WORKLOG: 'IOU' – GAM's Qubeloc Cube Case with IO connectors facing Up (56K Warning!)

[GAM]

WORKLOG: 'IOU' – GAM's QubeLok Cube Case with IO connectors facing Up

Not extroadinary, but definitely not ordinary
This cube case design is an experimental variation on the usual PC Case and PC Cube case designs. It is not a true cube, as all sides are not equal, nor does it follow many, if any, standard PC Case design principals.
- Firstly and foremost, the IO connectors will be on top, facing up, with the motherboard positioned internally to function thus.
- Secondly, the motherboard will be located in the left side, facing inwards to the centre of the case and will be accessible by 'folding out' the left side panel.
- All noisy, heat generating devices and other devices i.e., hard drives, optical drives, power supply and any additional 5.25" devices will be located in the right side. Either side will not necessarily be half.
- All fans will be mounted in the floor of the case as intakes, with no exhaust fans but simply vents on the top panels.
- Although it won't be watercooled, there will be sufficient space provided to mount two 3x120 rads on the floor above the fans (inside); one either side, ready for a future upgrade. Pump(s) would be mounted on the right side, while a reservoir would be mounted in the left side.
- The case will be suspended on castors with surrounding mesh between the floor of the case and the surface on which it stands, providing the only path for ambient air to be drawn in. A brush of sorts will mate the case with the ground surface as a barrier to surface particles and other matter. The intention is sit on a 'hard floor' or right hand side of a desk.
- All interior panels will be lined with sound dampening material.
Note, click on images for higher res. versions.
Thoughts to paper – the drawing board
Although I have spent a lot of time drafting and refining my ideas and concepts and have fairly detailed drawings, there are many issues still to resolve. At this point, however, my itch is too fierce and the deadline for a particular case competition is looming. So, despite a lack of time and funds, I have to bite the bullet and start fabricating, working out some of the finer details as I go along.
Here's an older example of what I have in mind. The plans have changed somewhat since. Note that the very light grey fans and rads and small 5.25" devices are possible later upgrades/changes/room for flexibility. The short length 5.25" devices (fan controllers and such) on the left side has been scrapped for the moment—determined unnecessary. Reduce the number of hard disks and you can increase the number of full length 5.25" devices.


Materials
At this stage, I intend to make the entire case out of 1.6mm aluminium panels on a QubeLok carcase/frame and various aluminium extrusions for internal structures, however this could change with the addition of the odd acrylic panel here and there. That said, the intention is the have a very cool, literally, and quiet PC with 'Server/Mass Storage' duties in mind.

$20 dollars worth of aluminium offcuts from a local aluminium fabricator, consisting of:
- Perforated aluminium sheet: 550mm x 290mm x 1.6mm, with 3/16" (4.7mm approx.) holes
- Aluminium sheet 800mm x 270mm x 1.6mm
- Aluminium sheet 700mm x 270mm x 1.6mm
- Aluminium flat bar 500mm x 80mm x 10mm

Earlier in the week, I visited Capral Aluminium and also purchased for the sum of $85 something:
- Quarter sheet (600mm x 1200mm) of 1.6mm aluminium sheet ($25)
- 6.5m length of black, non-lipped aluminium QubeLok tubing (cut to 2 x 3.25m for transport - $27)
- Variety of Qubeloc connectors. At the time of purchase I still wasn't sure of the frame I was going with, hence the variety of connectors includes:
- 12 x 3-leg (P30) corners connectors ($12.72)
- 4 x 3-leg (P31) T-sections ($4.24)
- 4 x 2-leg (P20) corners ($3.96)
- 4 x 4-leg (P40) intersections ($4.56)
All pictured, except the quarter sheet of 1.6mm)

Qubeloc connectors:

Perforated sheet with QubeLok connector (1" by)

For competition purposes.

I also dragged out my collection of various aluminium channel, angle and flat bar ready to assess any additional needs.

Unfortunately this is all I have to whet your collective appetites at the moment. Hopefully I'll get a chance to put a preliminary frame together this weekend. The frame will be a sinch, it's all the other stuff that I'm worried about and could take me forever

Cheers
GAM

[GAM]

Workshop - Day 1: "I was framed!"
Note, click on images for higher res. versions.

The spies are out…
Unbeknownst to me, my wife snapped this off. For legal reasons, I can't show you his face


Ready, setty, cut
Before I went to out to the workshop to start hacking tubing up, I spent a couple of hours in the morning refining the external dimensions in Adobe Illustrator and preparing a cutting list. Out of two 3.25 metre lengths, there's a little over a metre to spare. Planning here ensured that I maximised off cuts and was able to get the lengths that I needed out of the material at hand. As these are relatively short lengths the danger of ending up short was minimal, but best to be sure nevertheless.


Compound saw shortcuts, quick jigs and chop suey.
As I had to start with long lengths, the sliding out bench jig came into play. Initially I cut the 3.5m lengths into two portions, one portion being equivalent of one run of same length cuts. As seen in the photo, I clamped a block of wood at the correct distance to ensure that each cut produced the same length.
WARNING: This type of 'stop block' is not recommended. You should have a removable piece at the end (refer later in the log) so that nothing is gripping the end of the offcut. Otherwise, the blade can catch an edge and if there is something stopping the offcut from wriggling out of the way it will get thrown back at you. Ruining your workpiece and quite easily causing grevious bodily harm!
Using this dubious method, I cut the 8 smaller pieces.


For the longer lengths, I quickly whacked together another temporary jig. This is simply a plank of timber that is wide enough to stay intact once the tubing has been cut through. As you can see the, there is a clamp either side of the blade, holding the jig in place. A stop block is temporarily nailed in place at the end. Following the correct stop method, I've placed a slither of timber (10mm thick approx.) between the end of the workpiece and the stop block and then set the correct distance for the next series of cuts. When the tubing is gripped in place, I remove the slither, leaving a gap between the stop block and the end of the workpiece. This way there is nothing for the offcut to catch on during the cut.

I neglected to stop on the last of the longer cuts and cut through the jig. No harm, as each of the subsequent lengths for cutting were smaller and smaller.


All cut up
An hour or so later and I had all the lengths cut and was ready test that I had cut everything correctly by loosely position each section and the relative connector. Checking like this help prevent issues later. At this time, I also checked the condition of each of the faces and positioned each to ensure the best surfaces were place inside where they'd be visible. All outer surfaces will covered and hidden by exterior panels. If the tubes were to be visible externally, then the best surfaces would have been placed on the outside rather the inside.

One piece of tubing is shorter than the length of the two tongues of the connectors inserted into it, so these had to be cut down to fit. I also chamfered the edges roughly to ease insertion.

Checked before proceeding. The tube is in contact with the butt edges of the connectors and there is a small gap between the connector tongues. Good.


Assembly, disassembly…
On to the assembly. I started with each of the verticals, joining the smallest sections first and then joined the horizontals to the outside verticals and then to the centre vertical.
Back section done… or so I thought

I completed the front section and then once again loosely put it together. Lo and behold, I stuffed up. This is the point of the (loose) test fit. There's an extra tongue on the rear centre that shouldn't be there.

So, disassembly time. Initially I used the QuickGrips in 'spreader' mode to loosen it up and extract the centre vertical (the one with the mistake), as I hammered them in nice and tight.

These are the only spreaders I've got and were too big for the smaller openings, so it was on to more voilent methods of separation—vice (with additional padding) hammer and block. I was careful not to overtighten the vice as the tubing could easily collapse under too much pressure. In this shot, the tubing is in the vice. As it happens, the connectors can be extracted quite easily with several moderate taps.


Re-assembly
Loose test fit and then re-assembly… again. All good.


Burrs and edges
I neglected to cover this in the initial assembly shots, but the end of every section was carefully filed on the two burred edges and all four inside edges. With any saw cut, where ever the teeth of the blade exits the material a burr is left, and sometimes 'breakout' in timber and brittle material.
Not so clear in the photo, but the first shot shows the sharp lip or burr that is created on the lower and rear edges when using a compound saw. The second shot shows the edges after some gentle filing, holding the file near flat with the end.
Please note gratuitous stubby holder placement. This case is intended to 'win' the OCAU Mar-May 2007 Modding Competition, after all!
Note to moderators and admins, if you would rather see your site's stubby holder here, then you'd better send one on! Message me for address details.

As mentioned, the inside edges were also filed to reduce the 'skimming' of the plastic connectors during insertion which can leave little bits of plastic that can prevent the gaps from closing up. This filing was very quick and rough with the file close to 45 degrees--before and after.


Final assembly
With all burrs and edges cleaned up, I proceeded to assemble the entire frame.
A little push here and a litte shove there, knock knock, tap tap, whack and all done!

Voila! One frame
Note that the flash on the camera highlights the shiny edges between the connectors significantly more than you see under normal lighting conditions.

Unfortunately, that's the easy part done. The hard parts of engineering and fitting all the internal brackets, drives cages, motherboard tray, opening door panels, IO connector panel, exterior panels, wiring etc etc is still to come.

I hope to get some time in the workshop again tomorrow. If so, I'll post another update.

Later,
GAM

[Origin_Unknown]

wow, i like this idea and ill be watching this

[Leeghoofd]

Great stuff GAM, look ssuperclean and mega sturdy, think you can let a tank roll over it , nice work...

Looking forward to the next post

[GAM]

Thanks guys!

I hope to make a good start on the opening/removable motherboard tray today. This will be tricky. I have basic plans in mind but I think it will be a long and fiddly process of 'trial an error'. Although I want to construct 'rails' (using angle for verticals on channel for horizontals) for the motherboard mounts and fabricate my own IO back plate, to begin with I think I will cut out the back panel and motherboard tray of an old P3 Compaq case I've got here.

Hopefully have an update this evening (although I have piss up at 3pm, so the day will cut short.)

Later

[Okda]

seems very nice

waiting for more progress

[GAM]

Cheers SoFrOut!

Minor but verbose update follows...

[Sparky]

Unique looking, this has got my interest!

[GAM]

@Sparky, cool...

Sorry guys, I thought I had posted the update after my last post but something obviously went amiss... like the post . Here it comes, don't hold your breath, its rather minor.

[GAM]

Workshop - Day 2: My new mother hinges on a winge and a prayer
Note, click on images for higher res. versions.
Hi again all, sorry, but very little progress today. Not much of an update either, but plenty of words and pictures to put you soundly to sleep for the evening.

Sacrificial lamb
Today I set myself one of the more difficult tasks I'd been envisaging, as far as brain time was concerned at least--the hinged (left) side panel with the rotated, inside out, fold-out motherboard tray.
First off all, as I had decided a scratch built motherboard tray and,er… 'rear' connector panel was too much for the time being, I set out to extract the undesirable motherboard tray and accompanying rear panel from this old Compaq case – P3 Deskpro. This case has some nice innovations that I give good credit too, but not a case that I see myself using or modding in the future—besides, it was the only 'spare' case I had from which to extract a motherboard tray and rear panel.
Note, at this point I should suggest that if anyone lives on the Northern Beaches of Sydney and have an old case, preferably aluminium, I'd love to hear from you. I need a donor


The old lady gets 'pantsed'
Not much to say here, it's all a case of unscrewing… until, of course, you get to those damn integrated rivets. The drive cage was fastened to the front and back panels by 'integrated' rivets i.e., the rivet is formed through the metal of the panels and not a separate piece of metal. It just made the extraction task a little harder and longer winded than need be.


Slice and dice
After starting the cut with a hack saw I went to the bench mounted jigsaw but quickly realised that the protusion on the motherboard tray prevented decent workability. So, the jigsaw was removed from the bench for some freehand.
Marked for the cut. Note the internal cut lines had to be transferred to the outside for freehand accessibility. Also note the clamps to hold the bugger steady.

I didn't care too much for a clean, straight cut as I knew I'd be cleaning up the edges on the disc grinder.


Shiney but marred
With a motherboard and integrated back panel, I was ready to start on the prototype left-side door/panel.
Note, as this piece of aluminium was one of the 'offcuts' I picked up on the cheap, it was already marred with plenty of scratches. Nevertheless, I tapped up the ends and the area that would slide on the proud rail of the bench saw. The sharp edges of the aluminium panel also binded with the table surface making sliding the workpiece difficult. The masking tape alleviated this perfectly. Also note the piece of aluminium angle that I inserted as a runner and support between the fence and the workpiece, clamped to the bench. This ensured that the workpiece didn't drop beneath the fence, as with this width of cut on this bench saw the end is unsupported and is prone to drop below the fence and ruin the cut. If you do this yourself, don't forget to include the additional thickness of the runner into your cut-width settings.


Lest we protect
Once I started manipulating the frame I quickly realised that a little scratch prevent was required—masking tape around the prominent supporting edges.

The quarter sheet (600mm x 1200mm) of 1.6mm aluminium sheet that I purchased from Capral Aluminium earlier in the week and somehow misplaced—it was still under the carpet in the boot of the wagon (83' dunny door )


Everything hinges on something
Now for the real task of the day… I had been playing around with hinge alternative in Illustrator for some time but still wasn't sure of my game plan. I spent another broken hour or two trying to work out the best method to achieve want I wanted and determine the required dimension to make it all happen.

Requirements:
• No externally visible hinge.
• Easily removable panel/motherboard tray
• All gaps must to be overlapped… and subsequently lined with adhesive foam pads or strips for noise isolation.
• Avoid unnecessary sheet fabrication—straight lines are best

As depicted in the background illustration, I came up with with a '??' type hinge (sorry, I can't recall the terminology for this style of hinge). The pros of this hinge is that I can retain a flat, straight, bottom edge of the door, have a secondary sealing lip behind the door , clear the lower fixed panel and hold the motherboard outright (weakly mind you) without the need for 'lid-stay' or such (although a lid-stary of sort will be integrated down the track as well as support legs for when you want to push down on those RAM sticks and tight cable connections.
Using the dimensions from the illustration, I marked and drilled the guide holes in a sample piece of aluminium angle. The piece of angle will fastened to the inside of the door panel with screws or rivets. The next shot shows the initial prototype I played with before attaching it to the frame with masking tape for furher 'proof of concept'.


The next few shots show the prototype in action, mimicking the intended hinge mounting and operation, over the fixed lower panel (visible). The smaller piece of angle on the right most edge represents the door panel thickness attached to the hinge piece. The screw (or other methods that I've conceived) will be removable to allow the entire panel to be removed from the case easily, motherboard intact.

Not much of an update, I'm sorry. But hey, Rome wasn't built in a day. Also, please excuse any excessive spelling mistakes and incongruous language… it WAS a very pissy afternoon .

There may be further progress during the weke and another update, but this depends on work commitments.
Cheers
GAM

[sc00p]

OOOHHH... I can't wait for the finished product

...you maybe noticed I used almost same kind of corner-joints alfer.com... what were the odds .
Except I realized very soon square-profile tube couldn't be used cause of the lack of space (in my case).

Just to give an idea (from what I'm going to do with next project)... drill/dremel corner-joints open from the inside and it is then possible to do all the wiring inside tubing/frame (maybe )

[LittleDevil]

Really nice, cannot wait to see final product

regards

[GAM]

@Scoop, yeah, this framing/carcass technique is quite popular these days. Very good, easy to construct and effective. I like the idea of using the tubing as wiring channels . The only problem might be accessibility for upgrades/repairs. I always try to keep versatility in mind

@LittleDevil. Cheers mate. Here's another update....

[GAM]

Workshop - Day 3: A hinge a day; a modder's dismay
Note, click on images for higher res. versions.
Hi again all, I couldn't resist the beckoning workshop today, much to my misfortune of course. However, although it doesn't seem like much it was a reasonably productive day, although, little to show for it. Today I managed to get a working motherboard/side panel door happening and almost a motherboard tray.

One hinge or two?
Setting off from where I got to yesterday I was determined, at the very least, to get a pair of working hinges mounted, and if I was lucky, actually mount a door on it.
The prototype seemed to work so I set about duplicating it. I cut a second piece of 20x2mm aluminium flat bar to length and clamped them together with a pair of vice-grips. I then drilled the two holes using the prototype hinge as a pilot. The small hole is 2.5mm and the large hole/cutout is 8mm.

Tapping the thread for the pivot screw. The pivot screw is only 3mm (M3) at this stage, but I will either upgrade this with an M4 screw or other 'hinge pin' arrangement i.e., no thread, and nylon bush in the frame.

Once the the second hinge piece was completed, I set about making the two door braces and connections to the hinges.
Note the method I've used here on the drill press to drill identical holes on two (or multiple) workpeices. There are three marks on each piece; two along the length and one indicating the centre line along the length. I established the centre length using the mounted drill bit as a guide and then set up a temporary fence on the bench drill table using a piece of anlge line and two clamps. A piece of masking tape was then stuck to the fence and across the drill point centre. I then drilled a hole through the masking tape, providing the precise entry point of the drill bit. Using the butt of a square, I then traced a line through the drill hole and up the fence. I then aligned the marks on my workpiece with the pencile line. The combination of the fence and the alignment of centre to marks give me precise drill holes without going to town measuring and marking up each piece to be drilled.
Note, you may need to view the higher res. version to really see what is going on here.


With two brace pieces and two hinge pieces I was ready to fasten them together. The hinge piece was aligned with the brace and then clamped with vice-grips. I then drilled through the new holes I had made in the brace through to the hinge piece. The holes in the braces were then redrilled with a 3mm drill bit, tapped and countersunk. Screw them together and voila!

Because the screws I have are about 8mm long (the smallest I think in M3) I ground the protuding threads down to meet the surface of the hinge pieces.


Mounting to side panel to the hinges
Well, after stuffing up the pivot screw holes in the frame by about 2mm and subsequently having to file the erroneous hole down to be aligned the hole right on the right, I was feeling a little let down and more cautious. I temporarily fitted the hinges to the frame and fastened the braces to the frame with masking tape. This was so that I could place the side panel on the frame and drill through the panel and just into the braces, providing aligned guide holes for drilling through the brace. Because the hinge pieces created a 3mm gap between the brace and the frame, using masking tape again, I fastened a 3mm spacer piece between either brace and frame to ensure they were plumb with the frame before drilling. Once the 2.5mm guide holes were done I removed the sidepanel and drilled them through. After redrilling the sidepanel holes to 3mm and countersinking, and then threading the braces, I assembled them together with M3 countersunk socket screws.



Finally, a hinged sidepanel!
Note that 'lid-stays' or other bracing system to support the weight of the motherboard and its components will be incorporated at some point.



Now for the 'railed' Motherboard tray
Again, I can't remember the correct terminology, but using the table saw, the cross cut square and the fence as an initial guide for the first cut, slid the workpiece back and forth across the blade, moving the workpeice incrementally away from the saw on each stroke to remove the material off side of each end. These sections are cutouts to be to sit over the top of the rails beneath.

Note the use of common thickness material to define the gap that I needed for the top panel when it is attached and another piece of channel to form a straight edge to align the rail to the sidepanel for clamping and subsequent drilling.

The same drilling process of pilot holes and then redrilling, tapping and countersinking was used for these screws too. Also, as I was working by a little trial and error here, I had reconsidered the required distance between the horizontal rails and subsequently need to modify the reinforcing/spacing sections of the vertical rails. Another vertical rail will be made for the centre run of motherboard mounts. I actually ran out of 'noise' time and couldn't cut an additional length for fitting. Time to give up for the day.

Testing the top panel fitting with a 1.5mm aluminium sheet offcut. And then the satisfaction shot of the day… one hinging side panel!


I seriously don't expect another update until next weekend… but you never know

Cheers
GAM

[lasse.j5]

Looks very interesting so far.

Good job. Can't wait to see more

[Solarfall]

wow great looking cube...cant wait to see this mod finished... keep the pics/updates coming.

[Soker]

Perfectly! I wait to see more!

[GAM]

Thanks guys for the encouragement and compliments. I'll try not to dissapoint... here's some more, but only a little update.

Today was thwarted by 'tooliar' absence.

[GAM]

Workshop - Day 4: 6-32! This is for your mother? Sorry, we don't have that size?
Note, click on images for higher res. versions.

EDIT: Important note, this post previously stated '3-32' thread/tap size erroneously!!! Should be 6-32. I must have had 3 from M3 on the brain that day. Apologies all. References in this post have been corrected.

Hi again fellow modders. Once again, I couldn't resist the beckoning workshop today… I'm gonna' be sorry soon.

Another somewhat sh_tty, disfunctional day. I was all set to get the motherboard tray, MB back panel and right side panel finished today, but alas, if you don't have the tools, you can't do the job. I have a 'good' set of metric taps from M3-M6 (iirc), and two very good quality M3 and M4 taps. I also have a cheapo' mixed set of taps and dies. The set includes a 6-32 UNC tap and die… or at least it should. There are two taps missing from the set; guess which? Well, the 6-32 is missing, forget the other as who cares, the 6-32 UNC is what I need to tap the rails for the motherboard standoffs. Until I can get a starting point with the motherboard, at least, fixed by one mount, I wasn't game to try and come up with dimensions and transfer cutout shapes to panels etc. It just isn't worth the stuff ups and subsequent fixes, remakes, etc. So, no motherboard tray, end of story. Dissapointed I am, yesss.
I did try to purchase another, two hardware stores and two quality trade 'tool' suppliers later and I am waiting on an order for a 6-32 UNC tap. 'Should be here in two days' Ugh!

Anyway, despite this, I did make some progress.

Motherboard back panel, er… top panel
I cut the required piece for the motherboard back panel, drilled, tapped and fitted it to the side panel.

A little teaser; I clamped an offcut to the centre vertical to illustrate the visible centre panel section. Note that this connector area will be covered with some sort of 'flip panel' as well, so when complete the box will be uniform and 'un-stepped'.

I cut the third vertical rail for the motherboard tray and drilled one end of each to accommodate the screws that will hold them in place on the horizontal rails. Note, once I had marked up and drilled the first piece, I made another temporary jig using a piece of alu. channel and a block of wood aligned to the first piece with the drill bit inserted. With this method, there is no need to mark up the other two pieces as the drill will hit the same spot as the first one, each time. Not visible, but the channel is clamped to the bench drill table at either end.

On the right hand side of the picture you can see that I have screwed in the first one at one end. I was going to tap my first 6-32 UNC hole for the motherboard standoff when I realised that I didn't have the tap anymore. From here I would have placed the motherboard, worked out its exact location and traced a profile for the backpanel cutout. But no…

A donor to the rescue, or not…
On my journey to purchase a replacement tap, I called in on an hardware/peripheral repairer/supplier to see if they had any old machines to get rid of. This was fortunate as they were more than happy for me to scrounge in their basement trailer for whatever I wanted. Unfortunately the trailer was emptied a day ago and the oly thing they had was this old P2 box. I thought I was on a winner as the IO panel and slot cutouts were appropriate, but the recess of the back panel connector area was very deep, more so than the Compaq. From what I can gather from the three relatively current boxes I have here, the recess around the 15mm mark and not 20mm. I don't want to position my motherboard for drilling standoffs and the like using something does not conform to the current standards. Besides, I really hate those backpanels where the connectors are so deep you can't a finger in there to release to the ethernet cable or unscrew your VGA card adaptor.
Note, it is a Zenith proprietary box with a very unusual opening style. It took me a few minutes to work out how to open the bugger up before I realised it was inappropriate.


Right side panel
Well, disheartened but still motivated, I started on the right side panel. It didn't take me long to cut the two pieces required; one 75mm high fixed bottom panel and one flip-down access panel. I also managed to cut up the bracing, including mitred corners, before it got too late for the noisy stuff. I did consider doing the drilling and screwing as this is relatively quiet, but hunger got the better of me. (I think tonight is a good night to settle on the lounge for Star Trek or some such dreamy programme.

Well, that's it for today. Catch you next time.

Cheers
GAM

[GAM]

Workshop - Day 5: Half baked, half waste
Note, click on images for higher res. versions.
Another day, another frustration. You've read it before and you'll read it again… once again, I couldn't resist the beckoning workshop today… I'm already sorry. :|

Today started with grand plans of completing the right side door/panel, the left side door/panel--sans motherboard tray--and anything else that I could get could done. Alas, this wasn't the case.
A new hinge that wasn't to be…
I spent some time figuring out this simpler and more easily removed hinge arrangement for the right side door which accesses the hard drives and optical drives area. No sooner had I printed up the dimensioned drawing ready for fabrication that I realised this wasn't suitable for the design of the case and door. Why? Because the door overlaps the frame work and this method relies on the lower flap of the door rotating inwards. I would have had to cut the corner sections (>25.4mm square) out to allow the bulk of the centre section to pass inwards. This wasn't on. No doubt I will have to use the same or similar method as the left side (motherboard tray) version.
I really want this door to be easily removed without undoing any screws or such. I will give it some more thought soon enough.

Note, the patterned blocks represent insulating foam strips (3mm thick that will compress to 1-1.5mm) that I have in mind for lining most or all panel-to-frame matings, or at least the right and left side panels/doors.
Intricate cuts on a table saw
So… on to the next task…
This piece of sheet aluminium sits vertically, above the folding left side panel, between the top of the case and where the horizontal motherboard IO panel meets the middle of the case.
I didn't want to add another piece of angle to the framework as the whole point of the framework is to provide the outside structure and some internal fixing points. So, I extended this piece all the way to the front of the case so I could fix the forward end to the centre vertical tube. Hence, I needed to cut out a section that size of the tube (1" square). I did this on the table saw, at least to begin with.
I started by setting the fence to 25.5mm and cutting gently into the end of the section, stopping well short of the required distance as the underside cut is longer than the top side cut. Next, I used a drop cut method whereby the workpiece is positioned forward of the blade and VERY carefully lowered down over the blade at the required distance. WARNING: this method is quite dangerous and at will ruin the workpiece if not done with care. Typically, the spinning saw blade wants to throw the workpiece back at you, however you're usually behind it holding it firm and pushing it towards the blade. If you in front and letting the workpiece go backward over the spinning blade, the blade has immensely better chances of catching the material and flinging it for miles… or your mating standing by . Be warned.

Having sawn two lines close to my final destination, I finished it off with a small, unbowed, hacksaw. The internal corner was cleaned up carefully with a file.

Visible left side panels
After marking, drilling and threading, I temporarily fastened the panel in place using a few button head screws, which will be replaced with counter sunk screws once I happy with everything (and I've replaced or sharpened my countersinking bit.

Next, I cut out the smaller panels for the front-left 5.25" bay top cover. As I hadn't actually designed and drawn these yet I stumbled a little bit working out how I actually wanted these panels to fit together. As it happens, I made some errors and are still not sure that I'm happy with the current arrangement. Therefore, I haven't fastened these yet other than with some masking tape. Initially I stuck some pieces of double-sided tape to the edges of the panels or pieces of angle, which will help form the corners and provide some strength, but when I started to put them together I realised that I had it all wrong… Is this piece above that one, or is that one inside this one, etc etc.
Before doing any of this, I laid the pieces out and marked them with notes on orientation before going any further.

You can see where I've adhered one side of the double-sided tape ready for assembly.

Note, I'm still deliberating whether to screw these together or glue them together. Although I am inclined to glue them, given the nature of this design feature, however I feel I should probably keep with the general design of the rest of the case and simply screw them together with countersunk cap screws as I've down with everything else so far. Any opinion? Please let me know. From the following photos you get the idea of what it would like withough screws (despite them being covered in masking tape).
Also, that piece of angle that is visible on the far right, behind and top of the door panel, must either be cut off or some other changes made to allow the door to open and close without obstruction. Another possibility is to mount the whole 5.25" bay cover section to the door and have it open with the door. Thoughts people? I can't decide at the moment.

Incomplete right side door
Earlier in the day, before I gave up on it due to the useless hinge effort, I had started on the stiffening braces/framework for the right side door. I didn't complete this because I knew that changes would be required depending on the hinge arrangement I adopt.

The sum of today's lacklustre effort
Note the back panel sitting there for illustrative purposes. Anyone in Sydney that has a spare one of these in aluminium or thin steel that want to donate. I refuse to use this one as it is very deep and made from very thick, heavy steel. The depth is the main concern though as I don't want to position and finalise the motherboard mounting holes unless I have a standard, current, backpanel. This one is 17mm from outside edge to outside of recess. I am looking for something the more common 15mm or less, constructed from material that is <1mm thick (lighter).

Thanks for viewing, and if you have any suggestions for the issues/uncertainties that I've raised, please feel free to comment. For that matter, if you’ve any questions on any aspect of the design that I haven't covered off adequately, don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers
GAM

[p8ntslinger676]

this is going to turn out amazing, nice job so far, i cant wait for the final product

[alpha0ne]

Lookin nice

Ohhh for a workshop, I wonder if my neighbour would notice if his big shed full of tools etc suddenly turned up in my back yard

[GAM]

Thanks guys.

@p8ntslinger, I can't either Getting frustrated at the slow progress given the amount of time I've been allocating to the task

@alphaone, you might be better off asking if you can use it (or rent it) in return for favours... of PC kind ...or maybe washing their cars

Funny, my workshop is actually pretty small, bigger than some people's 'corner of the kitchen' workshop, but it is a little over half a small-one-car-garage. But this afternoon I realised that it has its advantages when I can take a step or three and reach the tools I left at the last machine . What I hate is having to turn sideways to pass between the two 'Triton' benches to get from the main workbench to the drill press and grinder

Small issues though compared to not having a workshop. I empathise. I never had a workshop before either and I'd chop off a toe to keep one in my life.

[stormcloud]

Looks great good effort so far.

[sc00p]

Getting frustrated at the slow progress given the amount of time I've been allocating to the task

Can I make a smart suggestion and not to sleep any
If I'm watching behind that you don't take too much slack for yourself Is that good arrangement
(Ok, sorry ~ )

Good work so far... fight it to the completion