The crate.

[AlienALX]

OK so this part was done yesterday at home. It uses the exact measurements of the stack inside.

Do note I have not put in the connecting pieces yet. I got the dimensions of each piece from Bitspower's site, and yeah we have a copy of the res and flow meters. I need to now make connecting pieces to make it one entire piece. However, before that I designed the areas that will be carved into for the wood and carbon to go. This should make it easier to understand.

OK, so now imagine that piece with the connecting pieces in place (to mimic the water fittings and connectors) in 5mm silver acrylic, with carbon and wood pieces cut to go in the carve outs.


There. I hope that makes sense. What I now need to go into though is that there will be a piece behind that in 5mm opal, connected behind it. In that I will carve out 5 circles for the LEDs to go in. It will then be screwed together from behind, kinda like a plate res. Basically? this is my "dry run" of creating just that. If it is successful then maybe, just maybe, I will finally get around to making "Fake Plastic Trees". We shall see.

 

[AlienALX]

 

[AlienALX]

OK so I just vernier measured the 8 lamp LED rings. Those are now in the design for the opal back piece.

I don't have the 12 LED one to hand for the bottom yet as I only ordered it earlier. However, the job now is to create channels for the wiring to sit in. As I literally want one connector coming out somewhere and that is it. Oh and add the pilot holes for the screws, too.

 

[AlienALX]

3 hours of machine time done. Piece one is finished.

 

[AlienALX]

 

[AlienALX]

Not so good today lol. The white a4 piece now resides inside the bin lmao.

I decided to use a legit end mill in 3mm. Sadly I messed up the positioning and the bit left the work piece before coming back in and getting caught and yeah. Game over lmao.

I have ordered another sheet. Will revise the machining when I get back and have another go !

 

[hmmblah]

Not so good today lol. The white a4 piece now resides inside the bin lmao.

I decided to use a legit end mill in 3mm. Sadly I messed up the positioning and the bit left the work piece before coming back in and getting caught and yeah. Game over lmao.

I have ordered another sheet. Will revise the machining when I get back and have another go !

Good luck with the next piece. I love these custom bits you do. I may have said it before, but if not you're talented AF. It's nice to see custom pieces instead of bolt-ons all the time.

 

[AlienALX]

It was my fault. It always is when it goes wrong lol. I decided to up the bit size to try and make it go faster, and also to move the piece into the middle of the machine to make it easier to vacuum off the dust. Both were new ideas and yeah….

The machine does not make the mistakes. We do

 

[AlienALX]

Talking of new ideas. I am going to scrap the carving out for the LEDs and wires. It just takes too long, and makes too much noise. Even after a nice big hemp spliff it just grates on my final nerve lmao.

So, I am going to cut those areas out (meaning one cut rather than a hundred or more) and then cut a solid back piece. Either out of 3mm plastic or the left over carbon.

I also need to start using the 20k RPM spindle motor at some point. But that needs experimenting as last time it just melted everything in sight lmao. It's absolutely terrifying ! that said it is on a beefy old PSU and has its own PWM controller (manual) so yeah... I am sure I could double the speed of the bugger quite easily. Problem is, as is science, every time you do that you double the noise and mess

But yeah, got tons of stock and scrap bits I could play with. Now just isn't the time.

 

[AlienALX]

Oh bloody heck. I forgot. This is now finished. 3 coats of varnish on the wood and the entire thing has been filed and smoothed a lot.

 

[AlienALX]

OK the revised designs. White opal 5mm. Says 59 minutes, that is less than 1/3 of the time it needed to pocket cut.

And then this will go behind. Might do it in carbon, might not. We shall see. If not it'l be solid 3mm white (not opal).

The benefit of this way is that it will be way more solid, stronger, and IMO better looking (more heft).

 

[AlienALX]

OK. So I went back to the old sharp AF 0.8mm bit. And.

So that is the back piece done. It has a bit of poke out where I have had to file the silver due to the mess up I had with that, but I can live with it..

I will file it when I return. Off out for lunch tomorrow then home home after.