We re-did the trim last weekend, and needed up cutting a few pieces by hand as it was just easier. Turns out no walls in the bathroom are straight, with a 1/4-1/2 inch difference if you measure at the bottom or waist-height in one incident.
Got some time to work on the Mac last night: For the main ‘chassis’ I’ve settled on mounting the Motherboard normally. Essentially, making a two-layer enclosure with layer 1 being the power supply (and the power brick for the LCD) and layer 2 being the motherboard. My CPU cooler is too large to fit, so it’ll probably end up on eBay, and I’ve ordered a more sane ‘fan’ style instead of the elaborate tall heat pipe/fan/altar to the ice-goddess I had before.
Vertical motherboard was looking risky and tight. Keeping it horizontal makes things a bit smoother, although the ports will require chopping a hole through where a large vent is located. I’m thinking I’ll also pit a fan to push air out through said vent, drawing air across the motherboard.
Next big challenge for that portion is I need to trim down the threaded #8 rod I’m using for vertical supports. I’m also adding some bolted pieces, essentially making a “cage” that holds the bits and pieces. Hopefully a dremel with cut-off discks can trim the rod down.
Got the bezel drilled and cut for the flat panel, too. It needs to be sanded (on the edges) and painted, then assembled to hold the panel in place. Once I see how this looks I’m also considering if I should try to make the buttons accessible by hiding them under the “chin” of the case. If the cabling reaches it, I may try it as a definite concern is potentially needing to get to these any time the unit is powered on.
I’m hopeful I’ll get some time this weekend, and may get the panel mostly complete this weekend if all goes well. The cabling for it will be a little awkward: I’ve got a dual-head video card, so there’ll be a DVI cable (on order) running out of the case, connecting to the video card.
Pics coming soon. I still have no idea what I['m doing. A recommendation to anyone doing anything similar is to keep a can of compressed air at the ready as acrylic drill/cut waste has a lot of static adhesion.
Get some extra nuts to put on the rod before you trim. If the threads get boogered up, you can lock two together and run a third off the end, which will help to straighten out the messed up thread.
My brother made a Macquarium years and years ago, based on Andy Ihnatko’s instructions. In that era (the 90s) you were pretty much limited to using a ‘classic’ style shell (128-Classic II) for the body, as the iMac wasn’t out yet, and a Mac II would be a really boring aquarium. Some would say Shrodinger’s Aquarium, as it would be unknown if the fish were alive or dead…
You know, a really ideal feature I’d lvoe to add once this is up is if there’s a way to apply a filter to a specific monitor (in Mac OS X, most likely) so I can intentionally set the built-in LCD to have scan lines and some distortion to make it look like an old monitor on demand. (I’d probably go for green-on-black or amber-on-black for amusement value, even if it’s not a proper fit.)
I used to use this just for laughs, nothing says “annoy your university lecturer” than hooking your laptop up to the projector and then pretending that Cathode was the only way in which to access files…
I ended up getting some solid time in on this Sunday, but ended up scrappign much of my work. The two-tier ‘stacked’ configuration wasn’t practical.
What I’m settled on (and made progress on) is that the PS will sit on the bottom of the case, secured in a corner by brackets. Then more brackets will form a ‘slot’ on the other side of the case in which the motherboard will reside, mounted on a sheet of acylic (actually lexan,a s I think I found sheets that are nearly the size I need). Additional brackets will help give additional support for the video card and such.
It means throwing away some of my work done so far, but I think it’s a better design and more open for air flow. Just need to make sure the components are supported: I don’t want a bunch of weight on the video card slot!
Pics to come. I’m close enough that I’m going to have to start drilling holes in the case now, which scares me a bit.
I tried to pull up the forums when I was testing, but they were down:
Today was spent almost totally on the monitor. It’s getting data in these pics via an old MacBook, not the motherboard that is in the case.
The next big step is either finishing up the display aspect (which is some cable routing and drilling to accommodate the buttons, which will be under the ‘chin’) or starting on the last big push, which is drilling & cutting the back of the case to accommodate the motherboard connections and power feeds.
Got the drive cage enclosure (set up to hold 4 SSDs maximum) installed. It’s basically two ‘safety hanger’ pieces (thin metal ‘channel’ bits) that act as a slot for a piece of acrylic upon which the actual drive cages (adapters for 2.5" drives) are mounted. I’ve only got one SSD right now, but would like to add at least one more, maybe two.
Another item I started but got stalled on was making a holder for the USB extender I found. This was a short cable that ends in two USB 2.0 ports. I think if I can get a piece of acrylic shaped right I can use it so there’ll be two USB available via the floppy slot.
No progress this weekend. Sadly, this is on-hold while my ‘workbench’ (the bar in our basement) is cleaned up for a party we’re having this coming weekend.
On a related note, anyone know a case that can hold a Mini ATX Motherboard and a HUGE cooling unit? I’ve got some spare parts, and might just make a second box for a friend who’s apparently still running XP on his desktop.
Got a little work in yesterday. Was going to do a bunch of cutting, but someone has lost the larger collet for my dremel. The 1/8" one needed for the cutting blades and such…
So, that’s on order.
On the bad side, I may have accidentally thrown out two important screws: the long case screws. I’m guessing replacing these is Not Going To Happen. I may find them in a tool bin where stuff got tossed for party prep, but if not I may just engineer some rubber band clips on the inside so if the front bezel pops loose it doesn’t fall down and go boom.
Less satisfying is cutting holes to make the monitor controls and power switch accessible could have gone better. They’re a bit more recessed than I’d like. I may be OK with the monitor controls, but the power button is probably not usable. I’ve ordered a longer replacement.
Does anyone know a source of parts to act as ‘caps’ for buttons? Or even weird-cool ATX-style power buttons?
I hope to get a lot of cutting done next week when dremel parts arrive, and maybe reach the point where I can bring up power to the thing. If the buttons and screws really annoy me, I may end up sourcing an old Mac Plus and using the Classic enclosure as a learning opportunity. The plus should be a little sturdier in a few ways and has the potential to use the front keyboard connection (An RJ-11!!!) for a power button if I can find something interesting.
A Plus also has the slight advantage in that the floppy slot is designed with a ‘pull notch’ on one side for fingers to grasp the ejected floppy, which makes putting a USB there easier.
As for adding caps to control keys, unless they’re something like a standard size PTM switch then I’m not sure you’ll find something that fits perfectly. Making your own thing similar to a strip of pinboard/braille display would probably be the better idea, if very, very fiddly.
The Plus’ enclosure is quite a bit sturdier as Apple was still in the Lisa mindset of “put metal panelling everywhere” wheras the Classic was much more… better in every way? No that’s not quite right (plus I grew up with a Plus so it has a soft spot in my heart even if it was a heavy metallic bastard).
Your idea for using the disk-grip aperture of the Plus for easy access USB position is really clever, I’d never have thought of it! In the Macintosh SE/X conversion, they just widened the floppy slot to make a CD slot.
Also now that I come to think about it, yes, it would also technically be possible to scoop out the innards of an Apple Keyboard II (now with number pad, such wow, still no cursor keys…) and make it talk USB, and then use the RJ-11 as a very weird USB socket
If I end up doing a Mark II (or should that be III or IV after the ‘tower of hardware’ failed experiment…) in a Plus I amy end up just cutting a small rectangle and mounting the buttons for the display in that with a thin piece of acrylic. That way they only need to poke through the acrylic.
I’m kind of amazed there’s no one making nifty ATX power buttons for the home builder crowd. I’d figure there’d be something steampunk available. What I’d love is some sort of chunky industrial looking switch, but also something small.
Converting a keyboard just seems like way too much trouble for me. My goal is a useful box that sits on a desk and looks pretty.
Got some cutting time in. Dremel goes through the case pretty well, although I’m guessing the bits will wear fast when I’m cutting plastic and metal in a few places. Going to have to do the majority of the cutting outside, with a mask, as the debris is pretty nasty. Got it marked, and will hopefully cut more one morning this week.
