03.20.08: back to table of contents

Okay, it's been a good two weeks since I've updated anything. I've been busy improving the workshop in addition to working on the project. I have made some more progress on the 'skunk works' part of fivewood and you won't see that here, I promise not to talk about it anymore either because nobody likes a douche bag that talks about stuff he's not going to reveal.

One thing (of many to come) I have added to the shop is a new panel sander (drum sander). I've been drooling over this model for a while and couldn't hold out any longer. It certainly has made life easier. If you don't know what this is, it's operates using a drum wrapped in sand paper. This drum spins as the wood moves underneath. This sands the board evenly across the entire width and length. This tool can be used to reduce the thickness of wood like a planer (when using some low grit sandpaper) or it can be used to provide a nice and clean finish to wood when using very fine sandpaper. The other advantage over a planer is that you can use this on very small parts as well as large parts. I spent a whole evening just making sawdust with this thing. Anybody need a bunch of sawdust?

I did go ahead and cut the fan guards for the top trifecta of fans. The 2 x 80mm and 1 x 120mm. they turned out pretty well. As you can see, these are cut from copper. Copper may not have been a wise choice as it's as expensive as it has ever been now.

I did have to cut up some more stock wood so that I had more options. I have a nice supply of wood, but it is all too thick to be used on this project. I grabbed another hand full of 4 foot boards and split them up before planing and sanding. Here's a big cherry board before I rip, split and have my way with it.

Here's all the boards post-splitting on the table saw.

I split some cherry, mahogany, oak and walnut as well as another type of wood I am trying to identify. Here's a shot of the walnut. I love this stuff.

Here's the cherry all split up.

and the mahogany and the mystery wood.

I could use some help identifying this wood. If you know, please inform me.

I am just about finished with the top panel assembly. I have re-worked parts of it and have gotten the rails fit the way I want. The rails are not secured to the top yet. That will come soon, but there's a few more tweaks necessary.

another shot of the top.

So I started work on the power supply bay. the idea here is that the PSU will be enclosed into a section that will manage the hot air coming off and out of the PSU. I plan to vent the hot air out the bottom and back of the case so that no other part of the case is affected by the PSU heat.

Do the side walls look familiar? They should. Here I am working up the enclosure.

another shot. Take a good look, I scrapped this plan to reuse the V 1.0 drive bay panels and moved on to another.

Instead, I used the mystery wood and trimmed it out with walnut.

for the top of the PSU enclosure, I used a center-piece of cherry bordered by a split piece of cedar and that trimmed with more cherry. Hope this works out like I think it will.

another shot of the lay-up before gluing.

Post-gluing and prior to cutting to fit.

The best way to do this is, again, using a stand-in. I am using some plastic sheeting that stands in well. Once I get it exactly like I want it, I transfer those dimensions to the wood piece.

The finished template.

and here's the final cut top for the PSU enclosure.

and here is how it sits in the box.

At the same time, I am putting in a wire-way to handle the wiring bundle. This will hide the nasty-narley bundle that must travel up the case. The yellow box shows where this will go. Actually it will go on the other side of where this photo was taken from.

here's a piece of light mahogany that I will use for the main vertical for the wire-way.

And how it will look from the right side of the case. There's more work to do on the wire-way. This will be posted next time.

• Finish up back panel including trim for bay area. [not started]
• Build PSU enclosure [in-progress]
• Cut fan guards (3) for the top panel [done]
• Finish Barkley-panel. [in-progress]
• Build right-hand panel [not started]
• Finish top rails [95% complete]
• Build bridges for top-rails. [not started]
• Sand all frame structure parts [not started]
• Build front panel including function of the ##### feature [not started] ##### feature [cancelled for better idea]
• Build wire-way [in-progress]
• Finish cutting the second ****** and complete trim for both ******s [not started, but I thought about it]
• Build sand liquidizer for smoothing trim parts for ****** [cancelled, sand liquidizer was a mess]
• Finish smoothing big trim femals and figure out where they're going? [done]
• Build feet [not started]
• Look into peghole idea [not started]

Drive bay#2

So, back to shredding up some mahogany to get stock for this project.

and the wood get's smaller and smaller.

The plan is to cut dado slots for walnut rails or drive rails. Here I have marked on piece so that I can line them all up for dado cuts.

Here, everybody is lined up for dado cutting.

Now, with four dado slots and the walnu cut to fit. I'm ready to get serious. This is the 5.25" bay parts.

and the part for the 3.25" bay parts

I spent some time preparing the burled walnut as well. I won't show all the steps for this, but the stuff just looks so darn good when it's done.

Let's take a moment to enjoy this fine grain pattern.

the 5.25" drive bay completed...no, it's just roughed out using my favorite accessories, double-sided tape. Her I confirm the concept will work.

The 3.25" drive bay roughed out.

The 3.25" bay held together with 2 sided tape.

and now let's check in on the 5.25" drive bay. Oh, it's just a pile of wood now?! I'm prepping this for prelim sanding.

Now for the fun part. I plan to 'hang' the 3.5" bay from the top of the case. It's going to get a little more complicated than that though.

The 3.25" bay looking a little closer to what I want to see in the end.

mocking in some supports.

Here is the 'mocked-up' hanger for the 3.5" bay.

Here's the prototype hanger for the drive bay. I couldn't decide on which way I wanted the 3.5" bay to be oriented. I like the accessibility of having the 3.5" bay open to the sides, but I like the look of the bay when it's open to the front-back.
So, I am designing this one so that it's orientation is optional (insert joke here).

This is where I am playing with the function of the hanger. I'm probably going to scratch the blue tape before I'm done.

The glue-up for the hanger-bay.

another version of the hanger.

The 3.5" bay sides.

The final hanger (for now anyway)

3.5" bay, just tacked together. Still rough around the edges.

Here are the 5.25" bay side panels.

The 5.25" bay mock-up

Top view.

Here, the 3.5" bay is turned 90 degrees.

Here's the hanger-bay assembly after some sanding. I'll touch it up some more to get rid of gaps.

The 5.25: bay roughed out.

The 2 bays dropped in for measurements. More measurements, I have measured prior to now.

Shot from the front with the 3.5" bay open to the front-back.

Shot from the front with the 3.5" bay open to the sides.

From the right side.

The hanger bay a lot closer to how it will function in the end.

The 3.5" bay after more tweaking.

04.07.08:back to table of contents

I've been working on things all over the place. A little here, a little there. One of my biggest obstacles has been TOOL SHOPPING! I've gone a little crazy with the workshop upgrades. Table saw, router, drum sander and many other things I am reluctant to admit to. I do have a lot of 'experienced' tools that need new owners. Time to hit eBay.

Anyway, I've put some more work into the backplate. Trimming out the motherboard backpanel with walnut.

Here it's glued up and ready for trimming and some serious sanding until my hands cramp up.

So, to take it another direction; remember those neat rails I have made for the top of the case? I'm working on revision two of those as well. This time, instead of assembling them from various parts. I want to cut them of one solid piece straight out of a mahogany board. You can almost see the pencil marks on this board.

This is the rough-out for my first try at this idea. I am going to cut this on the scroll saw rather than the band saw.

Here's the rail as cut.

and here after a quick rough-sanding and an attempt to route a very curved / uneven surface. I learned that this is going to be a tricky maneuver and will require a LOT more time than I spent sawing this one.

So, I sketched out another and will give this some serious effort.

and viola! cut and cleaned! I won't whine about how painfully slow you must go on a scroll saw to get the cut this clean and accurate.

as well, I need some thin rails to go with these rails. I traced the finished top-rails and used that as a guide to cut these.

I cut four of them.

This is one idea I have,

and now for something completely different: Remember that piece of cedar I showed a few weeks back? Here it is in it's entirety. I've decided to use this for part of the front panel.

I took this board and cut it in half and then re-sawed the two boards. Resawing gives this mirrored pattern here. Working this cedar has made my entire shop and surrounding area smell like a guinea-pig cage (minus guinea pig poop).

and the other two.

and here's the pieces cut for the main part of the front panel as well as a strip cut and rabbeted to fit between these two.

This strip of cedar has a nice pattern for a center strip.

a closer look at the rabbets cut with the dado blade set.

and here as I have it prepped for glue.

and glued and clamped (the dark areas are where I've sponged off excess glue).

Here's the finished panel. I still have to trim the top, bottom and sides to the exact size.

While we're talking about cedar. Here I have taken a piece of sanded cedar and a piece of sanded burled mahogany and finished them using the same techniques I plan to use for the project. This has had a coat of sanding sealer and three coats of polyurethane. Looks pretty good, better than this photo shows. It feels real nice as well.

a closer look at the cedar as finished. This gives a little better look at the finish.

and now for another topic (I told you I've been jumping around); I have decided to use T-slots for the Barkley panels (see earlier in the build log). Of course, I could use pre made T-slots, but what's the fun in that. So, I am making them myself.

Here, I have built a test set to check this idea before I commit to building all the parts for this mechanisms.

Even roughed out, this setup works well. So it's time to make some T-slots.

Cutting stock for all the pieces of mahogany I'll need. I need 45 inches of T-slot, this requires 270 inches (11+ feet) of slats from 1/4" x 1/4" and up! Good thing I did get the drum sander, it's the only way I could come up with that many slats at exactly the size I need!

 

after some tedious gluing (I won't bore you with it all), I've gotten the major components of the T-slots complete. They need sanding, cutting and so-on.

I'll cover this next time.

I've been stretching out that single piece of cedar quite well. The panel sander is just the tool to make the most out of all available lumber. Here's the trim for the edges for the front panel.

These were trimmed and I routed rabbets to make a nice fit along the edges of the front panel.

Get the idea?

Here's a prototype of a wooden button.

and the backside of the prototype button. A small strip of spring steel should provide the spring action we're looking for.

The 5.25 (CD) bay will have a cover made from...hell, I don't know what this is. Very white wood with a redish center. Anyway, I destroyed this piece in the end.

So, I started again with another, I think it is burled maple.

So, I bored out places for switches and lights on the backside.

Rough-cut and butt ugly. Nothing that an hour of hand-sanding won't cure.

As for the CD panels, I cut a test piece from scrap wood. Anybody need a whole pile of test pieces?

This is gonna work.

so, I went ahead with the cedar.

Here's more tedt buttons. Do you know what it's like to sand a 2x4 down to these tiny little buttons?!

Mocked up for fits.

clamped and mocked up for fits.

This is getting close to what the unfinished front-panel will look like.

Here's about 20 inch sq of wood that took about 3 hours to make and sand. My fingers are getting some serious cramps.

On a different note, here's my router table. I've had this about 3 years. It's a litle small and lacks what I need in a router table. SO I am making another one.

The top is just about done. (white aspen)

Of course, this was spured on by the purchase of a new router. This is one of three and certainly the best of them.

With the top on it. This is phenolic plywood. Pretty durable stuff.

This is just another reason I'm slow with the Project FiveWood progress, I'm juggling about three projects in my home shop after work as well as golf about 4 times a week. It's a tough life.

Here are the top-rails with a coat of sanding sealer. I've got some tricks for these yet.

Here's the framework for the other side panel.

This side panel will be different than the last. This will be slotted on the inside parameter. I've got special plans for this one.

Of course, this means re-sawing more wood to get some thin boards.

I got two nice 20 inch pieces to work with.

Joined up to make a 9 x 20" panel

Here's where things get interesting. The plan is to have this design break up the center of the side panel. Each color represents a different piece of wood. I won't attempt to use a different type of wood for each, just a couple. Here's the initial design. Easy right?

So, after numbering and printing the parts. I cut them out.

Here's all the templates pasted to each of the stock pieces I'll cut from.

The magic of the internet!! Here's all 14 cut and placed together. This took about 40 minutes to cut them all on the scroll saw.

Here are the cuts from the backside labeled.

and from the front.

Here is another idea for the layout, but the parts fade into the panel. Needs contrast.

See what I mean? Here I am making a template for the background.

The finished template.

For the copper background. This will be secured to the backgound panel.

Looking scary here, huh? This will turn out better than it looks. (I hope)

Traced out on the panel.

This copper piece is going keep the copper tacked down with some serious carpet tape I have. This stuff will stop a car in its tracks!

Tacked down. A little warped, but that will add a nice texture.

This is the final backboard for the parts. Looks cheesy now.

Here's a mock-up of where I'm headed. More to come on this one.

Here's a look at some of the parts getting the sanding sealer. Headed for poly-coating next.

For those of you paying attention, here's a little preview of what's coming.

The top piece took the sanding sealer a little worse than any other parts. This is because I over sanded the top. Using too fine of sandpaper will cause the grain to be a little less receptive to taking the sealer. No matter, I'll win in the end.

and the drive bay support bracket.

Here, I had to mount the top rails to a board for polycoating so that I could get to them the right way. This is after coat#1.

and the top panel after coat#1

here's the 3.5" drive bay complete.

here's the 5.25 " drive bay complete.

here I am test mounting elements and testing the mounting methods to be sure that things will fit. A little preview of what's coming.

I've made some more parts for support of the front plate. More Mahogany.

I've also been putting time in on the power / reset button assembly. This is tedious work, but it's gonna be slick!!

a close-up of how this will work

roughed out, but you get the idea.

and with the smoked plexi

As for the Barkley panels, they've been shelved for a future project. I've gone to a sliding panel door. Works like this.

here's the corner of the left-side door system.

This is the framework for the right-side door.

And the left-side Swirlsh

Here is the left-side door system along with the panel for the swirlsh. (Copper is gone, traded for copper mesh)

Here is a closeup of one of the rails that fit into the slots. These rails will hold the plexi along with the swirlsh.

and a closeup of the T-slot rail system.

I took several small pieces of wood: Padauk, mahogany, walnut, camala and maple. I cleaned these up so that I could stack glue them into two separate stacks.

Here, both stacks are getting the glue.

Here's a better idea of where I am going with this. These will provide all four feet (2 each).

Here's the template for the feet.

and how I'll cut them out.

This is one with just the rough cut finished.

Front feet after a little sanding work.

All four after a little more work.

I decided to place the feet to see if they would work. (a little late in the game huh?)

all four of de feet after finishing

Here is some sweet padauk I procured. Probably be for future projects. Some of it will make into P5W.

Here I am cutting some corner wings for the side panel. Here you can barley see the markings for the cut.

and the cut.

the fit.

and the glue up.

an idea of how tihs will work.

and with the swirlsh in the door.

a closeup of the padauk corner wing with a coat of poly.

So, after dropping (or knocking to the floor) the rear panel no less than three times and reassembling the pieces, I finally decided to start over on the rear panel. One thing that has delayed this project to no end? Re-work!! Let me go off on a tangent for a moment.

There's two reasons I end up doing re-work

1. I drop something over and over until it's more glue than wood.
2. I have so many ideas of how to make it better once I'm done that I re work the whole thing.

Both are due to bad planning. In the case of number one, it just takes a little more consciousness to keep from knocking everything around too much. So, plan to have things safe when you're not working on them. In the case of number two; I said in the beginning that I was going to shoot from the hip on this project and not start from a well laid-out plan. This is NEVER a good idea. I knew it was not conducive to meeting any type of schedule and it has proven true. Without all the tiny details worked out in advance, a lot of backtracking is necessary. I'm talking to myself here for the most part.

So, here's the beginnings of the rear panel V2.0. SOme of the same woods used for the feet with a little cherry thrown in.

and the cutouts for the PSU and motherboard openings.

A little bigger trim work this go around.

and the placement of the panel.

Here is the inside of the rear panel where the expansion cards will rest. This is one of those tiny details that ends up taking more time than making the entire rear panel.

I have bored out an area for relief for the car anchor. I've got a plan for this, I'll update you later.

I removed the chassis base and started the process of finishing this part of the case.

This is the wire way below the case bottom.

as you can see here, the case bottom has access hoes for wires to drop below the flooring.

Here's the PSU cover with a single coat of sanding sealer.

and again after a couple of coats of poly. (different lighting is responsible for the color change)

Here are the PSU cover sides with almost all polycoating complete.

Here's the motherboard tray with the standoffs attached. If you remember, this was the first component finished.