PROJECT: MM Pinnacle 300 (previously Ugly Duckling)

[Kibbler]

Am interested in ur electrical works for the button

Thumbs up for sweating it out !

Thanks Greg. I will upload some photos of that process.

kibbler you didnt see my instructions on how to remove the foam did you? I posted in your thread...

I did see it, thanks, although it came a bit late. In the end I simply used boiling water, it's more eco friendly . I had removed enough (about 1/3 of the panel's worth) by the next day (Sunday, aforementioned thread was created Saturday) to get to work.

[shazza]

Love your 'Stealth Plate.' Very creative stuff, and your dremel work is amazing. (Whew, glad you got some photos in the recent updates, you know how anxious I get )

[bianco]

great cuts kib... as expected from the master of the nibbler; manual work is much more rewarding.

[Kibbler]

Love your 'Stealth Plate.' Very creative stuff, and your dremel work is amazing. (Whew, glad you got some photos in the recent updates, you know how anxious I get )

Thanks Shazza. Photos are the lipitor of worklogs. Blood pressures start to go up without them......

great cuts kib... as expected from the master of the nibbler; manual work is much more rewarding.

Thanks bianco, incidentally the poor little nibbler sat this one out. It has a tough time with thicker panels, even relatively softer aluminum. You hit the nail on the head (so to speak) on manual work. I find it is very rewarding.

[Kibbler]

Relocating a CD-ROM eject button, part I.

This is a simple mod but one that is seldom seen, so I decided to make a guide for it should anyone be interested. For my stealth plate it would have been great to laser-cut a flexible "tab" ala Murdermod to press the eject button, but sadly my skills are not up to the task. So I'm going forward with this instead. Hope you guys find it helpful.

Many photos here so let's keep them small. To enlarge, click to go to flickr, then click "all sizes" at the top.

1. Got my spare PSU set up to power the optical drive and a fan to make sure the power juices are flowing.


2. Fan spinning: check. Power: check. Hit the eject button: Check.


3. Disconnect everything, return the fan to spare parts storage hell. Flip over, attack weak points for massive damage (in this case, 4 screws). Unscrew and open.


4. Those 4 solder points in a trapezoidal arrangement, that's the eject button ('EJECT' is etched into the PCB). Aside: Every CD drive I've opened have 4 solder points for the switch, I dunno why there are always 4, 2 should be enough for a simple push-to-make circuit. Anyway, if you want to double check which ones you need, just plug in the drive, bridge 2 points (I used the surgical nippers above) and see if the drive opens. For me it's the top-left-most 2 points, so I'll need to solder extensions to them.


5. Alright flip her over again. Move the tray around until you can access the motor and rubber-band drivetrain.


6. There it is.


7. Gently undo the rubber band. I used a small allen wrench. Don't lose it.


8. Once the motor is disengaged you can gently extract the eject/led/motor PCB assembly, shown here.


9. Gently disconnect the thin flex cable from the main PCB, and you're left with this. Put the rest away, preferably in a ziploc to keep it dust free. If you intend to paint the steel exterior, might as well leave things disassembled yea.


Next up: Activity LED, soldering, re-assembly.

[shazza]

Oooh ... I have never seen that mod before, but I can see where it might come in very handy for some configurations. You just keep the good stuff coming - thanks!

[Kibbler]

Relocating a CD-ROM eject button, part II.

1. Let's start here.


2. De-solder the LED and remove it. Then panic as you look online to find out how to identify anode and cathode while the soldering iron is still plugged in.


3. That'll do.


4. Then ID the LED solder points.


5. Now solder 26awg wire to the eject + LED leads (4 total). Keep track of the LED PWR + GND wires. Once sleeved it'll be a b-tch to tell them apart. Alternatively, you can NOT be an idiot (like me) and use different colored wires.


6. Closeup.


7. Next, take your trusty drill...


8. ...and drill a hole somewhere on the back of the housing. Be careful, the bit will go through plastic like butter. I think that hole is...3/16"? 3/16"-ish.


9. Run the wires through that freshly-drilled hole. No mod is complete without sleeving eh?


10. Another angle. Throw a ziptie on the other side for stress relief. Pull it tight.


11. Throw some electrical tape over the connection area.


12. And that's pretty much it! Before re-assembly I cut out a rectangular piece of foam and placed it on top of the electrical taped area. Once the bottom panel is screwed back on the foam will keep pressure on the electrical tape insulation, keeping it in place even if it decides to un-sticky in the future.


13. Once re-assembled the wiring comes out neatly. Test your handiwork by plugging the PSU back in, stripping back the eject leads a bit and shorting them. If the tray opens, voila, mission accomplished. You can test the LED leads, too, but that task is more suited for people with 3 or more hands.


Obviously the other end of the cable are still bare wires. You have a few options: Solder them directly to the switch (not recommended), or use an interconnect like a ATX4pin male + female crimp housing or hey, normal molex would work, too.

That's all folks. Hope it was helpful.

[GregSG]

It is definitely helpful!

Very good mod....though not something one should do for the start

[charles_h]

Fantastic Kibbs!

Thanks for taking the time to share that.

[Kibbler]

snip

Thanks guys and girl, appreciate the feedback

Some good news:

RMA turnaround from Koolance was great and 14+ hour time difference aside Dean was responsive to emails. According to UPS my package arrived in Washington 8/11 11:31AM, then left on the same day at about 7PM. That kinda efficiency either means a) their technicians really know what they're doing, or b) it was a very routine fix, or c) they found nothing wrong with it (). UPS tried to deliver to my door but I was out all day yesterday. Let's hope it works out of the box this time.

Photography related:

This case is big, and for the full-frontal shots I need a big honkin' backdrop. What are you guys using for yours, or is there a suitable (cheaper) DIY solution like vinyl sheets or something? I think 10ft x 20ft oughta be enough, right?

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

well if you need a 20 foot wide backdrop thats going to be an expensive roll of backround paper if you can even find it.... I shot Flow on a 9foot background so I cant see you needing any bigger than that and you can always extend the background edges in photoshop without altering the image of the computer

[Kibbler]

lol, ok 10ft x 20ft is just ignorant and exaggerated . Besides real-deal background paper, which I expect to be expensive, do you know of any suitable substitutes?

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

In the size of 8ft-9ft wide and as tall as you need it to be? a few kind size bed sheets maybe, other than that nothing.

In the US a roll of 9ftx12yrds nice gray background paper is $45, its not too bad considering 12 yards will last at least 2-3 shoots, longer if your very careful, just make sure you have a backgroung pole and some stands to hang it up on.

[CptDreadFlint]

I've been a big fan of your drain system and your cuts. I consider this one of those worklogs I never want to see end (selfish I know).

Always a treat to see what surprise you have for us on virtually every update.
Thanks for sharing what you do.

[Kibbler]

I've been a big fan of your drain system and your cuts. I consider this one of those worklogs I never want to see end (selfish I know).

Always a treat to see what surprise you have for us on virtually every update.
Thanks for sharing what you do.

Thanks CDF . It's my pleasure to share my (slow) progress and it is icing on the cake to hear that it can be helpful/interesting to others. My modding skill is obviously not setting any high bars but I do hope to get a few good ideas out there.

S_D thanks for your suggestions I'm having a look around to see what's available locally.

***

Cross your fingers guys. I got my TMS-200 back from Koolance. Time to shut down and plug her in...

If I'm back in 15 minutes then everything is fine and dandy.

If I'm not...well...

Just wait longer!

In all seriousness I hope it works. I don't want to deal with another RMA.

[bianco]

a close friend of mine bought textile for background. then eventually bought a portable light box. and now considering big muslin cloth.

[Kibbler]

Okay we're good. Props to Koolance , I'd expected worse after hearing multiple-RMA stories.

Here's what I'm getting on idle, with some quick and dirty auto-adjustment settings. Ambient is 29C by the way. Yes I hate the climate here.



I'm heading to bed now but there are still some comments I want to make about this setup and how I intend to tweak it. More tomorrow.

[jpm804]

Good to hear I that everything worked out this time... can't wait to see you tweak it some more.

I was interested in picking up one of these, but would be interested to see your review.

Also let's see some pic's

[PradaG]

Fantastic Build Kibbler

i love the tube brackets - very smooth

& a big thanks for the instructional DVD mod

lets see some more

[RCG_Bex]

Love it - need more full piccies though!!!

~Bex

[Kibbler]

JPM, Prada, and Bex: Thanks for your kind words and support. I promise there's more coming. For instance, I have a small stack of parts sitting here beside me that's going to the powder coater tomorrow.

Obligatory behind-the-motherboard-tray wire management.

That bundle coming up on the left is the ATX8pin. I'm not 100% happy with how it's crossing under the fan/pump/sensor/pwr/reset/led bundle, but I'm out of mounting points and ideas.

[0xdeadbeef]

Very beautiful cable management. Nice job!

[charles_h]

Great job Kibbs!

I'm glad to hear you're up and running without incident Mate.

Looking forward to seeing the final touches you've got planned.

[Kibbler]

0xDB and Charles, thanks for your comments guys . More is on the way. Dropped off some parts at the powder coater (Defu Lane, the same shop that kozato, joechuo went to. Maybe bianco and bullydog, too). I'll have them back in a few days.

In the meantime I worked on some other areas.

Took these out. So long, wheels.


Installed some proper feet. They're at 45deg angles to each of the 4 corners. This is a lousy photo, personally I really like how they look, especially at the front.


FYI these are the feet I used (Lian Li stock, material is anodized AL).


Why 45deg angles and not straight out to the side? Well like many parts of this worklog the final result is as much dumb luck as intentional design. Mountain Mods feet/castor mounting holes are drilled to some kind of industrial standard: A square pattern of 4 holes, each about 27mm apart center to center. Every set of castors I've come across in hardware stores have that same measurement. Lian Li in their usual infinite wisdom prefer their own standards. I thought they would be a drop in replacement. Instead, the holes don't line up.

Sad


But, to my surprise


The diagonal is 27mm center to center. There you have it, 45deg angled feet. Dumb luck.

I went back to redo the ATX8pin. Much better now.


Let's take a look at the other side. I loved Gadgeteer57's last shot so here's my amateur attempt at a wide-angle internal. Let me know what you think.


EDIT: Akkarin, I got your PM but "Akkarin has chosen not to receive private messages or may not be allowed to receive private messages. Therefore you may not send your message to him/her. If you are trying to send this message to multiple recipients, remove Akkarin from the recipient list and send the message again." Answer to your question is I bought them from cableorganizer.com and chilledpc.co.uk. They're probably available locally (sim lim tower?) but I haven't the time to go look.

[jpm804]

Kibbler love the wire management.. I think think the 8 pin looked that bad in the other picture but looks even better...

Like the new feet also, matches the black aluminum look of the case.