Scratch Project: Veritas

[NFC]

I hated that attempt. So it was on to #2:

SECOND PSU:






Preparing for filing, oh, and I should warn you...

Don't say I didn't warn you =D

I made a quick return to this sink, and finished it up.

Then I started filing this perforated piece...

Filing it round....

I wanted this design to fit so perfect that the top would be secure without any screws, so it required...more filing...

The thing I love second to filing, sanding!

The finish turned out rough, but I was confident I could polish it.

Not bad for 200grit =P

Yeah, again, before I discovered that the grit numbers went above 600

I had the right kind of machine screws, just not the right length...

Fan vibration dampeners made for some nice spacers...

Shes's in!

[NFC]

I wanted to mount the board right to the PSU chassis...

So after drilling I tapped it with a 3.5m tap

It's starting to look like something...

I needed to file the hole I cut earlier for the GPU and HDD wires...

I also needed to make a cut for the 24 pin...



Some of Bill Owen's molding...moulding...rubber edge stuff...

Eh

Eh..m..hmmm

It's snug though...

Needs polish...

It is tight enough so screws aren't needed, like the origional plan.

You guys can see the gap:

Plenty of clearance.

AND THEN OCCT FRIED IT. It popped so bad that it left scorch-marks on the aluminum. I was pretty frustrated, but then again that is why I stressed it. I knew I could do better than that attempt anyways...

Attempts 3, 4 and 5 tomorrow night. Sleepy time now. =D

[Geezer]

You might be able to get a small metal bending brake to make the 90 degree angles a little easier. I was looking at one for shaping the back panel for my case that would have been good for making fairly straightforward bends like the ones you were making in the attempts you showed and it was about $30. (This guy. )

For light duty work if you're doing enough mods/full case designs involving aluminum or mild steel, it may be worth looking into. (For more complicated stuff you could look into something like this, but it's a bit spendy for occasional modding.)

[anachlores]

sounds lieka n ordeal. I want to see what happens next to PSU 3 ^_^

[NFC]

You might be able to get a small metal bending brake to make the 90 degree angles a little easier...

Thanks for the links Oh how I wish I bought one of those before this project, but I was foolish and ended up making my own (after all the sheet metal bending was done ) because I couldn't bear the thought of ever working with aluminum again--even if I was doomed to.

sounds lieka n ordeal. I want to see what happens next to PSU 3 ^_^

Then I shall continue!

(and when are you going to finish your project?--I'm excited to see how it turns out! )

PSU THREE:


Since I destroyed the other PSU spectacularly with a pop that I heard through three walls, it was time for another--the Diablo 380!:

Specs:

Yummy, another PSU's warranty gone:

Whoa, a removable fan pin! Classy!

This interior will make it difficult to route wires, luckily the heatsinks are facing the right direction (sarcasm):

I like the color of this female end better, so I'll use it:

I decided it would be easiest to use a jigsaw to cut the shape out, so I drilled a hole for the blade:

I ruined the piece with the jigsaw, so I busted out the rotozip instead:

hehe, easy as cutting out a shape with a Rotozip:

Everyone's favorite part, filing:

This is looking hopeless...

I had an idea on how to cheat and get out of filing:

Whoa, being lazy paid off:

done filing: (I love saying those two words together )

Making marks for round 2 of cuts--by the way, for future reference, this should have been done AFTER the bending!!!:

Piece subtracted:

Ok, so I am missing about a gig of pictures on this project. My camera has been sleeping around with various hard drives, but I cant find a certain folder anywhere. This makes me a sad face, because some of the really cool parts of this project (a whiles away yet) are missing. I'm wondering if they are buried on my sim card somewhere and if I should use recovery software to find them...

Don't get me wrong, I still have many, many pictures of me filing things to make up a decent worklog. =) I'll just have to narrate where some work occured and hand you a picture of the finished project, and an Ice Cream Cone*.

Ok so here is what it looked like all filed and sanded:

These pictures speak for themselves, I don't know what they say, but here they are:



Ok, go go gadget bender:




Theeennnnn I ruined it. I made a bad bend and hammering it out resulted in marking the piece bad and I couldn't sand them out. I decided, conveniently, that I hated the design and I could do better. Notice a trend?

=P


*You will not get an actual Ice Cream Cone. Sorry.

[NFC]

PSU 4


This is one of the sections I am missing pictures of. Luckily, it just looked like failure (if interested in seeing what failure looks like, please scroll up).

[NFC]

PSU 5


Whoot! I stayed with this design because I was running out of time and was sick of rebuilding PSUs. Although not as neat as I wanted, installed in the case it looked great. Anywho.


These are the 3.5m anodized screws I used in this PSU attempt, and throughout the case:

I was sick of thin aluminum, so I grabbed a chunk of 5mm thick stuff and made a base:

There was a bunch of filing to do, so I did it:



Whoot, flush pieces, that almost never happens:


I drilled the edges for the pins I was going to use to connect them:

In with the pins, just like voodoo...oh snap now I have David Bowie stuck in my head. =(

WILL IT FIT? OH THE SUSPENSE:




I didn't have the right bit for this job, so it took some work:

This hole, btw, was for the cables which are routed on the sides:

Seriously, you have to glue thin material down to wood to cut it right with the jigsaw. Unfortunately I did not have wood, so I used a combination of pure ivory and sea-turtle shells (not pictured):

eah, I used the rotozip in the end. =P



Using the dremel to make a notch for the bend:

Closeup of the rounded edge, to aid in the bend:

I almost broke my drill press cutting these holes with cheap hole-saw pieces from Harbor Freight. As I would learn later, do not skimp on good cutting bits. =(

Filefilefilefilefile

All the pieces to cut!

I had pictures of the painful wet-sanding process, but they are gone. BTW, I jumped from 600 to 1000 grit paper, and as such it shows (looks bad). I couldn't find 800 or 900 around town, so in the future I have to order some online. For later pieces I had 800 and 900 and I was able to achieve a mirror finish on parts.


Oops, I missed an edge...back to the 200grit:

There we go:




I decided it would be clever to use a straight-edge to assist with the bend for this material, as I shaved off quite a bit in the sanding process:

Applying heat, cause it looks awesome:

I wanted the edges to be PERFECT, thus, the filing:

And it fits great:

Let's glue!

I needed to drill and tap the front panel for the screws:

Here it is before I got the angle sorted out:

WHOOT! Something that doesn't suck. Now it is time to sleeve!


BTW, in case you guys were wondering, I drilled multiple holes to make the cables look spread out--and I used black and pink for the different holes to give it a cool look as the randomness went into a pattern.