Project Ophidian

KikBox · 06-19-2006, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Niak

This is why I love you Stu :)

I can't wait till we can see some of the work you do for BooomLAN.

I love you too Niak.

We should be able to do some pretty sick mods with all those sponsored cases. If any of you guys can make it to Minneapolis in the Fall and Winter months we will be giving away custom cases at our LAN parties.

.::BooomLAN Gaming and Mod Club::.

Zyphron · 06-20-2006, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KikBox

Zyphron:

You make several good points. However, the object with these cases is more than just selling a case. Case projects like this generate ideas and modders are always looking for cool new things to do to their cases. For me personally, I love this kind of thing because I get to build a new case with a new theme every month. Not only that but I am able to help modders come up with new ways to use the same old parts and paints.

For every single case we roll out there will be a corrisponding set of parts and ideas that will be made available to the modding community. Even if you don't have the money or desire to buy the finished case there will be related parts that you will be able to purchase and use in your projects. If you even take away one good idea from this work log it's worth it.

Kikboxes very lucky to be able to do these cases. I consider it an honor to create these for xoxide.com and to share them with you all. I am looking forward to showing you more of our work over the next 12 months!

good to hear, and ive already taken a few ideas from you guys :P but thats the point i suppose
because once you share how you do something on here it can instantly be altered and talior fitted to others needs. i am glad you guys are doing this, perhaps it will even add more traffic and biz to xoxide just still, that case like that ... i dont even want to think whats its going to cost.

KikBox · 06-21-2006, 02:12 PM

I am starting the structural mods tonight. There should be a number of additional posts tomorrow showing my progress. Before that gets underway there are a few more items to paint. The radiator grills are getting the treatment along with a small piece of aluminum that will become the Kikboxes and Xoxide logo plate.

The process is the same as with the case:

Primer

Paint

Secret Sauce

Here is the finished logo plate. Adam has hand painted both logos using a very samll pinstriping brush. I will be riveting this logo plate in place on the inside of the case.

POSTING TOMORROW: Installing grills and beginning case wheel mods.

poptya · 06-21-2006, 02:51 PM

WOW he handpainted those? that is absolutely amazing. Adam sounds like a painting god.....

also, can't wait to see what you do to it structurally :)

KikBox · 06-21-2006, 03:05 PM

This will not be the first time that I have started cutting after Adam had already completed one of this paint jobs. It aways makes me nervous but I am starting to get used to it. It always seems that our production schedules work out this way.

Nerves of steel!

Toxique · 06-21-2006, 06:33 PM

Those look great! I feel fortunate that I've been able to see Adam's work up close in person, (although I haven't seen the Ophidian case yet), but I can tell you this, as good as the pictures look, they really don't do justice to actual product. Adam truely is an amazing talent! A nice compliment to Stu's creativity. Someday I'm going to have to have him (Adam) release his painting mojo upon my Temjin case.

KB_Zoom · 06-21-2006, 10:47 PM

Tox,

Adam recently finished painting a Razer Pro mouse for me... that thing is amazing, too! I'll post a couple pix on the Kikboxes site soon! For now, I gotta get to measuring for the AXE!

Ogre

KikBox · 06-22-2006, 09:54 AM

Mods are underway. Now that we have our finished grills I can start the installation of the case fans. I am replacing all the fans with 120mm green LED fans. I am also adding a third 120mm green LED blowhole fan. I plan on installing it the same way I did on the Spitfire case. The Lian Li P7 has this great front bezel that is just deep enough to house the entire fan frame...if you remove the air filter. Yes, I am taking out the air filter!

I selected these grills for a couple of reasons. First, they are very sturdy! Keep in mind that these grills are made of thick steel. Just drilling out the screws holes can dull your drill bits. Not only do I like the substantial look and feel of these AC Ryan parts but I like the grill design. Since Steve the Snake Man is trapped inside the case, I wanted grills that would give the impression of bars. These grills feel like cage doors or reinforced windows. They have an industrial look to them and are easily transformed to gothic with a little fancy painting.

Anyway, pretty straight forward mods. I am taping off the pieces so I don't hose up the paint job. I Marked the holes and cut them out with the Dremel. I am using hex key machine screws for mounting the fans and grills. After everything is fitted I will remove the grills so I can paint the screw heads and the wheel frames. I think this style of screw is much more interesting visually.

I am placing the blow hole slightly forward of the existing 80mm fan mount to allow room for the PSU. I have an old Xconnect I used for testing. This case will not be sold with a power supply so I wanted to make sure we left enough room for even the bulky Xconnect cables.

OOOPS! Don't forget your safety glasses!

Test fitting
I ran out of nuts so I was not able to mount the blowhole fan just yet. No worries, I have ordered more and they should arrive today.

Shiny
Just wanted to show off this finish. It's textured but Adam still managed to get a shine that will reflect objects in the room.

NEXT UP: Wheel and lighting mods

Silentpurity · 06-23-2006, 04:08 PM

*Jaw drops.*

KikBox · 06-23-2006, 04:21 PM

I am putting Polyurethane wheels on Ophidian. They roll smooth and quiet and won't leave black marks on the floor or desk like standard rubber caster wheels.

I like these guys because they are uber easy to take apart and paint.

Installation is very easy with 4 bolts, a washer and a nut on each wheel. This install will be slightly more complicated because I mounting them over the top of a sheet of 1/4" cast acrylic.

The wheels I am using for Ophidian will mount the same way as wheels I have used in past projects. These red polyurethane wheels are on sale in the Kikshop in sets of 4. You will need to get your own bolts, washers and nuts. I recommend rubber or nylon washers and acorn nuts to dress them up a bit. 1/4" or 3/16" should do the job and you can vary the length depending on the demands of your specific chassis.

In this project I used a long enough bolt to go through a stand-off, 1/8" of mirrored acrylic and then capped it with a acorn nut.

KikBox · 07-05-2006, 01:10 PM

We have the Light Bus ready to install. This was a bit of a trick but it turned out really cool.

We removed the acrylic cover from the Sunbeam and then Adam applied his painting techique in reverse so that it would show through the acrylic properly. It was easier to apply the paint to the back side of the acrylic rather than try to mask off all the buttons on the control panel. However, this meant first applying the black paint, then the red and finally the primer.

The techique worked like a charm and the thick acrylic cover gives the control panel some really nice depth.

**Grez** · 07-05-2006, 02:43 PM

Niiiiccceee...this is essentially the methodology I used to customize my Sunbeam Chromatic Windmill. It turned out great. Of course, in my case, I just went with a solid color, not Adam's crazed custom paint job, so mine was a bit less challenging.

In any case, this looks really, really good...it's always nice to see the modders around here say @#$! the warranty and make their 3rd party devices match their case mod. BTW...love the red polyurethane wheels too.

KikBox · 07-05-2006, 03:20 PM

Thanks Grez. The toughest part of the mod is coming up. I am experimenting with lighting and acrylic and hope to achieve some interestesting effects that will add lots of value to case but not overwhelm the paintjob. I have a detailed plan, now we just need to see if it's all going to work.

KikBox · 07-08-2006, 11:46 PM

Well, as the due date for project Ophidian nears I have been kicking it into high gear to complete my mods. I pulled an all nighter last night but it was worth it as I was able to complete nearly all of my work leaving only my wiring for today.

Here are some pics of the project in progress:

As I mentioned in previous posts, I am painting all the screw heads and the wheel frames while I am at it. I think the small details make all the difference.

I am fitting the bottom of the case with a 1/4" thick sheet of acrylic. I am using cast acrylic for its clarity. This feature has 2 functions, I plan on using it for a lighting experiment and also as a window feature on the bottom of the case. Anyone who has ever followed any of my work logs knows, I like floor boards on the inside of my cases. I just think they look sharp. However, for this case I decided to do something a bit different, I am cutting out the bottom of the case and creating a large window that will allow light from the fans to spill out the bottom of the case.

I have to start buy cutting the acrylic. This is the only sheet I have so I cannot afford to screw it up. If you plan on cutting acrylic I suggest using a jig saw. Get a blade with the finest teeth you can find. I like to use my bi-metal blades as they have very fine teeth. I run my saw at maximum speed and move nice and slow. Cast acrylic is particularly brittle so you need to take your time.

I use 2 Irwin clamps and a nice straight board to create a fence for my saw however I have found that my work comes out much better if I do it free-hand. Just 2 cuts and I have a piece of plastic that is a precise fit to the bottom of the case.

Before I can cut the window I need to mount my wheel frames. I need to be absolutely sure that I have all the screw holes for my wheels accounted for prior to cutting the window. When planning a project I have found that making a step by step list is the best way to avoid costly screw ups. I usually prepare a list of each step in the mod and the order in which they should be carried out.

I need to drill 4 holes per wheel and I will be using the same bolts and nuts to mount the wheels that I used on the fan grills. After drilling the holes for the wheel frames I am better able to plan my floor window cuts.

I am creating a nice big oval window between the back set of wheels and the hard drive cage. I start by punching 2 big holes with a 4.5" hole saw then I connect the 2 holes with my Dremel. I cleaned up the edges of the cut with my Dremel and a file.

The next step is to prepare the acrylic sheet for mounting. As part of my light feature I am putting LEDs in the acrylic with the hope of transmitting light to the edges of the plastic to create a rim of green light around the bottom edge of the case. I am placing 4 green LEDs in the acrylic and concealing them below the hard drive cage. With all of my lights concentrated at the front of the system I am going to need to polish the crap out of this plastic to ensure the best light transfer possible.

I started by drilling the holes for my LEDs. I am using a 3/16" plastics drill bit. This will give me the right size hole for a 5mm LED. I will need to expand the hole slightly to allow the back edge of the LED to penetrate the plastic, for this I am using a universal bit. I placed the holes in a staggered pattern. Since these LEDs are going to be hidden under the hard drive cage I did not worry too much about precision and just eye balled it. Once my holes were drilled I used the acrylic as a template and drilled corresponding holes in the bottom of the case.

Polishing plastic takes some time but if you have the patients there is a big payoff. I like to shape things by hand whenever possible and on this case I wanted the acrylic plate to have nice beveled edges. I clamped my belt sander in my bench vice and began to work the plastic one edge at a time. Using 120 grit sandpaper, I was able to quickly get the shape I wanted. With practice, you will be able to get nice even beveled edges on all sides.

Once the bevels were created I moved on to wet sanding. Using 400 grit sand paper and water I sanded all the rough spots out of each of the edges. It took about 40 minutes of alternately sanding and dipping in water to get the nice smooth edges I was looking for.

After wet sanding I moved on to polishing compound. Many people like to sand with finer and finer grits but I have found that my Casewell polishing kit allows me to skip these steps. Using a medium grade compound and wheel I am able to achieve a glassy finish. I followed that with a polishing rouge that's the consistency of lotion. Following this final step the acrylic is smooth and clear as glass. Polishing in this way is a messy business but you will get a super high shine.

After completing the acrylic plate I trimmed my window with rubber "U" channel and then mounted the acrylic plate by sandwiching it between the chassis and the wheel frames. A few nuts and washers and the mounting is complete. Mounting this acrylic was not without its problems, I had to mod the plastic mounting brackets on the front of the case in order to make everything fit properly.

Finally I have everything together! In retrospect, I think I would have gone with black wheels if I had it to do all over again. The last step for the night was to slip a PSU into the case for testing and remount the fan grills with our newly painted screws.

Okay it's 4:15am...time for bed. Next post: wiring and testing

wooster241 · 07-08-2006, 11:55 PM

WOW........... nough said

**WhiteBoy88** · 07-08-2006, 11:58 PM

Looks extremely hawt....I love to see people do a lot of mods and a custom paint job instead of just one of the two.

KikBox · 07-09-2006, 12:18 AM

Almost done! The last part of the Ophidian project is to do my custom wiring for the LEDs and then clean up and test.

The wiring is very simple. I am wiring 4 2.1 volt 5mm LEDs in series and then running them to a single channel on the light bus. To do this I need a 3 pin molex connector and according to my calculations at 150ohm resistor. I have done a fair amount of wiring so this goes pretty easy. A little soldier, a little heat shrink tube and I am ready to test.

To test the lighting and fans I am shorting the power supply so that I can run it without a Mobo. Once this is done I run a rat's nest of cables just so I can get everything hooked up. I discovered a small issue with the light bus but had it fixed in 5 minutes. Looks like everything is working.

My acrylic lighting actually transmits more light to the back of the case than I expected, I am very pleased with the results. The effect is subtle but its there.

The last step is to clean up the wire mess so that when I take the nice studio pics of this case the inside looks as good as the outside.

The final crowning jewel is the logo plate. The plate was created by Adam for this project and features hand painted Kikboxes and Xoxide logos. A little JB Weld and its done.

Stay Tuned for Studio Pics!

tencent · 07-09-2006, 01:24 AM

thats amazing man, awesome work and Adam deserves an entire case of beer for that painting work.

rahl07 · 07-09-2006, 01:29 AM

as far as marbling the paint goes, i've found that Black Ink (Citadel Colours, Miniature Modeling) on a huge brush (think broom) can sort of work as a "stamp" for anyone going for this effect. However, you cant texture it with relief.

**Grez** · 07-09-2006, 03:22 AM

Stu, if I compliment you guys any more, I'll sound like a giggly fanboy. So on that note, I'll save my final gushing praise for the studio pics.