Moderne by Maki Role - Finished and Final Photos! - Update 08/06/15 - Page 4

[ALXAndy]

That's some pretty impressive 3D printing.

 

Is the wood and stuff for a PC project...?

 

Or you could try reading the thread.

[Norman_the_Owl]

Or you could try reading the thread.

I've been having issues with that lately

 

"it should turn into a sizeable log cabin"

[Maki Role]

I've been having issues with that lately

 

"it should turn into a sizeable log cabin"

 

To be fair it is related to PC building. The purpose of the cabin is so I can expand my scope and abilities over what I have now. For instance, I'm planning on being able to take on commission builds, whereas that isn't feasible for me atm.

 

nearly done

Yeah things should progress quite quickly from this point on. I'm not allowed to post the finished pics before the competition voting page is up though so don't expect anything final before the 19th.

[Maki Role]

So whilst I'm in the process of sanding down and priming, I decided to think a little about the future of this little box.  Intel (like last time...) mentioned that they would like to use the NUCs as occasional exhibition pieces at events.  Some of you may know I've not had the greatest luck with shipping things around, so I decided that it would be a good idea to make a flight case for Moderne.  This should help to keep it safe during transit and whatnot.

 

Befitting of the thread, I went and modeled all the parts that I ordered and assembled the whole thing in Blender.  As such, it should look pretty similar to the renders below when complete:

 

 

[Bsmith]

the size looks unrealisticly small, damn...

[Norman_the_Owl]

I oficially like your builds more than snef builds

[Maki Role]

the size looks unrealisticly small, damn...

The NUCs are ludicrously small for what they offer, makes for some great modding opportunities. 

 

I oficially like your builds more than snef builds

Now that is high praise indeed, I'm honoured!

[JarJarBanksy]

This is incredibly attractive and I love it. I was really expecting a different material though. How durable is that stuff? How high is the chance that you break it while you are rounding over the polygons?

 

Where did you get that printer? Those things are kinda high cost.

[Maki Role]

This is incredibly attractive and I love it. I was really expecting a different material though. How durable is that stuff? How high is the chance that you break it while you are rounding over the polygons?

Where did you get that printer? Those things are kinda high cost.

Glad you like it

The nylon pieces produced by SLS 3D printers is ridiculously strong. I could easily throw that case across the room into a wall and it wouldn't suffer any structural damage. It has the advantage of being both very tough, but also flexible when thin, which means it absorbs shock pretty well too.

To give you an idea, my old design, Vesper, sits on top of a 6'6 cabinet. So far my cat has pushed it off the top a total of 3 times. That's a six foot drop onto a hardwood floor with the actual NUC still inside. However, there's only been a small paint chip on one of the top corners, o structural damage at all. Before anybody mentions that perhaps I should have learned from the first drop, eh it's an odd situation really. Where I normally place it there's no chance of it being knocked off. However, occassionally the wireless keyboard won't sync or will run out of juice, so people bring the NUC closer to the edge so that the USB cable from a normal keyboard will reach. Unfortunately this then puts it at risk, once in a blue moon my cat will just decide to claim that spot as hers and thus give it a nudge.

So is there any risk of damage whilst sanding, nope, not even a little one. That's the beauty of SLS printing. Unfortunately it's bloody expensive so only worth it for small items like this. I definitely can't afford an actual printer (nor would have have the space for it either) so had to outsource the printing to a local company whom I know quite well.

[Maki Role]

 
 

UPDATE!

 

 
So I've been rather busy lately, both at work and at home, leaving me little time to get the ball rolling.  Luckily I now have everything I need to finish the project, just a matter of putting in the time.
 
So first up, remember that pile of wood from my last post?  Well over the Easter weekend my Old Man and I turned that into something more useful.  Whilst there's still painting and finishing details left to do, the vast bulk is now over.  Over the coming weeks I'll be steadily finishing it up and moving tools and supplies into it, eventually it should be a proper workshop!  The electrics still need to be added, but that should be handled fairly soon too.
 
 

I hate roofing, evidently not the profession for me.

Front door windows going in

Floor laid and now just painting to do!

 

 
I finished up all the priming today, probably used a good 12 coats to keep things nice and smooth.  I imagine it'll be a similar number of coats for final paint plus extra for the lacquer, with lots of smoothing in between.  I also took the opportunity to thread the mobo mounting points, add the side magnets and get the windows to fit just right.
 
 

All primed up

Windows in

Hardware (most of it) in

Bear in mind that massively long cable won't be there, I'll also jazz up the switch too.  I just haven't shortened it yet, so coiling it up was the next best thing.

[Norman_the_Owl]

Between your renders being so good and that being so smooth and perfect, i can't tell whether it's one or the other

[nchilds98]

I love SFF builds plus since it's modern, it makes it even cooler. You should sleeve those cables

[Maki Role]

Between your renders being so good and that being so smooth and perfect, i can't tell whether it's one or the other

 

Hehe, it should be even worse once I've got my studio space set up again. Currently I'm just using a paper roll on the floor next to a window, no lighting control etc.

 

I love SFF builds plus since it's modern, it makes it even cooler. You should sleeve those cables

Fear not for not only will that cable be sleeved, but so will the USB extenders. It's a shame that SFF builds don't get more exposure here. People flock in when you have lots of gpus, xeons and generally a massive budget. It'll be interesting to compare this project with my next one, which will be a big budget blowout.

[Maki Role]

UPDATE!

So today and yesterday were very productive days. First up I managed to finish off the painting! Lots and lots of thin paint layers, sanding up to 2500 grit and many clear coats later it looks pretty good. I went with a metallic black rather than flat as I thought it looked better on the sample pieces, glad I did. After getting the painting out of the way, I decided to start working on the flight case. In total I managed to complete the whole exterior, just the interior foam left to do now.

You may notice that the flight case has different corners to those in the renders, well this was a surprise to me too. I actually ordered grey, but for some reason was sent black instead. Whilst I'm not particularly happy with that, it does still look good so I'm not that bothered. What I am bothered about though is how instead of being sent 6mm ply, I received 3.3mm instead, which is damn near useless. I have no idea how that happened as the store I used doesn't even sell that thickness, very odd. It would have been a disaster had they not shipped it sandwiched between two 4mm MDF boards. Instead I just cut and glued the ply to the MDF and used that instead, worked out fine.
 

[Tearass]

 

 

Even the carrying case screams quality!

 

Really great job, Maki.

[Norman_the_Owl]

Oh god, so beautiful  :wub:

[Maki Role]

Even the carrying case screams quality!

 

Really great job, Maki.

  

Thanks! Yeah the case turned out pretty well, decided to try a new construction method, seems to have paid off. It certainly has a very solid feel to it that's for sure.

Oh god, so beautiful  :wub:

[Maki Role]

UPDATE

I managed to find the time to finish the flight case today, in other words lots of foam. Also found out that the best cutting tool for polypropylene foam is a kitchen knife. I had been using a fresh Olfa knife, which should have done a good job, but was getting lots of messy cuts. Switched to my trusty chef's knife an low and behold, perfect cuts. It seems that not only is my chef's knife sharper (I do take care of it) but the extra rigidity really helps with more delicate cuts.
 

This photo really didn't turn out well, didn't notice until I had to upload it. I can't use my decent 50mm lens for this subject right now as the room is too packed for me to get the distance required. Using the 18-55 kit lens as a result, which quite frankly is crap. It's a nightmare to focus manually, simply not designed for it.

[Bsmith]

man, intel should hire you for the next NUC design round

[Maki Role]

How do people get these ieas?

 

Pluck them out of the ether mostly...

 

Haha I think a lot of it comes down to seeing something and saying to yourself "I'd like to make something like that", could be a rock, animal, landscape, other product or anything really.  Certainly this is the reason why my own builds and concepts don't follow a set theme, I find variety to be a lot of fun.

 

man, intel should hire you for the next NUC design round

 

Thanks Bsmith!  Not sure if I'd be able to best their own simple case mind, I was very impressed when I received it.  It doesn't necessarily look fantastic, but it's gloriously utilitarian whilst using solid materials, they're much more interesting in person than in photos.  Online the stock case looks a bit naff and plasticky.

 

 

Update

 

Not a good one today unfortunately, but also not some sort of catastrophe, just an inopportune inconvenience.

 

So the other day I placed the build into the flight case, all fitted nicely and it was suitably snug., I then forgot it was in there.  What I hadn't thought about was the curing time for the clear coat.  Now I left it for 2 days before doing this, so I figured it would be cured enough, obviously it wasn't.  Interestingly, when I opened it up today to finish everything, I noticed some really curious patterns all over it.  It appears that the foam has imprinted the clear coat and left it like the images below.

 

I mean it's kind of funky in a hideous way, the eggcrate foam has left a nice polka dot look on one side and the flat polypropylene left an almost leather-like pattern on the other sides.

 

So what does this mean?  Not much, I just have to paint it again, it basically means I don't get to play GTAV for a few more days.  I have the materials to do it, plus I can easily paint in the evenings so no worries.  Should all be fixed up in time.  I'll also want to look at the flight case to see if there's much I can do there to alleviate any issues in the future.  If Intel do pick them up then I wouldn't want them to unbox it like it is below.

I apologise in advance for the rubbish pictures.  Only have my phone with me but more crucially I was lazy so didn't really try to get the most out it.  They do the job of showing what I mean at least.

 

[ALXAndy]

Saw you in CPC this month. Didn't realise you were so young.

[Maki Role]

Saw you in CPC this month. Didn't realise you were so young.

Ooh didn't know the issue was out, I was sort of kept in the dark as to which one the feature would turn up in.

[GeekySole9354]

Saw you in CPC this month. Didn't realise you were so young.

How old is he? I want to know....

 

On topic: That actually looks like shit, sorry but it does 

[willemdoom1]

Are you gonna be playing GTAV on this machine?

[HellaflushMcSwaggins]

Are you gonna be playing GTAV on this machine?

No, I think he's going to play it on Loramentum