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Luciel

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Everything posted by Luciel

  1. It is really weird indeed, you can feel it when you touch it as well, it's almost like melted plastic and my first thought was it must've shorted out at some point and created enough heat to melt it or something (also looks like it's rubbed on based on the pattern) but nothing else seems damaged and when you turn it on, the screen itself works fine, obviously you struggle to see much because of the issue but the underlying panel seems fine. My theory so far would be that the panel has another layer on top that is plastic, acrylic or something which is what's actually damaged, if that's the case maybe I can replace it, granted it will never look original this way but the important thing I think is that the panel itself, seems in working order. Like you said, finding parts for this is no go. Viglen is still around (now part of the Amstrad conglomerate) but back in the day, all of their Laptops where mostly custom if I remember correctly so it's not like you could find another laptop from the era and figure out compatible parts****. If the rest of the laptop was in bad shape I provably wouldn't bother but it's just in such good condition that feels criminal not to try and bring it back to life. It's even got a era appropriate canon bubble jet portable printer o go with it (also still working). **** going through the photos again I noticed an FCC ID (HFSSK4C) which brings a date of 20th of October 1992 with name "Quanta Computer Inc Notebook Computer SK4C". Doesn't mean much though since Quanta Computer is the largest laptop manufacturer in the world, it could've easily been made under order or maybe it is generic after all? Either way, I don't think this changes anything in terms of parts.
  2. Hello all, Not sure if this is in the right section (or if any at all would suit this). Haven't had much luck at all finding suggestions on other forums (even retro) on what to do (if anything) with this so, here we go. While sorting out our storage, I came across my father's old laptop. We never used it much as soon after he got it, his work supplied him with another laptop. Because of this the laptop has remained pretty much in brand new condition with one exception. The screen, it's almost as if it had melted but it works fine, I mean, it's hard to see because of what you see on the photos, but the screen itself seems to work. Any suggestions on if this is even fixable? Kind of scared to apply any sort of product without seeking advice first.
  3. Just thought I'd add a followup. At some point in the new year I may upload a full walkthrough as this has expanded quickly. So, we started with LDAP authentication (LInux's Active Directory) with Zentyal which is also fully compatible with Windows which means we've been able to add Windows based VMs for certain uses while mantaining a centralized system for logins. We've also made use of this for Owncloud which we have hosted on Amazon S3 (to substitute Dropbox which we used to use) + using hamachi for our easy to use vpn (as some members of staff will have to work remotely on occasions). We're now working on integrating PMP (password manager) with LDAP and Zentyal, it's definately been and continues to be an interesting Journey.
  4. We did but we ended up deciding against a terminal server styled solution and geared more towards and Active Directory based solution. We also wanted to stick with a Linux based solution for servers and nodes (desktops) if possible.
  5. Hi Everyone, Just thought I'd come back and let you know what we ended up doing: - We used Zentyal over Ubuntu 16.04 Server, for the server. - Users login to their accounts through LDAP (the linux equivalent of Active Directory), from their desktops (Linux Mint) (it looks just like logging in to a local account, but in the background it actually checks this credentials on the server, not locally). - Once they log in, their pc mounts their server home folder automatically. This way all processing is done locally but their settings and files are stored in the server, so there's some "lag" when logging in, but once logged in, it's not much different to a conventional desktop experience. So basically it's not terminal clients, each computer does their own workload but, settings are kept elsewhere. This makes it really easy for any authorized used to login to their account from any PC in the office. It also makes deployment of new Desktops considerably easier. it also allows for the server to be pretty low spec, as a side note, all home folders are individual, meaning only the logged in user can see their own files. (Very similar to what @dalekphalm suggested). Thanks again everyone for their input!
  6. Cheers for the reply Ryan! I'm 50/50 on this to be entirely honest and I definately see the cons and pros in each. After seeing the initial tests however I did really liked the SSH tunneling method but was swiftly let down by slowdowns due to network bottleneck and promptly figured something wasn't quite right. Why would this work so nicely but be let down so hard by network constraints? Surely there must be a better way of doing this. Alas none of us at the office have ever had experience with this kind of infrastructure and yet, we're all equally curious
  7. Hi all, At work we're considering getting rid of individual machines with individual OSs, etc for security and funcionality. Now, today we tried something very interesting which was the following: - One central machine (let's call it Server) with Ubuntu Mate installed. - Then, the terminal (i.e. one of the worker's machines) would connect to its desktop through local SSH tunneling and then running mate-session (equivalent of X11 tunneling basically). This works nicely, problem is, the moment you have a couple of machines connecting to their desktop, there appears to be a serious network bottleneck. This is a shame because we're loving the concept of user account management, software management and ease of backup. The problem I see is that network bottleneck is, I guess, to be expected, as the server is streaming, essentially, the whole user desktop and interaction. In an ideal world what would happen is that the terminal would connect to the server and the server would not stream the desktop itself but rather allow the terminal access to the necesary files and let the processing and computing be done by the terminal. This in my mind would allow a lot more terminals before network bottleneck but I do not know if anything like this exists. Any ideas? Are we going about this the wrong way? We would need 12 terminals to be able to connect at the same time and work as if they were their own desktops. The equivalent of something like citrix but on a LAN level. Hardware isn't an issue, we can invest as needed, it's more about knowing what we need. We would also like to stick to Linux. Thanks in advance!
  8. Hello Everyone, Small update today, it´s been my birthday weekend and well, you shouldn´t use powertools when... not sober so no work this weekend. So, got a couple of hours in of work today, not much though, measuring hole placements and so on. I wasn´t going to show anything until they where all done but I really felt like seeing how it looks. Before that however, got the card reader in place, so that´s done. So, after I did the holes I started getting everything togueter for a mock shot, because of this have in mind the holes exposed wood needs to be painted, nothing is held down by screws so parts might look somewhat out of placement and so on, this is purely so you get an idea of how the cables could look once done, at least on the right side of the module (just one set of hdds and the m-atx mobo). As I started, I was so glad I got the idea for the trap door, sooo many cables, and this is only a part of the whole lot! And here are a few closeups of the lot, enjoy And that´s it! Will try to get some work done tomorrow though no promises, a lot of "real-life" work to catch up to from 3 days off. And as always... ...thanks for reading!
  9. Cheers Hikaru, everyonce in a while I do indeed, though the cost of shipping your PSU around the world might not be worth it though ------------------- Hi Everyone, Today´s update isn´t much of a work update as such, but rather an update on materials as I haven´t had much time these last few days. Unfortunately my compressor died the other day, it was 6 and a half years old and to be honest it was never very good, I´m convinced it leaked air as it could never hold a full load within the tank, had no pressure control (so it was useless for smaller sprayguns) neither did it have an auto on/off depending on the quantity of air within it´s tank which was a pain in the rear, I bought it when I first started painting and it´s what happens when you buy something without knowing any better. So, I went down to the same shop I always go for paint supplies (sure I could´ve provably bought the following cheaper online but it´s a local shop, not part of a chain and they´ve always been extremely good to me, hell if it wasn´t for them existing I wouldn´t know what to do so I like to support them) and got myself a spanking brand new compressor, this time round however with all the bells and whistles. For the same price I could´ve gotten a 50ltr one, with the same specs all round but it was simply to big for the space I have allocated for it, plus fact is I don´t need it to hold so much air at any given time. So I mounted the wheels on it and placed it where the old one used to live, just outside my "paintbooth". I was going to install the tubing I have from the old one but the fittings where different! So had to go back to the shop (thankfully, it´s only a 5 min drive from where I live) and get some new fittings, I figured for the price I might as well also get some new tubing (what you also see in the picture are some measuring cups I use for mixing the paint components, I change them once a year or so as they get rather dirty after many paint sessions and it´s increasingly harder to read the measurements on them)... ...and just as I was about to leave... the owner knows I´ve been keeping an eye on 2 sprayguns they have there (a mini and a detailing one) but I couldn´t really justify the price since I already had some (even though they weren´t exactly expensive) so he mentioned that they are now the last two and they are end of line models so I could have them at cost price if I wanted (love this shop!) so I figured... what the hell...PLUS it is my BIRTHDAY on Sunday the 13th and of course while I was at it I figured I needed some new suplies aniway (I was going to get them next week, but while I was there I figured I´d get the lot as I know when I buy a certain amount of stuff they give me a further discount) so... And the spanking new sprayguns! (I´m veeeery happy right now!) While I was out, a package arrived (love the feeling of coming home to even more goodies). Cables, cables and more cables, all the cables and extensions I ordered and need for this project. At one point when I started this project I thought about sleeving but, to be honest I´m not a huge fan of sleeving and just looking at the amount of cables gives me a headache plus the fact is, you´re going to see next to none of them once installed so, figured, no point. Anyhow, next thing I decided is I´m going to install a small kvm switch on the back of the module. You see the servers are going to be connected to a TV i have on the wall above where the module will live, so, not just a server, but as I mentioned at the beggining of this project, also a media center and streamer. Don´t really need the KVM as all the files and storage will be on the M-ATX, but I already had it laying about, never really used it much so figured, hell if I ever can´t access the servers remotely at least this way I can see what´s going on without having to move the module to plug a monitor in the back. So, haven´t fitted it on yet nor have I decided it I will get rid of the enclosure it comes with but, just so you get an idea of where it will go: Lastly, but no less important. I was taking some measurements to cut the opening for the 80mm fan. While doing so I realised, as I mentioned in a previous post that I could fit two. I also realised the cpu heatsink that I was going to use for the M-ATX is to tall! So started looking for a smaller one online and though... I can fit 2x 80mm fans... I have spare fittings... I have some tubing... I have a spare basic cpu block... I have a spare small reservoir... hell I´m not going to buy a new heatsink, instead I´ll get a 2x80mm radiator, sure it´s a small but it´s only cooling a very low end 1155 cpu so what the hell and so I did. I bought the only one I could find which wasn´t to expensive (there are not that many 2x80mm models out there), 57€ with shipping, not to bad! It´s an Alphacool NexXxoS XT45 Full Copper 80mm Dual and should arrive at some point next week. Anyhow, for an update without any actual work progress, it certainly has turned a few things around and... crap I just realised I don´t have any decent 80mm fans laying about...!! That´s all for today folks and as always... ...thanks for reading!
  10. Hi Everyone, Today I started painting bits and pieces. While those dried out I figured I´d get started on the front, while not pictured I had already taken care of paiting the exposed wood colour bits (except where the switches go as those would be completely covered aniway. So, the first and only thing I had ready to be installed is the controller. Being this a server, it only seemed right to use the Lamptron CM615 for remote access (through my main PC) on the same LAN. Originally I was going to make some mounts for the frontal devices but figured It would just mean more visible screws so instead I opted to use hot glue instead. So went ahead and mounted the lamptron. Nice fit Now that the painted bits where dry I figured I´d mount them (note the little detail on the X-Fi, same as the HDDs). . Figured I´d put the back in place to see how it looks (note that the screws of the M-ATX mount are not in place on the back, this is because I´m not finished with the back, they are on the ITX mount because if you remember it´s two pieces rather than just one. Following the theme, I did something special with the PSU (Also, photo number 100!) I decided this is where an 80mm intake fan will be located (may add 2 as it means it will also be ready for a 160mm rad if in the future I want to upgrade to liquid cooling). And lastly, this will be the possition of an SFX PSU that will power the itx board (obviously, needs to be painted). . You may notice the fan of the ATX PSU is pointed towards the wall. There will be a piece of metal or wood blocking the air spreading to the rest of the case and a mesh aperture on the back panel to allow the air to flow. By doing this, none of the heat created by the PSU stays in the module. Anyhow, that´s about it for today and as always... ...thanks for reading!
  11. Cheers guys! She was extremely happy with the result, I think the cable management took me as long if not longer than the paintjob itself!
  12. Cheers guys Will let you know how the temps are, though by working with rackmounts, I´d imagine they get better temps due to preassure in the airflow specially when using highrpm fans as they tend to do on servers (deltas and whatnot) no? -------------- Very small update today, not so much that I had little time but rather than in order to show these picks, the process takes considerable time. So, first thing´s first, finished the 2.5 drives (2x hdds & 2x SSDs) Took the back panel off and did the cutouts for both mobos, after that I painted the wood-color bits so they don´t stick out as much, I didn´t have any wood paint at hand so used the paint I normally use, because it is water based the wood sucks it in and doesn´t leave as deep of a colour, but I think the tone difference looks good so going to leave it like that. Didn´t attach it back with screws yet as I still have to do the PSU and a couple of other cutouts so made no sense to screw it back in but, I did put it in possition for a couple of pickies. It goes without saying that I will be painting the metal parts of those cards so as to match the I/O plate. I didn´t do the X-Fi card in red today, it was like that from another project (it´s also a different tone of red than the one I´m using on this project) and while I like it, I will be doing something else paint wise with it, just thought I´d mount the hardware to see how it looked And that´s it! More tomorrow and as always... ...thanks for reading!
  13. Hi Everyone, First of all, White Rabbits and happy April Fools day to all I was really looking forward to getting some work done on this over the weekend, unfortunately on Saturday afternoon I burned my left hand, nothing hospital serious but definately meant that I wasn´t going to be doing much if not at all over the weekend in terms of this project. Today however I was tired of "taking it easy" so I did a bit of "easy" work, don´t get to excited however, nothing flashy about this update but things that needed doing Firstly I recicled another old case for a base and I/O plate mount for the ITX board, this case was from the P4 era, so as you can imagine, it was awfully dirty as well, but did the same as with the previous one and got the parts cleaned up. Unfortunately this case did not have both sections put togueter as the previous one, but nothing I can´t work around. More leftovers for the scrap metal pile. Next step was to fix the other mounting to both the surface and back panel of the module. Next step was to mark its surroundings so I can start measuring where to cut (I need to, obviously, take the back panel of the module off in order to cut it). But I can´t start with that until I get the other mount ready (and a couple of other components that will be featured hopefully in the next update), which meant painting. I also took the opportunity to do the 2.5 drives and the I/O plate for the ITX board. So I took out the mix ratios I wrote down for that special matte/glossy black mixture and got it done. And that´s all for today folks, as always... ...thanks for reading!
  14. Cheers, you´ll find all the worklogs here http://linustechtips.com/main/forum/3-build-logs/ aswell It´s actually not wood, it´s a mixture between vynil, paints, inks and an assortment of effects
  15. Cheers Hikaru, all previous completed worklogs are now posted on here and about the job... it´s ok
  16. Friday: Day 5 of 7 Bunch of problems today. Unfortunately neither the ASUS motherboard nor the CM PSU made it in time so I´m having to use alternative parts. Gigabyte had sponsored a motherboard for a different project so I contacted them and ask them if it´d be ok for me to use it with this project, they said sure so I went ahead with it and well, it seems to go hand in hand... However I´m most likely going to have to shave off the mobo´s heatsink as it´s just a bit to tall to allow the rad to fit in the case. I do have a slimline rad which fits just fine but it seems to be leaking so I can´t trust it. The PSU is more of a decision than an issue, I´ve got a brand new Corsair TX650 but I´m thinking it´s going to cut it short for a GTX560 Ti SLI setup, while I do have an NZXT HALE90 (850w) it´s going to be a pain as that´s within my main PC so it means taking the whole thing apart to get it out. So I decided for now to go with the Corsair, took it apart, and started to paint it. Also started customizing the EK 360 rad. So I´m going to take the chance to say thanks as all these products where either sponsored or winnings from previous project. First of all, massive thanks to Gigabyte, I could have been in serious trouble if it wasn´t for you guys! Thanks Corsair for the TX650! Thanks Mayhems for the coolant! a Special mention for Kingston. 2x 240Gb HyperX SSDs + 16Gb 1866Mhz DDR HyperX ram! Thanks to Lamptron for the FC10! So. I´ve now done all I can do before sticking all the HW in, so that´s what I´m doing on Day 6 and hell, if possible even finish this project on day 6, so you know, I can sleep on Sunday (that´d be nice). Thanks for reading! Saturday: Day 6 of 7 Though technically today is Sunday, I couldnt post yesterdays update as I had to source some parts from my everyday pc so I had no PC to post from. I will reply to all comments on Monday evening when I´m setup at the Campus Party event (hopefully everything arrives in one piece, gulp. Right so, more issues. The radiator was stuffed, leaking and while fixable I didn´t have the time and I had to bring my PC to the workshop aniway so figured I´d just use its rad instead. So, sourced the radiator from the main pc, cpu, ram and harddrives and the build went on, luckily from here on, only small fixable-on-the-spot issues where encounted. Let the cabeling and tinkering begin! Gave the final coat of copper to the PSU and lackered afterwards. In it goes along with the rest of the parts. Fingers crossed for a problem-free boot... Success!!!! It even recognised my raid array from my previous setup (different mobo)! All hdds, ssds and devices detected. And that´s it for day 6, join me on the final day! Sunday: Day 7 of 7 Final day! Today I finished it all up. There will be a second set of pictures from the CP event but here´s the first set. It goes without saying had it not been a time limited edition, I would´ve done a lot more detailing and precision work but, well all things considered and a few faults aside, I´m really glad on how it turned out. So, I give you, Mod in a Week: "APASF: CP London Edition". With special thanks to: And that´s the end of the project. I hope you have enjoyed following it. I will post an updated as mentioned tomorrow (Monday) evening if all arrives well. Now, to bed! <center>FINAL PICTURES SET 2 - Campus Party Europe London O2 Arena:</center> While I´m waiting for a bunch of people to email me photos, here´s a selection of what I currently have, you´ll even recognise the original APASF on the screen as I was talking about sponsorships and how it affects companies in terms of publicity, value for money, etc. You may also recognise a certain Hans (pOpE) and Anthony Leather (Combatus) who where fantastic to meet in person! All in all I think it´s safe to say we all had a blast at the event!
  17. Hi Everyone, So I thought I´d share some of my older, completed proyects while you wait for new updates on the Crimson Server Desk Module project. This is the last one, the most recent completed project, and the same time, the Third "Mod in a Week" project. I was asked to give a few talks at the campus party europe in London, Uk last September (2013), unfortunately the APASF project just isn´t sturdy enough for that kind of travelling and it had been since December 2011 that I hadn´t done a new Mod in a Week project so I thought I´d do a "Mod in a Week" take on the APASF project, it was seriously cutting it short in time though, enjoy the read! Hi Everyone, So I have a few projects in the cooking stages which I mostly work on when I get time to do so. That said, I will be going to the Campus Party Europe 2013 in the O2 Arena in London and I haven´t made a mod in a week project since Fallout Cause SP back at the end of 2011. I´ve just come out of an awfull illness based weekend and 7 days from now I´ll be flying to the UK to the campus, to give a couple of speeches, do some work at the modding workshop and generally have a great time and hopefully meet a bunch of you. So it seems like the perfect time to go about doing one of these Mod in a Week projects, to be specific, a version of my latest main project APASF which got MOTM here on bit-tech last June-July (don´t exactly remember right now) and featured in the CustomPC so it seemed appropiate. Because I need to keep it relatively simple in order to be able to start today and complete it within a week, I have to throw all major modifications out the window but this does not mean lack of detailing. For any of you that have followed my previous Mod in a Week projects, this is how it works. I start today and go on through 7 days, posting one or more updates per day on here, suggestions are VERY welcomed but have in mind that anything suggested has to be something doable within the timeframe. In terms of help, my friends from ASUS Ibérica (Ibérica = Spain & Portugal) are helping out with whatever they have avaliable at the time, as this has been a very last minute thing, which is a Maximus V Gene-Z (which is not ideal for a fulll sized case but it´s still an awesome piece of kit) and the cool guys from Cooler Master are helping out with a PSU (no idea which yet), originally I planned to use a CM 690 II Black & White edition which they where also going to help with, unfortunately due to time limitations, they can´t get one in time so I managed to find a "normal" CM 690. I´ve decided on this case because it´s shape and features adapt very well to the design I have in mind. ----------------------------- END OF PROJECT EDIT: ----------------------------- Unfortunately products from ASUS and CM did not arrive in time and when the asus motherboard came I had to send it back due to being damaged on arrival (what is going on with delivery services around here!?). Instead, I used products sponsored to other projects or won in contests while making sure it was ok to do so. So! Thanks Gigabyte for the Z77X-UP7! Thanks Kingston for the SSDs and RAM! Thanks Corsair for the TX650-M PSU! Thanks Lamptron for the FC10 SE! Thanks Mayhems for the 2Ltr bottles of pastel white and the dyes! And Special thanks to ASUS and Cooler Master for trying to get the products to me in time, no matter what! ----------------------------- END OF PROJECT EDIT: ----------------------------- Right so, wish me luck! The project starts NOW and will finish with final pictures at the Campus Party Europe event in a weeks time. I will be posting updates later on today (I´m now off to buy paints and supplies). Monday: Day 1 of 7 Ok so I´ve spent most of the day going through a selectiong of DIY, and random accesories shops scouting potential parts, details, etc just as I did with the original APASF project. Remember while this has a Steampunk basis, it also has a touch of post-apocalyptic (APASF: A Post-Apocalyptic Steampunk Future) so, anything I find I have to be able to make it look really old and thrown about. Of course I also went to my usual paint supplies store and bought all I needed. All in all, around 5 hours where spent doing all this. Once I got home, I found the first catastrophic event. Something that´s happened to all of us at one point or another, the delivery "service" throwing our packages about, which in this case meant a damaged CM 690 II... Unfortunately I do not have the time to send it back and get a replacement. Fortunately it´s only the removable faceplates and the "chrome" border that seems damaged as far as I can tell. The faceplates I do not care about as all 4 frontal bays will be occupied. The chrome border I´m thinking about a bit of epoxy, sanding down and they will be painted over aniway. Just glad it wasn´t as bad as it could´ve been! So, not the best start huh? Aniway. the rest of the evening I dedicated exclusively to one of the side panels. I will be adding a window of sorts so I had to cut those grills out, not fully though or it wouldn´t leave to much border at the top. So I got my dremel and started to "play" (Safety notice: please do not play with dremels! ) All cleaned up. It´s time for the vinyl. I couldn´t find the one I used on the original APASF project so found a close second, it´s quite darker but I do like that it´s not plain like the other one, it´s actually got a rugged surface which adds to the effect. So, I cut up the right size and aplied it to the side panel: Being a darker colour it doesn´t allow me to play as much as I´d like to with shades on my ageing effects but I got through the first stage of it which are the darker shades: A couple more coats of the lighter effect inks need to be aplied to it before I´m happy with it but it´s starting to get that old, rugged wood look. As a bit of a preview, here are some of the details I´ll be adding, pre-ageing of course (clean brass right now and we can´t have that). And that´s it for the first of 7 days in this Mod in a Week project, I hope you keep on reading tomorrow! Tuesday: Day 2 of 7 Most of today´s avaliable time I dedicated to pretty much sanding the case down. Normally on a new case that hasn´t got a glossy finish I wouldn´t bother to much about this but since a large portion of the case imitates copper in this design it needs to be as smooth as possible so this was needed. That however is boring so I´m going to show you the rest of what I did today. I finished yesterday´s side panel (for now, still missing the window and a couple of details), as in, added the final lighter coats of the ageing process and attached the brass details to which I had also aplied the ageing. Once that was fully dry I put it away safely for now (can´t afford any accidents!). After all that (very) tedious sanding, cleaned it all up and aplied a good coat of primer to both the top section and the chasis. Oh and, I fixed the damage caused by the shipping of the case! I like to think it came out quite well, time constraints and all considered. And for the last 2 hours of today´s avaliable time, I aplied a few coats of the copper. It´s amazing how many more coats the chasis needs in comparison to the plastic bits, I actually ran out of paint, so, need to get some more tomorrow! It goes without saying that the copper will be aged as well, can´t have none of that new shinyness here! And that´s it for the second of 7 days in this Mod in a Week project, I hope you keep on reading tomorrow, now I need a shower, get something to eat and go to my "other" job Wednesday: Day 3 of 7 Today was a late start. I got home from work at around 5am last night and between having something to eat, shower, etc I didn´t get to sleep till 6am. Obviously when my alarm was set to wake me up at 10am so I could continue with the project it was a bit of a "no f**ing way* so kept on sleeping for a couple of extra hours. That said I think I´m doing good in terms of progress. So today I started with some of the bits and bobs, like the XSPC reservoir / D5 pump combo. I aplied the vinyl... ...and did my thing So, on the top of the case there´s a hotswap/dock bay that I´d though I´d give the treatment (mostly because I don´t want copper to be everywhere without wooden bits here and there). I still have to aply the ageing process to the brass detail but, I quite like it! Oh, I did go and buy extra copper paint, and the chasis took a grand total of 7 coats (7 COATS!!) to get a solid color on... This is a bit of a drawback though as because of the amount of coats, it is going to take longer to be ready for matt lacquer which then has to dry itself (though that only takes about an hour) which means I can´t play with the barebone chassis till at least late tomorrow or even friday. Thankfully however there´s not much that needs to do be done to that, so really as long as that part is ready by the time I´m ready to put all the hardware in, it shouldn´t be an issue. I also did some work on the frontal CM logo. Not sure if it´s obvious in the photos but I did slightly overlap the letter borders in order to exagerate them so they look "curvier", not sure if that makes sense? Also, as you will see, my "fix" didn´t hold I can´t say I´m surprised, the amount of epoxy left on it after sanding was minimal in order to keep the shape, so I´m thinking some superglue and of course the preassure of the bay components will keep it in place. Oh and here´s something really special... ...and... So yes, so far I think it´s been the most fun day of the 3 so far for me, though my hands are full of inks of several tones which are extremely hard to get rid off! And well, that´s it for the third of the seven days of this Mod in a Week, as always I hope you´re enjoying keeping track of it and hope you come back for more tomorrow! Thursday: Day 4 of 7 Had a bit of a misshap today and took a ton of process photos, once finished I realised there memory card wasn´t in the camara... ...so all photos are actually from the end of today but I´ll explain what I did aniway My sister gave me a hand today with her epic caligraphy skills and finally paid tribute to the name. Tomorrow we will do a few other writings under that and I can consider that sidepanel (aside from the window and its details) finished. The other side panel however was finished today. Remember yesterday I did the CM logo on the front? Well this is what it was in preparation for... Did the wood detail on the usb and audio connections up top. And finally I couldn´t resist putting it all togueter to see how it was going, have in mind there´s still a LOT to do in terms of detailing the case and effects but... I was shocked... just...wow. I´m in love! Also, you´ll notice there´s something different about the copper. I used a sponge to aply a darker tone of copper (though with a pearl effect) so the copper changes tones depending on the light as you can see by the pictures). Well, that´s it for the fourth of the 7 days. The idea for tomorrow is to finish with the external look of the case. Do that DVD drive that will go in that open slot in the front and work on the hardware! I´ve hoped you´ve enjoyed today´s update and that you come back for more tomorrow!
  18. I´m loving ltt, never expected such a response to my work :)

  19. Thank you kindly, looking back on it today, I still would´ve done some things different, but just thinking of working on it again makes me want to shoot myself
  20. Post 15 Hi Guys, I tried my best, I´m sure you all know from my hectic updates these last almost 3 weeks that I´ve been working every second I get free on the project. Unfortunately it was not enough. The reason for starting so late was waiting for parts to arrive and basically financially being able to buy all the materials, paints, etc I needed to make this truelly unique. The fact is I´m about 1-3 days short worth of work on detailing, fixing some last minute issues (that always pop up) and so on to be happy with the final result. That said, I have made it as presentable as posible to be able to participate in the competition I started this for. As you can see some parts are missing like the wood trimmings (that´s what those holes in the metal are for), some modifications to make everything fit better, and a few other things, also theres 2 very small leaks on 2 different fittings on the radiator side of the case which I need to fix. And a long list of "small things to do". Goes without saying I am finishing the project, but since the hectic deadline is now over I will be taking my sweet time, and making sure everything is as perfect as my skills allow it to be. Aniway, here are the pictures of how it looks right now. Post 16 Hi Everyone, After almost a year since I started the project, it is now Finished. Since October I´ve been adding paint effects, ink effects, done some detail changes, added missing details and essentially obsessed over there damned thing. Following the original idea I did 2 casings, one for the psu and one for the gpus, unfortunately I just wasn´t happy with them, I felt they changed the overall look to much. I never wanted it to look clean as it simply doesn´t fit the post-apocalyptic style so in the end I opted for a rough way around it. The last 4 PSU connectors are bare and inked cabling for the GPUs. I´m sure quite a few of you would´ve proffered casings but I feel this way is what suits the style of the project best. I also pretty much "coated" the whole thing with a mix of inks that took me a month to get right for a more old-n-gritty feel as while I was very happy with how the faux wood effect turned out, I felt it didn´t much the rest of the oxidized copper effects, this slight effect ink helps blend these two together and really make it look like it´s been around for a hundred years. If you compare these final pictures to the previous update pictures you´ll find you can´t exactly point why, but you´ll understand what I mean (or at least I hope you will ) I also realise there´s no SLI bridge, this is simply because I´ve misplaced mine and didn´t want to wait till I ordered a new one to make the final pictures as I didn´t feel it was that important and... I really needed to end this stage of my life. APASF is the project I´ve always wanted to do ever since I started painting and modding and while there are somethings that NOW I may have done differently, I´m extremely happy with the final outcome, I´m also relieved it´s over, it's taken a huge toll on me and in the end, it was more of an obligation and obsession rather than something I enjoyed doing as sad as that may sound. I´d like to thank my sponsors for being so patient with it as it´s taken 6 months more than I originally thought it would and of course for being there with me all the way. Right, without further wait, here is the final shoot of APASF "A Post-Apocalyptic Steampunk Future". Thank you all for reading through this long worklog during what for me has been the hardest project I´ve ever done! Until next time, Luciel
  21. Post 6 First update of the day... To freshen up your memory, this is what the front looked like once I had cut out everything I didnt need out of it, remember that originally it had 2 doors and all sorts of things. So I cut a further section to incorporate a new idea I had for the front (which you will partially see by the end of this update but not completely by a long shot till, with a bit of luck, the second and final update of today (i.e. tonight). I then filled it all up with epoxy filler. Once it was dry I started with what will become a couple of hours of sanding. That´s how it looked yesterday before I called it a day and went out for a drink as I needed to disconnect badly. Today, I started fresh this morning at around 10am and continued sanding until it was ready. Next I used a bit of filler for the places where it had created air bubbles and ended up empty and continued sanding until it was as ready as it was ever going to be with the limited timeframe I have left (I no longer feel my hands lol). Next I cleaned it up and aplied the vinyl (yes the front will be going in that wood look, the same as the PSU). I thend modified the picture frame I had bought so it will simply slide in and "hug" the bottom and sides of the frontal. . Lastly and more importantly, I aplied all the ageing effects to both the vinyl and the frame and put them togueter. . . . . . Later today I will be triming the leftovers and keep on working on the rest of the design of the frontal. Until then. Post 7 I know I said only one more update today... but I´ve just finished the front of the case, or at least until the package from Lamptron arrives, fingers crossed it arrives before friday or I wont meet my deadline. Point is, I´m in love with how it turned out so I wanted to come upstairs and post it so you guys can see it. So what I did is, using the back of the back plastic of the frame, I sanded it down and throw some matt black paint on it. I cut it down to size and fit it in the opening. I then added two screws on the back of the middle of the frontal of the case to hang the 2 mini-pocket-watches from. I then stack them to the back plate using a bit of hot glue. Mounted the frame on the case to make sure it all looked ok before I screwed the frame in (with it´s glass). All good, then I put the glass in and screwed the frame on to the frontal and aplied the same paint effect to the screws so they would not be visible. I also added the same effect to the borders of the glass to make it look old and stained. And the result... 3rd and last update for today later on. Post 8 Right, final small update of the day. I am officially knakered, I need a shower, badly (lol), a bit of dinner, a movie, and bed, can´t believe the weekend is already over and work tomorrow Aniway, I finished preparing two of the borders. Vinyl: Leftovers on the wall, yep. And the ageing proccess aplied, i.e. final result: And with this we reach 99 pictures on the project! I hope you all have a pleaseant evening and again, thanks for reading. More tomorrow. Post 9 Todays Update. I´ve started with the paint. Basically everything that´s not wood, is copper, but adding the post-apocalyptic flavour in there. This technique I´ve been developing for a while and it´s the first time I implement it in to a mod. By the end of this update you will not see the final product, you will see what it looks like before the ageing process, i.e. the copper goes in most places a lot darker, like real copper, the reason for the extra light copper color is to be able to have highlights once it´s ben aged. The turquoise is the opposite, it is very pale here, and it will have aged highlights once finished. The reason I can´t do this today is due to the fact that to get to this point requires quite a few coats and it needs a lot more time to dry, which it needs to be completely for me to aply the ageing process to this. Without further wait, the process pictures. First, the primer. To continue, a solid coat of the orange-y copper and before it dries, a light coat of turquoise. Once aplied, using absorbant paper I go all over the fresh paint creating a non solid surface or color which will be the base. Once dried, I aply a almost solid coat of the copper orange from further away than the usual, as you can see the dried paint uneven surface is doing it´s job by not allowing the fresh coat to reach every corner. I also further the paper usage to create a more uneven surface for the next coats. This goes on for 2 more coats alternating both colours. To finish off, I give a completely solid coat of turquoise and very quickly another of the copper. The wet coats and the surface react with eachother giving me the final look before the ageing process. Here´s a variety of pictures of it with and without flash. The final rusted copper look coming tomorrow. Post 10 Update, Had some internet issues last night so you couldn´t upload the pictures. Aniway, the rust effect is finished, I aplied the ageing technique and several tones of copper to give it a more realistic look. The turquoise is very mild and I can´t quite catch it on camera, I took some pictures outside in the sun, hopefully that helps. You´ll also notice I decided to add some extra effects and I´ve made it look as if the case had been partially submerged from the bottom left corner upwards. This has without a doubt been the hardest and most time consuming effect I´ve ever done, the whole copper rust thing. Hope you like it. Post 11 Update: Today I haven´t done much progress in the sense of progress I can show you with pictures. The 3 hours I had today to work on the project I pretty much spent measuring up and deciding mounting of the liquid cooling components (yes, they arrived today). But, for the sake of posting a picture, here´s a teaser on where the rads will be. Initially I had planned to mount them with spaces, however, I´ve decided against it for two reasons. First, the weight of the rads would provably unbalance the tower if separated. Secondly the metal sheeting, while thick, isn´t thick enough to keep the rads firmly straight and I don´t like them being able to move at all if touched as it can weaken the sheet metal. So due to these 2 reasons I will be mounting them straight on the metal plate. Hopefully, a rather big update tomorrow in prepation for the final update (I´ve taken tomorrow morning and friday morning off work in order to have enough time to finish this by friday midnight, the deadline for the competition, wish me luck! Post 12 First update of D-Day -1. I am plausibly going slightly crazy... ...yes Started drilling based on measurements taken yesterday and test mounted both radiators. Matt black painted the chasis, even though in the picture it doesn´t look matt, that´s because paint wasn´t dry yet. Painted one side of both radiators (mainly the middle as the the non-radiator-y-bits will receive the wood treatment later today. Before anyone goes crazy about loosing performance and all that. I´ll say what I´ve said every other time I´ve painted a rad or heatsink and noticed no loss of performance. If you do it with acrylic paint, it´s fine. It´s not fine when you do it with synthetic or plastic paints. You can argue all you want, but I wouldn´t be doing it if I hadn´t tested it countless times : ) I´m hoping I can run the system without fans on the radiator to acceptable temps, since there´s 2 rads and all they are cooling is the cpu, if not, will add fans at a later point, but for the "final" look they won´t have fans on them. Painted the plastic parts of the reservoir... ...and it´s mounts. And finished all the wood effect trimmings. Piping won´t be done today as all the parts need to be mounted and while that will happen today, it won´t before the plumbing supplies shop closes for the day. So will be going hopefully first thing tomorrow morning and getting all the piping done, leave the loop running for as many hours as I can allow it to and still have time to mount the hardware and psu in and finish by midning tomorrow. ...I can´t believe I haven´t aplied the matt clear coat finish yet... Now I have to go to my actual job and pretend like I´m not freaking out about not finishing this in time Post 13 Right, I´m at then end of D-Day -1, tomorrow is the last day. Now, a lot of stuff has been finished but because some where still drying I didnt want to risk mounting what I need to measure for the piping till tomorrow morning, then as I mentioned in the previous post, piping time. Anyhow... Rads finished. Reservoir unmasked... ...and aged with a touch of "filth". If all goes well, tomorrow 1 to 2 updates + final update... after that, beer and a nervous breakdown Post 14 Right guys, we´re at that point, this is the update before the final update (in theory aniway). So, this morning I assembled all that needed to be in or on the case in order to do the piping. So, rads, motherboard and other assorted pieces. And this is what the case looked like pre-piping. So went down to my local friendly plumbing supplies shop and with some help from the shop attendant (my mate) and later on the owner of the shop (he was intrigued on what we were doing), I put it all togueter, it was incredibly hard to measure everything up correctly, tighten all the fittings being very carefull with the fragile ones (like the plexy ones on the cpu cooler or the plastic ones on the pump and reservoir). And after almost 4 hours, got it ready. So here is the bare essentials case (nothing is screwed in, details wise, only the liquid cooling related stuff. I now of course have to aply all the ageing effects to the fittings and pipes. After that I went to my actual job (as I mentioned in previous posts I took both yesterday morning and today morning off to work on the project but still had to work 4 hours in the evening. I´ve taken the motherboard out and left the loop running to be sure there´s no leaks before I put everything togueter. And yeah if there´s no leaks I feel optimistic about meeting the deadline but words cannot express how tired and generally exhausted I feel. Again, thanks for reading and following the project.
  22. Hi Everyone, So I thought I´d share some of my older, completed proyects while you wait for new updates on the Crimson Server Desk Module proyect. This was by far the most complicated, exhausting, annoying, wanting me to quit, and yet succesfull, project I´ve ever done, there where times through where I really wanted to throw it out the window and I have to thank my friends and family for cheering me to continue and finish it. Just thinking about it today still brings a tear of pain and joy at the same time. It was the last "big" project I´ve done, I will be starting the next "big" project sometime this year. I´m pretty sure some of you will love it as much as I´m sure some of you will hate it, it´s definately a peculiar one. Post 1 Hello everyone. This is my new "Main" project, after two small projects, one for a client and the other one being the tutorial project, this being the first main project since Fallout Cause SP back in December 2011. I´ve had this idea in my head for years now, and you could say all of my projects in the last year and a half have simply been "tests" for techniques, both paint and structural modification in order to get ready for this one. The concept is as far as I know something that has never been done before. Mixing the post-apocalyptic style with the steampunk style in a small slimline case (the same model in fact as I used for the fallout cause sp project). The reason for this is that it gives me a compact canvas to concentrate details and because the parts do not fit, they give me a modular look that I´ve always liked since I saw the original thermaltake Level 10 case (the first one, not the redesigned GT version). This project is being sponsored by: Some are new and some have been with me since the begining, either way I´d like to thank all of them for their support and amazing products! I don´t normally list the hardware I will be using on my projects, but for the first time, this project will actually become my main PC so here are the basic details. ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z/GEN3 Intel i7 2700K Kingston HyperX 16Gb DDR3 1866Mhz 2x Kingston HyperX SSD 240Gb in RAID 2x MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti TwinFreeze OC 2Gb in SLI NZXT HALE90-M-850w B-Move Slim II Case As for the rest of componentes, cooling and accesories, you´ll see them as they get mounted. Let´s start then. I´ve started with the structural modifications I need done on the case, the B-Move Slim II. I really like this case, it´s small, simple yet stylsh. I´ve taken it all apart, I won´t be using any of the frontal conectors (except frontal USB & Audio) nor buttons or led. For the design I have in mind to work, I need to cut the cover in parts, fit the upper and lower parts permanently to the case so the door is just the side, so here goes. First part done: And the second: And now a test mount of the side panel: It all fits fine, mostly because they have grips underneath that grab the frontal side of the case. This way it doesn´t become flimsy or weak. Now the frontal of the case. I´ve removed everything from it as it has to be cut down in order to be made completely square and straight (which will later be filled to suit my frontal design). First, cutting the left side so that a drive sized device can fit through it (originally it´s designed not to as it has a trap door with a open close button). Second is cutting all the elevated parts in order to make everything perfectly staight and squared. It will later be sanded down, and filled up to make it a solid block. Now I´m going to be modifying the lower part of the case to suit the power suply, I´m using a used PSU for refference as it´s exactly the same size as the NZXT psu that will go in. In order to accomplish this I need to cut part of the lower section and modify the grip on it so I can still be fitted without the rear screw. And done. and the PSU fits nicely now. Now I´m going to start customizing the PSU. I´m going to be using a wood "look" vinyl, mostly as a design base so I have the lines and typical look of wood to work on. And now the first stage of it´s paintjob, which in this case is mostly a mixture of inks, and ageing effects. Here´s the first stage: And the final stage: And the brass detail on the side that will be poping out of the case. . The camera flash shows what it actually looks like: And finally a comparison shot between the standard vinyl and the "modified" one: More to come soon! Post 2 Today´s work. Power suply finished. More tomorrow hopefully, also, last minute change, the MSI graphic cards where no longer avaliable so have settled for 2x Asus GeForce GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II TOP 1GB GDDR5, it seems that fate always brings me back to asus for one reason or another. In any case, hopefully delivered tomorrow and can fo more body work over the weekend. Post 3 Time for an update. Unluckly the new GPUs didn´t come on friday so I couldnt do much on the weekend, but they came today and as luck would have it, it was only a half day at work as I did overtime on Friday. Right, time for a test mount. The frontal bay system does not close by very little, so I´ve trimmed down one of them so it does. As for the watercooling, I will be using a full copper pipe system for this project, which while it looks really good is rather complicated for two reasons, first, I need plumbing fittings, luckily I found out that 3/8 is a common size for that, so i got some G1/4 to 3/8 fittings and problem solved. The second problem, or not really problem just, complicated fact is that there´s no flexing, here, so all the measurements have to be exact at every point, so once all the liquid cooling bits and bobs are in their place I will get the pipes and cut them to size so everything fits, nicely. Meanwhile, here´s a preview: Right, now the case modifying for the GPUs. I trimmed this section a bit more to make sure there´s no contact, tomorrow I will clean up all the cuts: Right, because the fittings are so big, my original plan of taking the pipes out the back is scrapped and I have to come up with an idea to take them out the side panel and still be able to open the case as needed, so here´s the solution. I cut the side panel so I can unlock and slide downwards in order to open it. And to cover it up, and old school grill which I´ll cut to let the pipes through, this way in order to open it, I just unscrew the grill and slide open the side panel. Problem Solved. More tomorrow hopefully. Post 4 Update. Today I´ve started to cut and test mount the side covers. While they look like wood, they are plastic and they are not the final look, they simply come like that from the store, I will be using vinyl and ageing process so they match the PSU. The same treatment will be done on both sides of the case. Originally I was going to use rubber covers for the cuts so they don´t look sharp, however in order to add more "wood" to the design, I will be using the same parts cut in half as on the side, this should increase the wood/copper ratio of the final look. I´ve also ordered all the liquid cooling stuff I need, and it will hopefully arrive on Friday so I have the weekend to mount everything and start and finish the front of the case so on Monday I can go to the plumbing suplies shop and cut, test mount and buy all remaining fittings and copper tubing to complete the loop. If the parts don´t come by friday I´ll have to delay the plumbing details till tuesday or wednesday which will only give me a 2 day painting window to finish the project, so it´d definately cutting it short, but I feel confident at this point. Aniway, photos! Hopefully more tomorrow. Post 5 Quick Update. It doesn´t seem like much but it took me all the time I had to spare today to do this, the steel on this case is really stubborn (specially on the back where it´s thicker)! Aniway, the screws I ordered (yes I had to order them, it seems no one locally had 3mm x 50mm screws) arrived and I they did the job perfectly, now the GPUs are properly secured. And all the borders have been cut to size and test mounted. Some trimming left to do on them and adjusting for a perfect fit, but it´s really starting to take shape now. Aniway, more tomorrow hopefully.
  23. Ugh, sorry about that, it´s what happens when I keep translating myself from spanish, I´ll fix it right away, thanks for the heads-up!
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