Custom Wood Case IV- Antique Zenith Radio Build

[voigts]

Hey Voigts, nice progress since I last posted

I was debating on whether or not to post this but I feel like I have to I don't like the rad grill cover piece. I think its sub standard compared to everything else you've done on this build and I was a little surprised that you went with it. The cuts don't look straight and the ribs aren't lined up very well. It looks like it was a lot of work but I don't think it's the best you can do! this is just some constructive criticism... I really think you should give that panel a 2nd go.

Again, I think you have done a fantastic job so far I just think that you could do better on that 1 piece. Regardless of what you decide to do, I'm going to continue to follow in awe of your wood working skillz

I completely agree on the constructive criticism regarding the rad grill side panel, and I really do appreciate it. I want to get the case itself finished so that I can start tearing mine down and moving into it. I am hoping to get the last two coats of finish on the case today, and if I can, it needs a day or so to really dry well during which time I may give the side panel another go. I can easily work on finishing a side panel redo while putting moving my parts over to this new case.

It really is very hard to get the cutouts just perfect. The arm on my scroll saw isn't deep enough to make all the cuts with it alone, so I have to drill out the holes for the ends. But my desktop drill press isn't deep enough to make all of the holes either, so I have to use a drill. It is very hard to get the holes exactly where you want them by hand. I think what I'm going to do is to use a bit smaller dia holes of 1 3/8" (instead of 1 1/2") with a wood spade bit and leave 3/8" between each cutout instead of the current attempt at 1/4". 1/4" is simply too thin.

Edit-- I measured the arm on my scrollsaw and it is should be long enough to be able to cut out all of the pieces, so that is what I will do as I should be able to get them straight with it.

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

So good Voigts

[Rise]

I completely agree on the constructive criticism regarding the rad grill side panel, and I really do appreciate it. I want to get the case itself finished so that I can start tearing mine down and moving into it. I am hoping to get the last two coats of finish on the case today, and if I can, it needs a day or so to really dry well during which time I may give the side panel another go. I can easily work on finishing a side panel redo while putting moving my parts over to this new case.

It really is very hard to get the cutouts just perfect. The arm on my scroll saw isn't deep enough to make all the cuts with it alone, so I have to drill out the holes for the ends. But my desktop drill press isn't deep enough to make all of the holes either, so I have to use a drill. It is very hard to get the holes exactly where you want them by hand. I think what I'm going to do is to use a bit smaller dia holes of 1 3/8" (instead of 1 1/2") with a wood spade bit and leave 3/8" between each cutout instead of the current attempt at 1/4". 1/4" is simply too thin.

Edit-- I measured the arm on my scrollsaw and it is should be long enough to be able to cut out all of the pieces, so that is what I will do as I should be able to get them straight with it.

Yeah, I can't imagine even trying to do those holes by hand... had I tried, it would have been 1 big open rectangle, no slots

I don't really know much about wood working - but would a router + jig be easier than trying to scroll it out? I've used a scroll saw before and I know it can be hard to get perfectly straight lines. I'm guessing the size of the material might be too fragile for a router but again, I'm not well versed in making things out of wood. The only other thing I would have suggested would be to use a forstner bit but you already did that...

Either way, I'm sure you'll figure it out

[voigts]

I had considered using a router, but I think that would and up being more trouble than its worth, and I'm not sure a router would play well with thin plywood.

I've got all of the cutouts marked out, and about to get at re-cutting the holes this time with the scroll saw. I made sure to leave a 3/8" gap between holes this time.

[voigts]

I used a plain old wood spade bit this afternoon to cut the circles, and then my scrollsaw for the straight cuts between the circles. My scrollsaw for some reason just didn't want to cut the circles out right. After some Dremel sanding and Mouse sanding, the new rad side looks 100% better than the first attempt. It was worth spending the morning redoing it. I've got one coat of stain drying on it now.

[QuietIce]

Great update! I know how tough those front & top trim pieces must have been but you came through as usual!

This pic certainly brings the whole tube routing issue into excellent focus and I'm sorry I said anything now - but you know how that is. You obviously made the right choice to route the tubing/pipe in front of the res.



I've been considering your grill problem and really don't think modder's mesh would blend with the design of the piece. But if you're willing to go with holes that large have you considered hardware cloth with simple semi-flat black paint? Hardware cloth could be cut to fit the rad openings and attached to the rad frame rather than the side piece. Those cut ends, if left long instead of trimmed to the cross-wire, make good inserts. Other than that speaker grill material has very little air resistance but might be a pain to keep clean and I doubt you can find modern grill fabric in the right color (didn't you research that the last build?).

I also though about the design you used. Not bad but I might have picked up the other openings in the front panel instead of the dominant one. Those four side openings with the offset horizontal break and squarish bottoms might make an interesting pattern over the space of the side panel. No reason I know of that the curved part of the pattern couldn't stick up above the rads so you wouldn't have any air restriction. Probably be a lot tougher job to cut though. Just a thought (and please forgive the bad Paint copy/paste image - they should all be the same height/scale).




I won't say "Keep up the good work" because I know you will - but do keep up the great posts! Seeing your progress as you've laid it out is an inspiration to many, including me ...

[Rise]

I used a plain old wood spade bit this afternoon to cut the circles, and then my scrollsaw for the straight cuts between the circles. My scrollsaw for some reason just didn't want to cut the circles out right. After some Dremel sanding and Mouse sanding, the new rad side looks 100% better than the first attempt. It was worth spending the morning redoing it. I've got one coat of stain drying on it now.

I'm glad to hear you gave it a 2nd go! I'm really looking forward to seeing this all come together now. I feel like its getting close

[voigts]

I've been considering your grill problem and really don't think modder's mesh would blend with the design of the piece. But if you're willing to go with holes that large have you considered hardware cloth with simple semi-flat black paint? Hardware cloth could be cut to fit the rad openings and attached to the rad frame rather than the side piece. Those cut ends, if left long instead of trimmed to the cross-wire, make good inserts. Other than that speaker grill material has very little air resistance but might be a pain to keep clean and I doubt you can find modern grill fabric in the right color (didn't you research that the last build?).

I also though about the design you used. Not bad but I might have picked up the other openings in the front panel instead of the dominant one. Those four side openings with the offset horizontal break and squarish bottoms might make an interesting pattern over the space of the side panel. No reason I know of that the curved part of the pattern couldn't stick up above the rads so you wouldn't have any air restriction. Probably be a lot tougher job to cut though. Just a thought (and please forgive the bad Paint copy/paste image - they should all be the same height/scale).




I won't say "Keep up the good work" because I know you will - but do keep up the great posts! Seeing your progress as you've laid it out is an inspiration to many, including me ...

thanks for the usual encouragement!

I've got a couple of mosquito mesh type fabrics that I'm trying to dye brown to see if they will work, but speaker fabric simply won't work as in the last project as it simply doesn't breathe enough.

I'm going to take a look at that hardware cloth you mentioned and see what I can find.

As for the sides, I had the debate going in my mind as to what to do there. I originally was going to go with just plain rectangular cutouts for the rads as there was no decoration to the sides originally with these radios, but the more I looked at it, the less I liked the idea. I didn't want something on the sides however that would draw attention away from the front. That is really more why I want with the shape that I did on the side cutouts. They were somewhat of a pain to do as is, but trying to do the design from the front that you sketched would be a really major pain, and I think would draw away too much attention from the front. Maybe I'm wrong, but at this point I've got both sides done and am happy with what I've got. Thanks for the ideas.

[Laine]

Just dropping in to say WOW!

Sorry I can't really contribute with something useful, but I'm sure this build is going to be a big inspiration to alot of people (including me)!

Just great looking, love the design!
Also a big fan of stealthy builds, so this is really doing it for me.

[QuietIce]

thanks for the usual encouragement!

I've got a couple of mosquito mesh type fabrics that I'm trying to dye brown to see if they will work, but speaker fabric simply won't work as in the last project as it simply doesn't breathe enough.

I'm going to take a look at that hardware cloth you mentioned and see what I can find.

As for the sides, I had the debate going in my mind as to what to do there. I originally was going to go with just plain rectangular cutouts for the rads as there was no decoration to the sides originally with these radios, but the more I looked at it, the less I liked the idea. I didn't want something on the sides however that would draw attention away from the front. That is really more why I want with the shape that I did on the side cutouts. They were somewhat of a pain to do as is, but trying to do the design from the front that you sketched would be a really major pain, and I think would draw away too much attention from the front. Maybe I'm wrong, but at this point I've got both sides done and am happy with what I've got. Thanks for the ideas.

How right you are about my proposed design drawing away from the great detail work you've done on the front. If it were sitting in front of me I'd have seen that but, as with so many things, it's different when you're not there ...

[voigts]

Just dropping in to say WOW!

Sorry I can't really contribute with something useful, but I'm sure this build is going to be a big inspiration to alot of people (including me)!

Just great looking, love the design!
Also a big fan of stealthy builds, so this is really doing it for me.

Thank you for chiming in. I hope others will get with it and show me up as I know there are others out there who can!

Just dropping in to say WOW!

Sorry I can't really contribute with something useful, but I'm sure this build is going to be a big inspiration to alot of people (including me)!

Just great looking, love the design!
Also a big fan of stealthy builds, so this is really doing it for me.

Thank you for chiming in. I hope others will get with it and show me up as I know there are others out there who can, although there may not be others as crazy as me to spend way too much time and money building something like this.

How right you are about my proposed design drawing away from the great detail work you've done on the front. If it were sitting in front of me I'd have seen that but, as with so many things, it's different when you're not there ...

How true that is. I looked at this over and over again in Sketchup, and think that the side panel design does what I want it to do.

I went to Home Depot this morning and got a roll of 1/4" 23 gauge hardware cloth which is exactly what I was looking for. I wouldn't have found it without your tip. It should be just enough to keep hair out but not be restrictive.

[voigts]

Recut the Rad Side Panel

As I mentioned, I wasn't satisfied with the radiator side panel. So I took one morning and remade it. I am much more pleased with the remade panel. I still had to drill the holes and cut the rest out with the scroll saw, but I used a spade bit which worked out much better. I left 3/8" between each cutout which made all the difference.



Stained, Urethaned, and Starting to Put It All Together

I put the dial together with the mock radio acrylic radio needles.



Here are some shots of how it looks at the moment. I am very pleased with how the finish came out. The stain is Ace hardware walnut. Their stains cost a bit less than Miniwax or the like and work fine. I put on two coats of stain. I used General Finishes Urethane for the top coat which was recommended to me on my last project. This stuff is great to work with as it goes on very smooth and doesn't easily run like polyurethane does which is a huge plus when working with so many small detailed areas.



I used semi-gloss and gave everything 3 coats, making sure to lightly sand out any rough spots between each coat of stain and each coat of finish. I followed up with a good wipe down with furniture polish. The finish is literally baby-butt smooth.











Bottom

I mounted the two bottom intake fans and the DVD drive. I bought some brown strip furniture felt to line the bottom of the case with so that the bottom of the case doesn't scratch or get scratched.



New Reservoir Mounts

For whatever reason, I just haven't liked the look of the reservoir mounts that I made. I saw this idea on another case online and kind of borrowed the idea. I took my measuring tape and picked up a piece of 2" schedule 80 PVC coupler. The inside measures 2 3/8", and the OD of my res is 2 1/4". I cut the pieces at a 10 degree angle using a miter saw, drilled countersunk holes, painted them, lined it all up, and mounted them to the air chamber using #4 bolts and nuts. I drilled and tapped holes for the #6-32 x 3/8" set screws to hold the res. I found this idea of set screws instead of normal screws while looking for something to mount the front grill cloth. They just have a thread with a small regular screwdriver slot to tighten them. I used some small rubber foam pads between the screws and the res and on the backside between the res and mounts so that the mounts grip the res well and don't scratch it.







I just got the front grill clothe attached this morning, and have cut out and painted the grills for the other openings. I used small carpet tacks to nail it to the mounting frame, and then screwed that to the case. I thought about gluing on the cloth, but I want it to be removable if necessary.



I am almost ready to tear down my system and start moving the guts into the new case!

[Rise]

fantastic work man!! to think that that is a computer is mind boggling. I love it!

[Laine]

Wrote a post before but the forum crashed.

Anyways, looks superb, love the meter in the front.

I just hope you'll spend som time on the cable management, and possibly a bit of sleeving as well?


Would be cool with some kind of steampunk theme on the inside.

[QuietIce]

Excellent work! I really like the way the stain/color came out and I think you've raised the bar on the finish from the last build - that's beautiful!!

Nice idea for the res. I've been looking for some type of solution to that type of mount and I think you've found it.


Looking forward to the inside pics, but your work on the outside detail and finish will over-shadow all else ...

[voigts]

I just hope you'll spend som time on the cable management, and possibly a bit of sleeving as well?

Would be cool with some kind of steampunk theme on the inside.

After all of this work, there is no way I'm just going to stuff wires in there any old way. That is why I bought a Corsair 620 modular PSU. I will say though that cable management won't be as easy as I'd like with this setup due to the PSU placement.

Excellent work! I really like the way the stain/color came out and I think you've raised the bar on the finish from the last build - that's beautiful!!

Nice idea for the res. I've been looking for some type of solution to that type of mount and I think you've found it.

Looking forward to the inside pics, but your work on the outside detail and finish will over-shadow all else ...

I'm very pleased with how the finish turned out. It really looks a lot nicer than I anticipated.

I was looking and brainstorming for a better way to mount the res, and I saw a variant of this idea on another rig online. That rig used acrylic tubing for the mounts and was larger in diameter. I really like the mounts as they are very secure, yet compact and don't take away from the looks of the res. They were a piece of cake to make.

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

Voigts, much respect man, you've done a fabulous job so far!

[Waterlogged]

voigts, looking great. I love how that walnut stain makes the woodgrain pop, simply gorgeous.

[voigts]

Voigts, much respect man, you've done a fabulous job so far!

I've been keeping an eye on your current build and it isn't exactly shaggy you know. You pay incredible attention to detail.

voigts, looking great. I love how that walnut stain makes the woodgrain pop, simply gorgeous.

Thank you .

[nipper575]

WOW, looks incredible with the finish applied.

[Movieman]

Beautiful work..

[nipper575]

Sorry if this has been said before but...

I just got back from seeing Public Enemies and there is a scene in the 2nd half of the movie when John Dillinger is listening to the radio. I swear it is the same model as what you are basing your case on, when I saw it I thought of this build.

The movie is set in 1933 I believe.

[voigts]

Sorry if this has been said before but...

I just got back from seeing Public Enemies and there is a scene in the 2nd half of the movie when John Dillinger is listening to the radio. I swear it is the same model as what you are basing your case on, when I saw it I thought of this build.

The movie is set in 1933 I believe.

That is too funny. This Zenith radio was a very common radio during the mid 1930s.

You know however that you are online too much when you go to a movie and think of a computer case log!

[nipper575]

haha, well it's a compliment to you that your case looks just like the real thing.

[voigts]

Motherboard Mounted

I got the Motherboard from my old system mounted as well as the PSU and wires to power everything. It took me a good bit of time to work out exactly where to put my wiring. I knew with this design that wire management was going to be an issue since I added the rad air chamber to the case, thereby eliminating that area for wiring to be hid.



Dual Pump Problem

I planned originally on having one DDC pump mounted in between the HD mount and air chamber.





I made the mount, and test fitted it where I planned on it going.





I mounted the hard drives and fan controller, and made the SATA power cable.



Pump Mount v2 and HD Mount v2

I however ran into an issue. As I have been making this, I really wanted to be able to use 2 pumps for redundancy since my original DDC-1 is now about 2 1/2 years old, and I bought a new DDC3.1 anyway. Figuring this issue out has been a pain. I messed around with several different ways to mount two pumps, but with the wiring in place, nothing worked. So I went back and pulled from a different HD mount that I came up with earlier that would be thinner and allow for more room between the air chamber and HD mount.





So I have been at work making another HD mount and pump mount.



I have two 1/2" rubber pieces for the pump to sit on between it and the acrylic mount. The one pump will feed directly into the second pump. The angle on the end of the XSPC block is going to make getting the tubing from the one pump outlet into the second pump inlet a bit tight, but hopefully some boiling water will fix this issue.



I've made and painted the new HD mount



Pump Mounts v3

Well, after spending time looking at this pump mount scenario, I came to the conclusion that it simply isn't going to work well as I am going to have problems trying to get the line from the bottom of the rads to the GPU. So, back to the drawing board again. This time I think I've finally got the problem figured out. I'm repositioning the pumps again and changing the tubing routing. I think this will solve a number of problems regarding tubing routing and room for the wiring. The bottom pump feeds the bottom rad, and the bottom rad feeds the inlet of the second pump.









I made a nifty little mount using rubber stoppers for the bottom most pump with a small chipset fan underneath it that I have been using.





I've also made and mounted the second pump, but don't have a pic of it yet.

Trying to figure out exactly where to put a drain has been one other issue that I have been wrestling with on this case. I finally came up and made this fitting that will go between the bottom pump and the bottom barb on the rad. There is a 1/4" copper line that feeds down from the small barb through the bottom of the case that I will cap off. So in order to drain the setup, I merely have to park the case over the kitchen sink and remove the small cap from the line underneath. It is made from a 90 degree 1/2" copper street elbow, and 45 degree street, two PEX solder barbs, and a 1/4" hose mender cut almost in half and trimmed down and soldered into a hole I drilled.



Here it is painted



I've also been busy on wiring. Simple things like a short connector for the pump power leads have to be made.



The PCI-E wires that come with the PSU are of course too short to route neatly. I ordered PCI-E connectors from Performance-PCS. Since the page on their site however didn't mention needing to order pins along with the connectors, I got the connectors in sans any pins. I had to call them to find out which pins I needed and place another order and wait for it to come in with pins.

This is almost 60' of 18 gauge black wiring needed just to make the two PCI-E power wires. I squooshed on and soldered the pins today. I plan on sleeving them and putting them in place shortly. My daughter is holding them for the pic.



I'm really very blessed as she is a good kid. She thinks this project is really neat and she likes it. She however wouldn't mind when I am done with this one if I made one like it for her.

Once I get the PCI-E cables in place, I have to finalize some connections and start putting tubing in place. I also have to make the SATA power cables. I bought a little $20 single unit burner so that I can plug it in and use a pot for boiling water for the 7/16"ID tubing so that I don't have to go inside and take over the dining room table. My wife liked the burner idea. She hates it when I cover the table with computer.