curly haired boy

Snow Razor - a Mirror's Edge Case Mod


The planning thread (if you've subscribed to that one, please subscribe to this thread too for all the updates!)

The Mod:

Snow Razor is basically a PC built with the aesthetics of the first-person parkour game, Mirror's Edge.

The Concept (see the planning thread for more details):

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curly haired boy

Contents:

Update 1: Monitor once-over, evaluating and brainstorming

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curly haired boy

Edit post 2 (in case i need it. :P )

FIRST UPDATE COMING SOON!

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ErBall

didn't you start this thread months ago?

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curly haired boy

That was the planning thread, this is the 'actual doin' stuff to hardware' aka MODDING thread.

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ryanlusk

Subbed.

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Warfarin88

Sweet. I remember this one Curly.

Anxious to see it actually happen.

curly haired boy

Update #1: May 9th, 2009

This afternoon, I couldn't stand it any longer. I really wanted to break ground on Snow Razor, so I went out to the work shed under our deck just to get some hands-on with the monitor. My aim was to take the bezel off, and see what i had to work with. i need to know in order to figure out how i wanna mount the acrylic bezel, and how much acrylic i'll need.

Twas a beautiful afternoon, but a little warm...

got my work space prepped (newspaper over the workbench, plus an old towel on top) and got the box ready to open

can't mod without a good brew...

:P

Tools of the trade: B&D cordless i won free from Club Live:

Two worn little screwdrivers (i've been using them since i was a kid). I call em the Twins. (and yes, i bent the bigger one quite badly once. :P )

The monitor base. It's got a really nice silver finish that will go rather well with the overall red/white theme. I'm happy with it the way it is.

First step was prying off the sides of the monitor's bezel. those consisted of small silver plastic strips. (by the way, the back of the monitor is a dark gray, but the flash makes it look lighter than it actually is. i'm thinking of painting that silver later to match the base.)

progress of a sort, prying off the existing bezel with the Twins...

problem. the bottom of the bezel is screwed in from the back. and i can't reach the screw unless i take the stem off the back...

the drill makes it easy you can see the offending screw in the center:

always keep track of your parts.

there she is, topless...

From what i can see, the screen itself is encased in a metal shell. On the top edge, the plastic backing is level with the screen, but here on the sides and bottom, it stops midways or so.

I'll have to mount the buttons in a new way, as well. fortunately the board they're on is easily moved. perhaps i'll stealth it behind the bezel entirely, i dunno...

fully disrobed. i don't wanna mess with any of the guts. the back panel/hump isn't firmly attached to the back, so it's not a good idea to try lifting it by that. (but curly, it has a VESA mount! how can it be loosely attached? ...beats me. :P mebbe it's got a hook or tab that only bears weight when properly upright.)

after looking it over, i put everything back together, and put on my thinking cap. i have to figure out a way to get the acrylic to be mounted on an uneven surface in an appealing way...
it was still a beautiful afternoon on the way back inside :P i was glad to get back to air conditioning.


so anyway, that's where I am right now. I'm still brainstorming ideas on how to mount the acrylic, so any suggestions are appreciated.

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curly haired boy

well, i had the chance today to go out and try cutting an old clear acrylic sheet i had. i wasn't sure what tool to use, but i tried using my rotary tool's spiral-saw bit. low RPMs didn't do much. higher RPMs cut the material rather easily, but the edges of the cut were melting and getting the bit coated up. plus, the acrylic started to stink a LOT.

dunno what i'm going to do. I've been feeling out local plastics suppliers. perhaps i should have them cut it to shape, because they've got the tools and expertise - i mangled my cuts pretty bad. i want the mod to come out looking good, and it might be more cost-effective to pay a little more for custom cutting the first time than to pay for practice sheets AND more effective tools.

thoughts?

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Arcane.001100

what shapes are you cutting? rounded corners, 90 degree angles, etc...?

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"Viddy well, little brother. Viddy well."