When adding character to a case

[remember300]

I have always liked things like the inwin logos along with the geforce logos on the GPU's, that have acrylic or some resin to allow light through it.

I really want to make use of an empty area of my case where i have removed a drive bay, and was thinking about putting my GT/ forum name into the case along with a corsair logo and maybe the EVGA logo. I can do the lighting no problem its just the shapes id have issues with

Any suggestions would be great, and i will be doing this once i move in a few weeks.

Thanks again guys and girls.

 

[Remmy]

Do you mean you wouldn't know how to cut the letters? It certainly sounds tricky!

The only things that come to mind would be something like getting a company to do it for you with laser cutting or something similar. Maybe it could be done with some kind of router but I don't know. I can't think of any easy way to DIY without some specialised tools.

 

[remember300]

Yeah, i was thinking that i was wondering with the guys that do serious modding might have any tips for the average/beginner modders out there.
I could do it large with a hack saw and drill but on a small scale im not sure.
Also for the lighting i was thinking about a clear resin that i could shape in a mold to be put in situe.

 

[Drakkonen]

Piece of acrylic, coping saw, file and sandpaper is what i would do. Draw the shapes on paper and attach it to the acrylic, drill a hole in the area that is to be cut out. Cut the basic shape with the saw and finish it up with the file and sandpaper.

 

[remember300]

Piece of acrylic, coping saw, file and sandpaper is what i would do. Draw the shapes on paper and attach it to the acrylic, drill a hole in the area that is to be cut out. Cut the basic shape with the saw and finish it up with the file and sandpaper.

Sounds like a plan, i am used to working with wood what saw (blade) would be ideal to not fracture the acrylic.

 

[Drakkonen]

Coping saw should do the trick, unless the characters are to be really small, then I would use a framed jewellers saw. Not sure on blade sizes but a coping saw blade should be about 1-2mm deep.

 

[remember300]

Ah fair enough to start they will be larger till i get used to working small, and i ment more the teeth on the blades as i know some can cause fracture in brittle materials like acrylic.

Plus ill look up the jewelers saw thanks.

 

[Drakkonen]

The teeth on coping saws are pretty small, same sort of size as a standard hacksaw usually. I have never actually had any problems with acrylic splitting or snapping while using a coping saw on it, however I have never used any acrylic thinner than 3mm (I can't imagine that you would want to use thinner than that anyway). If you decide to use one just make sure you go slowly and are careful around any thin areas.

 

[remember300]

thanks mate. i will try and im not sure what ive used i was just reading about it on modding forums, have you used resins or anything to act like light tubes?

 

[Drakkonen]

Unfortunately I have not. Good luck.

 

[remember300]

thanks im going to try and make a few logos in something like 4mm black acrylic, just need to source a pace to get the acrylic cheap along with the resin and maybe some epoxy or plastic based cement,
then cut out a few bits then fill the gap back with a clear resin so i end up with almost windows then build light boxes behind each window and set RGB LEDS from the corsair link kit and have them set at different colours just wish the nodes were not so expensive lol.
And hope it does not look cheap or crap

 

[Drakkonen]

Hmmm, instead of using resin, you could try using a piece of clear or smoked acrylic covering the whole of the piece you are making the cuts in and bolt them together with black alan bolts. The resin will be extremely awkward to use and will most likely never set very clear or evenly at 4mm thick.

 

[remember300]

I could go thicker, the idea is to put some logos in the space ive made and mount my SSD on the other side. hidden. Eventually i want to clear my drive bays out and put everything on SSD's and have them on show or water cool it