Project: Secret of the Ooze

[gvblake22]

Ok, here we go, definitely made some good progress this weekend. No major mistakes made or design flaws found, so I can't complain.
Went right ahead and cut out the openings for the two 3.5" drive bay devices...



Then it was on to making them look pretty (or so I hoped). This involved making more fluorescent green acrylic frames around the drives...




I still have to drill a couple holes in them and screw them to the case, but you can pretty much get the idea. But that's all for now. Not sure when I'll be able to get back into the mod shop, but I assure you that when I do there will more pictures taken to keep you all in the loop!

[micmac]

Heck Yeah Blake!!! Nicely done I like the blue fan controls for sure, oh and the waving-smiley guy ;) Keep up the good work, I can't wait for you to peel off all the paper!

[crk1973]

I have just started a Mini-ITX Acrylic case...and your thread was incredible helpful.....McMaster had all the screws and fasteners....Frozencpu was awesome and your acrylic guy was great......Thanks for your help....will give you an update on my mini-itx as it goes...BTW: have you tried to paint any arcylic?...was thinking I might paint the inside of the front panel white...to give it a ipod looking feel...do you think this will work..or should I get a piece of white arcylic and just weld it?

[gvblake22]

Welcome to the forums crk!!!!!!! :wavey:

I'm glad my project could be of some help to you. The whole thing has been quite an experience thus far...

As for painting acrylic, I've tried it a few different ways with mixed success. One of the major problems I've had trying to paint is that it's just too darn cold for the paint to adhere correctly. I keep getting wrinkles and the paint comes out in spurts no matter how much I shake the can or how full it is. So make sure you are painting in a well ventilated area that is warm (at least 65ºF) for best results.

The other thing is that you want to make sure you use a similar color as the acrylic you are painting. for instance, I tried painting the back of a piece of that fluorescent green acrylic black and it looked terrible. Then I tried painting the back of one of those dark smoke gray pieces black and it looked ok. So I tried getting some fluorescent green spray paint for the green acrylic and it looked better, but the color of the green was still a little different from the color of the acrylic and it looked a little odd. So color matching is gonna be tricky.

And finally, you might want to make sure there aren't any bright lights shining through the case from the inside because the light shines through even a couple coats of paint really easily. You might want to look into getting some kind of a primer or just getting completely opaque acrylic to work with so you don't even have to worry about painting it. I don't have a lot of professional advice to offer on painting, but that's what I've experienced so far just messing around. Check out this article about painting different materials.

I'm anxious to see your ideas for the mini-ITX case, that sounds like a fun little project (no pun intended)!
Post up a thread of your own and give us some pics of your progress or at least some of your preliminary design ideas!

[Jokerswild]

Good link there Blake. The case is coming together nicely.

[crk1973]

Awesome Painting Link!!!

When your finished assembling the parts are you planning on polishing the sides of the acrylic back to a crystal. How are you plannig on doing it?......reading on another website...they suggested using 300/400/600 sand paper then buff with polishing wheel.....Have you tried?

I want to route the edges to an 1/8" rounded corner then sand/polish the edge back to crystal...instead of bending....

what r your thoughts?

BTW: your case looks awesome....keep hacking away at it.........can't wait till you remove the acrylic protective sheets!!!!!

[Jokerswild]

Originally Posted by crk1973

Awesome Painting Link!!!

When your finished assembling the parts are you planning on polishing the sides of the acrylic back to a crystal. How are you plannig on doing it?......reading on another website...they suggested using 300/400/600 sand paper then buff with polishing wheel.....Have you tried?

I want to route the edges to an 1/8" rounded corner then sand/polish the edge back to crystal...instead of bending....

what r your thoughts?

BTW: your case looks awesome....keep hacking away at it.........can't wait till you remove the acrylic protective sheets!!!!!

You can use a torch to polish acrylic. You need to be careful not to let the flame rest too long in one spot or you will make it smoky or bubble the plastic or even worse catch it on fire. Just keep running the flame back and forth. The sand paper method also works but takes longer and uses up sandpaper. I worked with quite a bit of Acrylic so it's easy for me but if you want to try the flame polish method I suggest you try it on a scrap piece first.

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by crk1973

When your finished assembling the parts are you planning on polishing the sides of the acrylic back to a crystal. How are you plannig on doing it?......reading on another website...they suggested using 300/400/600 sand paper then buff with polishing wheel.....Have you tried?

Glad you liked the link. I just plan on sanding it up the edges nice and good, probably up to 600 or 800 grit. Especially on the green acrylic, hte slight roughness left from sanding really helps make the edges glow!

Originally Posted by crk1973

BTW: your case looks awesome....keep hacking away at it.........can't wait till you remove the acrylic protective sheets!!!!!

Thanks! I'm super excited to get all the paper backing off too. Now that I've gotten over the couple major hurdles, I'm more excited than ever to finish this case, so hopefully there will be more and more frequent updates!

[Dr. V]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

Glad you liked the link. I just plan on sanding it up the edges nice and good, probably up to 600 or 800 grit. Especially on the green acrylic, hte slight roughness left from sanding really helps make the edges glow!


Thanks! I'm super excited to get all the paper backing off too. Now that I've gotten over the couple major hurdles, I'm more excited than ever to finish this case, so hopefully there will be more and more frequent updates!

this is gona be GREAT! u know ur gonna be mass producing those in different styles to sell and you'll make money off them dude! if u send us benchmaks and other detailed info, if the cooling and efficiency turns out nice i can send some pretty intricet designs that i would love on the case with detailed lighting an everything! i hope this turns out INSANNEEE!!!!!!

cant wait to see it man great job so far!

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by ST!X

u know ur gonna be mass producing those in different styles to sell and you'll make money off them dude! if u send us benchmaks and other detailed info, if the cooling and efficiency turns out nice i can send some pretty intricet designs that i would love on the case with detailed lighting an everything!

HAHA, thanks, but I think this is the first and last case I will ever build from scratch as it has turned out to be way more of a pain in the @$$ than I had imagined

It's more of a "learning experience" now than anything else. But I still hope it turns out well because of all the money I've dumped into this damn project.