# mediaBIN3.0 Weighted Companion Cube Build



## zAAm (Nov 14, 2009)

*miniITX Weighted Companion Cube Build mediaBIN3.0*

*This project is now mostly done! Click HERE to go to page 4 for the final images *

So, I've decided to scrap my old mediaBIN2.1 project (crappy idea and would've been a waste of space ) and instead invest my time in a new project - reproducing the weighted companion cube from *Portal* in it's full glory at (a rather downsized) 25x25cm . I'm going to try to match the exact dimensions as I can gather them from pictures of the actual in-game cube. I've seen this tried before, but I wasn't happy with the efforts since they weren't reproduced correctly and the dimensions and thicknesses of the corners were off. 

*A few things that are still in need of attention:*
1) Air vents are made by offsetting the middle hearts by 5mm spacers at the moment, but will see if it can be made more authentic in some way (maybe using the indented pink lines?)
2) The back connectors of the motherboard doesn't have access in the preliminary design yet since I couldn't yet figure out how I can do it without cutting out 'n huge section of the cube. 
3) Placement of power/reset buttons as well as power/hdd LED's have not been determined. Thinking of using a stainless steel panel mount push button hidden somewhere...

Oh, the specs of the design is:

Intel Little Falls 2 w/ Atom Dual Core 330
2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 RAM
D-Link PCI Gigabit LAN card (needed for dual networking capabilities)
1TB Seagate 7200.12 3.5" SATA drive
D-Link DWA-120 Wireless Adapter 108Mbps
Vizo Super Muffle Ultra quiet 80mm fan for a tad of airflow
picoPSU-120 and a 108W brick to power everything

I've rendered the preliminary design in Solidworks (well, the most important features anyway ). The inner box frame will be made from either plexiglass (Perspex) or masonite board (hardboard). The corners will be handmade from 25mm MDF and other layered materials to give the right height. I've followed a tried and true way of mounting the motherboard on hex spacers in a multi-tiered system.

I'm going to start building basically as soon as I get the components (already ordered, maybe I'll get them on Tuesday or Wednesday) and I can measure them properly with the digital vernier.

Here's a scene from the game with the cube... Awh, isn't it cute? 






Here is the inside construction drawing, showing the placement of the tier system:





Here are two outside perspectives. Notice the holes behind the hearts currently used for ventilation. They will be fitted with filters. 








Here's another view showing the inside tier system more clearly. Next to the hard drive I will mount the Wireless adapter and the hard drive will be SATA and not IDE as shown (I originally wanted to use a 320GB IDE hard drive so I modeled that first and I'm too lazy to change it )


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## craigbru (Nov 14, 2009)

Very nice concept and planning!  I look forward to seeing construction start!


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## zAAm (Nov 14, 2009)

craigbru said:


> Very nice concept and planning!  I look forward to seeing construction start!



Thanks, will keep you guys posted! I'll borrow a decent camera somewhere so I can show the progress in detail . I have the entire holiday for the build so I'll get some hours in as soon as I'm back at home.

I've also thought about experimenting a bit with pink neon, but will hold that idea in reserve for now


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## Cuzza (Nov 15, 2009)

Pardon my ignorance, but what is it supposed to be? I did a quick google on this companion cube thing, saw a few pictures, not really sure what it's about? Your rendering looks far better than any of the other pictures I found, so you must be doing something right..

Re: the motherboard backplane connectors issue, is looks as if you have extra space in the cube that you can put the motherboard to one side, this would allow you to plug in the cables as necessary and run them out through some strategically placed holes in the bottom of the cube. Otherwise, if you have to cut a chunk out of one side, that can be the bottom face (motherboard does not have to be horizontal) and you can mount it on some feet of some description to give you space for the cables, no one needs to know. But that kinda spoils the cube look.

just throwin ideas out there. 
Cuzza


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## zAAm (Nov 15, 2009)

Cuzza, the Weighted Companion Cube is an object you are given in Portal to solve puzzles with. It is a pretty sarcastic game and it's difficult to explain it without you having played it, but basically it is supposed to be your "companion" in a mission. They joke about the fact that the Weighted Companion Cube will not try to stab you and so forth, but since I love the game I decided it would be pretty cool to make my server like it 

Thanks for the input, I actually thought about the exact same thing, moving the motherboard forward and routing the cables through a single hole, but it's things like the video connector that's HUGE that will necessitate actually increasing the size of the cube to let it fit. 
There is one good thing though, since the cube will be a server, all that will need to enter the cube (since I'll be using remote admin) is two network cables and the 12V power cable from the brick, which might make it possible to position the motherboard so that the video connector is directly over the hole in the side so that I can make a quick release heart to access the video if necessary, with the lan cables running through another hole maybe... 

Also, I haven't thought of putting the motherboard vertical thanks!  Will play around with the idea to see if I can't come up with something.


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## zAAm (Nov 15, 2009)

Just thought I'd quickly make the D-Link wireless adapter so I can show the placement. 

Will remove the plate off of a USB extension bracket that plugs into the motherboard header and plug the wireless USB adapter into it so I don't have to mount it externally


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## Wile E (Nov 15, 2009)

As for the power switch, turn one of the heart panels into a push button.


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## zAAm (Nov 15, 2009)

Wile E said:


> As for the power switch, turn one of the heart panels into a push button.



Thanks for the idea, I just don't want someone to see the cube and then accidentally turn the thing off when they touch it . Maybe something like pressing the heart inside the panel so it's normally flush with the rest of the center circle shape, but that's going to be tricky since it's quite a large area to coordinate. Might have to seriously play around with small bars and pipes to get that quite right...


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## zAAm (Nov 15, 2009)

Ok, I've decided on what I want to do with the connectors.

Luckily, the Little Falls 2 motherboard connector placement puts the video connector toward the middle of the board, so I can get away with cutting a little slot in the back panel that will be covered by the heart under normal use (when I don't need video, only LAN) by threading the LAN cables probably through the opening between the panel and the heart circle thingy. 

When I need video I'll make the heart removable so the video port can be accessed 

Thus the whole motherboard will be moved forward about 18-20mm to make it possible for the LAN cables to plug into the motherboard and make a sharp bend out of the whole in the back panel. I've also thought about making extension adapters so I can mount the LAN ports on the cube with cables leading to the network ports... 

Here's the basic layout then:





With the wire routing shown here:


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## Mussels (Nov 15, 2009)

This was a triumph


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## zAAm (Nov 15, 2009)

Mussels said:


> This was a triumph



Haha! "I'm making a note here, huge success"....

Awesome song!


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## Mussels (Nov 15, 2009)

its hard to overstate my satisfaction.


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## zAAm (Nov 15, 2009)

"Aperture Science... We do what me must because we can."


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## Mussels (Nov 15, 2009)

for the good of all of us...


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## dr emulator (madmax) (Nov 15, 2009)

zAAm said:


> Thanks, will keep you guys posted! I'll borrow a decent camera somewhere so I can show the progress in detail . I have the entire holiday for the build so I'll get some hours in as soon as I'm back at home.
> 
> I've also thought about experimenting a bit with pink neon, but will hold that idea in reserve for now



are you talking of cold cathodes or plastic ?
if you are talking of using ccfl's i personallly would go for leds as they are less likely to 
(a) get hot 
and 
(B)burn out 
you can always frost them with some fine glass paper (experimental only as a last resort)
if you you can't get them that way


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## Bo$$ (Nov 15, 2009)

Nice Plan! great planning, space and visual representations of everything really sparks the imagination, But if your budget allows why don't you try and get a mobo with the ION platform for the companion Cube?


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## zAAm (Nov 15, 2009)

dr emulator (madmax) said:


> are you talking of cold cathodes or plastic ?
> if you are talking of using ccfl's i personallly would go for leds as they are less likely to
> (a) get hot
> and
> ...



I was talking about small cold cathodes. Mmm, good point. And the LED's are much smaller as well... Will probably see how much purple (or maybe UV or even white) LED's go for and maybe let them shine through pink plexiglass. Since you don't get pink LED's the last time I checked? 



Bo$$ said:


> Nice Plan! great planning, space and visual representations of everything really sparks the imagination, But if your budget allows why don't you try and get a mobo with the ION platform for the companion Cube?



Thanks Bo$$! Appreciate it.  The primary reason that I got the Atom platform is because it's small and inexpensive. The server isn't ever going to have to do HD movies or anything, it's basically a high-speed router and firewall with NAS capabilities. The ION can do that too, but it's way too pricey for my needs and other than lower power requirements I don't see the point. Also, I like the dual core w/ Hyperthreading setup of the Atom 330. Will probably run quite fast on Ubuntu Server 9.04


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## Bo$$ (Nov 15, 2009)

zAAm said:


> Thanks Bo$$! Appreciate it.  The primary reason that I got the Atom platform is because it's small and inexpensive. The server isn't ever going to have to do HD movies or anything, it's basically a high-speed router and firewall with NAS capabilities. The ION can do that too, but it's way too pricey for my needs and other than lower power requirements I don't see the point. Also, I like the dual core w/ Hyperthreading setup of the Atom 330. Will probably run quite fast on Ubuntu Server 9.04



Ah, Sorry dude you specify the usage  but that sound great for an ubuntu system 
You might want to have a 'Flip Down Heart'  (Heart mounted on a pair of sprung hinges) on the Back so that you dont have to remove it when you add the cabling inside


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## zAAm (Nov 15, 2009)

Bo$$ said:


> Ah, Sorry dude you specify the usage  but that sound great for an ubuntu system
> You might want to have a 'Flip Down Heart'  (Heart mounted on a pair of sprung hinges) on the Back so that you dont have to remove it when you add the cabling inside



Awesome idea Bo$$, thanks! Will definitely see if I can make that happen... Will have to browse through the hardware store to see if there's anything I can use that also gives it an offset.


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## Bo$$ (Nov 15, 2009)

it will be a nice touch and prevent someone losing the Heart 
good luck finding such a small one


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## zAAm (Nov 15, 2009)

*Sad but true:*

The only parts I've yet received for the project:

30/40/50mm hex spacers
2x Super Bright 20kmcd White LED's (Left)
2x Super Bright 4kmcd Blue LED's (Right)
12V P4 Extension for picoPSU120W

Sorry for the horrendous photo quality - cell camera. Will definitely use another camera when I'm home. That's 450km away because I'm staying in a flat on campus. Home is where the action is going to happen and where all the tools are... haha  LED's are for power and HDD. Not yet decided what colour I'm going to use... Maybe I'll get UV or Purple LED's as well just to check.


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## zAAm (Nov 16, 2009)

Damn, I'm having some trouble with stock availability on some of the items, so it's delaying my entire order. Hopefully I'll get some news tomorrow... Until then I'm pretty much in the waiting chair.


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## zAAm (Nov 17, 2009)

It seems they are STILL waiting on the suppliers for the Little Falls 2 motherboard. All the other items are confirmed. 

This is really starting to tick me off since I'm ordering from another store as well and I'm having just as much trouble with them not giving me the bank details where I'm supposed to actually pay for the items and "forgetting" that I need an invoice and such. This was NOT a good day for me or the project! 

On another note, I'm thinking of putting some expanded aluminium (if I can find some here in SA) over the ventilation holes so there isn't a huge gaping hole in the case where you can look inside. Something like this:





Also, I'm thinking of buying this type of switch in stainless steel. Will need to think about its placement though because it's got to be discrete. Maybe on the bottom panel? Any ideas?


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## Bo$$ (Nov 17, 2009)

looking good so far with parts  , keep ploughing on dude we all have our bad days 

You can try making it out of steel and using that polish to give it a brushed look


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## MKmods (Nov 17, 2009)

zAAm said:


> It seems they are STILL waiting on the suppliers for the Little Falls 2 motherboard. All the other items are confirmed.
> 
> This is really starting to tick me off since I'm ordering from another store as well and I'm having just as much trouble with them not giving me the bank details where I'm supposed to actually pay for the items and "forgetting" that I need an invoice and such. This was NOT a good day for me or the project!
> 
> ...



I have one of those switches if you want, PM me.
I also have one of these if ur interested..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121359

By the way excellent job on the sketchup stuff.


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## zAAm (Nov 18, 2009)

MKmods said:


> I have one of those switches if you want, PM me.
> I also have one of these if ur interested..
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121359
> 
> By the way excellent job on the sketchup stuff.



Thanks a lot MKmods! Good to see you're interested since I love your mods  Now if only this turns out as I want it... I will hold out on your offer for now and get the store on the line and see if I can't hurry them up a bit when I complain to the boss.  As for the switch, I think I'm going to try a discrete solution first after all (pressing the hearts or something similar), and then if I can't get that to work I'll use the stainless steel switch. Also, shipping from US will probably take ages and I want to start as soon as possible 

And thanks, I really like 3D modeling in Solidworks. It's really fast and much much better than Google Sketchup, although it takes a while to get used to. And since I had to wait for the holidays and the parts and everything anyway, I thought I'd model everything to make it easier later by just measuring everything since it's all 1:1 scale.


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## zAAm (Nov 19, 2009)

Update (if you can call it that):

Seems the store are having problems with their suppliers. I've ordered quite a few stuff from them and contacted the owner. He said he is really pushing them for the parts, but they're giving him a hard time. I mean, how hard can it be just to say: "Hey, we don't have stock yet" or "Hey, we have stock". It's not like they throw all the parts they have into one big pile and have to dig through everything to see if they have the Little Falls... *sigh*

Anyway, today I'm going to see if I can get some electronic parts... Will get some LED's, switches, push buttons and connectors for the project. Maybe I'll also check if I can find a plexiglass store near here for some translucent pink and clear Perspex.


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## Bo$$ (Nov 19, 2009)

zAAm said:


> Update (if you can call it that):
> 
> Seems the store are having problems with their suppliers. I've ordered quite a few stuff from them and contacted the owner. He said he is really pushing them for the parts, but they're giving him a hard time. I mean, how hard can it be just to say: "Hey, we don't have stock yet" or "Hey, we have stock". It's not like they throw all the parts they have into one big pile and have to dig through everything to see if they have the Little Falls... *sigh*
> 
> Anyway, today I'm going to see if I can get some electronic parts... Will get some LED's, switches, push buttons and connectors for the project. Maybe I'll also check if I can find a plexiglass store near here for some translucent pink and clear Perspex.



sounds promising, progress is really crawling here


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## zAAm (Nov 19, 2009)

Okay, finally some progress! 

My parts are on their way! Will go pick them up tomorrow!

Today I also got some perspex and some UV LED's. I decided I was going to make the whole cube out of perspex instead of masonite because it will leave a smoother finish. Thus I got some gray 3mm perspex cut for the cube and some frosted perspex that I'll use with the UV LED's to shed some light on the project. Unfortunately I couldn't get cut pieces of pink translucent perspex since they only sell them by the sheet (guess because only a handful of people every buy them ). So I'm going to see what I can work with. Maybe I'll combine red and UV LED's to give a more pinkish tint.

Also, I got the 5mm standoffs (at a ridiculously expensive price I might add), and I think I'm going to use tactile switches for the power and reset buttons. Will see how I'm going to wire them up.

I don't have a camera with me atm so I'll take some pictures of everything later. Definitely as soon as I receive the parts! 

At least the project is going somewhere again now!


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## MKmods (Nov 19, 2009)

looking forward to the updates.


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## Bo$$ (Nov 19, 2009)

zAAm said:


> Okay, finally some progress!
> 
> My parts are on their way! Will go pick them up tomorrow!
> 
> ...



wow mate good progress in 3-4 hours  well done!


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## zAAm (Nov 20, 2009)

Yeah, guess it helps to pressure everyone so they feel inclined to pressure the suppliers 

I'm only now getting an idea on how tiny the cube is going to be... Those corners are really going to be a challenge  But I don't mind a challenge, and I don't think I'll be satisfied until they're perfect because I'm a bit of a perfectionist.

So, the only thing remaining for today is the 50km drive and 50km back in the worst possible traffic to collect my components. Probably about 3hours in traffic if I'm lucky. Nothing TOO serious  But since I'm always excited at the thought of getting some new hardware, the drive will be *almost* pleasurable I believe!


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## zAAm (Nov 20, 2009)

So, I got some super bright 1800mcd red LED's as well today. I'm going to try and MAKE pink light by combining purple and red LED's which SHOULD (if everything goes well) make a sort of pink light. Then I'll play around with the intensities by adding series and parallel resistors (or variable resistors) till I get something that's at least sort of believable .

If you don't follow me, look at this chart:






Combine red and purple and you get a sort of pinkish magenta hopefully. Since purple is already a mix of red and blue, more red should shift it towards the red spectrum and thus make it more pink... 

Now the big question is how will I combine the light so it doesn't look like discrete spots but rather a swash of the right colour? Guess I'll have to experiment and see what I can get?


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## Bo$$ (Nov 20, 2009)

colour will be really hit and miss, maybe use a red and white led?


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## zAAm (Nov 21, 2009)

Bo$$ said:


> colour will be really hit and miss, maybe use a red and white led?



Red and white will not produce the colour I want. It will produce a pastel sort of light red since white light will also add green colour to the mix. You have to combine red and blue for magenta and then magenta and red for the pink crimson colour I'm looking for.

Update (albeit without photos)

I've got all the hardware components except the picoPSU with me (I'll get the pico a bit later ). Will take photos of everything the moment I get home on Sunday. Of course it took me 3.5 hours in traffic to get it, but it's definitely worth it. I think everything will work together nicely. Looking forward to see everything together and to check the fit.


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## MKmods (Nov 21, 2009)

I am looking forward to seeing how your idea with the LEDs turn out.

I have never spent a lot of time doing lighting so I am a bit of a noob with it.


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## Bo$$ (Nov 21, 2009)

zAAm said:


> Red and white will not produce the colour I want. It will produce a pastel sort of light red since white light will also add green colour to the mix. You have to combine red and blue for magenta and then magenta and red for the pink crimson colour I'm looking for.
> 
> Update (albeit without photos)
> 
> I've got all the hardware components except the picoPSU with me (I'll get the pico a bit later ). Will take photos of everything the moment I get home on Sunday. Of course it took me 3.5 hours in traffic to get it, but it's definitely worth it. I think everything will work together nicely. Looking forward to see everything together and to check the fit.



Ah i see, but im still not sure how well they will mix, all the same wish you luck mate


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## MKmods (Nov 21, 2009)

I just picked up some of these for my build
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6114/ele-278/5mm_WhiteRed_Dual_Color_LED.html?tl=g44c77s118

Its one LED that can be both colors(3 wires, gd, r,w) They also make 3 color LEDs.


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## zAAm (Nov 22, 2009)

Okay! 

So I've got a new phone (Nokia E71) that takes decent(ish) 3.2MP photos. What does this mean? It's photo time!!

Is it my birthday?





All the parts I received





The pieces of perspex I got cut to size. The whole package is 200x200mm. It's pretty tiny pieces!





LED's anyone? The 48 LED's and various standoffs I got yesterday... The package also includes the connectors I'm going to use to connect the HDD and Power LED's as well as the power and reset buttons...


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## zAAm (Nov 22, 2009)

So I guess the E71's photos aren't really a match for another camera I found - a Sony Cybershot 6MP DSC-H2. This will be my camera of choice from now on 

The LED's (Red on the left and UV on the right), connectors and 5mm standoffs.





Perspex unwrapped. Gray opaque perspex cube pieces on the left, 5mm clear middle piece on the right and the top pieces are frosted 3mm perspex I'm going to use for the pink lines. The frosted/sandblasted look will blend the LED's at the back better.





Wow, this is my first experience with mini-ITX and these motherboards are TINY! I made a mockup of one beforehand but seeing the real thing is much more exciting!


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## zAAm (Nov 22, 2009)

MKmods said:


> I just picked up some of these for my build
> http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6114/ele-278/5mm_WhiteRed_Dual_Color_LED.html?tl=g44c77s118
> 
> Its one LED that can be both colors(3 wires, gd, r,w) They also make 3 color LEDs.



Yeah, after I bought the LED's I saw the RGB LED's with which you can basically make any colour but they are pretty expensive and not readily available. I would have to order them. I think I'll see if I can get my current LED's working okay and if not I'll see if I can make another plan.


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## zAAm (Nov 23, 2009)

*Construction Day 1*

First, I cut and shaped a number of wooden blocks to reinforce the perspex cube. I originally thought I'll screw the perspex into the wood, but since the corners will cover these screws anyway, I think I'll just glue the perspex on to the blocks. The blocks were made by cutting hardwood (Emboya I believe) into rough blocks and sanding them down to the right size with a bench drum sander. The emboya wood is VERY hard and will actually produce sparks if you go near it with a grinder  You could probably thread holes into it as well.
On the left we have the starting rough block and on the right a few of the sanded ones.





Next I started to measure and drill the center holes into all the perspex panels.

What do they say? Measure twice, then measure again to check and then once more to make sure before you cut... 





Using pilot holes of course (you can see them in the picture), I used a 64mm hole saw to make the center ventilation holes.





Mid-way through the drilling:





All six sheets cut





Next up, laminating some MDF! 
I wanted 6mm MDF so I laminated two small sheets of 3mm MDF together and clamped them together. I only did 4 of the 8 required today. Will do the rest tomorrow. The edge corners will be cut and shaped from these laminated MDF sheets.





Afterwards, I started cutting the 16mm MDF pieces I needed for the corners. The measurements were made easy since I quickly made a Solidworks drawing of the corner and added the required dimensions. The jigsaw made the job easier than the standing bandsaw because I didn't have to lug the HEAVY piece of MDF around to cut it.





All 8 of the first parts of the corners done and cleaned up quickly:





Finally, a shot of everything I did today . Not as much as I had hoped, but at least *some* progress is still progress. The heap of MDF squares in the middle are the second part of the corners cut.





I might have overdone the photos a bit , will see if I do the same tomorrow...


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## WhiteLotus (Nov 23, 2009)

I can just see this being awesome.

Please make sure this gets finished and the post this entire work log to the Portal makers.


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## MRCL (Nov 23, 2009)

Oooh, me like!


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## Bo$$ (Nov 23, 2009)

awsome man looking good!


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## zAAm (Nov 23, 2009)

WhiteLotus said:


> I can just see this being awesome.
> 
> Please make sure this gets finished and the post this entire work log to the Portal makers.





MRCL said:


> Oooh, me like!





Bo$$ said:


> awsome man looking good!



Thanks guys! 

I just hope this comes out looking like I want it to look! Otherwise I'm going to put in some serious hours so that it DOES...


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## Bo$$ (Nov 23, 2009)

zAAm said:


> Yeah, after I bought the LED's I saw the RGB LED's with which you can basically make any colour but they are pretty expensive and not readily available. I would have to order them. I think I'll see if I can get my current LED's working okay and if not I'll see if I can make another plan.



that might be the best idea actually, will increase the quality while increasing costs tough trade off


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## zAAm (Nov 23, 2009)

Okay, I had to test the LED's. They seem to confirm my theory, although diffusing the light might be the biggest problem... Will probably need to use indirect light.

Here's just one red and one UV LED on a breadboard to test. Colours are very discrete.





Now, just by adding a white surface for the light to reflect (and diffuse) from, in this case the handy ol' cheapo ruler, the light is mixed and the result is a pinkish tint very close to what I want 





So I think there is definitely some fact behind my theory. Now, how to make this test into a prototype?


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## Bo$$ (Nov 23, 2009)

zAAm said:


> Okay, I had to test the LED's. They seem to confirm my theory, although diffusing the light might be the biggest problem... Will probably need to use indirect light.
> 
> Here's just one red and one UV LED on a breadboard to test. Colours are very discrete.
> http://img.techpowerup.org/091123/DSC07849.jpg
> ...



looks good certainly caught me out


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## zAAm (Nov 23, 2009)

I quickly built a circuit that allows me to control both the red and UV LED intensities between 0-100%. Interestingly, it seems that with both at 100% they produce the best matching colour. 

The simple transistor circuit I quickly conjured up  The left potentiometer adjusts the red while the right potentiometer (with leads) adjusts the UV LED intensity. 





The result in low light


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## Bo$$ (Nov 23, 2009)

zAAm said:


> I quickly built a circuit that allows me to control both the red and UV LED intensities between 0-100%. Interestingly, it seems that with both at 100% they produce the best matching colour.
> 
> The simple transistor circuit I quickly conjured up  The left potentiometer adjusts the red while the right potentiometer (with leads) adjusts the UV LED intensity.
> http://img.techpowerup.org/091123/DSC07858.jpg
> ...



that is gonna look great in the case


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## WhiteLotus (Nov 23, 2009)

hot damn!

Good call on the LED mix.


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## zAAm (Nov 24, 2009)

Bo$$ said:


> that is gonna look great in the case



Yeah, I think so as well. I'm also thinking about maybe adding a microcontroller that regulates the LED intensities? Then you can manually adjust the individual LED colours? Or make them flash if you're in a disco mood. 



WhiteLotus said:


> hot damn!
> 
> Good call on the LED mix.



Thanks, it was basically just luck that the intensities worked so well though, since the UV and red LEDs are 250mcd and 1800mcd respectively. Seems that is the perfect ratio 

Here is the light diffused by the white ruler and then passing through the frosted perspex. This is the effect I want. But what I don't want is the approx. 8cm that the light needs to mix properly. I'm thinking about a sort of wavy or triangular diffuser to mix the light more aggresively...


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## Bo$$ (Nov 24, 2009)

zAAm said:


> Yeah, I think so as well. I'm also thinking about maybe adding a microcontroller that regulates the LED intensities? Then you can manually adjust the individual LED colours? Or make them flash if you're in a disco mood.
> 
> 
> 
> ...





i think the controller will solve all the issues as you can tweak intensities to suit your needs, but think more experimentation will be need to get it just right


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## zAAm (Nov 24, 2009)

*Construction Day 2*

Today I basically just continued where I left off yesterday with the corners and started making the edges.

Found a big old tub that's exactly the right radius for the curved parts . Since I already cut the pieces, a compass isn't exactly comfortable to use since the circle midpoint is way outside the square.





After marking it, I cut the curve out with a jigsaw with a very thin scroll blade. The downside? The thin blade is prone to bend and doesn't cut straight downwards. :shadedshu
Also, I wouldn't recommend cutting with a jigsaw at this height! Not very comfortable... 









All 8 big corner parts cut. You can see the angled cut clearly. I'm going to sand everything down anyway so as long as the inner curve is spot on it won't matter.





All the parts of all the corners cut and stacked (very artistically if I might add ).





The corners assembled before sanding the edges square... (Notice how unevenly they fit together)





And afterwards... You can clearly see that the parts now line up nice and neat 





Close up of the new fit





Next up, glue everything together...





Now I started work on the edges. I used the laminated 6mm MDF I made earlier, squared it off with a bandsaw and cut and sanded everything to size. They need some more refining and shaping but will do that later. I used a Solidworks drawing again to save some time.





A shot of the bandsaw where I'm squaring of the laminations... It's not hard to see the saw is a bit rusted from being outside. Will probably need to clean it up a bit some time . Works great though...





I couldn't help myself - the view from my workbench  Although not much time to enjoy it...





Finally, everything together. I can only glue 3 corners at a time because I don't have enough bench- and C-clamps to hold them together. So 3 is done, another 3 is drying and tomorrow I'll glue the last two. 
Also, I ran out of laminated MDF so I glued an extra piece to cut out a few more edge pieces. Will cut those tomorrow.





That's it folks! Will probably continue with the lighting tonight and maybe see if I can design a microcontroller circuit to adjust the LED's...


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## Wile E (Nov 25, 2009)

Do you plan to fiberglass or bondo it to smooth it out for paint?


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## zAAm (Nov 25, 2009)

Wile E said:


> Do you plan to fiberglass or bondo it to smooth it out for paint?



I think I'll check how smooth the finish is when I'm done and then decide. Probably won't use fiberglass as it's sort of a pain to work with, but since MDF can be finished pretty smoothly I might not have to use it at all...


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## zAAm (Nov 25, 2009)

*Construction Day 3*

Nothing spectacular today, only the continuation of yesterday and still LOTS of sanding to do tomorrow... At least I completed one corner to see what it will look like and it looks pretty good if I do say so myself 

First up, completing the edge corner profiles. After drawing lines where I should sand to, I jumped in (and I use that term VERY loosely ) and sanded all the edges. There's a lot of them... 





Here you go, some blood and tears later (of which I didn't take a photo), the profiles are complete. Now all that needs to be done to them is to glue the two different parts together and they will be finished.





Next up, the main event! Sanding those corners. As there are a lot of material to remove and the sanding needs to be pretty precise, it takes about an hour and a half for each corner!  The next ones will probably go a bit faster though. I first masked the area to be sanded.





Then I sanded to the line I drew on the tape. Easy... 





Here's the edges of the one face almost done...





... and the back edges sanded...





... and then complete! The process is simple but very time consuming as well as a bit straining on the back to stand around for hours on end... 









Finally, the complete shot of all the parts worked on today. The corners at the back still needs face sanding since I'm waiting for them to dry. So one corner down, only seven more to go!      





Also something to mention, the thing I like about MDF, the finish is VERY smooth, even with me using 100 grit sandpaper. I'll switch to a higher grit later before everything is painted to smooth it even further.


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## zAAm (Nov 25, 2009)

Now I need to decide if I'm going to make the controller microprocessor or discrete component based... The microcontroller version will operate through push buttons. The discrete component version will just have two potentiometers to control the intensities... Decisions decisions....... 

Microcontroller based





Discrete component based





It's obvious that the discrete version will be smaller and easier to construct, but it won't be so flexible ie. I can make the LED's flash or something with the microcontroller version...


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## Bo$$ (Nov 25, 2009)

zAAm said:


> Now I need to decide if I'm going to make the controller microprocessor or discrete component based... The microcontroller version will operate through push buttons. The discrete component version will just have two potentiometers to control the intensities... Decisions decisions.......
> 
> Microcontroller based
> http://img.techpowerup.org/091125/Microcontroller Based LED System.png
> ...



go for the descrete, the controls for the microcontroller will be a pain and take up uneeded time really  but otherwise i think it is really taking shape


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## MRCL (Nov 25, 2009)

Sweet sloth of ice planet Hoth! You really have your heart into this project. Thats some damn fine work there!


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## zAAm (Nov 25, 2009)

Bo$$ said:


> go for the descrete, the controls for the microcontroller will be a pain and take up uneeded time really  but otherwise i think it is really taking shape



Thanks! I think the discrete one will definitely be faster, but I might be in the mood to touch up my microcontroller programming skills. The only thing I don't like so much is the DAC ladder. I don't have enough resistors to build it now. Maybe I'll make it modular and then you can plug in the controller, whether it's the discrete or microcontroller version. Then I can make the discrete one now and later when I get the parts continue with the microcontroller version 



MRCL said:


> Sweet sloth of ice planet Hoth! You really have your heart into this project. Thats some damn fine work there!



Thanks alot!


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## zAAm (Nov 25, 2009)

*Lighting update*

Okay, I've found a way of producing the 3mm light strip with a pretty uniform colour mixture - all in a compact, very thin package needed to fit between the case and motherboard. This is only a prototype, the final version will be much smaller and not have aluminium foil just wrapped around it 

But you can get the idea in the following photos - the first being in lighted conditions and the second in darkness. Sorry for the blurry dark photo, I don't have a tripod with me so I tend to shake the camera with its long exposure. At least you can get an idea on how it will look.


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## zAAm (Nov 26, 2009)

Okay, this is the final circuit for the LED controller using discrete components. I would've liked the red LED's at minimum to be basically off but they are stuck at about 160uA which gives them a VERY faint glow. Not that it will matter in the end anyway.

I took a few pictures to show it working (so that you know I'm sincere  ). The circuit on the right on the veroboard is only a power supply I built a while ago for the 5V and 12V needed by the controller (which will be provided by a molex connector). The circuit on full power draws around 200mA total from both the 5V and 12V line so I'm guessing it's dissipating around 2.5Watts! 
Idle power (with both circuits off) it's dissipating around 100mW which is mostly attributed to the faint glow on the red LED's.

Everything off to show the circuit





With RED on full power... (it's BRIGHT )...





... UV on full power...





... both at full power...





I think this will be fine for the current use and I can linearly (or more logarithmically I believe) adjust both intensities with fairly good precision. This way I can adjust the colour after everything is in place and shining through the diffusers to match the actual colour 

_EDIT: Fixed the faint glow by changing a resistor on the bias circuit at the cost of a little reduction in max intensity (although very small). Now the LED's are all off at the lowest setting._


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## Bo$$ (Nov 26, 2009)

cool leds


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## zAAm (Nov 27, 2009)

*Controller building*

Okay, just finished building the discrete controller board. It's basically as short as I could make it - with resistors even _under_ the potentiometers to save space. Also, I will drill holes in the lips on the side to mount it. Would probably be best to do the layout, but I don't have access to that right now and it won't be seen either way 

Getting ready to whip out the Weller! With the components placed. 





The controller done. Not the best soldering job I've ever done but it'll work... (I blame the oversized 60W soldering iron )





... top side...





... with it connected to the LED's (once again running on small PSU but wired for molex)...





Now that that's done, I'm going to continue with the corners. Couldn't work yesterday because one of the power phases were off - meaning no sufficient power for the sander.


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## zAAm (Nov 27, 2009)

*Construction Day 4/5*

So yesterday I didn't make a lot of progress and it wasn't anything you haven't seen before... So here is another update, I think it may be a good one 

I actually finished all 8 of the corners today! Took me the good part of today and a few hours yesterday. Feel a bit relieved since they only need minor adjustments now and most of the work is already done.

Here they are all in a nice row - fitting surprisingly good actually 





... so since they're all complete, I decided to do a quick mockup of everything I have so far.  This is the top view of the cube, with the edges just thrown on there to see if they line up.





A side shot of the cube





Shot from the front to see if the edges fit and to check their clearance.





Finally a shot from above where I rearranged the edges as they would look when they're finished.





I must say it's nice to see everything coming together so well thus far. Can almost see the end result already


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## zAAm (Nov 27, 2009)

Okay, so I've been playing around with some perspex and I'm thinking of making the heart discs by thermoforming some perspex. It's going to be tough and might involve some (read a lot) of malformed pieces, but I think it will be nice in the end since I will have the option of lighting the heart forms as well since I'll be using clear perspex... 

The heart will then be printed and glued to the surface and varnished so it's flat. Also, the way I'm designing the pivot point for the one heart to swivel it will be easier as it will give me more space.

What do you guys think? 
I've quickly tried it on two pieces of scrap perspex to see how the forming works...









I believe that if I make a positive mold and stretch the perspex over it, I will get the effect I'm looking for...


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## zAAm (Nov 28, 2009)

*Construction Day 6*

I'm glad to say the perspex thermoforming worked _PERFECTLY_ the first time without making a single dud! Guess it helps to plan ahead 

I started by making a mold to stretch the perspex by cutting a piece of MDF and smoothing it on a drill with steel wool till it's extremely smooth - don't want to make marks in the perspex when it's drawn over it...





Next I cut pieces of 2.5mm perspex (which would be easier to form), slightly larger than the mold form... It also happened to be bright fluorescent orange 





After I smoothed the edges of the perspex disks, I had all the pieces I needed to start with the forming process





The process is very simple and very fast as well. Start by lining up the disk with the smaller hole of the mold cover...





... then heat the outside of the circle with a heatgun until it's flexible enough to push down fairly easily if you press in the middle. Quickly throw down the gun, and line up the mold precisely in the nick of time... 





... and press down! You can see the perspex fits JUST inside the cavity ...





... finally, I pressed everything together with some weights (in the form of some bricks) to ensure everything was flat...





After a few minutes of cooling, I had this left:









All lined up for scale. Notice that the lips aren't square and some are really off center and essentially crooked. 





They should be 90mm, so I think I did fairly well on the measurements 





Finally, to remedy the crooked lips (sounds a bit... uhm... nevermind), I built a sort of sanding jig to hold the pieces square. The crookedness is obvious here...  Before sanding:





... and after. Looking much better I must say. 





Also, I begun to assemble the edge parts... Here are the first 4 clamped and waiting to dry. Will do the other 4 tomorrow and then sand their edges again.





All in all a good day I think. Very surprised that the perspex handled so easily! Will definitely use this technique in the future


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## Bo$$ (Nov 29, 2009)

looking Good keep up the work dude


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## Wile E (Nov 29, 2009)

This is so freakin awesome. I want one now. lol. How much would you charge to make one?


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## zAAm (Nov 29, 2009)

Bo$$ said:


> looking Good keep up the work dude



Thanks! Will do 



Wile E said:


> This is so freakin awesome. I want one now. lol. How much would you charge to make one?



Haha, I dunno, it's turning out to be much more time-consuming than I originally thought  - basically been working on it for a whole week straight figuring out all the minor details... And I'm talking about 10-12 hours a day (Although it's questionable how efficient one can work on whiskey... )

Hope it will get better after finishing and paint though so stay tuned


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## Perra (Nov 29, 2009)

Such an insanely sweet project! I bet it will look awesome when finished, keep up the good work! I bet there will be cake in the end


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## zAAm (Nov 29, 2009)

Perra said:


> Such an insanely sweet project! I bet it will look awesome when finished, keep up the good work! I bet there will be cake in the end



Thanks! Haha, I hope there will be. Maybe I'll get some for the occasion 

A quick view of the hardware that will go inside of the cube. Don't mind the totally useless cardboard cutout at the top, it will be made of 3mm clear perspex and the design will be slightly altered - more material to give a stronger piece. Also, you can see a slot that will fit over the network card to hold it in place - it will be bent and fitted square over the card.





My current thinking is that the hard drives will be secured by angled aluminium on both sides of the 5mm perspex sheet. I think I will ultimately only use one 1TB SATA drive, but it helps to plan for expansion and for the time being I'll use the two 320GB IDE drives.


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## Bo$$ (Nov 29, 2009)

how are you gonna fit the bottom into the case, screws?


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## zAAm (Nov 29, 2009)

Bo$$ said:


> how are you gonna fit the bottom into the case, screws?



Yes, the placement of the standoffs are _hopefully (haven't checked)_ such that the screws will be under the corners at the bottom so they'll be out of sight. Then the corners will be glued on top of them - if I need to change the hardware I can always remove the components from the top down so I won't need to remove the bottom screws (which will be inaccessible anyway)... 

On how I'm going to mount the entire underside to the rest of the cube (if that was what you implied), I'm still working on a way to screw the top and bottom half of the chassis together without any obvious screw holes...


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## Bo$$ (Nov 29, 2009)

zAAm said:


> Yes, the placement of the standoffs are _hopefully (haven't checked)_ such that the screws will be under the corners at the bottom so they'll be out of sight. Then the corners will be glued on top of them - if I need to change the hardware I can always remove the components from the top down so I won't need to remove the bottom screws (which will be inaccessible anyway)...
> 
> On how I'm going to mount the entire underside to the rest of the cube (if that was what you implied), I'm still working on a way to screw the top and bottom half of the chassis together without any obvious screw holes...



maybe some hinges on the edge to keep simplicity?


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## Cuzza (Nov 29, 2009)

Very impressive work with the perspex. but why are the disks orange? or are you going to paint them?


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## zAAm (Nov 29, 2009)

Bo$$ said:


> maybe some hinges on the edge to keep simplicity?



I'll keep that in mind, but I think I'm probably just going to screw everything together... 



Cuzza said:


> Very impressive work with the perspex. but why are the disks orange? or are you going to paint them?



Haha, thanks. They will be painted white yes  - with the pink hearts either painted or printed on... I wanted to make it out of clear perspex but that would be painted anyway and I wanted to use the clear perspex I had left for something else.


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## Bo$$ (Nov 29, 2009)

zAAm said:


> I'll keep that in mind, but I think I'm probably just going to screw everything together...



good luck which ever path you choose


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## zAAm (Nov 30, 2009)

The reason I didn't get far with the actual building today - installing ubuntu and setting it up just as I need it. Right screen is the cube, left is my i7 (which is playing music mostly) and the laptop is used for command searching... I actually grabbed the wrong keyboard or mouse a couple of times...  I must say I struggled a bit with installing Jaunty on a software RAID0 volume, but I pulled through in the end 






A sneak peak at the hard drive mounts I've started to make... The other mounts are going to be extended with thick aluminium bar stock and then screws will be threaded through the perspex into the other aluminium bottom pieces (hard to describe it - will be easy to see afterwards). It might be overkill for just mounting some drives, but I thought while I was busy I might as well do it properly


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## Bo$$ (Nov 30, 2009)

what happened to the IDE hdds?


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## zAAm (Nov 30, 2009)

Bo$$ said:


> what happened to the IDE hdds?



What do you mean? They're still there


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## zAAm (Dec 1, 2009)

So, today I didn't get to spend a lot of time on the project, but did manage to drill all the mounting holes and also make the top perspex plate. Here is the template I drew first





Drilling the pilot holes - there's a whole lot of them





Then, after I drilled all the holes, cut the spaces in between with the jigsaw and spent a little (or a lot) time with filing everything neat, this is what I had left. I still need to drill the fan mounting holes though.





The middle plate after drilling all the mounting holes. There are 4 sets of 4 to enable basically any mounting position.





Now I'm working on mounting the (orange) disks and playing around with a way to make the LED light strips...


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## Bo$$ (Dec 1, 2009)

zAAm said:


> What do you mean? They're still there



you were talking about installing stuff on RAID1 or something, sorry that confused me


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## zAAm (Dec 1, 2009)

Bo$$ said:


> you were talking about installing stuff on RAID1 or something, sorry that confused me



Yeah, I installed Ubuntu on the two IDE hard drives in a RAID0 configuration. 

Also, I've just checked the clearance with just some of the LED strips in place and it's going to be TIGHT!  Here's a Solidworks render showing 4 of the 6 sides equipped with LED strips. The clearance is going to be in the range of 2-3mm on the sides and as little as 1mm at the back!


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## zAAm (Dec 2, 2009)

Okay, I finally decided how I'm going to construct my LED strip boxes. They will be pieces of pearl opaque perspex covered in pewter (yes you read right) with a small strip cut out that will shine through a slot in the side panels. I chose pewter because it's reflective, easy to work with and can easily be smoothed out. It is pretty heavy though - although that does give the strips an amazing feeling of quality 






I also worked on the hdd mounts as well as the edge pieces (I miscounted the edges of a cube  - it's not 8 but 12, so I had to make an additional 4 pieces) but didn't take photos of that. Also, I got a way of mounting the circular heart disks to the frame by making (and baking) plastic clay pieces to give me a way of mounting threaded standoffs to a curved surface. It's not amazingly pretty but it works and will be covered. Will glue that tomorrow.

Sorry for the shoddy update guys, will hopefully do better tomorrow


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## zAAm (Dec 3, 2009)

Okay, I have a little update that took a long time... 

Today I cut and shaped all the LED strip pieces and started to cover them in the pewter. I got as far as 4 as it takes about 20min each. So only 20 to go...  I also made a batch of plastic clay standoff pieces that will hopefully fit into the thermoformed disks I made earlier. They will allow me to screw the curved perspex to the side panels. They're not pretty, but hopefully they will work and they'll be covered under the panel anyway.

So, on to the photos! This is the jig I quickly built to align the plastic clay pieces.





Here's the jig with the standoffs and their plastic clay tails that I will use to mold to the disk's contour.





After coating everything with baby powder D) so they don't stick, the disk was pressed onto the clay and tidied up a bit with a blade.





The finished pieces. They do look a bit crap and untidy, but the clay is such that I couldn't really tidy them up too much without risking losing the bond between the standoff and the clay and then ending up with a useless (albeit nice looking) piece of clay and metal . Afterward I just popped them into the oven at 130C for 35min and they're rock solid 





Next I set about cutting and shaping the LED strips. It took a LOT of measurement, 48 holes and some time filing to get the 24 pieces so that two LED's fit neatly side-by-side. The finishing wasn't that important since it will be covered by pewter anyway. At the left is a test fit of the pewter to determine the size needed to cover the entire perspex strip.





A strip of pewter I cut with a blade to size. It's heavy!





To illustrate just how heavy it is, I weighed 20 strips on a scale. 97g! Which means they are just under 5g for a ~30x100mm piece! All in all just by covering the perspex the pewter will add 117g to the cube 





I then covered and glued the pewter over the perspex strip. Here's the finished product after about 20 minutes. The strip of light will be cut on the opposite side.





The underside with the strip cut. Also, all 4 I've been able to make so far 





One of the final strips in action! 





I'll be going away tomorrow (camping) for a few days so I won't be able to work on the project for a while. But I'll be back the 15th or so and then I'll be going at it full speed again. Also, while I'm away I'm going to pick up the picoPSU 90W version - the 120W is pretty thick and will push the clearances further than needed. Also, 90W is enough for everything in the cube I believe...


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## Bo$$ (Dec 4, 2009)

zAAm said:


> Okay, I have a little update that took a long time...
> 
> Today I cut and shaped all the LED strip pieces and started to cover them in the pewter. I got as far as 4 as it takes about 20min each. So only 20 to go...  I also made a batch of plastic clay standoff pieces that will hopefully fit into the thermoformed disks I made earlier. They will allow me to screw the curved perspex to the side panels. They're not pretty, but hopefully they will work and they'll be covered under the panel anyway.
> 
> ...



not too sure myself, but if you can fit it, get the bigger one


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## zAAm (Dec 22, 2009)

So, I'm finally doing an update again - been away awhile and haven't been able to work on the cube. This is where everything starts to fall together so it's been a challenge to work out how and where I'll fit everything.

At least I've finished the 24 LED strips. Took ages!! 





I also started the final work on the side panels - drilling holes for the heart covers as well as cutting the LED strip channels in all the panels. Here's everything marked up and ready to go!





I used a normal jigsaw to cut the channels...





Everything finished 





The placement of the LED strips at the back of each panel. Also, I removed the perspex backing so now we can see the actual colour.





The placement of the heart covers - I superglued the little plastic standoff mounts to the covers, will q-bond everything later when I get some more superglue.





I also bent the top perspex panel to fit over the network card - it's now nice and secure 





I moved the wireless adapter to the top panel, and made a perspex mount to hold it in place. It will be glued to the top panel and braced with additional perspex strips.





Finally I decided where the switches and power/hdd LED's were going to be placed (the perimeter of the front and back panel holes just behind the heart covers) and wired them quickly. They will be connected with a single connector to the motherboard.





I also decided exactly how the rear removable heart cover is going to be mounted. It will be completely removable without hinges to simplify everything. They will have steel rods going through the perspex panel and will stick to 4 neodymium magnets covering the holes on the backside. This will ensure easy removal as well as pretty decent holding strength. Before you ask, I will cover the backside of the magnets with sufficiently thick steel to route the flux directly through it - essentially negating the magnetic field inside the cube so as not to damage or influence the components inside .

So that's the progress so far. Tomorrow I'll continue with the removable cover mounting system and also try to complete the hard drive mounts.


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## Mussels (Dec 22, 2009)

dude - nice.

and the magnets is a sweet idea for the panels, makes them removable and basically indestructible as far as normal use goes


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## Bo$$ (Dec 22, 2009)

wow! really great man i want one sooo bad


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## zAAm (Dec 22, 2009)

Mussels said:


> dude - nice.
> 
> and the magnets is a sweet idea for the panels, makes them removable and basically indestructible as far as normal use goes



Thanks! Actually, I was wondering how to mount them and was pondering all sorts of quick release mechanisms and hinges when *my mother* suggested using magnets! 



Bo$$ said:


> wow! really great man i want one sooo bad



That makes two of us! I can't wait for everything to come together - it's been quite a while since I wanted to make one. 

I quickly q-bonded the heart cover standoff mounts to the perspex so I have a VERY strong bond. It looks pretty bad, but I think I'll paint the bottom as well so it doesn't stand out alongside the white disks...





A close-up of one of the bonds - this stuff is pretty amazing and immensely strong - just what I need since I will be applying some torque when fastening the covers and they're protruding so I don't want them to hit something and fall off.


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## WhiteLotus (Dec 22, 2009)

jaw dropping. keep going this is fucking epic


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## TheCrow (Dec 23, 2009)

Wow amazing, i wish i had your technical ability, practical ability and patience.


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## zAAm (Dec 23, 2009)

WhiteLotus said:


> jaw dropping. keep going this is fucking epic





TheCrow said:


> Wow amazing, i wish i had your technical ability, practical ability and patience.



Thanks guys!  I'll definitely finish this project - not like me to leave things hanging... 


Today I decided I'm going to finish all the small outstanding things I've started but didn't finish like the USB bracket, the bracket for the light controller and the HDD brackets.

This is the finished product - it weighs a ton now that the HDD's are mounted . I also routed the IDE cable cleanly around the cube since I don't want anything towards the front of the cube past the motherboard edge.





This is the light controller mounted. It's fastened by sprung heatsink clips since the back of the board isn't flat. I also added some foam to avoid scratching the perspex, line up the board and make everything prettier overall 





The USB bracket was basically just braced and glued in position to the top panel since I made it yesterday... 





The HDD brackets completed. It takes a bit of wrenching to make everything fit since there are fraction of millimeter differences in the hole spacing (something I can't really help), but it's very secure and will definitely not move anywhere . You can also see the mirror finish I added to the aluminium to make it look a bit better, although I kind of got tired when polishing the bottom brackets - hence they're not as smoothly polished as the top brackets 





I will continue working on the outside panels and the magnetized heart cover tonight - will need to fabricate some more plastic clay pieces. Also, I've just realized the extent of the wiring that will need to be done for the LED's! It basically involves making about a 100 connections and soldering and heatshrinking each one individually!  All the while connecting the right amount of the right type of LED in series with themselves and the correct resistors...

Anyway, we'll come to that later. I need some coffee... Will keep you guys posted


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## Bo$$ (Dec 23, 2009)

zAAm said:


> I will continue working on the outside panels and the magnetized heart cover tonight - will need to fabricate some more plastic clay pieces. Also, I've just realized the extent of the wiring that will need to be done for the LED's! It basically involves making about a 100 connections and soldering and heatshrinking each one individually!  All the while connecting the right amount of the right type of LED in series with themselves and the correct resistors...
> 
> Anyway, we'll come to that later. I need some coffee... Will keep you guys posted



damn , sounds epic ,  if that was me i would enjoy a few beers first  

keep it up


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## zAAm (Dec 25, 2009)

So, today was LED's and heart covers all the way...

I completed the mounting of the HDD and power LED's, the power and reset buttons as well as the magnetized rear panel. Everything went pretty smoothly (after I replaced one of the buttons as I accidentally superglued the button to its case  ), and I continued mounting the covers and LED strips...

In the process of gluing the LED strips to one of the panels. The mounted heart cover is also clearly visible.





One panel done  . It took a while to cut all the windows in the pewter and glue them in the correct position for each panel.





The reverse side of the panel, showing the LED strips through the slots.





Next, I decided to glue three of the panels together to make it easier (and actually to allow the UV LED wiring altogether) to route the LED wiring. You can also see I q-bonded the legs of the LED's to keep light from leaking from the bottom and causing weird light spots through the semi-opaque gray perspex.





Another shot with 5 of the 6 panels' LED strips mounted - the 6th one is the bottom panel which still needs to be drilled to mount the internals when I'm sure everything will fit. I think the silver with the gray and orange actually looks pretty cool. 





The red part of the LED's connected to each other. All these wires will be routed cleanly once everything is connected. I've also epoxied three terminal blocks to give me something to route the wires to so I can connect it to the controller mounted on the other half of the cube. The UV LED's are going to be trickier since they need to be connected three at a time in series.





A closer shot of the terminals, the neodymium magnets with laminated steel on top of them and also the tactile power and reset buttons (both sides of the LED strip)...





Tonight I'll continue with some serious soldering and will see how far I can get with the wiring... Really putting my soldering skills and patience to the test.


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## zAAm (Dec 25, 2009)

So I've just finished the red LED wiring on 3 of the 6 panels. Just thought I'd share it with you guys. Looks pretty cool already


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## Mussels (Dec 26, 2009)

you gunna do anything about those black rings from the adhesive stuff?


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## zAAm (Dec 26, 2009)

Mussels said:


> you gunna do anything about those black rings from the adhesive stuff?



Haha, yeah definitely. The heart covers are going to be painted white in the end - with the pink hearts on top. So you won't be able to see the filings...  I'm also considering painting the inside of the hearts as well to avoid strange colour reflections and so it looks better when you dismantle the cube.


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## zAAm (Dec 26, 2009)

The current state of the wiring. It's really starting to get apparent just how many wires it's going to take. This is the wiring of all 20 red LED's and 6 of the 20 UV LED's of 5 of the 6 panels. So there's still 44 connections to be made!


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## MRCL (Dec 26, 2009)

Impressive! A 10/10 is already guaranteed!


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## Fourstaff (Dec 26, 2009)

Starting to look very good! I wish I can build myself one, but I have 4 legs and 0 patience


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## dr emulator (madmax) (Dec 27, 2009)

MKmods said:


> I just picked up some of these for my build
> http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6114/ele-278/5mm_WhiteRed_Dual_Color_LED.html?tl=g44c77s118
> 
> Its one LED that can be both colors(3 wires, gd, r,w) They also make 3 color LEDs.


thanks for the link mk, i'm going to try to get hold of some of these to be honest i looked all over for something similar but only found smd stuff



zAAm said:


> Okay, I had to test the LED's. They seem to confirm my theory, although diffusing the light might be the biggest problem... Will probably need to use indirect light.
> 
> Here's just one red and one UV LED on a breadboard to test. Colours are very discrete.
> http://img.techpowerup.org/091123/DSC07849.jpg
> ...



this project of yours is looking superb  
you really know how to work wood, it definately gets my  a work of art


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## zAAm (Dec 30, 2009)

_Update_

Okay, so I've completed the wiring and wire routing of the top half of the cube (i.e. 20 of the 24 LED strips). I've also cleaned up the layout and stuck on all the parts to have a peak at what the final product is going to look like. 

The front of the cube... The power and HDD LED's are just behind the circular cover at the top - the same placement as that of the power and reset buttons at the back of the cube.





...and the back. You can just see one of the buttons through the orange cover.





A perspective 'cause I like it... 





The rear of the cube again, but with the magnetized heart cover removed. You can see the 4 holes that the cover fits into. The magnets are flush with the other side of the perspex panel so the four studs of the cover fit through the holes and just contact the magnets on the other side. You can also see the power button (left) and the reset button (right) clearly. With this configuration it prevents someone from accidentally pressing a button if they handle the cube since the circular disk completely covers them when assembled.





The heart of the companion cube  . You can see the hundreds of wires covering the internal surface of the cube connecting all the LED strips... They are routed cleanly (or as cleanly as I could get them  ) and superglued in place to avoid them snagging when you put the top half over the internals. The connector hanging in mid-air connects directly into the motherboard to power the LED's and to connect the buttons. The tricoloured wires at the back connects to the light controller when the halves are joined. 





A close up of some of the wiring... 





Well that's it. Today I'm going to drill the holes to mount the internals to the bottom panel and then glue and wire the bottom LED strips. After that all that's left is making a mechanism to allow screwing the top and half pieces together (it's going to be tricky since there's very little room - but I think I have an idea) and then PAINT!


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## zAAm (Dec 30, 2009)

A quick comparison with the "real" thing. Apart from the colours and the fact that the perspective is slightly different...


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## steelkane (Dec 30, 2009)

Top notch building = Greatness when done


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## MRCL (Dec 30, 2009)

*drool* 

Are you planning on making a cake computer, too?


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## Bo$$ (Dec 30, 2009)

zAAm said:


> A quick comparison with the "real" thing. Apart from the colours and the fact that the perspective is slightly different...
> http://img.techpowerup.org/091230/Comparison.jpg



i'd say a perfect likeness


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## zAAm (Dec 30, 2009)

steelkane said:


> Top notch building = Greatness when done





Bo$$ said:


> i'd say a perfect likeness



Thanks guys  . Now to see if the final product can match up 



MRCL said:


> *drool*
> 
> Are you planning on making a cake computer, too?



Haha, not at the moment but that would be brilliant!!  Might be hard to keep everyone from taking a bite though...


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## dr emulator (madmax) (Dec 30, 2009)

you sir get the dr's


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## Wile E (Dec 31, 2009)

zAAm said:


> A quick comparison with the "real" thing. Apart from the colours and the fact that the perspective is slightly different...
> http://img.techpowerup.org/091230/Comparison.jpg



Holy shit!! Do want!!!!


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## zAAm (Jan 1, 2010)

Hi guys, just wanted to say happy new year! and to show a teeny tiny update...

The corners have their first layer of primer and some serious sanding later we have a pretty smooth surface. 





Today I'll paint and sand the edge pieces (as seen in a row at the bottom) and probably start with the white on the corners. Then it's sanding again and maybe then the final white gloss layer. Will see how the pieces look . Also, I'm going to scuff the surface of the perspex a bit using 600grit sandpaper before I paint it to increase the paint strength. I've tested it and it's a lot tougher without damaging the finish.

Have a great year...


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## Bo$$ (Jan 1, 2010)

zAAm said:


> Hi guys, just wanted to say happy new year! and to show a teeny tiny update...
> 
> The corners have their first layer of primer and some serious sanding later we have a pretty smooth surface.
> http://img.techpowerup.org/100101/DSC08150.jpg
> ...



Happy new year, my first 2010 post  

nice idea but using finer sand paper like 1000 or 1200 would be better, as it would leave a smoother finish


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## zAAm (Jan 3, 2010)

So I've finished some three layers of paint on the white pieces. I'm debating putting on another white layer on the corners and maybe a gloss clear topcoat...

This is the full collection of painted parts  . The edges still need a lot of work since they're a nightmare to paint. They're so small and have very small angled faces so you have to be extremely careful not to overcoat the flat faces when trying to just get SOME paint onto the smaller faces. 





The perspex circles came out pretty decent except for some unexplainable marks probably left by the molding and sanding stages.





One of the corners up close. The finish isn't bad - it's not a visually smooth piano finish, but it's smooth to the touch. Also, the problem with MDF is you can never get a perfect raw finish to start with and I'm too lazy to sit and sand for 8hours just to get that last little nick out of the paint. I'm probably going to put on another coat to smooth it out a bit more, but that's about it. The corners are also so that there's always some vertical faces so you have to be very careful not to overcoat anything or they'll run - again difficult with the amount of small angles you have to coat.





A close up of one of the perspex circles showing a pretty decently smooth finish. It's not a piano finish, but it's better than I hoped for  . They will also most likely receive another coat of paint and maybe a clear topcoat.





So that's all I have to show for today. I'm busy with the mounting system planning and will likely start with that tonight or tomorrow


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## steelkane (Jan 3, 2010)

Looking nice,, if you wanted smother you could clear coat,, let dry,, wetsand, keep doing that intill your happy with the finish,, but I think they look good now


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## Soylent Joe (Jan 3, 2010)

Freakin epic man. Can't wait to see it finished and working


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## zAAm (Jan 4, 2010)

So I got some more paint and added a third white layer on the corners. Tomorrow I'll add a clear coat to finish everything off - think it went quite well and the finish is pretty decent  .

I leave you guys with a single photo showing a bit of the white finish before any sanding...


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## zAAm (Jan 4, 2010)

Oh yeah, I forgot. I've also finished the closing mechanism! It's basically four M6 nut extenders epoxied to the corners of the cube in which countersunk bolts thread into. I think they will probably hold everything together nicely 

Here's the bottom bolted to the rest of the cube. The bolts will eventually go through the mounted white corners as well where they'll be mounted flush.





The four extenders epoxied to the cube





Close-up of an extender. They are pretty beefy!


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## Ryo129 (Jan 5, 2010)

Amazing work man. Can't wait to see it done, gonna look great.


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## jenygs09 (Jan 5, 2010)

zAAm said:


> Oh yeah, I forgot. I've also finished the closing mechanism! It's basically four M6 nut extenders epoxied to the corners of the cube in which countersunk bolts thread into. I think they will probably hold everything together nicely
> 
> Here's the bottom bolted to the rest of the cube. The bolts will eventually go through the mounted white corners as well where they'll be mounted flush.
> http://img.techpowerup.org/100104/DSC08169.jpg
> ...


Can someone make this yoshi light blue? But keep like the yellow glow on him, because it makes it look wierd when its meant to be the sunshine
_________________
Can Koozies | Drink koozies


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## zAAm (Jan 5, 2010)

jenygs09 said:


> Can someone make this yoshi light blue? But keep like the yellow glow on him, because it makes it look wierd when its meant to be the sunshine



I think I speak for a lot of people when I said "wtf??" the first time I read this. Do you mean this?


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## Fourstaff (Jan 5, 2010)

So, when is it ready to ship to my place?


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## Wile E (Jan 5, 2010)

Fourstaff said:


> So, when is it ready to ship to my place?



I have first dibs pal.  lol


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## Mussels (Jan 5, 2010)

now now, no fighting. i can always edit posts so that *i* get first dibs 



need moar updates!


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## Wile E (Jan 5, 2010)

Mussels said:


> now now, no fighting. i can always edit posts so that *i* get first dibs
> 
> 
> 
> need moar updates!



I could always fly to the land down under, and have a nice face to face chat with you too.


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## zAAm (Jan 5, 2010)

Okay, I've got a teaser for you guys...

The hearts on the disks are done. They only need to dry and then I'll coat them with clear paint. You might be wondering: "How did you get that strikingly realistic hand painted finish my dear man?". I'll tell you - it's a tried and tested technique used widely by artists for a number of years now. I believe it's called painting the damn thing by hand...  No it doesn't have perfect lines, no I couldn't find spray paint with the EXACT same shade, yes I had to mix it from scratch and no I don't care because if you look at the hearts in the game they are really weathered and scratched so it's not hard to imagine that they were hand painted in the beginning....


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## beyond_amusia (Jan 5, 2010)

Wow, I'm keeping an eye on this thread - It will be a sexy rig. xD


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## MRCL (Jan 5, 2010)

The hearts look horrible. Imho you can just throw the whole project in the trash. Congratulations, you have ruined it for us, I hope you are happy. Are you happy? ARE YOU? 

 No seriously, the shade is perfect, and the drawing superb - you have two skilled hands my man. Too bad if someone would... steal them.


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## zAAm (Jan 6, 2010)

Haha, you might change your mind if you heard that the cube was complete 

I don't know if you would like to see some pictures now though? Since it's all ruined and everything... sigh.


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## Bo$$ (Jan 6, 2010)

nice painting


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## zAAm (Jan 6, 2010)

Hi guys. It's taken quite some time, but what I have here is the final photos of the case  . It is, as you will notice, missing a power supply which I will be getting on Monday. I'll post the final internal photos when I've installed the pico 90.

So let's start with a normal perspective view just to wet your appetite... 





Another angle





Now the front...





... and the back. Can't really tell the difference except from the top heart orientation can you? 





Now the top...





... and the bottom. This one you can tell (almost missed it eh?) by the screws bolting into the other half of the case as well as the added highly rigid foam feet 





The back of the cube with the heart cover removed 





One of the bottom corners removed by removing the M6 bolt going through all the layers.





... and all the corners gone.  Notice the placement of the screws that hold the internal structure. They were placed to be under the corners and there's small holes drilled in the corners just above the screw heads to allow the corner to fit flush with the cube.





The top half of the cube dismantled showing the internal structure.





Close-ups of the internal structure... You will notice the missing pico! 

















The internal view of the top half of the cube. It looks pretty messy but all the wires are glued in place and routed as cleanly as possible.





The top corners were screwed in place by three self-tapping screws after drilling holes into the perspex and corners.





The bottom part placed onto the top part again before tightening the bolts. The holes are countersunk. 





Another perspective 





The lighting. They were powered by an external power source given that the pico isn't installed yet. The whole cube is covered in LED's. This is viewed from the left...





... and from the right...





... and the back, showing the power supply module feeding power into the cube...





... even the bottom is covered  





A close-up of the top. You can see some separation in the light, but it's not that critical.





A shot in the dark. The light is ONLY coming out of the slots on the cube and there's no light leaking into the inside of the cube and coming out of the heart covers.





Now when I turn down the UV, the cube is in red mode 





... and the other way around in UV mode. Interestingly, the camera sensor, being more sensitive to the shorter wavelengths, captures a blue light although it looks purple-ish in real life 





Finally, I leave you with a comparison between the in-game cube and the final mediaBIN3.0 Weighted Companion Cube!





Soooo, there you have it. Hope you guys are satisfied with the end-result! I know I am


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## (FIH) The Don (Jan 6, 2010)

OMFG that is simply amazing


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## MRCL (Jan 6, 2010)

Oh. my. fricken. God. That thing is so perfect. Congratulations zAAm for creating such a great enclosure and pleasing my eyes. They are so pleased they want a cigarette  Seriously dude I take my hat off to you.


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## Soylent Joe (Jan 6, 2010)

/head explosion

Wow, that's awesome. You should make a case mod gallery for it.


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## zAAm (Jan 6, 2010)

Thanks guys... Mmm, maybe I should post a pic or so in the case mod gallery and see what happens


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## Fourstaff (Jan 6, 2010)




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## zAAm (Jan 6, 2010)

Just for fun, a size comparison alongside a DVD 50pack spindle (only thing of standard comparable size I could find as I quickly looked around)


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## Wile E (Jan 7, 2010)

So, how much do you want for it?


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## zAAm (Jan 7, 2010)

Unfortunately I'm not gonna sell it  After the amount of work I've put into it, I don't think you'll be able to afford it!


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## Th0rn0 (Jan 7, 2010)

Wow... Just amazing!


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## Mussels (Jan 7, 2010)

that's awesome dude.

Make sure to take lots of pics, and throw it up in the gallery


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## Bo$$ (Jan 7, 2010)

OMG this is awsome, give us a link from the gallery, and we shall all vote 10/10


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## zAAm (Jan 7, 2010)

Bo$$ said:


> OMG this is awsome, give us a link from the gallery, and we shall all vote 10/10



Haha, I'm just interested if people will like my work. I don't really mind though, cause I will be the one using it 

The gallery link: http://www.techpowerup.com/gallery/2435.html


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## dr emulator (madmax) (Feb 13, 2010)

you sir get a  from the doc 
are you planning on doing something else in the future?


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## zAAm (Feb 13, 2010)

Thanks!  

At the moment I don't have any inspiration yet on another mod, but will see as we go along... I think my next project will be computer unrelated as I'll be defretting and modifying a bass guitar I'm looking at  

I still need to post some pictures of the cube in action - it's already doing its duties with the RAID0 HDD array replaced with a single Samsung EcoGreen 1TB drive. Will add another one later maybe, but I need to look into some better airflow for the hard drives as they're getting quite hot - 50C for the current drive.


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## zAAm (Jun 14, 2011)

So the Atom 330 was pretty much useless in the end. I just upgraded it with the following:

- Intel DH67CF LGA1155 Media Series motherboard
- Intel i5 2400S 2.5GHz Low-voltage CPU
- 8GB Corsair DDR3-1333
- 1TB Samsung F2 EcoGreen (for the moment it's not used as a NAS so capacity isn't top priority)
- PicoPSU 120W w/ 110W Adapter

It runs MUCH better (I'd say about 5 times as fast) and I can use it for testing my software projects!

Airflow is a bit of an issue as the i5 gets to around 70 degrees with the stock cooler in the confined space when stress testing, but normal use won't see anywhere near that. 

Now it serves as a pretty decent media server and can still be used in the CPU and RAM intensive testing of my software programs... 

*So now the Companion Cube can be considered a companion once again!*


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## yogurt_21 (Jun 14, 2011)

sweet now must show the companion cube running portal 2. lol


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## Bo$$ (Jun 15, 2011)

yeah, you should make a new one based on one of the new cubes, thanks for the update, any screens of the internals??


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## zAAm (Jun 15, 2011)

Bo$$ said:


> yeah, you should make a new one based on one of the new cubes, thanks for the update, any screens of the internals??



I'll see what I can do about the internal pics. It was a B*TCH to install everything since the power connector of the DH67CF motherboard is off the side instead of at the back. This ensures that there's literally zero tolerance for the components to fit. Takes a bit of wangling to get everything inside.

So having said that, I'm not too keen on having to disassemble it again...  But will see if I can borrow a decent camera and I might be willing to show you guys the internals 

Also, I think the new design weighted companion cube in Portal 2 will be even more difficult to perfect as the glowing rings will ensure that lighting will be a pain in the ass. Getting that massive plane to light up uniformly won't be an easy task - if at all possible in this form factor


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## Cube (Aug 30, 2011)

hey Zaam, firstly I got to say thanks for some inspiration for the wcc mod. I'm building one of my own at the moment but I have chosen a almost lifesize subwoofer box from portal 2. Your right about the rings, complete pain in the ass or neck should I say after the mammoth amount of soldering I have done. I'll start up a thread for it 

I started a thread in the home audio section, you can see some pics there, one of the ring and 4 bars lit up (although the ring draws heaps more than the bars so they didn't light up as strong as they should) 


http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2381559&posted=1#post2381559


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## Bo$$ (Aug 30, 2011)

zAAm said:


> I'll see what I can do about the internal pics. It was a B*TCH to install everything since the power connector of the DH67CF motherboard is off the side instead of at the back. This ensures that there's literally zero tolerance for the components to fit. Takes a bit of wangling to get everything inside.
> 
> So having said that, I'm not too keen on having to disassemble it again...  But will see if I can borrow a decent camera and I might be willing to show you guys the internals
> 
> Also, I think the new design weighted companion cube in Portal 2 will be even more difficult to perfect as the glowing rings will ensure that lighting will be a pain in the ass. Getting that massive plane to light up uniformly won't be an easy task - if at all possible in this form factor



where are mah pictures?!


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## zAAm (Mar 18, 2012)

I'm not keen on resurrecting the thread, but for all those people who asked for the SolidWorks model of the cube, I finally found a backup on one of my old harddrives...

The model files can be found below and are licensed under Creative Commons. Please feel free to use and adapt for non-commercial use 

http://www.anonstorage.net/PStorage/742.zAAm's Weighted Companion Cube PC Mod Model.rar


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## 1337chaos (Mar 26, 2012)

zAAm said:


> I'm not keen on resurrecting the thread, but for all those people who asked for the SolidWorks model of the cube, I finally found a backup on one of my old harddrives...
> 
> The model files can be found below and are licensed under Creative Commons. Please feel free to use and adapt for non-commercial use
> 
> http://www.anonstorage.net/PStorage/742.zAAm's Weighted Companion Cube PC Mod Model.rar



Is it possible to get your dimension sheets for the cube corners and such? I'd like to start my own project like this one, but based on the Portal 2 cube.


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## zAAm (Mar 26, 2012)

1337chaos said:


> Is it possible to get your dimension sheets for the cube corners and such? I'd like to start my own project like this one, but based on the Portal 2 cube.



All the SLDDRW sheet files are in the archive I posted. You do however need SolidWorks to open them. I don't have it installed atm so I can't give you a rendered copy unfortunately.


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## 1337chaos (Mar 26, 2012)

zAAm said:


> All the SLDDRW sheet files are in the archive I posted. You do however need SolidWorks to open them. I don't have it installed atm so I can't give you a rendered copy unfortunately.



Thanks a lot. I'll go find a Solidworks reader  I just got back from picking up some MDF, happened to carry it already in 6mm!


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## zAAm (Mar 26, 2012)

1337chaos said:


> Thanks a lot. I'll go find a Solidworks reader  I just got back from picking up some MDF, happened to carry it already in 6mm!



Sure, good luck with the build! And post pictures


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## 1337chaos (Mar 29, 2012)

Damn. So the 6mm MDF is right, but the other stuff that I got was 19mm, not 16mm. Apparently they don't sell 16mm MDF here in the states. All I have to choose from is 13mm or 19mm, which means every single calculation for the corners is wrong. I'm terrible at math, or I'd just adjust it all to suit my needs. Any chance you could help me out?


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## zAAm (Mar 29, 2012)

1337chaos said:


> Damn. So the 6mm MDF is right, but the other stuff that I got was 19mm, not 16mm. Apparently they don't sell 16mm MDF here in the states. All I have to choose from is 13mm or 19mm, which means every single calculation for the corners is wrong. I'm terrible at math, or I'd just adjust it all to suit my needs. Any chance you could help me out?



Well, you could always enlarge the entire case by 18.75%. So all measurements must then by multiplied by 1.1875. Or you could use a thickness planer or something to shave off the extra 3mm. This is where you should use your ingenuity and make it work


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## 1337chaos (Mar 29, 2012)

zAAm said:


> Well, you could always enlarge the entire case by 18.75%. So all measurements must then by multiplied by 1.1875. Or you could use a thickness planer or something to shave off the extra 3mm. This is where you should use your ingenuity and make it work



Awesome, thanks for the reply again. I'd rather make it smaller than larger, so I went and grabbed the 13mm thick MDF. Now I simply have to divide all of the dimensions by 1.1875? If so, that'll make my box shrink to just over 6.5 inches, which is what I wanted it to be in the first place


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## 1337chaos (Apr 11, 2012)

I finished up today. It's not exactly perfect by any means, but it's good enough for my tastes. I don't have many pictures of the progress like you've got, but here's the finished thing:

This one is the top.






This is the top (facing the camera) and the back panel connectors.





It's got an internal battery and charge controller, the big black connector on the back is for a solar panel to plug in and charge the battery, and the computer inside of it will run off of the battery. As you can tell from the logo, it'll house a Raspberry Pi. Because of this, I've decided to dub it the "Com-Pi-nion Cube"

Thanks again for the help, zAAm. Couldn't have done it without you!


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## Clubber_Lang (Apr 11, 2012)

I always try and compliment people on their modded cases and all the hard work that must of gone into making something like this. zAAm.....awesome job man! that little case is extremely well thought out and it turned out really cool!

p.s.....1337 : Not to shabby man! Both you and zAAm built something I could only imagine. Great job!


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## zAAm (Apr 11, 2012)

Thanks Clubber_Lang 

@1337chaos: It looks pretty good. I like the fact that it'll house a Raspberry Pi


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## Bo$$ (Apr 11, 2012)

Really nice work!
care to show the internals?


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## jkiyoung13 (May 1, 2013)

zAAm said:


> I'm not keen on resurrecting the thread, but for all those people who asked for the SolidWorks model of the cube, I finally found a backup on one of my old harddrives...
> 
> The model files can be found below and are licensed under Creative Commons. Please feel free to use and adapt for non-commercial use
> 
> http://www.anonstorage.net/PStorage/742.zAAm's Weighted Companion Cube PC Mod Model.rar



hi, i'm actually new to this and i was planning to make the companion cube with my friend later this summer. i just came across your thread and it really helped out my planning to make the cube with my friend. the problem is... we dont know what the dimensions are for the corner/edge pieces. after reading your posts i just came across this link! sad thing is... it looks like the site is down... i was wondering if you still have the files for this and can upload it to another site. :<


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## zAAm (May 8, 2013)

jkiyoung13 said:


> hi, i'm actually new to this and i was planning to make the companion cube with my friend later this summer. i just came across your thread and it really helped out my planning to make the cube with my friend. the problem is... we dont know what the dimensions are for the corner/edge pieces. after reading your posts i just came across this link! sad thing is... it looks like the site is down... i was wondering if you still have the files for this and can upload it to another site. :<



Hi!

Sure, here's a more reliable link:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?k1ff8elkjcjtuej

Happy modding


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## jkiyoung13 (May 18, 2013)

zAAm said:


> Hi!
> 
> Sure, here's a more reliable link:
> 
> ...



thank you so much
SORRY FOR THE LATE REPLY!!!


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