up looking like...



Oh, and for anyone interested, I have still been working on that pesky front piece. I don't make it focal point for now though. I work on it when I feel like taking a break.

 
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Pshhhhh... who needs a workbench when you have a lounge suite?
 

Mark_Hardware

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Quick update today, not much work done.
I decided to make a groove where the barrel of the hinge will rest, instead of cutting a notch. This will make it more discrete, cleaner, smoother.

Here is the hinge resting in it's new home,



And getting glued.


That's it. Tomorrow when the glue is dry we'll see how it fits/works.
 
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What sort of glue do you use?
 

Mark_Hardware

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JB Weld my friend! A godsend for those of us who cannot use real weld :p
 

Mark_Hardware

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Not much progress today, just little work on the ipod door. Good news is, the hinge will work just fine!
Now, one thing I've noticed while parruzing through hundreds of photos in countless worklogs, is the exurberant number of pictures of peoples cats. My wife asked me about it, and I have to admit, I just don't know why there are so many cat pictures.
Now, I don't own a cat. However, I don't want my worklog to be viewed as sub par due to feline deficiency. So, I, ahem, borrowed the neighbours cat for a quick photo shoot.
 

MKmods

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this is an amazing build to watch, very creative use of materials.


(but please use the tin snips to cut the holes for the fans)
 

Cold Storm

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:roll: what you had some Meowmix ontop of the case? :roll:

I have dogs no cats.. lol

I need to add the latest one I got... One of them like to sit right next to the case and now I have their hair in my case!!! lol..

Looking good man :toast:
 

Mark_Hardware

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Lol I bought a hole saw, will be using that to cut holes for fans lol. The "make my own fan grill" was a FAIL lol
 
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