Diesel Engine (ITX / SFF / Console) - COMPLETE!

[Chris Howell]

Brassy McBrassface from Brassville​

I ordered some cut-to-measure brass sheet for my panels and they arrived while I was waiting for my wood dye to dry. I ordered two thicknesses (1mm and 2mm) to see how they would fare asthetically and structurally. I was conscious the 1mm might be way too bendy.

My brass sheets! 2mm on the left. 1mm on the right

The 1mm looked cheaper in appearance and wasn't the same grade as the 2mm.
I chose to scrap the thinner material and begin work on the 2mm

I started by sanding the sharp edges of each panel. They had been guillotine cut and had blemishes and nicks.
I then began using ebrasive paper to polish each sheet. I had 120, 240, 600, 1000, 1500 and 2000 papers

I can't remember what grade this was, 600 maybe.

This was 1000

And the 2000 grit

A before and after comparison

All three after the work had been done

These guys need to go through a mill to engrave the name into the front panel, then they'll get some antiquing treatment before being fixed to the shell. Very cool! The material itself looks great when working with it.

 

[Ceros_X]

Very nice!

I was never good at staining wood. I like the later versions if your stained wood vs the 1st.

 

[Phuncz]

This project is coming along very well, the stained wood looks really nice !

 

[iFreilicht]

Great updates! The weathered look was unexpected but very fitting! Will you rename the build to Casey McCaseface?

 

[rem]

This looks so awesome, inspiring me to create my own console killer!

 

[Chris Howell]

Great stuff - I'm glad you agree about the last version of the lid! - thanks guys

 

[Chris Howell]

Supports + Brackets​

So - I spent a bunch of time trying to get the front panel I/O assembly right and trying to get the USBs and power button to line up perfectly. I changed the design a few times after trying different options that appeared OK in the 3D model but had movement when built for real.

I also designed a few pieces to form a bracket that pins the PCI-E Riser to the bottom of the case and also supports the furthest end of the graphics card.

Remember this? it turns out, the smallest stand-offs I could find (5.5mm) were too big.
Additionally, I found that attaching the cables via the back of the connectors and then
bending the cable into place was swiveling the front of the USB out of place!

So I came up with a design that provided more support and sandwiched the USBs together.
3mm acrylic sheet in the middle and 4mm sheet on the bottom. Secured with a single 30mm PC case screw

It wasn't a big deal to create the shape in CAD and go through some trial and error
if the thickness wasn't perfect first time

And.... assembled. Looks like this is going to work

I may also finish the assembly with 3M tape or adhesive to align the pieces together

Here are the pieces I created for the PCI-E cable bracket

A test fit using an old cable. Looks like they will do the job

The thick strip will be covered in self-adhesive foam strip (3mm thick) to stop the screws from interfering
with the Graphics card and also provide support

That's all I have for now. I've been waiting to get access to a milling machine to get the brass sheets engraved. I also need to sort out some finances and then I'll order all the components Soon!...

 

[iFreilicht]

Great progress!

Aren't you highly compromising signal quality by screwing through the USB3.0 connectors? Or make them unusable in the first place? Maybe you've already mentioned it.

Good idea about supporting the GPU in the front a little bit, especially with the screws underneath it. Why do you only do that for the front screws? Wouldn't the ones at the back interfere just as much?

 

[Minefoxi]

I really like this project a lot and I have to say that, in my opinion, it is the nicest and most interesting "console style case" so far!
Mabye it's because I also really like the lasercut wooden stuff (like my own case)

 

[Chris Howell]

@Minefoxi - Thanks! I appreciate the feedback (and the appreciation of wood )

@iFreilicht - You make a good point. I didn't describe it very well. The front IO is taken from a basic off-the-shelf product where the USB connectors are screwed into a 3.5" bracket for the front of a PC. I've just used the same holes to mount them in a different way and scrapped the bracket entirely.

So, the holes are included in the manufacture of the part. I actually sent them an email and asked for the dimensions and size of the part and screw holes when I designed the bracket and the steel case shell. So I worked from the dimensions for quite a while before I ordered the cable - thankfully it mostly worked out as planned.

In other news - I've almost given up waiting for the milling machine to not be broken, so I've ordered some metal engraving bits and will engrave the name by hand into the brass. After that, I'll order the parts

 

[iFreilicht]

Ah now I get it! That's a very interesting solution for front I/O, have you got a link to that? A quick google reverse image search turned up nothing.

 

[jaijsbve]

I thought that looked familiar.

 

[Chris Howell]

Yeah - that's the one. I used the same bracket on my wall-mounted build and it worked well. It's also a fair price

 

[Chris Howell]

Finishing the Brass Panels​

After waiting for a little while to get access to a milling machine, I decided to grab some engraving bits for the Dremel and do it myself. I already had my font and the antiquing fluid to finish the panels. So here goes...

I used a paper template to guide my engraving

The engraving bit set that I had ordered. Worth noting that this is a first time for me

Mid-progress

And when result when I was done. Fairly happy with my frst attempt. I'ts reasonably neat!

I quite like the contrast of the polished panel against the rough text

When I was done, I moved onto antiquing the panels with this stuff

I filled a baking dish with a 1/10 solution of fluid and water.
this shows the panels just as I added them in

The panels after 2 minutes

The panels after 5 minutes! They went dark super quickly

This is what they looked like straight out of the solution. And actually the colour is totally awesome. This would be perfect for some kind of destroyed/apocalyptic style build

I returned the next day and found a lot of the cool colour had flaked off, leavng a black and copper style colour

FINALLY - I used steel wool to rub away sections of the surface to reveal the shiny brass underneath

The colours are washed out in this photo, but here are the side panels. I can't decide if I prefer the weathered panels or the completely polished ones.

I gave the brass bolts the same treatment. 2 black (left) and 2 after the steel wool (Right)

Next Up - I glued the threaded spacers onto back of the brass panels and left them overnight

A Close Up

​

 

[Ceros_X]

Very nice!

I've been trying to Dremel out fan holes and IO ports in both wood and plexiglass and it is extremely challenging - yours came out great!

I thought the panels looked best in the first antiquing solution pic.

 

[Chris Howell]

Assembling the case​

With the panels finally ready, I was able to build the case and get it ready to receive components! Very exciting times

Let's took a look at the thing assembled for the first time.

The Front view

Left side

Right Side

Back

Top

I'm really happy with the crisp edges and how well the panels lined up with the lid and base

The slots at the back are begining to call out for components for sure

​

So! - I'm nearly there. I'll be ordering my components very soon. Over all I'm really pleased with how it's looking. The lack of visible screws and simplicity of the panels makes it look like a real console - rather than a PC case conversion. There is also a certain charm that the real brass and real wood have that I can't capture on the camera. The pine still smells great and the thick brass panels are cold to the touch and give the case a really solid feel.

I'm really looking forward to getting some components in there and will update back here soon!.

 

[Chris Howell]

I thought the panels looked best in the first antiquing solution pic.

I think... I agree with you there. I'm definitely going to have another go and experiment further! The colours are awesome.

Also, yeah I/O ports are a pain, they usually need to be quite accurate too. I created USB slots on my previous build with hand tools and found it really tough. Luckily for this project I had some precision machinery to do it for me!

 

[Ceros_X]

Since you will be redoing it, have you given any thought to using a letter punch kit for making your Diesel Engine lettering? Don't know what size letters you want, but it feels right for a mix of old school and new school.

 

[iFreilicht]

That looks fantastic, great job!

 

[TheInternal]

looking good. Nice to see something unique.