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Reminiscing, Echoes of the Future. Day 18 8/29/24 Here we go. I can see the end of the tunnel. Faceplates are 99.5% finished, so now I can focus on the inside of the case. The one issue I am up against is the mounting solution for the rear exhaust fan. I mentioned how the case was too narrow in a previous post and it caused some problems. It still is, I had to cut out part of a case and strip the paint, currently the brass colored paint is curing, the same as the fan covers which will be shown soon. polished up the front IO and mounted it, look at that mirrored reflection. Within the next few days, the case should be fully assembled, awaiting the guts.

Reminiscing, Echoes of the Future. Day 17 8/117/24 Final assembly started today. Three coats of rub on polyurethane, Watco Wipe On Poly Gloss Clear Oil-Based Polyurethane 1 qt - Ace Hardware Four coats would bring out a gloss finish, I wanted a semi gloss finish, so I went with three coats. The Brass brackets only get a quick cleanup with some brasso polish. They will be hidden by the copper mesh so they do not need the mirror finish like other faceplates will get. Slim fans go in the bottom of the case next. Followed by polishing up the rear exhaust fan bracket and then hook all of them up and do a power supply test.

Posted July 26 Reminiscing, Echoes of the Future. Day 16 8/11/24 Hey everybody. I took a break as I was starting to get burnt out. When it comes to the finish work, I have so much to do with many directions I could go. I decided to tackle my least favorite project. Cleaning up and polishing the brass faceplates. 14 hours this weekend of dry sanding with 500 grit sandpaper. Until I ran out oof sandpaper. I have two more faceplates to sand to get them ready for the polishing stage. I started rubbing on some "rub on" polyurethane finish to some of the wood parts. While I was sanding the brass. Rub on poly is a fantastic product. It doesn't care about direction for the most part and doesn't require high quality horse hair brushes.

Reminiscing, Echoes of the Future. Day 15 7/26/24 Today, I completed construction of the case. (it is just not assembled, but all the components are finished.) Shown is the front case solution. The IO explained in the previous entry, but with the dust filter. I imagined using a basic yellowed cotton sheet to give off a yellow glow like a lamp shade. But I felt it would choke off air flow way too much, and I am not great at sewing. I played around with some extra plastic "DIY" computer filter material and it was just low quality and the black did not match the front of the case, and didn't form right. I bought a roll of fine copper mesh. It looks odd right now, but I think when the case is fully assembled and staining is completed, the IO copper plate and copper piping frame polished, I think it will fit right in. On to finish work!

Reminiscing, Echoes of the Future. Day 14 7/21/24 And here is the front IO solution. I did end up leaving the audio jack out, its two extra holes that have to be lined up perfectly and won't get ever used. I took a IO out of a unused PC case. Bought a standoff kit off of amazon and the height was just about perfect to mount the silicone, had to use washers to give it just the right clearance. I took the IO and rubbed the USB's and standoffs with a sharpie and then transferred that to a piece of a paper. Made the cutouts with an xacto knife and traced it to the copper sheet. I then drilled starting holes and hand filed each of the USB cutouts. The power and reset buttons are a basic automotive 12 volt momentary button. I took some replacement PC switch cables and removed the LED wires. With that, construction is 95% finished. 5% goes to working on some of the brass brackets, actually mounting the front IO, filter mounting for the front of the case. After that, its all finish work until I plumb out the open loop cooling.

Reminiscing, Echoes of the Future. Day 13 7/7/24 This weekend was dedicated to the glass panel door. Applied stain, then three coats of rub on polyurethane, bringing the wood to a semi gloss finish. Glued in the glass panel. The welds on the brass face plate was filed down. Then lots of wet sanding using 1,000 grit sandpaper, stepping up to 2,000 and then 3,000. Buffing compound went on and with the grinding wheel and then lots of rubbing with brasso polish compound. Sanded the back side with 250 grit sandpaper to aid with adhesion. The flash function on the phone brought showed some minor pitting on the brass. Under normal light you can't see it. It is a mirror finish with the naked eye. You should be able to get an idea now of what the finished project will look like.

Reminiscing, Echoes of the Future. Day 12 6/29/24 The front IO was a big setback this weekend. I am sure I screwed up my template as well. Another few copper sheets are in the mail now. I decided to focus on a few other things for the build. First up is a touch screen device, within arms reach. Brass faceplates are almost done. Alot of elbrow grease involved to bring back the shine. I did make a quick cutout on the backwall. Turns out the front IO I robbed from a PC case is long enough to route through the back down into the PSU basement and back up to the motherboard. Veneer started to go on tonight.

I have been working on the brass face plates, those will be finished up by 90 percent tomorrow. I turned my attention to the front IO. Going to be using some nice brass switches I found on ebay. Traced it all out, drilled it all out, did a bunch of filing, and found my drill walked on one of my audio ports. Tried to fill it in with some copper brazing rod, however the copper sheeting I am using is so thin, that it annealed to much and is now too soft to do anything with. Four hours down the drain, start a fresh plate tomorrow and likely omit the audio ports. From what I understand, USB on a computer has superior sound quality due to electrical interference inside the case on audio ports. I don't even own 3.5 MM jack anything, anyway. more pictures to come tomorrow on the brass frame plates.

Well done, dig the classic hardware.

Reminiscing, Echoes of the Future. Day 11 6/16/24 Today was dedicated to mounting the fans, Added A fifth wood to the build, cedar. Every millimeter at a time, working to the finish. Once again Duct tape reigns supreme for "do it yourselfers"

Reminiscing, Echoes of the Future. Day 10 6/14/24 I tested out several stains last night, I have about twenty of the little cans of stain for testing scraps before deciding on which color to go with on the finished project. I usually start with my go to "Golden Mahogany" The variation of color on the different woods in this project was too much for a medium shade stain, the number of imperfections in the grain and wood were way too accentuated. The four different woods I am dealing with are white oak plywood, pine plywood, pine dimensional softwood along with red oak veneer. All four take stains differently and I settled on a pretty good "one size fits all" option called "English chestnut", the example picture below came out pretty close to the end result on my test pieces. The red oak veneer was chosen due to heavy grain accentuation which boarders all around the PC. Gotta hide the exposed plywood edges. Mounting solutions for all the fans starts tomorrow. Getting some ideas mocked up for the front IO solution, stay tuned for that one.

Reminiscing, Echoes of the Future. Day 9 6/8/24 The last week has been dedicated to constructing the front panel door. I was sweating bullets, as I really did not want to have to buy more material. Just used some simple utility hinges, and chiseled out the inlay part. I have a glass panel from a cheap case I never used and will be re-purposing that here, instead of going with acrylic. Actual construction of the case is getting close to complete, turning my attention to cable routing needs and the mounting solution for the front area of the case for the fans. After that will be the legs to get the case raised up.

I am looking forward to seeing this one.

I am excited for this one, I really liked your matrix build.

I submitted again, Just to make sure it went through. So Judges, there could be like 3 submissions for "Reminiscing, Echoes of the Future"