Back with some more updates guys
Update 2
It was time to do the front panel but first it was finding some material that would do it
i had a piece of aluminum diamond plate hanging around that seemed the perfect size after a tool search i realized it would almost be improssible to cut with what i had on hand
it was thick as hell and would break any blade easily so it was back to the drawing board we needed something that was strong but not thick because we needed switchs to bolt from the front we found a piece of white topped hardboard lying around and i don't mean the flexible stuff you find on the back of flat pack ikea furniture this was reasonably thick nice and strong stuff which fit the bill perfectly
Time to get cutting!
measure twice cut once sadly im a dumbass and measured wrong twice
not to worry i was only a millimetre or so out of each side so a little bit of sanding and trimming would do the trick
after it was done the opening of the case was rounded so we took a wild guess on the rounding and beleive it or not it was a perfect fit!! sadly forgot to take a picture of that
we found a piece of aluminum lying around the cheap flexible stuff and had the idea of wrapping the front in that after using some of the scissors you can use to cut it we gave it up as a bad job it just would'nt look right either
we managed to find alot of switches which would work ideally for are project toggles, keyswitches and good old push buttons they where all roughly the same which was nice i was going for the military radio look but before we could go cutting holes left right and centre we needed to create a test panel to make sure we don't screw anything up we managed to find a piece of the same hardboard but all dirty which seemed better than chucking it out =]
heres a little colour comparison to give you an idea
with a little rough marking we got the first few switches in
The keyswitch and push button will be for on this means you need to activate the key before you can turn the system on or in the same way have the key activated to switch of meaning no little shi... (you no what i was gonna say) is going to come round turning your system of in the middle of being top of the leaderboard in call of duty
Toggles are for fans 1 guarenteed another is a maybe but the third is for some i will add later on in the project possibly cathodes
switches in the mockup panel
The proper panel eventually will be a matte black but of course testing first
it was time to mount the panel and for this i had to give up on the keeping the outside original
but no worrys the holes could be ressed for the screws and seeming there was some plastic strut support inside i could use them aswell managed to find some L brackets lying around that seemed ideal
after we put them in the panel sat perfect except from one side :/ it would cave sideways with a little weight fixed with a good old self tapper for support i did'nt wnat to screw it down completely because having small space i would need to get inside from both sides for upgrading
Seeming the case was so small we needed some airflow to keep it cool in there it was time to make a fan hole sadly i could only find a 6cm hole saw for are 8cm fan :blink: no worrys though i will be adding some special at the rear to pull that hot air out
still need to get hold of some wide u channel to clean up that edge and a fan grill to make it look a little nicer.
Not screwed in just mocked up again
Now time to see this baby on the case
The door shuts nicely on it aswell :yes:
Another comparison the mockup in the case next to the eventual real panel outside the case
even though im about 5% done i can really see this project shaping up
thats all for now folks more updates to come