LanOC Summer Case Mod Contest 2010 :Rockin Case*

Here is my entry for the Summer Case Mod Contest 2010. Original worklog can be found here .

7/7/2008


Alright, this mod took off one day after browsing some cool rigs over at modshop.net. I've done my own modding on my Armor case so far, added LCS and other goodies, but thats for another thread. Me and the Fiance (soon to be wife - Aug 30th) were sittin at the comp. one night and were thinkin what we could put a computer in. She was playin her guitar at the time, and we both looked at each other and it clicked! A GUITAR!
So we started brainstorming and I dug out an old mobo with a PIII 500MHz ready to go. Just need the basics, a cheap PSU, CD drive, floppy, etc. This computer is going to be far from a top notch gaming rig. She's a writer, so this comp will be hers for writing, etc. so it doesnt need to be high-powered.

So heres the details so far. All that is done as of right now is a crappy MS paint drawing lol.

As you can see, the base I'm going to hand lay from carbon fiber. I've got a roll of cloth and resin and have some basic fiberglassing skills so I'm going to give it a shot. This is where the mobo and everything will mount to. I'm also going to make the decorative pick guard out of carbon, and maybe a few other details/drive mounts etc. as well.

The body of the guitar is going to be translucent green acrylic with some LED lighting, not sure on the details on that yet. The PSU will mount under the sound hole, so the PSU exhaust will blow up through the hole.

The mobo will sit at the bottom of the guitar, with all the I/O connections coming out of the bottom, so when its finished and sitting on a guitar stand we'll be able to run the cables under and behind it.

The bridge, neck and head will all be made out of red translucent acrylic. We're going to put the frets in as well, just not sure what we'll use for material on them, either actualy guitar string or possibly something else.

We plan on using small diameter acrylic rod for the strings themselves, which will have LEDs in the bottoms for power, HDD, CD avtivity, etc. So when the LEDS light up the entire "string" will light up.

I've never worked with acrylic before, but I have read through the "working with acrylic" thread on this site and I learned a lot, so I'm just going to order some up, and plenty of extra, and have at it! The carbon will be simple, I've got fiberglass and carbon experience already, so its just a matter of finding a perfectly smooth flat surface to lay the cloth and resin down on.

This build will take some time, as we just moved into a new apartment and funds are really tight, but I wanted to at least start the thread with the idea layed out, and update it as funds allow.

Thanks to everyone here for their creations and getting me motivated to try this!

Will

7/17/2008
::UPDATE::

I got a steal on a new mobo/cpu/vga bundle, so I've upgraded from my SOYO/P3 500MHz/noname vga/SODIMM memory:

to this ECS mobo w/athlon 2600+, PNY GeForce vga and 1512MB DDR mem

I got the combo for $45 shipped, so I'd say I got a good deal. I know it works, It used to be the MOBO in the server that hosts www.tlzone.net . They upgraded to something faster, and I scored this

In other news, I should hopefully be able to start getting some carbon fiber layed this weekend. If its nice out I'll be out on the jet ski, so we'll see

Stay Tuned
Will

7/28/2008

::UPDATE::

Got some cash for some goodies I sold, so this project is back on track! Placed my order Saturday with delvies plastics, got all the acrylic I need and then some (for screwing-up lol). I've been reading up on the web about working with acrylic, so I'm going to have a go at it.

I've got most of the components for the PC itself, just need a PSU, a few cables, and keyboard/mouse, monitor. I found a 3.5" floppy drive with built-in media card reader in it. I decided to keep a 3.5" due to her using it as a writng machine mostly. I have my old 40GB WD HDD out of my old rig that will work perfectly in this one.

I'm planning on starting on the carbon fiber work for the backplate tonight, I'll post more pics then

Will

Ok, got the first stage of the carbon backplate done today. I made the fiance help (its gong to be her rig after all) and we busted it out pretty quickly. I didnt have enough carbon to do 3 layers for strength, but I had enough for 2 and enough fiberglass for the middle layer, so it worked out well. It was all perfectly sized to give an extra 2-3" on each side from the drawnig I made up, which took demensions from her Guild acoustic guitar (the inspiration for this mod).

It doesnt looks great yet, but once it hardens we'll give it a thorough wet sanding on both sides, followed by another coat of resin then more wet sanding until the finish is perfect. So thats anough jibber jabber for now, on to the pics!!!

The goodies - Bondo resin, latex gloves, 99 cent walmart paintbrushes, a rag and cleaner to clean the plexi prior to applying the resin

Dry run with the fiberglass on top of the first layer of carbon

carbon and fiberglass next to each other

and skip ahead a few steps (had to work fast, resin only stays liquid so long lol) all layers together, smoothed as best I could before it got too stiff to work with

and a few close-ups

Like I said, finish looks like sh*t right now, but once its wet sanded and resined and wet sanded again it'll look much better

7/30/2008

ok did some more work tonight, added 2 more layers of glass and 1 more carbon, this should be plenty stiff enough

Ok kiddies...this is todays resin mixing lesson! Always use less hardener than you think you need...otherwise you get 4 mns and you get this :

and since I already had it poured on but not spread, I had to do the best I could with what I had...still could have come out much worse :think:

Looks like a $75 sheet of peanut brittle. Luckily this is saveable. I'm going to let it cure for a few days, then break out a 2x4 and the 120 grit and go to town. :down: I'm going to sand right through the carbon everywhere theres a bump, so needless to say I'm going to need another sheet. This last 24"x50" sheet cost me $33 with shipping.
So I'll sand her down this weekend, and once I get another slab of carbon I'll do a final layer to pretty it up and noone will ever know...except me...and all you guys :up:
I pulled it off, its hardened anough already, and its definitely much stiffer. If it wasnt for the bumps it'd be time to trim, but such is life.
On the other hand, I got a UPS confirmation today, my acrylic will be here on Aug 6th! 22lbs of goodness from www.delviesplastics.com

Stay tuned :redface:

8/14/2008

alright, carbon is completely sanded, awaiting funds for another sheet of 2x2 twill and another quart of resin.

in other news, got the guitar shape traced to the plexi, now just laying out the ocmponents and tracing to find the best fit for everything. I have a lot less room than I had expected, but thats life.

anyone ever had any problems with extending wires from the PSU? I'm thinking I'll put the PSU into the "amp" box to save room in the case itself. this will also help keep the heat down. but I'm goign to need to extend the PSU wires by at least 1-2 feet. I'm good with soldering and such, so thats not an issue, just wondering if it'll push the current that far.

I was originally going to get a modular PSU to keep it clean, but I may just get a regular one now that it's going to be in its own case. Will post pics/more info as things happen

10/09/2008
ok carbons here, should be able to do it up this weekend

also, thanks to the helpful people on this forum, I downloaded Google SketchUp and after 90 mins of messin around I ended up with this:

that should give a better idea of how its going to be laid out. the components (mobo, PSU, VGA, memory) came from this site , so a huge thanks to those who created those components originally :up:

10/11/2008

did more SketchUp work

Stay tuned :up:

I think I'm going to leave that hole open, as the PSU fan will be sucking air in through it, and the case fan under the neck that will be blowing out will also be pulling air in through it, and the 80mm fan on the lower part of the case will be blowing down onto the CPU heatsink as well, but then again I'm sure a nice 120mm unit will looks nice under there The fans are not 100% located as of now, just throwin ideas around to see how everything will fit in

I may just put the PSU power cable through the case, maybe sleeve it with some UV sleeving to match all the wires coming out of the PSU, but I'm also looking at a 200 watt micro PSU as well, but I dont think it'd be enough to run the mobo/vga and also the fans, cathodes, drives etc

10/21/2008

sorry for the lack of regular updates, got a new family member who's been taking up some free time

Her name is Mel, she's an 18-month old lab/pit bull mix. Shes full grown, only approx 40lbs. She's got the best personality I've ever seen in a dog like her. She'll jump on your lap and lick your face, jump on the couch next to you and watch tv, and she's very good with strangers and strange animals. She's amazing. The wife found her on Craigslist, a woman had 4 dogs and the place she was moving to would only let her have 3, and no pit bull anything, so by default this adorable girl had to go. Best of all she was free! :banana:

well onto the imprtant stuff

ok so as you know, last time I left off I had this:

a peanut-brittle-like sheet of carbon and fiberglass, thanks to too much hardener

well after a LOT of sanding and a fresh coat of resin, we have this: :banana:

much better looks bumpy still, but its just the carbon reflecting the light.

anyhow, I got another roll of carbon finally and proceeded to cut and lay it:

I wanted to put full concentration into this so I decided to work rather than stop to take pics. It came out great, just needs a final coat of resin and some wet sanding, then to cut it out!

Heres the template I made on cardboard that will be the size/shape of the carbon backplate:

thats it for now, should get the resin all done by this weekend and hopefully get it cut out soon thereafter

on to another part of the mod: the "strings"

I got a 10-pack of acrylic rods to use as "strings" for the guitar, and I'm planning on lighting them at either end with LEDs for HDD, power, CD, etc. Well a shiny polished rod does nothing to reflect light outwards, so I took a piece of scotchbrite to it, scuffed it good. Here you can see the difference. I'm holding it to the power LED on my computer

You can see where I stopped sanding it

and with the lights off:

this should work out nicely. I'm going to experiment with different grits of sandpaper as well to see what kind of effects they give, and what will work/look best.

thats it for now, hopefully more updates soon, but for now, I leave you with some more angles of my render

10/26/2008

small update, got a coat of resin on it, looks much better will sand it tomorrow, and depending on how much sanding I have to do I'll either put one more coat of resin or just cut it out and clear coat it.

mmmm tasty

more to come tomorrow night :up:

10/27/2008

small update, carbon is 90% done

after a good sanding from yesterdays 2 fresh coats of resin:

and after the dust is wiped off - you can see where it needs more sanding:

so after another round of sanding you can see the dark (unsanded) spots getting smaller

at this point I was scared about going through and sanding into the carbon, so I did up another batch of resin. I used a different method this time that I guy I know in teh carbon industry told me to do. He said to mix up the resin, then pour it into the center of the peice like so:

then cover with thick plastic sheet (like the kind used in gardens for water control) like so:

and use a hard squegee to push the resin outwards from the center like so:

this didnt work out like he showed, my plastic started to curl and wrinkle for some odd reason, so I peeled it off before it start to set up to the point where I'd ruin it, and just brushed the rest on like normal:

then while it was setting up I went and did laudry, mowed the lawn, walked the dog, etc. then I came back and I trimmed the ratty edges off with my trusty die grinder

heres the cardboard template with the mobo on it, for sizing

a look at the size of the baseplate, theres plenty of carbon left for other goodies, like the pickguard, and possibly a part or 2 for my computer

I then went to town with the sander again (its now dark as you can see):

its now almost perfectly flat, but also almost into the carbon. I could do up another layer of resin, but I dont feel like sanding anymore I got some nice triple-thick clearcoat spary paint at walmart that I'm going to use, so between wet sanding and that it'll be perfect.

this is the original side, first sheet of carbon (the sheet that was laid directly onto the plexi) and came out the best. a nice wet sanding and the clear coat will have this side perfect.

thats it for now, I'm holding off wet sanding and clearcoating until I get it cut out, which hopefully I can do on my luch break tomorrow

10/28/2008

ok so it cut out!

here it is in the garage, its was cold and rainy tonight, so I decided to work in there

I borrowed a dremel as mines broken, and used his side-cutting bit

I used an arctic cat track marker to outline on the carbon, its usually used to mark snowmobile tracks for drilling to install studs

and heres the outline

and its cut

Heres the other side, looks damn good :smokin:

and the extra, now to figure out what to make from it, maybe coasters or somethin

and with the mobo sitting on it

looks good methinks. the edges are rough as hell, I'll hopefully get to hit it with the belt sander tomorrow and clean it up nice

11/17/2008

minor update

got my free sample hardware from RAF Electronics . 1 Aluminum handle, dont know what I'm going to use it for yet but I'll find somethin. 5 brass standoffs, 5 aluminum standoffs, 5 aluminum thumb screws and 5 stainless thumbscrews. I would have liked all matching hardware, but the max qty for a sample order is 5, so I made it work

hmmm whaddaya know...10 standoffs and thumbscrews...and 10 mounting holes in the mobo! what a coincidence! Ok not really, had this in mind all along

as soon as I can find some proper-sized belts for my tabletop belt sander I'll have the carbon's shape finished, then I can wet sand/clearcoat it and it'll be done.

2/12/2009

thanks man, this projects going to be on hold for now, as I need $$ to finish it, and the wife and I are trying to get our bills payed off. our tax returns will take care of all our credit cards, then my truck will be paid off this summer, then all that will be left is my jet ski and her car. Once my trucks paid off I should be able to get back workin on this one again. Maybe small progress between now and then too we'll see. I'm workin on Monster though, because its a 90% free project, just my time.

11/3/2009

ok I'm back on this one again!

with Christmas coming and cash flow tight right now, we decided to do home-made gifts for Christmas. Well I know what I'm doing....I'm going to finish this for her! I'm also trying to finish Monster for Christmas for my brother as well, but we'll see what happens.

Ok spent a couple hours after work tonight workin on it. I got my plexi and traced the shape of the carbon guitar with a pen, then cut it with my dremel and rotary bit.

then I clamped them together and hit the belt sander

and after a few mins we've got two matching pieces

and a few pics of the rough layout for the components. I'm still trying to decide whether or not to use the CD drive. If I dont it saves a lot of space and some weight. Its not a huge deal, she's got a 250GB WD Passport, so she can always put stuff on that and burn them on my computer :think:

and a shot w/o the CD drive. The HDD will be on a holder or rack of some sort for airflow and cooling. anyone know if you can trim the unused part of an IDE cable off? :?

11/4/2009

another update! forgot the camera, so you'll have to deal with cell phone pics lol

another shot with the components layed out

holes drilled for mobo, mobo temporarily mounted here:

holes drilled and mounts set up for HDD

main neck piece cut out

and the part for the "string" mount

I didnt get any pics of that part finished unfortunately.

now, on the neck, I've set up the measurements for the head and base mounts, and figured I have a 1" x 13.5" strip to cut some kind of decoration out of each side of the neck. now to do up some drawings and figure it out!

11/8/2009

well it comes as a kit, so I dont need to put that switch in to begin with :up:

I like the idea on a remote switch though thanks!

anywho, small update.

I cut a small square out of the red plexi then cut in half to make two triangles. I then marked out a pattern on one side.

I then proceeded to sand away the profile

and the rough shape is done

mmm dusty lol

and another shot of the basic shape

and after some sandinge with 600 grit paper, there seems to be some high spots

so I hit it with a flexible sanding disc on the dremel. much better.

after I got it mostly smooth with the sand paper I put a buffing wheel on the dremel and used plastic polish in conjunction with the buffing wheel to shine it up

and these will be mounted on the neck as shown here, they will be the "supports" for the neck

11/13/2009

minor update, nice brown box from Xoxide showed up today

we have UV green sleeving, 4 Thermaltake 80mm green LED fans, 1 120mm logisys green LED fan, a molex pin remover, 4 thermaltake green 80mm fan vibration dampeners and an Ultra screw kit

expect another update later this weekend :up:

11/18/2009

heres this kit assembled with 10 RGB modules each containing 2 RGB LEDs. I opted to install wiring with a molex connector to supply the 12VDC rather than the 2mm jack that came with the kit

and short vid

11/18/2009

ok so I tried it with a rod that I "frosted" with sandpaper. not soo good. the light gets broken up way too early and doesnt make it more than a few inches into the rod

I'm going to try some different grits of paper and maybe different directions of sanding as well

11/19/2009

Got a SPONSOR! WOOHOO!

John over at PCBoard.ca was kind enough to help me out with my LED needs, and after my initial purchase there was a lof of back-and-forth chit-chatting involving this project and my needs. He checked out this worklog and was genuinely interested in it, so after a little more chatting he kindly agreed to sponsor me in this build. Its nothing huge, but every tiny bit helps! So without further ado, the shameless sponsor plug

Need specialty LEDs? Or an awesome RGB controller like the one I got for this project? Feel free to contact John at PCBoard.ca. He's helped me with a lot already, from ordering the kit to LED/resistor setup, etc etc. He's VERY FAST in replying to emails, which is rare these days :bowdown:

Now, off to the basement to do some fiddling with the rods and such.

11/20/2009

thanks!

got some work done last night with the plexi rods. I found that if I sand them the long way with 1500 grit, then polish them with the dremel and Novus #2 it leaves just enough to light them up but not so much that doesnt travel the full length of the rod. I'll post up pics tonight

Also got an email from my sponsor, he's sending me the RGB piranha LEDs and resistors I need to wire them all up, and also including 48 UV LEDs I plan to use those rather than the UV cathodes to light the case. I also have something special planned for my boring silver Antec PSU

Stay tuned

11/21/2009

ok, and update of what I've done over the last day or two

Once I got the rods figured out for lighting I bent one end and drilled a hole in the "pickup plate." The plan here is to use 4 RGB piranha LEDs on the bottom of this to light the 4 strings. I used my current RGB setup to test it and I think it will work out nicely, especially when each one will have another LED at the other end.

click on pics for larger versions

Then I did something with this boring old silver antec PSU.

cover off

green acrylic cut to roughly the size of the top

ready for bending

now I just heated it slowly with a small butane torch until it was soft, then bent it and clamped it until it cooled

and set on the PSU to check sizing, etc. fits pretty good :up:

and with the backing paper removed

now I wasn't just content with a plain green cover, so I printed out this music note and cut it out, then set it onto the cover for sizing

then I traced into the rex plexi

and after a LOT of cutting, filing, sanding, polishing, etc here it is

and glued

and the finished result. now I just need to do some trimming on the green and drill the mounting holes. I plan on putting 4 UV LEDs inside the PSU to light up the green.

now I couldn't leave the PSU silver, so I started by desoldering the switch and removing the components from the shell

and one empty shell, ready for paint

I drilled 4 mounting holes in the base here. I will put 4 screws and attatch them to short standoffs to mount to the base

first coat

I ended up putting 3 coats on it last night. I should get to reassembling it tonight. Stay tuned

11/24/2009

ok major update time!

so I sanded the sides of the neck at an angle similar to what her guitar currently has.

Next (last night) I cut two rectangles of red plexi and glued them together.

here is the design I drew out that will end up being the head. I used the rim of a baseball hat oddly enough, it seemed to fit the curve I was looking for perfectly :up:

and after a rough cut out with the band saw

I noticed on her guitar the head angles downward, so I ground an angle on the base of the head with the belt sander

Heres the head after I sanded and polished the sides

they fit and look pretty good

I then glued them together, they're currently setting.

now I put the PSU back together (mostly). I think it turned out pretty nice

I drilled holes in the plexi to mount it to the PSU frame

then I proceeded to do something I've never done before. and never plan on dong again lol. I sleeved the PSU. I also cut off the wires that I wont be using (SATA, floppy, etc). Some I could just pop the pins out of the connector, others I had to cut the wires and resolder and heatshrink then sleeve.

now with the small cables done all that was left was the 20-pin one. WHAT A PITA!

I think it turned out nice.

now all thats left to do is wait for my UV LEDs to arrive and put them into the PSU and it'll be done :up:

11/27/2009

I had this PCI slot adapter with firewire and USB in it, trouble is I only wanted the USB part. so I cut it in half

after I cut it I removed the USB connector and pulled the parts out of the housing

then I painted it black

then reassembled it and sleeved the wiring and put the connector back on

now I just need to decide where to mount it on the front panel

I sanded down the sides where the neck meets the head, as it didnt sit exactly in line when I clamped it. this is after I rough sanded and finished with 2000 grit. I polished it with the dremel after this, but no pics yet.

I also got the PSU case mounted to the backplate. I'm using these neat plastic liscense plate screws because they just touch the bottom of the PSU board

and heres how everything will be layed out

I then decided to go ahead and mark and cut the hole for the 120mm fan. I LOVE the dremel circle-cutter attatchment!

fan in

I also went ahead and sanded and polished the opening

at this point I clamped the neck assembly to the body to see how it all looked. looks nice

then I marked holes for two 80mm fans I'll be putting in

one cut

both cut

I also sanded and polished these edges as well.

I temporarily installed the fans with the vibration dampers to test them and see how bright the LEDs are

and hooked up to a test PSU

the LEDs are way too bright. I'm going to wire them all to a single switch so you'll be able to turn the LEDs off without turning the fans off. I'm also going to cut and resolder the wiring all together and sleeve it to make it look nicer.

I was thinkingabout replacing the green LEDs with UV ones. I can do it easily in the 120mm fan, but the 80mm ones have the micro SMD style LEDs soldered to a long flexible strip, so those would be tougher. We'll see what happens.

thats it for now, I should get a lot more work done on sunday and monday

Comments/Ideas/Suggestions? :think:

11/30/2009

Update time!

I figuredout how to wire up a switch to the three fans to turn off the LEDs. The 80mm ones were easy, the 120mm one was a little more difficult.

fans on lights off

fan on lights on

almost finished wiring

wiring for the 120mm fan

the 80mm fans will be on all the time, hooked directly to the PSU. the 120mm fan will be connected to a speed control, because its loud when all 12V are going into it

I also cut my 24x24 inch sheet of green into 4 6x24 inch pieces. these will form the sides of the case. I've got a couple ideas as for how to form them perfectly, we'll see what works out

I also cut a hole for the front panel USB connectors. I filed it down and smoothed it a lot more after this pic was taken.

I also drilled 5 holes to mount the RBG LED controller. 4 for the mounting and 1 for acess to the button. I plan on gluing a small piece of acrylic rod to the button that will stick through the faceplate so the LED effects can be changed easily

I also had time to mount another 80mm fan on the main plate where the HDD will go to act as a cooler. I just snipped the LED wires on this one, as it will be mounted to the underside of the case and theres no point to having the green LEDs there, as the rainbow ones will be there.

thats it for now. hopefully my LEDs come in today and I can get some more work done. Then its just waiting for my performace pcs order to arrive and things will get rollin!

11/30/2009

ok so I went down to do laundry and looked at the project and decided to do some more, so I made a HDD cover similar to the PSU cover.

I started but cutting and bending the plexi

and cut to size

then I cut a single note out of red

then I sanded and polished it and glued it to the cover

tomorrow it'll be dry and I can drill the mounting holes and such

12/1/2009

LEDs came in today!! I'll be working on them tonight

a HUGE THANKS to John at PCBoard.ca for hooking me up with this project!!!

Now for the goods. We've got 10 RGB Piranha LEDs, 24 15º UV LEDs, 24 30º UV LEDs, and 510 Ohm and 560 Ohm resistors for the RGB LEDs.

I'll post pics later, I've gotta make room in the picture account

12/3/2009

heres the LEDs and resistors:

and the first batch of SS hardware

and spacers mounted to mobo

I've got some longer SS screws coming in today, the ones I ordered work fine for a few things but they're too short for others

heres the HDD cover and PSU cover next to each other. the HDD isnt mounted yet but htisis where it will be

heres the PSU cover after I put 4 UV LEDs in it. I need to frost them to disperse the light better though

heres how the LEDs will be layed out for the bottom of the strings

testing the lyaout

and soldered

testing colors

and both boards done and hot glued for protection and hooked to the RGB controller kit

and workin

this is the layout for got 4 LEDs at the top of the strings

and thats as far as I got last night. I'm going to try to get more done this morning, as I work 12-8 today. other than that it'll be tomorrow night before I get more work done

12/4/2009

update time!

heres my Performance-PCs goodies:

Vandal-resistant switch

2x AC Ryan 80mm fan filter and 1x 120mm fan filter

1 120mm UV green fan dampener

a Zalman ORB CPU cooler

and a recessed red LED HDD activity light

stock cooler

nice new Zalman cooler, and mobo finally mounted to the back plate

as you can see the wiring on my switch is WAY too long

so I cut and soldered it to a connector I had laying around

and same with the HDD light

the switch and light mounted, along with the speed control for the 120mm fan (sorry for the blurry pic)

switch and light sleeved

thats as much as I got done in 2 hours last night. I've got all night tonight and tomorrow though, so I should get a ton more done

12/5/2009

smallish update. the LEDs are done! well the ones for the strings anyhow. I also did some work on the HDD mounts. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the 120mm fan all wired up to the controller and the strings at least partially layed out and such. we'll see what happens.

red LEDs soldered

and testing

blue LEDs soldered

and testing

green LEDs soldered

and testing

and the wires sleeved and both modules hooked to the RGB controller kit

12/8/2009

another update!

got the neck glued on

fan contorller wired in and sleeved

holes drilled for the bottom of the strings

and picked up some goodies.

Win7 home

500GB HDD

and a wireless PCI card

heres what I'll use for the side panel molds. I'm guing 5 together in a stack, then sanding each and glig 2 stacks together. from this I'll trace the shape of the side and cut it with the bandsaw, then sand it and use it as a 2-piece mold to form the acrylic for the sides

12/8/2009

I traced a pattern for the pick guard out of a folder and cut it out, then traced it onto the carbon fiber

then a rough cut with the band saw

and after sanding the edges

and here's how it will mount with the 4-40 SS screws

the power buttin and HDD light will also be in this piece

I sanded the surface with 320 grit and sprayed it with clear coat. I let that dry then sanded and sprayed again

I got the cutout done for the bottom LEDs

mounted

holes drilled for top LEDs and board mounted

I glued on the lower string mount

then proceeded to form the 4 strings and mount them

I took each string and sanded it lengthwise with 2000 grit, then hand polished each with #3 novus and a microfiber cloth. this leaves the surface not perfectly smooth but still clear

I also got the 4 UV cathodes sleeved

along with the switch and wiring for them

thats all for now, but I'll be working on it more tonight

12/11/2009

UPDATE TIME!!

after the two stacks of wood were dry, I sanded one side of each nice and smooth, then glued them together. Once they're dry I'll sand one edge smooth again,a nd trace out the guitar side profile onto it, then cut it out and end up with a 2-piece mold.

I also made this piece with 12 UV LEDs that I frosted with 2000 grit that will mount as shown in the PSU to help light the cover up. I've got some bright white LEDs on the way that I"ll put right under the music note to light it up as well

The idea popped into my head to put some frets on the neck for realism. I marked out the lines as shown

Then cut the pieces of acrlic rod to rough length

Then it was onto figuring out the best way to mount them. On real guitars they're recessed into the neck itself.

To get this effect I used my dremel with the spiral cutter and the grout removal attatchment. I clamped the ruler to the neck to act as a guide to cut along.

I set the depth of the bit to roughly 1/2 the diameter of the acrylic rod

First one cut, with a piece of rod in it to show how it'll mount

And after I cut them all

After they were cut I used a small square file to smooth out the grooves and remove any excess acrylic from cutting

I then fit each rod into its groove then sanded down the ends until they fit perfectly. then I sanded each one lengthwise with 220 grit to give them a nice frosted look

then I peeled back a little bit of backing paper from each groove and put some acrylic cement in each groove multiple times to soften it up. Then I just layed each rod into its groove one at a time

I also found these that I'm going to use as the tuning knobs on the side of the head. I drilled small holes into the sides of the head that these will go into. I just need to hit them again with a bigger drill bit, then I think I'll heat each one up and just press it in to get a nice snug fit

Thats all for now. Hopefully I can get more done tomorrow night, but I'll definitely get more done on monday.

I had to place another order with performance pcs for a few more things, that shipped today from them so I should see it tuesday hopefully.

Until next time, stay tuned

12/17/2009

ok smallish upadte. I've got both sides formed, I jsut bought an 18" metal brake @ harbor freight this morning. I'm going to bend a strip of green plexi 90º then cut it into pieces to use for brackets to secure the top and bottom to the sides. I've got pics, havent had time to upload them.

I may not update again until after christmas when its done, I need all the time I can get @ this point to finish it, but I'll definitely post up more progress!

12/22/2009

HUGE UPDATE coming probably tomorrow.

IT WILL BE FINISHED TONIGHT!!!

I've got tons of pics and a vid or two ready to upload, so probably tomorrow I'll get them up here. It came out better than I expected, and looks AMAZING.