Project HTntbPC

[DJ46]

Have you considered using the wood chassis you construct as a mold. You can lay fiberglass/carbon fiber and resin to get the shape you need. Build a box with a lip around the edges with wood with screws. Apply fiberglass, and heavily under the lip, so you have a place to screw in a plexiglass window as a side/top panel. It'll be lighter than wood, and fiberglass painted looks no different than metal.

 

 

It's easy to work with after curing. Drilling holes for power switch, cutting holes for fans, a slot for the optical.

I am using wood because it's cheap and I have the right tools to work with it.

Also, after painting the wood I want the texture to still stand out a bit.

Also, I'm not using an optical drive.

[TymmVonD]

Keep in mind humidity and it's effect on wood. Depending on the season it'll bow and flex. The reason guitar necks have an adjustment rod. The motherboard shouldn't flex as it heats and cools. Over time, could be a small issue, but as it's a laptop, you probably will toss it before any of that could occur. Good Luck. Excited for progress.

[DJ46]

Damn if I ever had a busy week, it wasn't even close to the last two weeks. I actually found time between studying to cut all the playwood so I have the panels "done".

The reason I'm not actually done is I suck at sawing and I hate that saw more than anything ever. So the edges are rough as hell. i got some sandpaper from my friend but you know, no time whatsoever.

All I basically want to say is don't worry, it's just been a busy month so far and I am still working on this.

[DJ46]

So, after I spent a quite a bit of my weekend sanding the edges of the panels I cut, I decided to show the results to you.

 

I got a bit sidetracked with my sisters netbook and after a slow disassembly I found myself thinking: "Is there actually a need for this fan?"

 

 

 

 

I seems to only blow out the warm air, I can't think of any other reason.

 

Anyways, I've put it together (without screws or anything, but I had to see it on the components).

 

 

 

Got sidetracked again. I've taken apart my Hitachi external drive and the enclosure sucks. I'm currently shopping for a better one.

 

 

The treasure inside:

 

 

Back to work. I set everything up for benchmarking.

 

 

And here you can see the results of the "benchmark". (I just love that joke from Linus. Best troll ever.)

 

 

I hope you've got more faith now. Drilling bits are ready, I just need time. (Next weekend looks good so far.)

[DJ46]

Last weekend I drilled all the things.

 

Not even close to good looking in my opinion and requires a power button and a better finish. I thought of using carbon fiber, but that would cost multiple times more than this whole thing.

Also, I am hard on myself so please make me feel better

 

Some stuff I found out:

- do an easy project where you learn to use all the basic tools BEFORE starting a hard project

- 1 project isn't enough practice, especially if it's a failure (but I actually used wood from my 1. project for the corner bits)

 

Also, the order to build this "beast" in (mainly a guide for me so I don't forget):

1. mount the board to the bottom panel with all the pieces

2. screw the sidepanels together away from the rest

3. connect the bottom and side panels

4. put the top on -> done

 

So, what I did since the last update (ignore the background, taking pictures whenever I want gets me more motivated to take pictures):

!No particular order!

The LED was on the other side in the stock config, so I had to move the tiny plastic thingy:

 

 

It is actually put together in these pictures and then I disassemble it so you can see the inside:

 

pics from the testing

 

 

 

And on a table (again, ignore the mess):

 

the left and front panels:

 

 

the right and back panels:

 

 

the bottom panel (here you can see the heads of the screws that hold the insides in place):

 

 

and the disassembly starts - top panel off:

 

 

one bit in the corner had to be modded:

 

 

and here is the reason:

 

 

(there were supposed to be 4 of each length)

 

my homemade "standoffs":

 

 

and here are the panels, ready for painting or whatever I decide to do.

 

[DJ46]

2 likes in roughly 2,5 hours? You are making me happier than ever. After all that waiting someone still likes the (probably pretty bad) results of my hard work.

[Suika]

Interesting, I'd love to see the final result. I might have a use for, what I consider, my scraptop. Have you considered changing the stock CPU cooler?

[DJ46]

Interesting, I'd love to see the final result. I might have a use for, what I consider, my scraptop. Have you considered changing the stock CPU cooler?

Sure, be creative and make something cool.

I have considered some different cooling options and I may stick some tiny heatsinks on the heatpipe, it may help a bit.

[DJ46]

So... It's been a while, and I still don't have anything more to show you. The whole project is disassembled and waiting for finances, just like everything else I have. After a stupid investment into an Xbox (I'm too much of a PC guy, consoles just hate me - literally, I cut myself when I was just opening one), I lost quite a lot of money. I still have some of the stuff, hopefully I will be able to sell it to gain some cash back. Otherwise, I'm pretty ******** to be honest.

That's the status. My main rig needs better fans, my project needs paint and a ton of ideas need finances. And that stupid Xbox doesn't even work properly...

But, I still spend a lot of time thinking about this PC. I thought (after I get money of course) that I could add some stuff. First would probably be a USB hub. There are only 3 USB ports on this notebook, not too great. Also, the screen is still working and the cable I've cut while being stupid in the past would cost a few € to get, not too bad. What is bad is that I never thought of integrating the screen into this. Also, almost everything in this laptop has Windows only drivers.

 

It's a nightmare, but I'm dealing with it. But for now, the only way is to take a deep breath and play some games.

[Tearass]

Novel...

 

Would be interesting to see an integrated display on this box.

 

doo eeet 4 deh lolz and 4 a phat tablet yo

[DJ46]

Would be interesting to see an integrated display on this box.

 

doo eeet 4 deh lolz and 4 a phat tablet yo

I actually decided to put it back into the stock chassis for a while. It will be a notebook again. It won't have a webcam or a microphone, but still a notebook.

Also, the way you shortened my post to "Novell..." made me laugh, thank you. It's been a sh*t day.

[Anthony10]

Looks cool, but wouldn't the laptop be smaller, honestly ?

[DJ46]

Looks cool, but wouldn't the laptop be smaller, honestly ?

I planned to do some crazy stuff with this. I thought about headsinks stuck to the original heatpipe or even adding a fan, maybe with a shroud to still get the cooling ability of the heatsink inside.

That will have to wait, I put everything back into the orignal laptop form to use it for what it was made to do for a while.