scratch built Roisin Dearg (a Scratch Built "Modular" Case)

[SiberionHusky]

Everything looks really well done  Loving how all the thoughts and plans are coming together. Jelly of your build.

[Ergroilnin]

Oh god, this... This is beautiful... You are a god.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Thanks, guys (I don't know about the deity part, though)!

 

i spent yesterday, after catching up on my sleep, working out the details of where to notch and drill the two 1/4" x 2" x 3" x 7' angles I will be screwing to the studs either side of the pesky window that is in the way of mounting my TV and six monitors (I currently have a nine year old 32" TV but plan on replacing it with a 43" TV soon). I have some heavy duty aluminum extrusions that will attach to the angles to bridge the window.

 

It took a lot of careful measuring to plot the location of the mounting holes. Even then, to check my work, I cheated and put some tape on another, currently more accessible wall to lay out the measurements "in real time". Mickey Mouse but I was able to catch an error while it was easy to correct.

 

 

If I can drag my ancient carcase out of bed early enough tomorrow morning to beat the heat and if my back is behaving (it wasn't this morning), I'll cut and drill the angles, then paint them Tuesday morning.

 

While I had a bunch of the hardware out and to help with determining dimensions, I went ahead and preassembled the two brackets that will bolt to the angles to support the two horizontal extrusions the TV and speaker mounts will attach to. Preassembling those parts will speed up and simplify final installation.

 

 

 

 

I had to cut down the three longer extrusions on each bracket since I figured out a way to move the TV in closer to the wall and still clear the monitors (that will cut down on the stress on the wall). I was quite pleased with how well my little bandsaw did cutting them.

 

I literally spent hours yesterday updating three of the backup drives I retrieved from my credit union Friday. I forgot that I had made some major changes to my data drives to better utilize drive space since the previous time I had swapped out my onsite and offsite backup drives so there were some huge data transfers involved, giving my poor little notebook quite a workout yesterday. This is where the backup I started this morning was when I took this picture a couple of hours ago.

 

 

The time remaining is bogus because I enabled an unauthorized feature to verify all file copies and the actually time remaining is between two and three times what is shown onscreen.

 

This is the setup I'm using to backup the drives. The drive on the left is the one I rescued from my old computer and the one on the right is the backup drive.

 

 

I still have four more backups to update after this and they are going to take just as long for each one as this one is. Yikes! I'm going to do only one a day to so my poor little notebook can rest a little between backups.

 

Here are a few shots of the cable jungle behind my desk that I need to tackle soon. Such a delightful mess! I think Jimmy Hoffa may be buried in there.

 

 

 

Methinks that should be enough damage for now.

[mAs81]

Ouch!them cables do look like a lot of work!!

 

I don't have as much stuff as you do on my desk,but maybe try out a simple IKEA cable management tray that you can screw under your desk for arranging cables..

 

I have it and it has helped tremendously in making the underside of my desk look clean !

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30200253/

[Lady Fitzgerald]

3 hours ago, mAs81 said:

Ouch!them cables do look like a lot of work!!

 

I don't have as much stuff as you do on my desk,but maybe try out a simple IKEA cable management tray that you can screw under your desk for arranging cables..

 

I have it and it has helped tremendously in making the underside of my desk look clean !

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30200253/

Thanks for the suggestion! Unfortunately, that kind of tray won't fit under my desk; the desk is too small for it.

 

All those cables you see in the jungle are eventually coming out (I've already dug a few out) so I can plow...er...remove the built up dust. Since the monitors are going to be attached to the bridge I'm building, that's where many of the new cables are going to be routed. I'm planning on running the rest of the cables over hooks on the wall under that pesky window (I spotted some at Home Despot yesterday that could do the job and look nice). That will keep them off the floor so I can run a dust mop or vacuum cleaner back there every so often without trying to play dodgem with stuff on the floor. I'll also mount the surge arrestor low on the wall (mental note to self: Self, get a new surge arrestor!). Hopefully, the only thing on the floor would be the UPS (and I'm considering mounting a really low shelf on the back of the night stand to also get the UPS off the floor).

 

I spent all of yesterday morning outside, starting at 5:30AM in an attempt to beat the heat, working on the 1/4" x 2" x 3" x 7' aluminum angles, cutting them to length, laying out all the holes, then drilling the holes. What made it fun was it had rained earlier in the morning, just enough that the humidity was unusually high (for AZ). By the time I had finshed working on the angles (except for deburring the holes and sanding them), getting drenched in sweat (I downed a quart of Powerade 0 in five minutes and killed three 16 oz. bottles of water while working), putting away my tools, and sweeping off my carport, I was whupped, having some muscle cramps, and had to take a short nap.

 

I later had to run some errands which included a stop at Ace Hardware to pick up some screws and a couple of 4' square sheets of 3/4" Styrofoam bead insulation to put in that pesky window. The drive home turned into a race to get there before a humongous haboob (dust storm) arrived. I just barely got home and got everything into the house before all hell broke loose. The storm was two storms that merged and formed a line that reached from Northern AZ clear down into Mexico. Winds in some places were gusting to over 70 mph. My mobile home was actually shaking at times (so was I!). That was followed by a short but intense, rain, that was the first measurable rain at the airport in 119 days (and it certainly tried to make up for lost time). Supposedly, we are in for more of the same this evening (time will tell; forecasting weather in AZ is like shooting craps when the other guy is using his loaded dice).

 

After taking care of the errands (including picking up the aluminum I ordered for the adapters from my mail service) and beating the dust storm home, I started working on the adapters for mounting the speaker mounts on the bridge. The adapters were made from 3/8" x 2 1/2" x 8" aluminum bar (I got lucky and found two pieces exactly the correct size on Fleabay). I wanted the aluminum that thick because I was going to tap some holes for 1/4"-20 screws so I needed pieces that had enough meat to not strip out. I also had my drill press already set up on my washing machine so I wanted to finish using it before putting it away and cleaning up the mess so I can do laundry.

 

Here are the finished adapters.

 

 

 

 

I needed some flat head 5/16" screws to secure the adapters to the ends of the extrusions that the TV will hang from. However, the lengths available were either too short or too long. Since I had plenty of "meat" in the adapters, I cheated and recessed the heads to expose a bit more screw on the other size.

 

 

The heads of the screws were a hair under 5/8" inch so I wnet to Home Despot and grabbed a 5/8" countersink, chucked it up in my drill press, then buried it into the aluminum. Rather Michael Mouse but it worked. It was much easier and faster than cutting down longer screws with my Dremel.

 

All I did today, so far, was to debur the holes in the angles, then sand and degrease the angles and the adapter plates. I had a really rough night last night, up and down with leg and foot cramps so I'm just a bit short on ambition today. I used my random orbital sander to sand everything down and now my hands are numb (you all would die laughing if you saw the typos I'm making typing this up). If it doesn't storm tonight or rain in the morning (rain cranks up the humidity), I'm going to try to paint everything tomorrow morning at first light.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

After a good night sleep (finally!), I tackled the cable jungle and added insulation to the pesky window. Everything went well (for a change) but I'm now pooped!

 

Here is the space formerly known as the cable jungle. 

 

 

I didn't find Jimmy Hoffa as expected but did find a few small things that I had thought were gone and lost forever in the dirt pile I swept out (no money though, darn it).

 

Then, I started adding insulation to the pesky window. I already had some 1/4" foam core (a sandwich of Styrofoam bead board between two sheets of cardboard in the window that looks good from the outside; I also have blinds on the inside) and blocks some light (I used to work third shift so light blocking during the day was nice) but it didn't insulate all that well and the window catches the full western afternoon sun. I started with a layer of Reflectex (a thin piece of "bubble wrap" with both faces aluminumized to supposedly reflect heat (how much heat is debatable but it does a great job of blocking light).

 

 

It's just jammed into place here but the foam and the blinds will ensure it stays put. Next, I cut that Styrofoam I just barely got into the house Monday before that massive dust storm hit. It's also just jammed into place but it isn't going anywhere soon. Sorry, I forgot to take a photo; I was just wanting to get the job done by then. Just picture all that silver being white. With the blinds back down, the foam doesn't show at all.

 

 

The paper taped to the blinds will go away once I put a cork bulletin board to the left of the TV on the extrusions that the TV will be mounted on.

 

Here is one reason I'm pooped.

 

 

I had to repeatedly duck under that thing while working. The bottom is 4' above the floor and I'm 5' 7 1/2" so my old back is less than happy. Amazingly enough, I never bumped my head once (I'm so proud of myself  ).

 

It rained again last night but it wasn't the violent storm we had Monday evening. Still, it was extremely humid outside (especially for AZ) so no painting this morning. Rain is still in the forecast for this evening although the chances for it are as low as they are going to be for another week. If it's clear when I poke my head out in the morning, I'll be painting.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

It rained hard where I live around 3 PM. For a whopping five minutes. Other areas in the valley got hit harder but still not as bad as Monday. So, it's muggy as a swamp and I won't be painting in the morning. However, we are supposed to be getting a bit of a break from the storms for a couple of days and I should be able to paint Friday morning (or, maybe, Saturday).

 

Instead of hitting the rack (poor rack) early tonight, I drilled some more holes in the big angles I worked on Monday. When I originally laid out the holes, I hadn't planned on adding as much insulation to the pesky window (pesky is the excessively mild term) as I wound up adding and I was concerned the clamps for the brackets for the arms that will hold the monitors might interfere with the blinds so I drilled another set of mounting holes for the rails that will support the monitors' mounts so, if the original holes should prove to be too tight now, I can use the second set to gain some more clearance between the clamps and the window blind. I also checked the fit of the extrusions that will be secured through those holes; they fit (whew!). No pictures since you all know what holes look like.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

The outside air was cooled down enough by the storms, the AC wasn't coming on and removing the high (for AZ) humidity in the house, making it hard for me to get to sleep. That, and wondering how well the brackets I assembled for the top extrusions the TV will hang from made me antsy so I decided to check the fit. Five of the six holes were spot on but the sixth one was a bit off (it and another one were a bit hard to measure where they went; I got lucky on the other one) so I had to elongate the off hole on each angle (I cheated and used my little Dremel instead of resorting to the dreaded filing) to get it to fit.

 

 

 

That slight gap alongside the screw head will never show once the angles have been painted black.

 

I was going to mount the brackets on the outside of the angles but decided it would look better if I moved them to the inside of the angles. I could get away with that because of the way the horizontal extrusions are fastened to the brackets. However, because of the radiused inside corner, I had to chamfer the legs of the bracket so they would fit into the corner.

 

 

I used my lttle band saw to cut the chamfers. This is how I set it up.

 

 

I used a piece of 2x3 I had knocking about to raise the end of the bracket up enough to get approximately 45 degrees (more or less; this isn't rocket science). It took a bit of a juggling act to keep everything aligned up and the 2x3 in position but it didn't have to be 100% accurate so I got away with it.

 

Here, I've inserted the T-nuts approximately where they needed to go; they slide in the slots so it was fairly easy to realign them with a small tool of some kind (I used my scriber since it was the first "tool" I saw).

 

 

This is how the bracket looks when installed on the angle. 

Here, you can see why it wasn't necessary to be precise with the chamfers. The slight gap just doesn't show up, even before the angles get painted black.

 

 

Everything has been disassembled now, although I left the nuts in the brackets since they are now aligned and I won't have to redo it, so, after a last minute degreasing with some 99% IPA (isopropyl alcohol),  the angles are ready for painting once the weather cooperates.

 

It's now time to make myself the filling of a sheet sandwich.  I temporarily turned down the thermostat to force the AC to run and dehumidify the air and it's becoming bearable in the house again (not to mention I'm pooped).

[mAs81]

16 hours ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

 

That's a VCR/DVD combo??I still have me one of those,but it won't play video cassettes for some reason,lol

 

Very nice job handling that mess behind there,it looks great!!!

[Lady Fitzgerald]

3 hours ago, mAs81 said:

That's a VCR/DVD combo??I still have me one of those,but it won't play video cassettes for some reason,lol

 

Very nice job handling that mess behind there,it looks great!!!

Yup, it's a DVD/VCR combo. 'Tis funny you just brought it up. The only thing I've been using it for in the past five years or so was the clock on the display. It's just in the way and it just went away. Seriously, I just removed it from the mount less than an hour ago.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I started installing the side and top panels this morning. I found this weatherstripping at Ace hardware and chose it since it was only slightly thicker than the spacer blocks and magnet pairs and the reviews indicated this stuff stayed put when applied (it was amazing how much weatherstripping gets lousy reviews for the lousy adhesive they use). This is the weatherstripping:

 

 

 

I started with the front of the case.

 

 

 

The front panel popped right into place after installing the gaskets. The gaskets should stop most, if not pretty much all air leaks around the panel.

 

I did the left side next and test fitted the panel.

 

 

On the right side, I had trouble getting the panel on after installing the gaskets. It turned out that the bottom gaskets were a tad too high and I had to lower them just a wee bit. It fit fine after that.

 

 

I'm leaving the panels in place for now to give the gaskets time to seat properly.

 

Unfortunately, this was all I had left over after doing the three sides, not anywhere close to being enough for the top panel (mutter, mutter, mumble, mumble). So, I have another trip to Ace Hardware in my near future (all the employees there know me by name; I should buy stock in the place so I can get some of my money back).

 

 

I was up too late last night...er...this morning so I need a nap (we old people nap a lot ). I need to take it easy today so I'll be functional enough to paint in the morning, weather permitting.

[SiberionHusky]

How are the panels held on? Is it just magnets? It's coming along nicely btw! 

[MEC-777]

This thing is going to be dead-silent, even with all those fans at full blast. lol

[Lady Fitzgerald]

7 minutes ago, PhoenixEmmaley said:

How are the panels held on? Is it just magnets? It's coming along nicely btw! 

Magnets hold the panel against the frame. The bottom reinforcing angle of each panel rests on a fram member to carry the weight.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

8 minutes ago, MEC-777 said:

This thing is going to be dead-silent, even with all those fans at full blast. lol

I wish  . I'll be happy if it's quiet enough I can barely hear it from two or three feet away. You just reminded me that I need to take a photo two of the angles and mounting plates I finally got to paint this morning. Right now, I'm resting after painting, then wandering all over Home Despot picking up goodies I need, such as screws, etc., a new surge arrestor, and a new "toy": a Ryobi three speed, 18v, compact battery powered blower (this old dyke loves her tools!).

 

 

I still have a few more errands to run today.

[MEC-777]

3 minutes ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

and a new "toy": a Ryobi three speed, 18v, compact battery powered blower 

 

Nice! Looks like a good one. I have a similar Xpower hand-held blower that I use for cleaning/dusting out PCs. So handy.  And, no more buying silly weak cans of compressed air.  

[Lady Fitzgerald]

16 minutes ago, MEC-777 said:

Nice! Looks like a good one. I have a similar Xpower hand-held blower that I use for cleaning/dusting out PCs. So handy.  And, no more buying silly weak cans of compressed air.  

 I had that in mind when I bought it. I already have a DataVac 500 but the cord on it is a bit of a nuisance.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I talked to the Mobile home court's handyman today and he is going to be helping me assemble and install the bridge Sunday afternoon. Here is a picture of the wall angles and speaker mounting plates shortly after I finished painting them (three coats self etching primer, three coats color).  

 

 

After running (ok, driving and waddling) errands, I made and installed a shelf on the back of the nightstand the computer will set on. The UPS, wallwarts and brick for the cordless phone chargng dock on the night stand will go onto the shelf. This will reduce the number of cables running hither and yon and I won't need as much slack between the computer, the phone dock, and the two scanners on and in the nightstand when moving the nightstand away from the wall for cleaning.

 

 

I'm pooped and going to bed.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

After temporarily moving my printer (a heavy one!) and the drawers it sets on out of the way, I screwed the left wall angle to the wall with 1/4" x 3" lag screws and bolted on the bracket for the two top rails the TV and speakers will hang from. It was time consuming but it went far easier than I was expecting.

 

Enough jibber-jabber, 'tis picture time.

 

 

 

I got lucky yesterday and found some plastic screw caps at Ace Hardware that fit on the heads of the 1/4" lag screws. They didn't have enough black so I also got some brown ones and "painted" them last night with a Sharpie felt marker. Michael Mouse (more like Daffy Duck) but it worked.

 

 

 

I can't put up the second angle since I need to remove the TV and the existing TV mount and I will need help for that (I have help coming over tomorrow afternoon). This is the mount that is in the way.

 

 

 

I installed that nine years ago and, for the life of me, I can't remember how the tube is locked into the the wall bracket. Hopefully, it will become obvious once we take the TV down tomorrow.

 

To speed things up a little tomorrow, I've already installed the TV side of the TV wall mount brackets. Since finding the HDMI ports on the back of the TV will be a bear once it is reinstalled, I installed a couple of 12" Accell locking HDMI cables with couplers installed on the other end. Those cables will be far easier to reach than the ports. I will be doing the same with the monitors (those HDMI ports are a real bear to find).

 

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

The "bridge" is up. Rick and I spent three hours installing it on the wall. At times, it was...ah...challenging. Making things worse was the humidy was unbelievably high for us old desert rats.

 

Here is what it looked like by the time Rick left. 

 

 

All that hardware makes my 32" TV look tiny (I'll be replacing it with a 43" soon).

 

These are the satellite speaker mounts.

 

 

 

The bare aluminum gizmos are called French cleats. Ones this size are normally used for hanging large pictures with heavy frames to a wall. I'm going to use them to hang a bulletin board. I'm using two cleats so the bottom of the bulletin board won't flop around. The cleats will allow me to easily remove and replace the bulletin board. I couldn't find any bulletin boards thate were even close to the dimensions I wanted so I ordered a picture frame and some cork to make one.

 

 

These shots kinda sorta show the the mount for the monitors.

 

 

 

 

I went through hell on earth installing the monitors. Hanging the monitors onto the mount was easy but getting the everything aligned was a nightmare!

 

 

It literally took me hours to get them up and properly aligned. I was so furious with it by the time I finished, I was ready to chew nails and spit out thumbtacks. Since it was easy to knock the monitors out of alignment, boke out the gaffers tape and taped the snot out of all the areas where the monitors met each other.

 

 

 

 

Unlike so called duct tape, gaffer's tape both sticks well and will not leave a sticky residue behind.

 

I'm waiting for the short, locking HDMI cables I ordered to make connecting and disconnecting the longer HDMI cabes easier. In the meantime, I need to install power strips to the bridge and route the power cables for the monitors to them. I aso need to install a suge protector and some wire management hooks (actually, repurposed coat hooks) to the wall behind the desk.

 

My tired hurts so methinks I'll hit the shower (poor shower), then sack out for the next 24-36 hours.

 

[TVwazhere]

4 hours ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

Unlike so called duct tape, gaffer's tape both sticks well and will not leave a sticky residue behind.

 

 

I cant deny the sticky residue of Duct Tape, but man if it isnt strong. The fabric itself usually rips before the adhesive does!

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

5 hours ago, TVwazhere said:

 

 

I cant deny the sticky residue of Duct Tape, but man if it isnt strong. The fabric itself usually rips before the adhesive does!

 

A bit more on gaffer's tape and "duct tape": It is also strong since it is cloth based, like some so-called duct tape is. The name duct tape is a misnomer since it was never intended to be used on ducts (true duct tape is a heavy aluminum foil with a water and temperature resistant mastic for the adhesive. It was orignally designed as a strong, weatherproof cloth based tape used by the U.S. military for sealing ammo boxes. One of the early brands of of "duct tape" was Duck. People misheard the brand name and started calling Duck Tape "duct tape". Around 50 years ago, we always called it "super tape", never "duct tape". Some of the "duct tape" sold today isn't even cloth based anymore and much of use a poor quality cloth or even just a coarse scrim. All use a similar adhesive that leaves a sticky residue behind; the longer it is left applied to a surface, the worse the residue becomes.

 

Gaffer's tape is a strong, cloth backed tape that was originally developed for stage electricians to use for temporarily taping down temporary cables on a stage. It was designed to have a strong adhesive that still could be easily removed (compared to "duct tape") without leaving a sticky residue behind. I never used gaffer's tape because the stuff is so expensive (and I'm cheap?) until a couple of years ago when I received a free sample and realized how superior it was to the overpriced, crappy "duct tape" available in the fleabag, one-horsed magalopolis I live in. I never used "duct tape" after that.

[TVwazhere]

2 minutes ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

-i have been learned a thing snip-

I'll have to try this legendary Gaffers tape sometime then. 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

5 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

I'll have to try this legendary Gaffers tape sometime then. 

I get mine from FindTape.com. Don't be afraid to get the good stuff.

 

Find Tape is also my source for the 3m VHB tape I used so much of in this project.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I was so pooped from yesterday, I slept nonstop for 9 1/2 hours. Normally, I would be up every two hours for a bladder break. My back wasn't happy with me so it was a while before I started working on anything.

 

First, I installed a couple of power strips on top of the bottom horizontal extrusion. These were not surge protected but they are going to be plugged into my UPS so that's not a problem. I had intended to daisy chain them but decided not to since I was going to plug them into a remote controlled power switch so I can turn the power to the monitors on and off all at once, using a remote controlled switch.

 

(Before anyone post a lecture against daisy chaining power strips, I'm aware it is prohibited by the NEC but, as long as the strips are rated to handle the total load on each one--both of these are rated for 15A and have #14 SJO power cords--it is electrically safe).

 

I decided against daisy chaining since both cords were long enough to reach the UPS and the remote control switch had two outlets on it. This also freed up an extra outlet on th second power strip. I cut off the plug on the cord running to the power strip furthest from the UPS and cut off enough of the cord running to the closest power strip so both would be the same length, then put new plugs on each cord.

 

This is how they looked when everything is plugged in.

 

 

To keep the two power cords neatly corralled, I taped them together every few inches with gaffer's tape (I should have mentioned earlier that gaffer is the title given to electricians in show business).

 

 

The monitors are powered by one of the power strips and the HDMI splitters will be powered by the other one. It dawned about this time on my three remaining brain cells (of which only one is functioning...barely) that, if I switched off the splitters with the monitors, any signal coming from the computer to the HDMI ports on the TV would also be switched off (I plead Old Timer's Disease). The quick and dirty fix was to unplug the strip with the splitters from the switch and plug it into the surge arrestor only side of the UPS.

 

 

Btw, before anyone asks, the UPS has more than enough capacity to handle the computer, six monitors, three HDMI splitters, a telephone charging cradle wall wart, and two scanners (the wall wart and the two scanners will be surge protected only). 

 

I always check any 120v wiring I do with this little gizmo (my wiring checked out).

 

 

This is the remote control for the remote controlled power switch. It's small enough to keep on a key chain. I was using it and the switch with the three monitors I had on my old set up. I just kept the remote laying in my desk. It worked slick as greased ice.

 

 

These shots show the power cables coming from the monitors to their power strips. To minimize the amount of wire dangling, I folded the power cords of the monitors closest to the power strip and taped them with gaffer's tape.

 

 

 

 

 

This is all that shows of all the power cords from the desk.

 

 

The wall warts for the HDMI splitters are plugged in here. For now, I'm going to use the two HDMI splitters I already have but will add a third one once I get my two TVs. For now, I'm letting the leads dangle until I can make and install a shelf to place the splitters onto (I'm also waiting for some more 10-32 tee nuts like the ones I used when mounting the power strips).

 

 

I did a quickie test of the monitor remote to make sure all the monitors were set to ON. This is what came up before they switched to sleep.

 

 

 

I'm still sore from yesterday and there are actually some decent shows on TV tonight so I'm chilling for the rest of the day.