Comeing soon: project CUBE³

[zer0]

i drew this up in autocad earlyer it should be easy to make its a 12"x12" cube make out of aluminum with 4 acrylic windows. possibly eched with a logo wich i will design later. anyways i hope you like the overall design. best of all it should be easly and cheep to make.

http://paintedover.com/uploads/show.php?loc=12&f=case_3.jpg

[Starbuck3733T]

Bad link there dude.

[dutchcedar]

Everything looks easy before you sweat the details... :unsure:

[Sinner]

cube=easy

now if you built a case that looked like a....*looks around room* http://mathworld.wolfram.com/120-Cell.html the one in the picture there THAT would be cool.

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

Bad link there dude.
Works for me Star. :unsure:

[Starbuck3733T]

Works for me Star. :unsure:

yeah it does. it didn't work when i first tried it.

[zer0]

cube=easy

now if you built a case that looked like a....*looks around room* http://mathworld.wolfram.com/120-Cell.html the one in the picture there THAT would be cool.
yes that would be hard. i think ill start with a cube.

i noticed a small thing that my spaceing between the motherboard and the disk drive is too small and i will need to increase that by at least half an inch (easy fix) meaby more based upion how everything is aligned for attaching the motherboard. Besides that though i think i should have no problem makeing this.

now the second issue i know i need some sort of intake yet im not shure how i should do that. im thinking an intake fan in the middle of each side but im not shure that will work well becasue parts that will need to be cooled (mostly the ram) wont get much air from the intake. one solution to that would be a scroll fan underneath the drive that would draw air in and directly across the motherboard. in wich case i wouldent need the two intake fans in the sides.

please help with this issue.

btw this is what im doing instead of my htpc project due to price issues. the htpc would have been $300+ (and thats being cheep) this one should cost between $60 and $120(at the very most) thats much cheeper partly because of the reson is im only makeing the case and i dont have to buy hardware to fit in it. any regular atx motherboard should fit in this one with no truble another thing i notice now is that my cables will all go down from the pwersupply wich could make this look realy bad. any ideas on where elts i could put the powersupply?

[fivecheebs]

parts that will need to be cooled (mostly the ram)
interesting .... may i ask what hardware your putting in there? are you watercooling? I cant rememeber if you said in your other thread.

As for where to put the PSU, have you thought of mounting the motherboard at half height with the PSU and drives below? The great thing about this is you can separate the heat sources and cool them idividually (similar to the new lian li mantra with thier V series)

[zer0]

interesting .... may i ask what hardware your putting in there? are you watercooling? I cant rememeber if you said in your other thread.

As for where to put the PSU, have you thought of mounting the motherboard at half height with the PSU and drives below? The great thing about this is you can separate the heat sources and cool them idividually (similar to the new lian li mantra with thier V series) thats a good idea let me see if i do that my windows would have part cut off but that would alow me to have all my wires out of the way.

as for the hardware i am going to put my new system in ther. no i dont have watercooling im poor (sorta). anyways my new system is p4 3.0Ghz (prescott) 1GB DDR400 memory GeForce 6600GT Audigy2 zs at the moment i only have to stock cooler for my p4 but i plan to upgrade to a zalaman.

another thing i need a good example of how to attach the sides. i desided the back bottom front and top would all be out of one pice of aluminum wich will be bent and rivited togeather. and the sides will connect to that. that should provide plenty of strangth. also if i put the psu and drives below the motherboard the motherboard plate will slide out (i have my ideas)

ok well i did some editing to my design i put the psu under the motherboard. http://paintedover.com/uploads/show.php?loc=13&f=case.jpg

i also rearanged a few thing to make it looks ok. i think it looks ok. remember however that a few small changes will take place as the sizes of the spaceing between everything will need to increase (especialy between the motherboard and the psu as a motherboard tray will go between them.

a small edit. (didnt feel like posting again)

i have finished the logo wich i hope to have eched in to the windows. (atleast the front window)

http://paintedover.com/uploads/show.php?loc=13&f=logo.jpg

[Fibbles]

Assembling it and keeping it together is what I'd love to see, esp the finished product. I think the most solid idea would be to make the front, back, top and bottom all one piece with attachable side panels. Would that mean that the frame is made of thicker metal than the sides so that they will be able to screw on?

[zer0]

you just gave me a good idea of how to hold the sides on i will screw them on i just need to find some good looking screws perhaps some hex screws.

i agree makeing the frame of a thicker metal would make it prety strong and thinner sides would help to lighten it. only thing is i have to find some one with a bending press (i think thats what it is) to bend it all in to shape. anyways ill start this after chirstmass. i think now that the most expencive parts will the the aluminum its self and paying some one to bend it. besides that all thats left shouldent cost too much.

depending on the cost of powder coating i will have the case powder coated.

list of what i need:
aluminum (thick and a thinner guage)
acrylic
two swiches
motherboard tray from cheep case (dont think i can line up the holes right on my own)
some sort of casters so the motherboard try will slide out for easy access to drives and power supply.
120 and 80mm fans (quieter the better)

please remind me if i am missing anything.

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

Modding.net (site seems down atm) had a great looking alu custom cube a while ago and it would be worth your while checking out the construction log for it.

IIRC they used 4 threaded rods, 1 in each corner going top to bottom, that held all the side panels and top on. It meant the whole case could come apart pretty quickly.

[zer0]

they are up now im reading the project log.

http://modding.net/project.asp?projectID=2

wow 3mm aluminum a bit big i would say. but i do think that case is very nice.
what size aluminum do you guys recomend 3mm seems to be too much for me to deal with and it seems like it would be expencive.

[fivecheebs]

I dont think you'll need 3mm, as long as the edges and corners are strong enough. Extruded aluminium bar is not all that expensive and it comes will all sorts of profiles. "L" shape is probably the most obvious choice but it would make it hard to hide the fastnings, however it does'nt sound like hiding the fastnings is in your plans anyway

[mnpctech]

Heres my recommendations based on positive experiences with these vendors.

Aluminum sheets, mcmaster (http://www.mcmaster.com) (quick shipping)

Hex screws, fasteners etc mcmaster.com (http://www.mcmaster.com)

Acrylic, Tap Plastics (http://www.tapplastics.com), US Plastics (http://www.usplastics.com), and mcmaster (http://www.mcmaster.com)

Motherboard Trays, MountainMods (http://www.mountainmods.com/cases_parts.htm) or cannibalize another case w/ removable MB track. I've got an old Inwin A500 midtower w/ removable MB I could sell ya cheap. EDIT: Nevermind, these are obviously too big for what youre doing. Ok, I'm losing it this week :wacko: Anyhow, with some ingenuity you can make your own MB and rail system like CrimsonSky did here (http://thebestcasescenario.com/projects/boblbee/mobo_tray.jpg) He used various extruded alum from Lowes.
You can also search for rails or catagories "Metal, then Aluminum, and Shapes @ mcmaster (http://www.mcmaster.com)

Switchs, Performance PCs (http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=60_118&osCsid=3908889e73cb1983da26ce6d1299a5b7) or Mountain Mods (http://www.mountainmods.com/cgi-bin/product.pl?item=NPPS)

Panaflo L1A Fans (Quiet) Coolcases.com (http://www.coolcases.com/cart/fans.php)

My guess powdercoating for a 1' x 1' cube should be no more than $75 including internals

[dutchcedar]

Everything has advantages and disadvantages. The cool thing about 3mm (about 1/8") aluminum is that the edges can be finished with sanding so as not to be sharp. Sheet aluminum that's in the 18 ga. or so variety (like is common on production cases) requires hemming or bending of the edges for stiffness and to prevent sharp edges. That's a process that's great if you have large quantities to make, but really sucks for one-off work like a custom case. Every stinkin' bend can screw you up dimensionally (trust me here, I've filled many a barrel with discarded parts made... or should that be "un-made"... at a press brake).

Personally, I prefer working with aluminum that's 1/8", 3/16" or 1/4" thick, because it allows you to tap holes, negating the need for nuts or pop rivets. It also holds it shape well, puts up with a lot of abuse and is easier to work with than thinner stuff. A side benefit is that you can counterbore and chamfer holes, which looks real professional when used with allen head screws.

I suppose its all a matter of taste and skeels. You brought up the concern of cost as a reason for not using thicker aluminum. I would suggest that you reconsider if that's your only reservation. The material cost of the bare aluminum will be miniscule compared to other parts of your project. For example, the aluminum plate used on BaDassII amounted to less than seventy bucks.

Like fivecheebs suggests, I used 1" x 1" x 1/8" angle to assemble the plates on BaDassII, drilling and tapping the holes directly into the angles. The outer skins were simply screwed to the angles with #6-32 allen screws in counterbored holes. Because the skin itself is beefy enough, there's no need for a rigid frame inside.

Whatever you decide, make sure you have lots of fun in the process... that's what its all about. B)




Sidenote... where the frick were all you guys when I built my first case? :rant:

[zer0]

wow thanks mnpctech those where very useful. i think my costs will be about $86.42 for the suplies. only thing i dont know is the costs on shipping some of thease things might be astronomical mostly the 10'x14" sheet of Aluminum (thats the smallest they got) so i think i might look at some of the local metal working places and see how much they charge for sheets of amuminum and hey meaby i can have them do the folding and cutting at the same time. (three birds with one stone you might say)

but i think if home depto dosent have acrylic sheets for the same price (or better i might order the acrylic from them. thanks again (btw i found the power swich but its $20 :mad: i just need a smaller one for the reset swich.)

well at McMaster they only have 0.012" thickness in the size sheet i need. (50ft is too big) but i will keep in mind the sizes you suggested when we look down town.

[mnpctech]

Home Depot has a good selection of plexi in their door/window dept. Once in awhile I've found Lexan sheets there. Lexan is more resiliant to cracking when you bore holes in it.

I hear ya on shipping costs... Look under "Steel Distributor" in your Yellow Pages.

[zer0]

ok well a small update i placed the buttons in diffrent areas. (power on right with power led in middle reste on left with hdd activity in middle) mostly this is a concept it looks sorta like an old tv to me.
http://paintedover.com/uploads/show.php?loc=13&f=case_2.jpg

[zer0]

ok well i desided to try my hands at skechup im not very good so i couldent get the rounded edges on the windows but this gives you a nice idea of how it will look.

i had to move the cd drive because when i drew it 3d it and the powersupply where conflicting. anyways ill show more pictures later of how everything will fit in the lower area (being that you cant see it in this picture.)

http://paintedover.com/uploads/show.php?loc=13&f=untitled_18.jpg

[zer0]

Well as every product goes though a model stage I decide I would do the same except this time I will use Legos instead of clay or scrap metal. This will be a 1:1 model of my case made out of Legos as I have an over abundance of them. I will commence work on my Lego version of this case tomorrow and will take as many pictures as I think is needed so no pics for every block (even though I could.)

[Starbuck3733T]

HAAAAAAAAAAAAa! awesome. this sould be really interesting.

[zer0]

well ok my lego plan ran out steam so no pics as i only compreated three rows or blocks before i gave up and thats just humiliating. again work should on the main case should start here in a month or two once i get every thing togeather for the parts.

[Starbuck3733T]

bummer dude. Chin up!

[zer0]

ok well it might not be much but i took a trip to radio shack today and felt like a kid in a candy store looking though all the componets and here is what i got
Resistors, LEDs, a project board/PC board, momentary swiches.

i will use the swiches in my case and possibly the leds too. i dont yet know what to do with the project board.

[zer0]

this is what im haveing my dad get next time hes out getting stuff this should get us started.

i noticed that scene aluminum is easy to bend and cut that we will do the bending of the main frame this will save us the cost of paying for some one elts to bend it.

also another thing is before i wanted to hold the sides on with hex bolts well i though about it and haveing to find.use a hex driver each time i wanted to open my case would be annoying concidering how many times i love my philips head drive already. anyways i want it to look gooa as long as be easy to use. so any ideas on how to hold the sides on??

[fivecheebs]

what about hex screws with a knurled edge, like thumb screws except without the ugly cross head. Or if you feel more adventurous, ive allways fancied those split pin fastners or quick release hinged jobbies. You can get them in small sizes ment for motorbike fairings annodised in all sorts of colours.

[zer0]

yeah those would be awsome it would be like its holding a hood on a mussle car so should i have the sides hinged?

[mnpctech]

I like these, Butterfly self ejecting quarter turn fasteners (http://store.summitracing.com/eproduct.asp?N=120+4294922918+4294915935+309605)

More subtle, Quarter Turn, Quick release fasteners (http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=SUM%2DG1620&N=110&view=257&applid=%)

In yo face hardcore :cool:,
Hood pins (http://www.prostreetonline.com/store/appearance/hood_pins/) (you'll need to mount the threaded rod somehow though)

[zer0]

ok now i cant wait im going to use the hood pins i dont think i will have an issue getting the threaded rod though as all it requires ios a small hole and something to mount on to.

so as it stands i will have hindged sides with the hinge at the back of the case. With hood pins to hold the sides closed.

also becasue of the cost i will only use one on each side.

[mnpctech]

You can find hood pins @ Pep Boys or AutoZone retail stores

[zer0]

well we started getting supplys i got the acrylic but we couldent find thick enough aluminum so we will have to order it from a mechine shop (hell meaby they will even bend it for us)

kinda funny how the last thing i need i get first anyways as soon as we get the aluminum we will start work.

[zer0]

Due to cost issues we have had to cancel the project.

When my dad went to get the aluminum today he found that the costs of the aluminum and having it folded for us surpassed our budget. On a brighter note I do plan to move ahead and make a new case. How ever as it stands Cube³ has been canceled. When more money or tools become available to me i might decide to move ahead and make this case but it stops today with no progress. If anything I am possibly saddened more than any of you but I will push forward and make something new.

As I have kept in my mind ever science I became disabled “I can not let my failures over come me I must keep moving forward with or with out nothing must stop me.” Although that applied to my recovery I will apply the same thinking to this and move on.

[biggiy6]

As I have kept in my mind ever science I became disabled “I can not let my failures over come me I must keep moving forward with or with out nothing must stop me.” Although that applied to my recovery I will apply the same thinking to this and move on.
Way to keep your head up and not give up on this. Sorry you had to cancel the project, hopefully you will be able to finish a different case later down the road.

[mnpctech]

Good attitude zer0 :)

Nothing wrong with finding a project that fits your current budget. You can always apply the things you've learned when you can afford your CUBE project. Think of it as R&D (Research and Developement)

[toby]

there is always something you can learn from a project even if you dont finish it, it just means that your next one should be even better^_^

[zer0]

is CUBE³ back I dont know find out later.....


er well my plan is to reserect my old CUBE³ project you might get to see some new skech up moddles of a new sleeker/smoother cube that is if i can ever figure out how to make rouded edges in sketchup.