Project Cunning Plan!

[Terbinator]

DSR it ?

[scaryjim]

Hmmmm, not a bad idea. Given that the packaging was a large baggy and a small anti-static bubble wrap bag it's still in as good a condition as when I got it. I'll have to look into the regs for return under DSR again...

[Tattysnuc]

<Subscribed/>

Looking forward to seeing this breath life. You going to fold on it?

I'm still working up the courage to hack apart my shuttle unit to squeeze in a GTX 8800 and Q6600, so imagine my surpise to see your, albeit somewhat larger and more ambitious mod. Nice work to date, and great to see someone showing the tools that they are using. Last time I used my jig saw, it cut trhough the case fine, but it also bent it inthe axis of the motion of the blade.

2 Questions come to mind:
Did you use a high or low speed cut?
Does your jigsaw have the "rocker" where the blade moves forwardand backward as well as up and down?

[Tattysnuc]

Realistically, I just need to get Project Cunning Plan finished and start folding on two overclocked 8800GTXs

Sadly, I'm basically broke until after christmas and need to put in a ~ £50 specialtech order for the last few fittings & fans etc., so that's not going to happen until the new year...

After going back to the threads I normally lurk I saw ^your note^ and answered part of my own questions.

Doh!!!! I'll go back and lurk in the distributed computing realm....

[nibbler]

Back into your subforum!

[scaryjim]

Looking forward to seeing this breath life. You going to fold on it?

You've partly answered this question already I certainly won't be folding 24/7 on it, as my electricity bill can't take that kind of hit (it'll be pulling around 600W fully loaded when it's finished!), but I'll probably donate a few hours here and there as and when I can

Nice work to date, and great to see someone showing the tools that they are using.

Thanks It occured to me early on that I kept banging on about this bit or that bit without really giving anyone context, and since (I assume) that a lot of these threads are read by current or potential modders, I figured I'd squeeze in as much information as I could in case it helped other people

Last time I used my jig saw, it cut through the case fine, but it also bent it in the axis of the motion of the blade.

2 Questions come to mind:
Did you use a high or low speed cut?
Does your jigsaw have the "rocker" where the blade moves forwardand backward as well as up and down?

For the Rad cut I used a high speed (about 6 or 7 on my black and decker) and made a bit of a mess of it: one bit bent down quite significantly and I had to get the trusty old pliers out to put it back in shape. While part of the problem was undoubtedly the fact that I tried to cut the whole thing out in one go (so when I got near the end the weight of the removed section bent down the case *doh*), going with a higher jigsaw speed definitely gave me less control than I needed. When I did the fan cutout for the PSU, I trimmed the speed back to 3 or 4 and went much more steadily at it, with a much smoother result and no bending at all. What I'm learning most from this mod is that you need to let your tools do most of the work when you're using power tools. Most of my previous DIY experience has been with hand tools and it took a while to get used to the fact that I didn't need to push hard to cut and grind effectively.

I'm pretty sure my jigsaw does have a rocker motion, yes, although I've no idea how that's meant to help, tbh It was a birthday present from my sister and brother-in-law back when I bought my first house, and it's come in very handy over the years Have to say I'm massively impressed with the assorted blades I bought from Clas Ohlson as well - had to recut the hole for the catflap this weekend (the old one froze solid and then smashed when I ... erm.... "helped" it to open ) and I used the largest wood bit from that to just whiz through wood ~ 1.5" thick!

And ignore nibbler, it's always nice to have more people reading and contributing all over the forums!

Anyway, since the thread has been bumped I may as well do a quick status update. Basically, as I was about to put in my specialtech order for the last of the fittings, the PSU in my HTPC went *poof*, and I then spent stupid money trying to sort that out (although there was a hint of modding involved which I may present shortly in another thread as a fait accompli). Anyway, I then ran into my wife's birthday, and now it's practically christmas, so there's no free money until January; maybe even February. So...

Project Cunning Plan is on haitus until the new year, I'm afraid.

[Pob255]

the "forward backwards rocker" is called a "Pendulum action" it has a dual function in pulling the saw forward to help straighten cuts and on thick material it also helps clear saw dust from the blade.
When cutting thin sheet metal (under 2mm thickness) it's often more of a hindrance than a help.

the metal bending along the cut is probably down to ether using the wrong type of blade or the thinness of metal being cut or pushing to hard or a mixture of them.
You want a High (18 or more) TPI blade (teeth-per-inch) for cutting sheet metal with wave set teeth
http://www.insidewoodworking.com/bos...aw-blades.html Just Bosch brand baldes but give you an idea for what you're looking for.

PS looking forward to seeign progression in the new year Jim, I know what you mean about tight money, it's also a bit too cold for me to mod atm so all my stuff is on hold atm.

[scaryjim]

Holy thread resurrection!

Just a quick tease - I'll probably start a new thread with a recap of this one when I get modding again - but I've finally acquired some more of the bits I need to finish PCP, and I start working full time again in April which means I'll have the money to get the rest Updates soon, assuming real life doesn't intervene in any way

The project's been scaled back slightly for a variety of reasons, most of them financial and pragmatic - basically I realised I don't play any games that will tax even one 8800GTX to the point where I'm not happy with my frame rates (I'm very happy to down quality settings down to keep frame rates high - I play games for the gameplay, not the pretty!), that I don't do anything regularly that requires more than a couple of cores (and if I do start using heavily threaded software I'd probably be better off with a complete new build), and that I don't want my computer sucking an extra 300W for no discernable benefit. So the Q6600 has been swapped out for an E5300, and I've sold one 8800GTX and waterblock. I'm still stacking the entire waterloop within the case though, and I'll still be overclocking to billy-oh once I get the loop finished, so watch this space (or rather, the new, currently empty space where I will start a new build log!).

[scaryjim]

Well, yet another house move is in the offing, and yet again I'm resurrecting this thread, but I'm afraid this time it's to say a final goodnight to Project Cunning Plan.

As much as I'd love to push on, there's simply no point in carting a half-modded PC case around with me every time I move house, with the components getting more obsolete with each passing day. So the guts of Kali are going to be ripped out and sold, and the case is going to be scrapped. The watercooling loop, however, will be kept safely stored away until the day I decide I want to watercool another computer (after all, the CPU block's got a pretty flexible mounting system, and the rad, pump and tubes aren't going to go out of date!).

Ultimately, it all came down to the realisation that a 65W Phenom II X4 and a low profile 7750 would provide better performance that a Q6600 + 8800GTX whilst using less power. In fact, I believe my new, sleek little matx desktop will use less power at full load than Kali used to use at idle. And that's quite a compelling reason to move on The dream was fun while it lasted, but I'm afraid this is the end of Project Cunning Plan.

[g8ina]

Awww shame

Still, RL comes first and a house move is pretty real !!!

[scaryjim]

... a house move is pretty real !!!

Yeah, I'm actually going to be flogging off some old hardware to de-clutter and raise a little bit of spare cash. Hopefully I'll be back to mad computer ideas in no time, though

[malfunction]

my new, sleek little matx desktop

Where'd you get that?

[scaryjim]

This is in my old AOpen desktop case that the missus bought me many many years ago (for a linux box, back when I was still a developer). The linux box didn't last long, but the case has been with me for a *long* time

[malfunction]

This is in my old AOpen desktop case that the missus bought me many many years ago (for a linux box, back when I was still a developer). The linux box didn't last long, but the case has been with me for a *long* time

It's not one of the ones with a "flip top lid" is it - where the HDD + ODD cage flips up on a hinge? (A340/H340 or something like that)

[razer121]

Man this sucks however is the case not still sell-able? surely someone would be interested in the case as from what i can remember you did do some minor modding to it did you not?

p.s - i know the feeling my project "the arc" is currently on hold and has been for over a year now i think! all due to moving and job status! shocking how it affects such a basic thing like modding

But as all will agree R/L comes first i just wish you would lug the case with you and pick it back up at a later date

[scaryjim]

It's not one of the ones with a "flip top lid" is it - where the HDD + ODD cage flips up on a hinge? (A340/H340 or something like that)

it is - and I love it there're some pictures kicking around, probably in the SFF forum ... hang on ...

here we go: http://forums.hexus.net/htpc-sff/4-s...ml#post1932623 - a little log of my last rebuild into the case. Most of those bits got geekcycled back in the summer, but I'm still using the DVD drive, card reader and wifi card (the floppy drive got pulled as the new mobo doesn't have a floppy header!)

If you've also read my competition thread, you'll probably get the impression that I like well designed SFF cases

Man this sucks however is the case not still sell-able? surely someone would be interested in the case as from what i can remember you did do some minor modding to it did you not?

It's a cheap case, that's battered to hell, and has had some big holes cut in it with not too much care taken! I doubt anyone would want it now - and certainly not without the PSU and old-spacing 120.3 that it's been specifically modified for. And those are the two bits I'm keen to keep hold of, for future monster-rig/watercooling fun

Although I may offer it up for free, collection only, when I'm doing the final declutter - whenever that turns out to be.