Time for an update. I have been steadily working away at this for anywhere from 4-6 hours or so in the mornings after getting home from work (night shift). I am very pleased so far with how this is turning out in relation to my Sketchup models and plan.

Front Escutcheon Mount

I wanted an easy way to mount the dial and dial glass. The dial and glass are 3 7/8” dia. The inside circle of the escutcheon is 3 3/8”. So I came up with the hole in a hole idea. The one problem was how to cut this. The only rabbit bit that I have is a 3/8” depth cutting bit. So what I did was to first cut out with my scrollsaw a 3 1/8” hole. I then used the router with rabbit bit to cut out the 3 7/8” hole 3/8' deep, which is the depth of the escutcheon, dial, and dial glass. I then recut the 3 1/8” hole to be 3 3/8” with the scrollsaw. This way, the dial and dial glass just set down inside of the hole under the escutcheon. I'll probably put a piece of clear acrylic behind the hole to mount LEDs into, and to mount a fake radio needles which I have yet to make. A power switch is also in place so you can see where it goes.



Here is a pic with the escutcheon, dial, dial glass, and 3 of the knobs placed where they will go. I am still waiting on the 4th knob from the guy who messed up my order.



Front USB Ports

I bought a USB/Firewire card from Directron. Not wanting or needing the firewire, I dremeled out the solder leads and cut off the part of the card with the firewire jack. I cut the initial 5/8' square hole with the scrollsaw, and then used the Dremel to ream out the area to be cut out for the card to fit flush with the front. I also cut notches in two small pieces of wood to hold the card in place.







Hard Drives Mount

I finished the mount for the hard drives. I made a template from clear acrylic to mark the holes for the hard drive screws onto the metal. The back piece for the 92mm fan has tabs that I riveted into the sides and top to hold everything in place. This piece took me the better part of one morning. I don't have a metal brake so I'm bending everything by hand with clamps and a metal L square with the help of a hammer.







MB Tray

I trimmed the MB tray that I got from Performance-Pcs. The L shape on the edges was 1/4”, but I didn't want that much, so I cut the edges down to < 1/8”. I also cut out under the CPU area for a bit of airflow. I painted the back panel in hammered copper along with the PCI slot covers, and riveted it back together.



Air Chamber Shroud and Rads Mount

I spent a good bit of time messing with this shroud. Since it wasn't originally a part of the design as I added it only a few days ago, I hadn't really thought through the tabs I would need on the rads mount to attach to the shroud. So I had to cut and rivet tabs to the rads mount so that the shroud and rads mount screw together easily for stability, but also so that the rads mount can easily be removed if needed. I also had to mount a piece to cover what were going to be wiring holes in the rad mounts piece because if I left them, then air would shoot back into the case. Bending the air shroud by hand was a real pain. I got a piece of 18 gauge aluminum for this. The hard part was getting the 3/8” bend in the middle to allow room for the pump to mount between the shroud and the hard drives mount. I will have a bending brake if I do this again!









Next on the list are the dial needles which I think I'm going to cut out of acrylic and paint, and the reservoir. Then I plan on starting drilling the dowel rod holes and gluing her together. I may also still thin out the area behind the front grill to be only 3/8” thick instead of the current full 3/4” thick as I think that will look more original. I also have to decide on the stain color, which currently I think is going to be walnut.

I should probably post more detail of exactly how I'm doing everything, but I find myself wrapped up in getting things done and before I know it, I've got something completed before I take pics.

This weekend we are going camping, so more will be coming next week sometime.