TRON Lightcycle - Monitor Mod

Last edited by Boddaker on Tue Aug 30, 2011 10:24 am; edited 17 times in total

This is my entry into Cooler Master's case mod competition, scratch build category.

Been working in Sketchup for the last week, building a mockup of the lightcycle suitable for housing a full ATX system with watercooling. It ended up being 40" long, but relatively short. As for the design, I didn't want to make a spot-on replica of the bike, so I went with my layered acrylic method, with just a few skinned areas around the wheels and top. This allows me to hide more components inside as well. Anyway, on with the mockups:

Upon removing some layers, you can see the initial motherboard placement and other components.

To give you a better idea of size, I placed a Cooler Master Cosmos case next to it.

PRELIMINARY PARTS LIST

EVGA X58 Motherboard
Intel i7 965 processor
EVGA GTX570 video cards in SLI
Crucial SSD
Crucial Ballistix memory
Pioneer Slimline slot load DVD drive
Cooler Master Silent Gold 850W Power Supply (qualifying product)
Dual bay reservoir by Primochill
Other watercooling parts TBD

I'm planning something special for the front radiator, more on that later. Wink

So that's the basic plan, I'll be adding more detail as I go along.

There are quite a few entries already, including one from Bill Owen and Slipperyskip in the case mod category. So it's going to be a good show! Very Happy

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Cool stuff !!! I'll be watching this one.

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This will be epic!! i cant wait to see it Smile

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Stabby
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Oh man there are quite a few Tron builds popping up. Awesome!

I'd do one but I already have 2 other things brewing.

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Good Karma good - Bad Karma bad

surprised you don't use P67 or H67 and maybe even Micro ATX.....

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Rod
http://www.RodRosenberg.com

This.... is going to be awesome.

Not using Geno's new reservoir?

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Blah Blah Blah

Not using Geno's new reservoir?

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Tnanks guys. Smile

DarthBeavis wrote:

Not using Geno's new reservoir?

I wish I could...

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Bods-Mods.com - Modding the world, one case at a time.

Man this thing is going to be big, can't wait to see how you do the curved sections Smile

Bennyboy wrote:

Man this thing is going to be big

Yeah, probably big enough to sit on like one of those little mini bikes Smile

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xer0
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Bennyboy wrote:

Man this thing is going to be big, can't wait to see how you do the curved sections Smile

Me neither! I'm thinking about doing them in fiberglass. Or I may have to drag my vacuum forming table out and get it working again. Wink

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Ok, got the acrylic parts list finalized, but before I send it off to the laser, I figured I should double check my measurements by making a 1/2-size model. I went back and rearranged some things to make room for fans and to facilitate better airflow.

Here's an overall look at the main acrylic parts. There are many more smaller pieces, spacers, and tubes that I didn't bother itemizing for the mockup.

First I thought I would print out a full-size outline of the bike with a picture of the motherboard in place.

Then I tested the 1:1 scale with an actual ATX board, and my qualifying product, a Cooler Master Silent Pro 850w power supply. Smile

Final overall length is 38".

After getting a glimpse of the actual size, I proceeded to make the 1/2 size model. I only cut out the more important layers surrounding the components.

Peering down into the component area, you can see the lower IO plate.

The 1/2 size motherboard with two GTX580's in SLI: Very Happy

The mobo and cards in place:

So far so good. Looks like things might actually fit as hoped. I'll go through the parts one more time and add some cable pass-through's and tubing holes, then I can finally send it off. Next update will show the acrylic parts when I get them in. 'Til then!

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Ok, so in the interest of time, I decided not to make these fairings out of fiberglass, or use my vacuum forming table, seeing as how I still have to rebuild it. Instead, I'll be forming the pieces with a plastic paste, which is a much quicker process. So the first step is creating a plug on which to lay the paste down.

So, time to cut some foam! Smile

Earlier in the week, I laminated three layers of foam insulation sheets to get the thickness I needed. I also made up a template that minimized the amount of foam I had to use. In fact, all four fairing pieces will be molded from this one block of foam after I'm done with it.

There's a front and back fairing, and they are split into left and right mirrored pieces. Here's half my template, with the back fairing on top and the front upside down on the bottom. The gray and black lines show the difference between the edges of the fairing. Gray is the wider part (over the center of the tire) and the black is the narrower edge.

Using a hacksaw, I started doing the rough cuts around the gray lines.

Then with an electric carving knife, I started shaving off the foam, following the black lines and curving out to the wider edge.

One half roughed out, next to the other side.

Here's a shot of them side by side in their eventual places. You can now see the shape of the bike emerging.

Once I got the pieces roughed out, I used an exacto knife to get more accurate along the edges.

The thickness difference between both edges is 3/4". I marked my square with tape and slid it along the edge to see where I still needed to remove material. I used a drywall sanding block to smooth out the curves.

Both sides smoothed out. This is the back end...

And turning it over we have the front end.

Next step is to sandwich it all together, with cardboard in between. These will form the walls of the pour area. I traced the foam block first, then scribed another cut-line about 1/4" wider.

Three pieces cut, two outside pieces, one center piece.

Using spray adhesive, I glued them all together.

While that was setting up, I used my flexible curve to transfer the overall curve shape to my custom screeding tool...

...which is just a piece of clear acrylic I just cut to size.

It will work like this. It fits over the foam block, and after I trowel the plastic paste into the mold, I'll slide the tool along the top of the cardboard to level it off. This will hopefully ensure a consistent thickness throughout the length of the fairings. It will also smooth out the top surface of the plastic and minimize the amount of touch-up and prep work I'll need to do before painting.

One last thing I needed to do before I was ready to lay down the paste, was to incorporate some form of fastening tabs into the fairings. So I dug out some cavities about 1/4" in from the edge, to account for the thickness of the ribs to which these will be secured.

Now I think it's ready for some plastic!

Next update will have the results of the molding process. 'Til then!

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This is gonna be awesome....

Thanks Cybercrist! Here's part 2 of the fairing creation:

Here is the Plasti-Paste II from Smooth-On. It comes as part A and part B, and you mix it 1 parts to 2, respectively.

Opening up part B, the paste.

After doing some calculations, I figured out the volume of my mold, then converted to fluid ounces to get the total amount of mixture I needed. Here I'm measuring out 2 parts paste.

Transferred that to a larger mixing container. This stuff is thick! No sag whatsoever, which makes it great for applying to vertical surfaces.

Measuring out 1 part liquid hardener.

Thoroughly mixing the two parts together. This stuff normally has a 10 minute pot life, but due to the cold weather, that was greatly extended. Took about four times as long to set up, which actually worked in my favor, allowing me to take my time getting it onto the mold and smoothed out.

After applying a mold release agent (seen in the first pic), I troweled the paste onto the mold.

After about 40 minutes, it had set up to a hard plastic.

I repeated the process for the other side, and in a few hours I should be able to demold them.

Having coated the foam with the mold release, it should be easy to pop it out of the mold. I don't want to destroy the foam if I don't have to, just in case I need to make another set of fairings later. Once out of the mold, I'll need to clean up the edges a bit, and start smoothing out the top surface. I should be getting the acrylic parts in this week, so once they arrive, I can see how these fit, and find out if my template measurements were accurate! :worried:

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I'll be interested to hear how strong the final product is. Is it like a more flexible version of casting resin?

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xer0
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station...

● ASUS Maximus IV GENE-Z ● Intel 2600K ● DangerDen cooling ● 8GB G.Skill Trident ●
● ASUS GTX670 ● Patriot PyroSE SSD ● Antec Signature 650 PSU ● Antec Mini P180 ● [ ASUS G73JH ] ●
Picture Association Thread: http://www.pdxlan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7466

package should be shipped today

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Blah Blah Blah

Awesome,thanks Rich!

xeromist wrote:

I'll be interested to hear how strong the final product is. Is it like a more flexible version of casting resin?

It is actually fairly strong when it's 1/4" thick, but is more prone to cracking the thinner it gets (don't ask me how I know lol). These fairings are flexible, but only to a point. They will have to be reinforced, and I already have a solution for that. Stand by for demold pics...

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