Hi everyone. I did some more work so i'm ready to share a little. I hope you like


First I secured the covers to the acrylic slots. I've been meaning to do this for a while but always managed to find something else to do.
Drilling, countersinking and tapping is booooooaring!! I had to do it 35 times.... I'm really glad its over .


So after taping i marked and drilled guide holes with a 1.5mm drill bit -








Each acrylic slot has to go in a certain place for a perfect fit. while each slot probably fits in another slot's position, it won't be perfectly
straight. There are 7 individual slots plus a top piece, so if i jumble them there's almost endless combinations, and i can't be bothered
installing and removing slots millions of times! This also applies to the covers i just drilled.

Anyway, getting to the point, the slots and covers needed to be numbered. The problem was the ink would keep running whenever the
part got tapping fluid on it, so i used a soldering iron and engraving tool for a more permanent solution (i should have just said that in
the first place, sorry ) -








After that everything was drilled through, tapped, countersunk, and screwed (yeah, i screwed my pc.... so what? ) -








Tubing is going to pass horizontally through the centre of one acrylic slot (#5 to be exact). This left the acrylic held together by a very
thin edge (the edge which you see from inside the case, Pictures below should help). The first time i made the fifth slot it was too weak
and snapped along the edge, so this time i came up with a better solution.

When i had the acrylic re-cut at the laser cutters i asked them to leave small bridge-like extensions across the middle. All that was left to
do was boar out enough so the tubing could pass through but leave enough to give the slot more strength -





First try (too hard) -




Second try (too rough) -




Third try (just right) -









And a shot of everything in place -






The next thing i worked on was the bottom of the feet.


I wanted the middle of the foot (on the bottom) bored out a little so when i installed the rubber it would be mostly hidden. I wont stick in
the rubber until i decide what sort of finish i want on the feet though -










See, i really do work sometimes -






Lastly, i did a bunch of work on the power and reset buttons.


I started by re-making the acrylic -






I then re-made the shafts that held the button to the bracket. I moved from aluminum to steel, made the shafts narrower, and used 4 for
each button instead of 2. All of this greatly helps reduce movement of the button and helps hold it in place -








I used a set of calipers to measure where the thread needed to stop and where the shaft needed to be cut. It was then marked with the
threading tool, which was also used to turn the end down a little and lastly make the thread -










This is my thread tester. It lets me know if i need to make the thread deeper -








Once the thread was right, the easiest way to part it is with a hacksaw then spin it around and face the hacked end -












Now, just do that 7 more excruciating times! -






With the buttons taped in place and marked, i made guide holes with a 1.5mm drill bit. It was then drilled through with a 2.5mm bit and
the buttons were tapped -








Now for something a little different. I had a lot of trouble finding springs which were the right height, size and tension. So, after a bit of
research, i found out it's actually really easy to make your own; especially on a lathe -


To start, i needed a tool/jig to help keep the spring wire tension tight while winding. It would also be used to keep the coils set at a
certain distance apart (BTW i didn't come up with any of this myself, it was in the guide i found on the net). It was also at this point that i
found out how strong High Speed Steel (HSS) was!

I tried to use one of the HSS tool blanks to make the jig first. I normally grind these blanks to make new cutting tools, but they were the
right size to fit the tool post and i thought i'd give it a try -







It didn't even scratch the blank and almost broke my drill bit! Crazy hard stuff to be sure!


So i moved onto some aluminum square bar next and used a grinding wheel to cut it to size then drilled out a hole -








The springs i'm making didn't need too much tension. The original springs i bought and used were waaaaaay too tight and i ended up
screwing up the first set of buttons because of them :angry:. This time i wasn't going to make the same mistake and bought a few
different sized guitar strings to try which i would use as spring wire (#17 was just right)-








Here's a quick run through of what's happening in the pics below; first i found a nail which was about 3mm in diameter. I stuck the nail
and the tip of the guitar string in the lathe chuck and put the jig i made in the tool post. Starting the lathe very slowly in reverse, i let the
wire wind around the nail in a tight coil while holding the loose wire firmly in the jig. i had pre set the gears in the lathe for 1.25mm
thread cutting, so when i turned the lever to engage the lead screw the jig would move back 1.25mm every turn of the chuck. After a
few turns i disengaged the lead screw and let the coil tighten again. Lastly I cut the spring and used a grinder to grind each end flat.
Rinse and repeat -
















Anyway, moving on -










Evened it up on some sand paper -
























Sorry for dragging this out for so long but i'm almost there


The steel pieces in the following pics weren't attached together so i fixtesized it -














I made 1 more weld to be safe -












After a sand i'm left with this -
















Once the bracket is screwed down, the LEDs installed, and the steel covers are stuck in the correct position (they're resting on the case
in the pic below) there will be a blue ring around the edge of the cover and the power/reset symbol will illuminate (i still need to file
away some more steel though). I still don't know whether to plug the hdd led into the reset button so i can see drive activity but i'll work
that out later. Next update i'll also install a momentary switch so they actually work -





That's all for now guys ,

Thanks for taking a look,

Callen


P.S. have an awesome weekend