Jonathan Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Hello guys! This is my third and current project right now. I will be dong a scratch build case with a CL4P-TP theme from Borderlands using a Gigabyte Brix 4570R. This is going to be a HTPC (ish) type of system. A very good friend of mine suggested to do this mod, which I kinda accepted as a challenge. I am still undecided on what material I am going to use. I am planning on using aluminum and HDPE plastic for the case. Still not sure yet, but I already have the aluminum sheet that I might be using. Right now, I am still on the designing stage but will start the build as soon as I get all the dimensions pinned down. I already have the Brix up and running, all that is left is to start the dimensioning and make sure everything fits inside, then I could start the actual build of the case. I will be adding a little twist to the build. Right now, I don't want to reveal the twist yet, but as soon as I get the preliminary cuts for the case, the twist will be revealed. Here are a few photos of the components that I will be using. I will be using a 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport SODIMM single DDR3 1866mhz for the RAM and a Seagate 500GB SSHD for storage. Right now I am still on a hunt for the Cooler Master Blade Master 92mm fan locally. And that's it for now. Hopefully I could finish this build on time.Till the next update! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Jones Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Love the sound of this dude! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 Love the sound of this dude! Thanks man! Hopefully I could finish this on time. I have been staring at the photos of CL4P-TP, and the amount of work that needs to be done for the details is just enormous. Wish me luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Posted February 5, 2015 Author Share Posted February 5, 2015 Hey Guys! Here's a small update with my project. Last weekend, I started to do some metal/aluminum cutting for the case. I recently purchased a desktop CNC machine, and I was planning on using it to do all the cuts for this project. But I accidentally broke the cutting bit that came with it while I was trying to do some test cut with a galvanized metal sheet. So I decided to just go ahead, and do the cuts the old fashion way. Using AutoCAD, this is what I usually do with my projects. Draw the concept to scale, try to fit in all the components to see what might become a possible interference and what not. The red box in the middle represents the Brix. Well, that's the overall dimension of the case, but I will strip out the existing case of it. The test metal that I was trying to cut in this picture is a 22 gauge sheet metal that I found laying around our basement. I decided to do the test cut using this sheet first before I do the final cut on the aluminum sheet that I have. And by doing this, I could confirm that all of the components that will be used will actually fit in the build without wasting my aluminum sheets. Last year I purchased a cordless Dremel Rotary tool and my reason for grabbing a cordless instead of the normal rotary tool with cord was, I do all my work at our backyard. Our backyard/garage is fairly small and most of the space in our backyard/garage is being occupied by cars, and dragging around tools that have cord are kinda pain in the butt to deal with. The I was happy with the cordless Dremel except for one thing, well, this is expected from a tool that is battery operated. The battery life of the cordless Dremel is too short. 2000-2500 rpm, the battery will drain out within 45 minutes of straight usage. It takes 1 hour and 18 minutes to get it fully charged. As you can see in the photo below, I could only finish half way of the layout line that I made. Well, considering that I was using a 22 gauge sheet metal, that was expected. So I decided to just wait till next weekend and finish the cut off. Last weekend was a bit busy for me around the house so I could only work on the cutting part around Sunday afternoon. And the additional fan that I purchased last week came in! This CoolerMaster Blademaster 92mm fan will get modded so I could plug the fan into one of the USB ports of the Brix. The airflow will be significantly reduced by doing that, but it's still better to have something than nothing. That's all I have in my plate right now, but I will be updating as soon as I get all the cuts and the bends for the case! Till the next update! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 Hey Guys! Here's a little update with my build. 0.032" 12"x 12" aluminum sheet + Dremel + hand drill = front part of the case, done! Since I don't have a drill press, I ended up using a hand drill. Well, someone might say "Oh, it will be much easier if you used a hammer and a nail to make those holes.", well, I was too lazy to look for a hammer. Those holes will be the vent or "breathing" holes of the case. Time to bend! Lesson learned here, do not use a bender unless it's firmly secured! My first attempt of bending it was not that great, but as soon as I have the bender firmly secured, it was like folding a paper. I forgot to took a photo but I was actually using 2 vise grips to hold down the metal bar of the bender. Here's the first cut out that I made earlier. Finally, I could get a clear idea on how I will layout the components inside the CL4P-TP case. From top, the SSHD, then the "naked" Brix, and then underneath will be the 92mm fan. Ima try to cut the back panel of the case tomorrow. My next challenge is going to be, how the :) am I gonna make a switch for this? The switch of the Brix is soldered to the board. The switch looks kinda like this. I was planning on using a Vandal Resistant switch for this and make the switch as the eye of Clappy. But it looks like that's not gonna happen. Not sure yet, Im gonna need to do some more research about this kind of switch and find a work around making the vandal resistant switch happen. My brain is still not working properly upon writing this update. Looks like 2 hours of sleep is not enough for the brain to function properly. 2.5 hours maybe? Well, see ya next update! If you have any suggestions, please feel free to drop a comment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Posted March 2, 2015 Author Share Posted March 2, 2015 Hey Guys! Here's a little update with what I have right now for my scratch build project. I have been busy for the past, at least, a week and a half between work, and taking care of my daughter. I got a little spare time yesterday and today and I ended up spending those time to do some progress with my project. The last time, I finished up the front panel of the case, and I decided to do the back panel this time. I "pencilled" out the outline of the back panel first on a 0.032 inch aluminum sheet and started cutting the outline out using a, uuhm, not sure what you call these scissors, metal cutting scissor maybe? Since it was thin enough, I thought using a metal cutting scissor instead of a jigsaw would be easier for me, so I jumped in and did the cut. It was fine I guess, but it left some "teeth" mark on the cut line. Sanding it down was my only solution to get rid of the marks. Then using a hand drill, I started drilling the vent holes for the back panel. I pencilled in the outline of the holes that I needed for the I/O ports, and from there, I just started drilling holes inside the outline of the I/O and filed it down to the outline of the I/O. I tried my best, and it looks good enough for me. (Although patience is a must if ever your going to sand down small cut outs like these, which I do not have ) Here's a photo of how the back panel will look like. The internal layout of the Brix is, the exhaust fan of the unit is on top, and the RAM and HDD are on the bottom. Since I wanted to make a easy access for HDD/RAM upgrades, I will be rotating the Brix 180 degrees. That way the access for HDD/RAM will be on top, and the fan will be at the bottom part of the build. Time for some bending! I recently purchased a small Press Brake that can only bend up to 22 gauge metal sheet. I am using a 0.032 inch thick aluminum sheet, which is way past from the 22 gauge specification of the bender. It can still bend the sheet, but it's gonna have some obvious radius or curve on the bend. As you can see here, there's an obvious radius in the bend. But it still looks good for me, so I'll go with it! Now I got the front and back panel cut out finished! Although I still need to do some work with the front panel. Notice the front panel (left side of the photo) has it's side "pointing up"? That was a screw up that I made. It should be flat, horizontally, so I will need to cut and sand it down horizontally. Same with the back panel (right side). Here's a photo of the back panel I/O cut out. I tried my best to do an accurate cut out for the I/O, but I still screwed it up. Notice the hole for the for the kensington lock? it was a bit too high. I might do some more filling to get that a little bit aligned. That's all for now. Hopefully I could get some more free time next week to get some more progress on this project. Thank you so much for taking your time to go through my build log update, and if you have any suggestions or questions, please don't hesitate to drop a comment! Happy Modding! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sw333t Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Nice project. Really hope you can pull this one off. Will follow this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-=SpH!Nx=- Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Nice project. Really hope you can pull this one off. Will follow this one. Thanks man! Not even sure if I can finish this before the deadline. I got tons of stuff going on right now and finding enough time to do some progress on this project is just hard as :). But I will still try to get this up and finished before the deadline. Wish me luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Smith Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 Thanks man! Not even sure if I can finish this before the deadline. I got tons of stuff going on right now and finding enough time to do some progress on this project is just hard as :). But I will still try to get this up and finished before the deadline. Wish me luck! Damn, I hate it when cool threads like this just drop off. Was looking forward to seeing the finished build. Can you update with a pic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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