A Copper Face Plate for the Lamptron FC5V2
While I really like the brushed alu look on the FC5V2, it doesn't really fit all that
well into the rough powder coat on the Caselabs case. So instead of having two
black things which are not the same sort of black I thought I'd turn the fan controller
into an element of contrast and make a polished copper face plate for it.
Taking Things Apart
First I took the fan controller apart to see how everything fits together and get
access to its existing face plate so that I could fit the new one to it.
(click image for full res)
Sketching Things Out
The new plate will be made from a 1~1.2 mm (not sure anymore) piece of copper
sheet I had laying around. First: Use the old plate as a stencil and sketch the outlines
of the new plate onto the sheet of copper.
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Raw Cut
After some Dremel work it looked like this:
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Current Status
After lots and lots of filing, sanding and polishing (~5 hours), it currently looks like
this. It is not yet completely flawless, but I'll save the rest of the work for when the
build is in its closing stages. Since the surface is very finicky I don't want to spend
lots of time making it absolutely perfect now only to possibly damage it in a mishap
during the build and then have to redo the whole thing.
(click image for full res)
The new plate is simply taped to the stock plate. It's a lot easier (and cleaner) than
having to drill holes for the screws into the new plate.
(click image for full res)
(click image for full res)
That's it for today. As always, thanks for stopping by.