Thursday, September 13, 2012

Project Bright Panel: Panel Construction & Sleeving

I decided to provide more clarification on how I built the illuminated mid panel.  So here is a "cut-away" view of the light box I constructed that sits atop the mid panel.  


There are many other ways to go about doing this, but after some experimenting with different materials, and thickness, this is what turned out the best for my needs.  Hopefully this along with the close up pictures I have posted, will clear up any other questions that still may be floating about.

In addition to the cut away view of the illuminated mid panel above, I have uploaded my SketchUp modle to the 3D Warehouse.  It shows an assembled view, along with an exploded view of the panel.  Dimensions are inches because that is what my local plastics shop required to make the cuts.  It can be downloaded here.





I have also made available my 3D Modle for the Swiftech Apogee HD CPU block.  Get it here.  There are other waterblocks on the 3D Warehouse, but I couldn't find any for the newer Apogee HD, so I made it.




Sleeving

I knew it would take a while to make my own custom length cables (for better cable management), and then sleeve them... but I had no idea my fingers would get so abused in the process.  Stretching out the sleeving material over and over again to get it nice and tight over the wires has taken its toll, especially on the ends of my thumbs.   Too bad the large calluses on my hands from weight lifting don't extent to the tips of my fingers and thumb.  Going to take a break for a day or two and finish my tubing runs.

But a little discomfort is well worth it to get good looking sleeved cables.  Not too shabby for my first attempt using MDPC materials.  I also want to say that the MDPC Crimping tool is worth its weight in gold!  Such a great crimping tool compared to others I have used.  Perfect crimps every time! :D



Here is a small update on the case.  I spent a bit of time working on my tubing runs to give my fingers a break from sleeving.  Not complete yet, but this will give somewhat of a preview of the look I am going for. 
***I no longer plan on using the blue tubing.  I will be using clear, but until it arrives, I am checking lengths with what I already have on hand.

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